Happy Halloween!

Yesterday, we made Halloween cupcakes. They were meant to be made by me, and taken to Z's daycare for his Halloween party. But, since little bit didn't allow me to sleep any the night before, I was squeezing in a nap, instead of getting him ready to take to daycare, (I am so not motivated to ever take him now that Talan is gone). I decided to let them all just decorate the cupcakes b/c they really enjoy that.

Warning: Don't any of Noah's....he iced his with his fingers....

Warning #2, don't eat any of Rachel's....she licked her fingers while icing hers
Leah's may be safe....but I am still glad I just iced my own!

Mine are the orange ones in the cupcake carrier

When daddy got home, we carved pumpkins

Let the kids draw their own faces....

Saved a few seeds to use for beads out of an Indian craft book, and then, Clay roasted the others. Have you ever had Roasted Pumpkin seeds? They are Yummy!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Zachariah and Talan's costume

Noah had the Darth Vader Candy holder from last year, so we let Zachariah used it. His light saber, was also made by Noah. When we were buying Zachariah's costume at the resale store, Noah found this light saber, that was broken, and very short...he was begging me to buy it, but he has a bunch, so I kept saying no. He finally said he would use his own money, it was $1, so I said, o.k...if you want to buy a broken light saber. So, we came home, he got a red permanent marker, and fixed it right up....and it was the perfect size for Zachariah. I was amazed at his creativity....he'd had the idea in the store, and that is why he was begging to buy it...yep, I felt a little bad. I was proud of him doing that for his little brother!

I had already gotten Talan his costume before he left, so we took it up there yesterday to visit and take pictures of him. He seems to be doing really good. He literally gets bigger every week that we go. I will post more of an update on him later. Noah was excited that he was able to catch a brief smile in this photo.
Can you see how big he looks in Leah's arms? Wow. It was hard for me to pick him up yesterday.

Our Costumes

Here the kids are in their halloween costumes. We went to Monticello to the Fall Festival at church there on the 17th, so we have already celebrated. It gets expensive dressing this crew for Halloween, but luckily, living in our area, I can keep my eye out through the year and get deals. Leah wanted to be a horse last year, but I just couldn't pay $20 for it. A couple of months after Halloween, I found the exact horse at a consignment sale for just $3.00. I got Noah's Darth Vader on sale 1/2 price after Halloween last year, and Baby Z and Baby T's at a savers store for$3 and $4 each. Rachel was stressing...she didn't know what she wanted to be, and was the only one without a costume. Then, at another consignment sale, she found the unicorn, for $8.00, still had the tags on it. I had not planned on my girls and boys matching each other, but I thought it ended up being cute that they did. We took Baby T's costume up to his home yesterday and dressed him up to take pictures. You can see them here...

Book it!

Did anyone do the Book It program through school when you were young? I did, and I loved getting those personal pan pizzas! Our homeschool newsletter sent out information that Book IT offers a program for homeschooling families too. I get to set the reading goal for my kids each month. I set a goal to start off with of 10 regular books, and 2 chapter books for Noah and Leah to read. I wasn't really sure what was realistic for them, but this seemed to be a good fit for them. (I think that at least 1 of those chapter books for both of them was one they had already began reading, but I let them use it, just to encourage them to finish the book.) I don't have a specific goal for Rachel since she can't read alone yet, but Leah and I both read to her all the time, so I let that count for her.

The kids were so excited to get their coupons! Those personal pan pizzas were SO yummy!! It is great motivation to get them reading!

Wordless Wednesday

Children's Book Tuesday: Halloween

We own this book, or did anyway. It doesn't seem to me that I would have gotten rid of it, b/c this book is hilarious, but I go though spells where I purge many things...and it almost seems like the book may have gotten torn up. Anyway, I couldn't find it today when I looked for it for this post, so I snagged this photo from Amazon.

I LOVE this book. I purchased it for Clay one time, b/c he is a huge Seinfeld fan. If you can picture him saying this book, it is just SO funny! It makes you think back to being a little kid, and Halloween being all about candy. As I was reading the reviews on Amazon, people were saying this book was more for adults...and I do agree...adults will love the humor in this book. My children also love it too....when you read it silly, and saying "I want candy" in a desperate way, as a child would. My kids really enjoyed the book, and with Seinfeld humor, it was an A+ for me too. If you are a fan of his show, you know he mentions Superman somehow in all his episodes. Guess what his Halloween costume is? Superman...and it is so comical how he describes his costume. So funny. O.k...now, if I can't really find this book, I think I want to purchase it again.

Court/how we got Christian

Wednesday, we went to court for the judge to determine if Zachariah's parental rights would be terminated. I fretted over court for several weeks, but Tuesday night, I opened my friends book, and read a chapter, and it gave me such peace. I felt the Lord wanted me to read that chapter right at that time, to know that I had "done enough" and it was indeed in his hands, and for me to have peace about that.

Have I told you how much I love our old case worker? She took an educational leave a couple of months ago, but actually called me a couple of times checking on things. She said she was worried how things would go on this case. She even came to court, b/c she wanted to be there for Zachariah. Wow, and a blessing. Our new case worker...he forgot about court. So she was able to get up and testify, and it really was best anyway since she was on the case for a whole year. She said she is planning on being there on the 4th too.

So when you go to court, the cases are usually running over on the time, so you sit in this waiting room...that was very full on Wednesday. When the supervisor came in, she said down across the room talking to the caseworker, and I thought I heard her say Zachariah's mom had her baby. We have known for a long time that she was pregnant, and I knew that the time was getting near, but nobody knew where she was, or when, or if they baby would come into care, if it would come into the same office....any of that.

When we walked into court, I pulled her aside, and asked if that is indeed what she had said, and it was! Mom came into the hospital Monday night, gave birth, and left. At that time, they didn't know if it was a boy or girl, or anything, but we told her that we would take the baby, and she got really excited. I asked if they had anyone else they wanted to place it with, and she said that didn't matter, we would get first priority since we have Zachariah in our home.

Zachariah's dad's attorney had a family emergency, so they weren't there, so that portion of the case was extended to Nov. 4th. The judge did go ahead and terminate his mother's rights. They testified that the new baby had born just a day and a half before. The judge said, "You couldn't even script something to play out like that. For mom to abandon her new baby, the day before her rights are terminated on her other child." Then she went on to say that the mom did the very best thing for him, she left him at a hospital where it was safe. I welled up with tears when I heard that, b/c I was thinking about my sweet baby Zachariah, and now we would have his brother too.

Once court was over, they told me they would get it all worked out, and call me, but we would get him that day. What news we had to tell the kids when we got home. They were so excited, and started running through the house squealing. I called Christie, (remember, she is my friend that had Zachariah before us) to tell her what all was going on. Crazily, she didn't get my message, but called me just 10 mins later, to tell me she was holding my baby!! She had come into the office for a visit for her son, and just saw Christian and started holding him, with no idea who he was. Someone came up to her and said, " that is Zachariah's brother, and the Draper's are going to get him". I was so excited that she got to see him and hold him, and thought it was so cool how it all happened.

It is amazing how having Christian in our home is easing my anxiety over still having to hear the judge's decision on dad. I still think about it, but right now I am just loving our new addition, and so grateful to have him. I feel like this is just more confirmation that Zachariah is going to be ours.

More sweetness

Because I can't seem to get a moment that I am not holding a baby, or someone is standing here talking in my ear, I can't get my thoughts formed to do much writing, even though my brain is swirling with all sorts of things I want to talk about. Instead, I will just show you some more sweetness that we got going on around here!

I am such a sweet big brother!!

I am such a little snuggle bug!! I love to be held all-the-time!

more of Christian

I do want to take the time to tell more about our day Wednesday, but for now, I am going to just show you some more pictures of this cutie!

This is Christian Jacob, he was born Monday, October 19th at 11:54 pm. He is Zachariah's baby brother! They have the same mom. He is just precious! He doesn't look as small in these photos, but he is tiny! Zachariah weighed about 6 1/2 lbs when he was born, and I am guessing Christian is about the same. I don't have a birth weight on him right now. He is smaller than any of my babies ever were. He feels so light in our arms. He is a really good baby.....only fusses when he is hungry, or when he wants you to hold him...(which is most of the time, but we cover that pretty well b/c all 5 of us are always wanting to hold him!). I had forgotten just how soft and sweet smelling a newborn was. Oh, he is so precious!!

I am so glad to be able to have Zachariah's brother with us. He just fits right in with our family perfect. Zachariah loves to come up and pat his head and give him some kisses. He has shown some jealousy, but mainly when he is really tired. He seems to really like him.

This is his first photo, when he arrived at our home

Zachariah meeting his baby brother for the first time

These photos weren't staged, this is just what he was doing when he was holding him. Noah is so excited to have another baby brother.

Wordless Wednesday, on Thursday

post

Update on court, and a new addition over here....

www.blessingsforthegoodlife.blogspot.com

Meet Christian

This has been the craziest day, and I will update later...I have no time now. This is Zachariah's baby brother that was born Monday night. He was placed in our home today, 2 hrs after we got back from court!

Court today, they extended dad's case until Nov4th, but they did terminate Zachariah's mom, so 1 down, 1 to go. I will talk more later, but my mother in law was asking for pictures, so I wanted to get them on here real quick!

Has it been enough?

Tomorrow we go to court at 10:00 am for the judge to make a decision that will affect the rest of our son Z's life. There is a chance there will just be another extension, and 3 more months drawn out, but also a good chance things will end for his parents tomorrow.

We started this journey over 14 months ago, and I knew this day would be here, and now it is. Being a foster parent, everyone says to me, "I couldn't do that, how do you let the kids go?" Is it better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all? I do believe so. Z has brought me happiness and love, I wouldn't trade it for anything, no matter what the outcome is. I know, without a doubt, the Lord gave him to me to be his mother, and this is exactly what I was meant to do.

Today, I have really reflected on everything I have done. I have prayed all along for him. I began praying for whatever was best would happen. I prayed that any of his family that would get him, would be good for him, and he would have a happy life. Then, as time has gone on, I have been more selfish in my prayers. I have just begged, pleaded that he gets to stay with us. That we can be his forever family.

Today I have questioned, have I done enough? Have I loved enough? Have I prayed enough? Have I asked God the right things for his child? Have I been selfish? Have I shown God in the things I do enough? It has all been in his hands all along, and I know that. I just question if I have been the servant he wanted me to be, have I done the very best I could do. Have I prayed hard enough that he will let Z be our son? Am I being too selfish to wish that? Have I really done this for the Lord, or my own desires for him to be my son? Will I be able to go on if I have to let him go? Am I trusting the Lord enough?

Another foster parent that just recently went through this gut wrenching lost posted this, and I think it says what we do so well....

Whatever the call is, whatever the sacrifice, the cross he wishes you to embrace, the path he wants you to tread, will you rise up and say "Yes Lord, I accept it; I submit, I yield, I pledge myself to walk in that path, and to trust Thee with the consequences? Oh! But you say, " I don't know what he will want next? No, none of us know that, but we know we shall be safe in his hands"-Catherine Booth

Please, keep this precious boy, and your family in your prayers tomorrow. Please pray that the Lord guides the judges decision.