Weekends are so fun!

We had a fun weekend, including a corn hole tournament and pig pickin with friends and then birthday cake with other friends, then pizza and football after church today with friends. We also had a fun family photo shoot by a sweet friend today. Here is a couple sneak peeks she gave us already! I hope you had a great weekend too!

I love summer

It true I do love summer~ But I also love the crisp fall air too--not that we have seen any of that yet in NC, but hey a girl can dream!! We had a great end of summer annual beach trip to Myrtle with (Danielle's) mom. This year we got the treat of Kailyn and Amber, two of our nieces getting to join us from NY and they too had a blast! It was great to get to spend so much time with them! Watching them boogie board and body surf, make human mermaids with Makenna, read on the beach, and cruise the lazy river together was awesome! I can however patiently wait for the pre-teen years! ha ha! Baby K had lots more firsts at the beach, first time her little feet were in the sand, first time she put her toes in the ocean, heard the waves up close, rode around a lazy river, slept on a lawn chair poolside with the ocean in the background, just to name a few! She did awesome and was a very laid back, easy baby the entire trip, sleeping through the night all but one night there! She just wanted extra snuggle time with Jay and I that night I guess ;).

We returned home to find our apartment had been robbed. While we are sad about some of the sentimental things that are gone we are thankful that we were not home and more things are not missing. Hopefully the police will get some hits off the prints they took back for processing.

September 2013 has brought lots of changes and busyness to our little family such as Danielle now staying home again full time (by the way if you know anyone looking for affordable, reliable childcare for their toddler in our area please get them in touch with us), Jason starting a new job, sweet baby K still with us, Makenna returning to school next week after her first track out, Awana starting for Makenna tonight and who knows what else!

We are so blessed to be able to still have sweet baby K with us and to have the best 5 year old in the world, a great loving church and amazing friends and family!!! We are so un-deserving!

I hope your September is starting off well too!! And for a baby K blog debut see below a couple cute pics from our vacation!

Phew busy month!

What a month! Baby K has been with us over a month now! Where does the time go! We cant believe she is already 8 weeks old! She is sleeping through the night most nights still and is awake a lot more, she loves her little play mat and bats at all the toys-- its really funny! Shes still pretty fussy most evenings, but were getting through it. This too shall pass. She is smiling a lot more now, and I swear she tries to laugh sometimes already! I cant wait to see how big she is at her appointment next week.

We had to take an unexpected trip to NY last week to be with our families due to a tragic sudden death of Danielle's beloved Uncle. While it was an emotionally rough trip it was nice to see family and introduce baby K to her (foster) Great Grandparents, Grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends!! She had a lot of firsts on our trip like seeing horses, Alpacas, chickens, riding a 4 wheeler with Jay, going to Uncle Richie's car show, spending time at the orchard, shopping, watching us all eat yummy Soft serve at Country Drive in--YUM, went to a funeral ;(, went on Papa's pontoon, spent time at Ballston Lake, met lots of doggies big and small, was loved on and spoiled by and extended (foster) cousins and family/friends! Both girls did great in the car, I don't know how Jay does the entire trip driving almost by himself! Hes such a trooper!

We got exciting non adoption related news this week too, Jay has been with the same company for over 5 years now, no raises due to budgets, annual layoffs (thankfully never got laid off),gotten two promotions with no salary increase, etc...its over an hour away from our home with traffic and while he enjoys the work we have been praying for something better for our family for years, Well friends the day has come! God is so good! Jason accepted a job offer this week! The new job is much closer to home, is giving him a sign on supplement, more money, has room for growth and a growing/thriving company! He starts after our beach trip and we are so excited and I am so proud of him!

We are still loving on baby K like our own, even though we still have no idea how long she will be in our home. She has not gotten to visit with her mom and dad in a couple weeks now, not due to our choice. We go to court Aug 20 (Tu) to see what the judge says her parents have to do to get her to come back to them. We leave for our annual beach trip with Danielle's Mom and Kailyn and Amber (YAY) next Saturday, we are excited to relax at the beach and expose baby K to yet another of many firsts-the ocean! One thing for sure this little peanut will be well loved and spoiled no matter how long she is with our family.

I hope late Aug is finding you all well! Thanks for your prayers, thoughts, gifts and love!!!

Hi everyone! We are having a blast with Baby K and are enjoying every minute God gives us with her. Shes a good eater and sleeper! Makenna is adjusting well, just doesnt want to leave her to go to school in the mornings...but hey who can blame her I guess. Shes still doing great in kindergarten and having fun (once she gets over us leaving her that is).

Today K's mother didn't show up for her scheduled visit, we are praying all is well and shes ok....and that God protects her from her lifestyle choices and decisions. There's more to the story just pray with us for baby K as we know God's will be done with this sweet little girl, and are thankful for the opportunity to love on her for however long He deems.

We put up baby K's crib last night (Thanks T & C for your help!) and she enjoyed sleeping ALL night in it last night! Bye bye guest room for now, BUT the bed is only a storage closet away for when people come visit -- so no excuses friends and family, we always have room for you!

I hope everyone is enjoying their July like we are!

Weekend #1

Weekend #1 with baby K was awesome. We truly are in awe that God chose us to care for this sweet little girl right now. We swam, BBQ with neighbors, relaxed as a family, grocery shopped, went to church and swam some more. We love having her in our home and are excited to be able to do so for as long as God allows us to.

Makenna is doing well adjusting for the most part, and so are Jay and I ;). Thankfully Danielle is able to stay home during the day right now, so bring up at night isn't really affecting us much! I have some cute new pictures, if you would like to see them just text me or Jason. We are not putting her online at all at this time.

K's social worker comes for her " within 7 day" visit tomorrow, It feels like there is constantly someone here these days, which is fine with us, we are an open book!

We are just loving on her and exposing her to unconditional love and nurturing while we have her. Its hard to believe tomorrow will be a week that she has been here! Shes eating well and sleeping well. She enjoys her playmat and LOVES her swing! Shes not a huge fan of car rides, but neither was Makenna in the beginning.....we just wear ear plugs every time we drive anywhere......just kidding ;).

Week two of kindergarten for Makenna begins tomorrow! I still cant believe she is old enough for this! Shes doing awesome though!

Jay is picking up some overtime at work soon in the evenings from home, and really working hard for our family right now, I appreciate him so much and am so glad he chose me to go through this journey called life with! I am so lucky!

Thanks for your prayers!

Update

Hi Everyone. This has been a big whirlwind of a week for our family! Makenna's first week of kindergarten went fantastic! Danielle went to court yesterday as planned and met baby K's biological mother. Heres the run down on that.

Court started at 9am, I arrived around 835 just to make sure I was in the right place, etc..I was the only one in the court room for what seemed like forever so I fed and changed baby K and slowly some people started to arrive. There were three cases being heard. The social workers arrived and sat just in front of me, talking small talk to me, expressing how they hoped mom made it, etc....the judge came in and when it got to our turn mom still wasnt there but the sw had called her and discovered she was on her way and two bus stops away, so the judge agreed to wait and hear the other cases first.

Mom entered the court room and was very jubulient about "my baby" rushing over to make a scene and I handed baby K to her....mom appeared young and very "straggly" with her clothes (worn men's jeans a tank and no bra and disheveled hair, worn flip flops). I was very sweet, kind, told her how I had dressed the baby up just for her I hoped she liked it she responded warmly,etc. She had a few nit picky things to say about baby Ks hair sticking up in one spot, etc (it was sticking up because she was asleep in the car for the ride, but I gently wet it down with water from my diaper bag and obliged moms request. I know shes just trying to control what she can, since everything else is so out of her control at this point. She showed me a pic of "Dad" and he is African american (we were unsure of her race but were told she was bi racial).

The judge called the case, mom was instructed to leave baby with me and come up front. The sw and the Sw's lawyer sat together, mom sat with her lawyer and there was a lawyer for dad with an affidavit since he was working.

The judge agreed baby K should remain in care of the county (us), and it was over....mom and I along with the two social workers stayed and spent time together.

After mom left I asked the SW if there was any time line, etc and  all she told me was that it would take a lot for them to get her back (lots would have to take place and be done), mom will get supervised visitation twice a week for one hour. So we go to court Aug 20 again, but SW said that is not even on the table for baby K to go back to them at that point, its just to present a plan of things that have to take place and have a judge rule on it, etc. So we know baby K is with us until early fall at this point. The goal for her is to still go back to her parents, if they take the steps required to get her back.

We want whats best for baby K and will love her like our own however long she is here.

There are more details but we have to be careful what we share. Thanks for all your prayers and love, gifts and visits!

Its so cute to see Jay and Kenna with baby K, we are having a blast. Its def. been an adjustment for our family...but were doing well and know that God has a plan for this little cutie and we are happy to have been chosen to be a part of her story, even if its just for now ;).


-D and J

Day Three!

Night Three with baby K and we are all doing great. Its been a busy few days with various appointments for her and getting her all set up at our Pediatrician, WIC, etc. Shes only getting up twice a night, so that's been pretty easy to adjust to.

Baby K got a complete physical and is seemingly 100% healthy, is 7 lb 14oz and 20 inches long! She got put on meds for reflux but otherwise is doing fantastic!

She smiled for the first time(S) yesterday, that was a fun time! We also all went to the pool with friends last night and she seemed to enjoy the bathtub warm water this HOT weather provided! If she is in this family she must love the pool so we started early, just like we did with Makenna ;).

We went and spent the voucher she came with at Target, and were very thankful to know some of the sweet ladies at Target that helped us pick out some awesome deals on a great convertible car seat, ADORABLE clothes in this and next size(S), socks, a bathing suit, pacifiers, LOTS of diapers, wipes, soap and lotion, butt cream, gas drops, saline nose drops...it was a blast, a little overwhelming since you HAVE to spend it all at one time and cannot pay more if you go over, so you have to be exact or close to take full advantage of it. Weather baby K stays with us for some time or goes back home she will be set for a while now!

We are so grateful to friends who have lent us or given us baby equipment and supplies too like bottles, blankets, burp cloths, nipples, you name it we couldn't do it without it!

We are having a blast but are also trying hard to keep a great attitude about the reality she may end up going home sooner or later....which is not easy, we are human. But we are doing ok so far and are having fun loving on her for now!

Danielle has to go to court tomorrow and will be meeting the birth mom and possibly father, please pray for her as she isn't really sure what to expect and hasn't really ever been in court before. Court is scheduled for 9AM, who knows how long they will be there though and if they will actually go in at 9 or not. Juggling a newborn, stroller, etc coupled with not knowing where you are going. where to park, who the people are are you are meeting with, etc. all specific prayer requests if you have time!

Our agencies SW came today for our first in home visit with baby K here and she said baby K seems very happy and we are doing a great job, she was impressed with our set up and we did some paperwork and she explained more about the case/situation and about court tomorrow (what she knew).

If you haven't seen a picture of Baby K and want to just text us we will happily oblige, but please don't share on any online social media sites. Thanks for understanding.

We will let you know how court goes, but for now Baby K is still here and thriving.

Makenna is having a great first week of Kindergarten and is filling the role of big sister amazingly well, she understands it could be brief but is having fun and love to hold her, help feed her, bathe her, show her off..play with her...you name it. Its a great experience and we feel so blessed to be able to have this little sweetie and give M this experience ;).

Thanks for your prayers and support!

-D and J