Adoption Month!! Also known as GOTCHA month!!

September was a lovely month indeed! Here is Joshua with Mommy on our first day together. We spent a couple of hours at the park in Salt Lake City, while Birth Mom hung out nearby to make sure all was well with Josh. He did great that day and we were able to increase the time we spent with him quickly. Joshua was comfortable with our family almost right away. It was so cool to watch him not only get used to us, but you could actually tell he felt spiritually comfortable with us right away!

 Dana came with me to Salt Lake City, and I am so glad I got to spend some quality time with her as well!! She is a special young woman and I am so happy my Andrew made such an excellent choice in a spouse!! Dana is definitely a keeper!!  Love her!!

Once we arrived home with Joshua (which took a few days longer than we thought due to Interstate Compact paperwork and requirements), Stephen was more than happy to give his new little brother some attention! He is going to be a great big brother to Joshua!!

Poor little Joshua will have to get used to mom and Dana's fascination with new baby clothes! And apparently, costumes as well!! Josh is going to be a little monkey for Trunk or Treat - which is very appropriate as he IS our little monkey. Wow, this kid's personality is really coming out now that he is home with his new family!  He was so shy at first - not anymore! He is laughing and goofing around and babbling like crazy at anyone who will listen! He is smiley and happy and just a cutie!!
We are getting his medical stuff all lined up. He starts with specialist appointments next Tuesday. First GI Surgeon to schedule his G-Button placement so we can get rid of that nasty old NJ Tube! I know he will be so happy to get rid of it, as it really bothers him when he swallows and also bothers the skin on his cheek! We have to switch sides and tape every couple of days to keep his skin soft and supple.  Next will be Orthopedics to look at his feet! We are praying he will just need serial casting and not bone surgery to straighten them out. Little dude wants to stand up and walk to badly! But we can't let him stand until the ortho gets a look at those little clubbed feet!!
After those two appointments, we will have Urology and hopefully regular GI doctor, so we can get his catheters ordered, and also a swallow study done, to see if we are safe to start feeding Joshua solids! He wants to eat so much! Hoping his swallow study shows that he can!!
He has just been a joy. We are taking him to meet big sister Katie this coming weekend in San Antonio.
Speaking of Katie, she has found out where she will be stationed first, once she is done with training. She will be at Fort Gordon, Georgia! I am excited she will only be 14 hours away from us! It is a good location, so she is okay with it too, though I think she kind of was hoping for somewhere a little more exotic! LOL
Andrew starts his Mobility officer training soon, and Dana was accepted into the CID unit in Houston! So we will have our very own Special Agent in the family (NCIS style, except Army)! I know she will enjoy that so much! Happy she was able to get the transfer!!
Happy birthday to my sister, Melanie, too! Her birthday was September 23rd and I won't tell how old she was!!  She should be happy though, cos she is younger than me!! Hoping they will come over soon to meet Joshua!!
Well, that is it for now! Will write more when we have other exciting things happen, but it will be hard to top this month! Love to all!!

Labor Day 2011

Memories I Hold In My Heart,

It seems like only yesterday.....

How Time Flies!

Heaven is blessed with perfect rest but the blessing of earth is toil.  ~Henry van Dyke

It is Labor Day 2011 tomorrow. It has been a busy month so far. The first was my brother Kevin's birthday! Happy birthday to a super, wonderful, kind man whom I am proud to call BROTHER!  


The second was a day full of phone calls and planning with LDS Family Services in Utah and LDS Family Services in Dallas, to coordinate and facilitate our last adoption.


The third was a day of sadness mixed with a day of joyful blessing! September 3, 2011 marks 20 months since my precious baby Emily left this earth and flew to Heaven into the arms of Jesus. My sadness was tempered with joy this month though, as my daughter (in-law, but really my daughter) Dana, was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. I have enjoyed watching her testimony of Christ grow and her knowledge advance as she reads her scriptures and comes to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What a choice spirit and beautiful daughter of God she is! I was so proud to see my son, Andrew, holding the Priesthood and being able to baptize his wife. What a special memory they will forever share! 


Tomorrow, on Labor Day, we will rest as a family and begin to prepare for our trip to Salt Lake City on Wednesday to meet our new son, Joshua and his birth mother.


On Tuesday, September 6th, I celebrate my own birthday. My children bought me a beautiful charm bracelet and couldn't wait to give it to me! It has charms representing each child and one telling me I am loved. I treasure it already! I will be adding many more charms of special meaning over the years to this bracelet. Maybe one day I will be leaving it to a special grand-daughter. 


On Wednesday, we will leave for Utah. Dana and I will be driving, so we hope to arrive on Thursday. It will be a 24 hour car ride, but we will split it into two days, and it will be a fun road trip for us! 


Friday will be the day we meet Joshua for the first time. I feel I know him already. I feel his spirit in my heart and I cannot wait to hold him and cuddle him. Joshua's birthday is also Wednesday, September 7th, and he will be two years old. September 7th is also Kevin and I's 26th wedding anniversary! What a special day this will be!


Kevin will be joining us in Salt Lake City on Saturday the 10th to meet his son also. If all goes well and without a delay, we will be signing paperwork on Monday the 12th, and Joshua will be all ours!  We will have to stay in Utah until Interstate Compact is complete between Utah and Texas, and then we will be able to travel home with our little boy. 


The crib is all set up and the family is all ready to take on a new little one. Joshua has Spina Bifida, like our Stephen, so we feel competent and prepared to have him join our family. We know we can take good care of him and help him live his life to the fullest and be happy and healthy! 


So it is a joyful, busy time in our lives, while at the same time, still a sorrowful, melancholy joy. We still miss our Emily so very much. She is always on my heart and mind. What would have been her sixth birthday is coming up in October and that will be a very hard day. I know she is smiling down on us as we prepare to take Joshua into our family and probably had a hand in him joining us! She knows he will be comfort and joy to her mommy, and will ease some of my longing and heartache for her. But she also knows I will always, always miss her sweet spirit and beautiful little face. No other child could ever replace my Emily, but I am happy for the opportunity to develop love and bonding with another little one, who in his own way, will be irreplaceable also! 


In my heart there is always room for more children and more love! But Joshua will be our last adoption. In the future my love will be shared again with grandchildren (I hope)!  There will be rest from my labors, and I can pass the torch to my children to toil and teach and love their families as I do mine!  


Today in Church, the opening hymn was "Because I Have Been Given Much". This did not surprise me, as it has always been played and sung when we are pondering an adoption. But it did remind me once again, how blessed I am! My Heavenly Father has given me so much in my life and I am so thankful for His love and His comfort in times of need. 


So, the next time I write, I will be a mother of SIX. Can't wait to post pictures and tell you all about Joshua!!