365 Days

365 days ago Lucas was born. He came to us three days later. This day is commonly known in the adoption world as "gotcha day". He has grown from a 7 lb little peanut of a guy (top picture) to 18 lbs of rompin' stompin' boy (bottom picture). He's almost walking and he has four teeth with two more on their way. We've been fortunate enough to be with him for all his firsts. We look forward to many more firsts. While his adoption is not complete yet, we expect that we'll be through the entire process by next summer, barring any unforeseen circumstances. After some our past experiences, we're not holding our breath, just taking things a day at a time.

After years of being on the infertility roller coaster, these boys are a huge blessing. I see now, what I could not see then - that this is how we would build our family. That the children no one wanted would be desperately loved by us. How they would change our perspective and our lives in an instant. How much they would add to our lives.

People often ask how many more children we will take. I'm not making that decision today, or even tomorrow. As far as we know, number 3 for us is on the way in a fairly short period of time. We thought it would be after the first of the year, now we are told that it will probably be sooner than that. We don't know the sex of the new baby or what circumstances this child will be born into. We'll figure all of that out later. Maybe, for some reason, this child will not be given to us - maybe he/she is not meant to be part of our family. I don't question these things any more. I try to take things one day at a time and sometimes one minute at a time, knowing that what is meant to be is meant to be. After number three, we'll go from there. Many families are large and they manage to survive - I'm not sure HOW large we can get (we are limited in our home as to bed space!), but I'll take what I feel I can honestly handle.

We are truly blessed. Sometimes, we question all the trials we go through - I'm beginning to realize that the trials truly are temporary and though they seem like they will never end that they do and things get better. And that time heals, even though we're not sure at first.

Happy Birthday Lucas!

What to say today...

Today is election day. I fully expected that there would be a really long line (there was this a.m. when I went by our polling place at 7 a.m.). I was completely wrong. I walked in and checked right in to vote. I told the election workers that I had expected a long line, and was told that it was only busy first thing this a.m.

Lauryn voted for the first time ever today. I wanted to take a picture of her with her "I Voted" sticker, but she would have none of it. she is very camera "shy" so I don't have many pictures of her lately.

I'd like to say something amusing and fun, but I guess tonight I'm just too tired. Since I have to teach a class tomorrow, I guess I'd better get some sleep.

Hope everyone voted too!

Halloween 2008

So, I had the best Halloween ever yesterday. I don't really remember having such fun with my older child - probably because Halloween meant cold weather and long drives to trick or treat only the family as houses where she grew up were few and far between. Later when we moved, I don't really remember taking her too many places.

This year, was Ethan's first year trick or treating. We went to our church Trunk or Treat last weekend where he quickly picked up the knack of saying "trunk or treat pease!" then an emphatic "thank you!" before moving quickly on to the next car. Last night, we took him trick or treating just on our street. I only had to tell him once that we don't visit houses with no lights and he was off seeking those houses well lit with the Halloween decorations on full display. He'd seek out a house and point and say - "that one has lights mom!" Then he'd charge up to the door. Several times he was scared a little by the occupants of the home, especially when one of them came to the door in full (and disgusting) costume! He backed right off when he saw how little Ethan was and apologized. It didn't really seem to phase Ethan at all - he just went on to the next lit house.

Once we did our street, I convinced him to trick or treat daddy on a ruse to get him home. It worked - he was done. Then I assigned him the task of sitting with me and passing out candy to the other children. We went through about 250 pieces of candy so we must have had over 100 kids at the door. They would leave to go to the next house and Ethan would yell "hey - kids - over here - happy halloween!". He'd jump up whenever he saw a crowd coming and get all excited. He ended up handing out more candy than I did!

Thanks to a great sale at Toys R Us in December, we ended up with multiple costumes. Ethan got to be a pirate at the trunk or treat and a dinosaur for Halloween.

I don't know how I got so lucky to have both Ethan and Lucas in my life. I feel truly blessed on a daily basis!