OFFICIAL

So, had a "weepy" moment this morning! Chavalah's birth certificate with her new name and new "mother's name" and "father's name" were ready to finally be picked up! Not sure why, but after driving to Florence to get this "official certificate" with her new name, and after getting back in my car and actually LOOKING at it for the first time, I started weeping! WHAT A DAY OF CELEBRATION!!!!!! In foster care, time is NEVER on your side, and to WAIT and WAIT for this very document that declares BY LAW, she is Chavalah Lyn, and daughter of Ben & Joanna Baltzly, there's just nothing like it! I know, I know, you're probably saying, YOU SHOULD BE USED TO THIS BY NOW. Can I just put the record straight! YOU CAN'T EVER GET USED TO WAITING FOR YOUR CHILD! It's like waiting 17 or 18 months to "deliver" your unborn child. Our "delivery room" is the court room, and until then, you are only a care taker.

Took the fresh birth certificate straight to the SS office in Casa Grande to change it to a new number also! Many of you might remember what happened with Ezra. Once the adoption is final until the old number changes to the new, our information, the day of the adoption is all accessible through the SS office. So if someone (in our case, the birth mother) decides she wants to OUT OF THE BLUE go and look up her childs name for information, OUR information, as of November 17 is readily available. YIKES! That's what happened last year with Ezra. She showed up at the SS office looking for Ezra's whereabouts. It just so happened (because we serve an AWESOME GOD) that we had changed his SSN either hours or days from her looking him up and his number (the old one she had) was unable to be retrieved because it had literally JUST changed to his new one. Had I gone in even ONE DAY later to file for a new one than I did, she could've EASILY have had ALL of our info! So, this is a significant day! Filing for her "new identity." Can't wait to have the card in hand to know that it too has been taken care of! About another 4 weeks they say! :)

Thanks again for your prayers about this!

I'll probably post one more time before our trip that we leave on this weekend. Just wanted to post this HIGHLIGHT!

MORE!

I still have lots more! Just need to do these in small chunks! Here's to get you started again! :) Will be back later with more!

Laine's Belt Ceremony

Many of you knew Laine was in karate these last few months! It has been the neatest thing for Laine! He's learned A LOT about respect, honor, self defense, etc. He completed a few months of karate and graduated now into the orange belt! They had an actual belt ceremony that we attended, and I was a PROUD MAMA! He did GREAT! We plan on starting orange belt after the first of the year! He's definitely interested enough to continue! Opa & Oma got him his uniform for Christmas. In the beginners or white belt, it wasn't a requirement and I hated spending the money on a uniform if I wasn't sure whether he'd like it or not! We're very proud of our orange belt son! WAY TO GO LAINE!

Waiting patiently for the ceremony to start with his buddies.

The spectators! :) Benjamin was standing behind my dad.

Beginning the ceremony! Notice Laine in the bright yellow shirt and the ONLY child there without a uniform! :)

Removing the old white belt.

Tying on of the new ORANGE belt!

Congratulations hand shake from his instructor.

Shaking hands with one of the owners. Also an instructor.

Ezra digging through Oma's purse. Funny story. Mom had eaten at a Chinese restaraunt earlier that day and decided to keep her fortune cookie, as she knew that she'd be with her grandkids that night and that one of them just might want that cookie. Well, Ezra saw the wrapper sticking out the top of her purse and begged for the cookie, naturally! After finishing the entire cookie, he thought he was on to something by finding the first treasure and thought perhaps there might be another treasure in there somewhere, so he proceeded to dig through Oma's purse, but mom told him there was literally nothing because she knew there was no gum, etc. Ezra wouldn't take no for an answer, and SURE ENOUGH, he found ONE measily little mint at the very bottom of the purse and had the biggets grin on his face when he pulled it out of her purse! Little stinker! :)

Very proud parents after the ceremony!

We all finished the night out at Barro's Pizza to celebrate! It was such a great night!

From Catepiller to Butterfly!

Cocoons! I realized I didn't take a picture of them as a caterpillar! :(

You can see here one has hatched from its' cocoon and its' wing is still not all the way out.

And here it IS! Unbelievable!

Laine saying his "goodbyes" to his butterfly friends.

Lid is open and watching them fly away!

Have you ever watched the entire cycle in which a caterpillar turns into a butterfly!? WOW! FASCINATING! It brings me to my knees! We serve an AMAZING God! Truly!

In one of our Language Arts lessons, Laine and I read a poem about how a caterpillar turned into a beautiful butterfly. I've heard many things about the neat process that it takes, but I've never witnessed the entire process myself! Truly a miraculous thing. How they can spin that cocoon and more or less "hatch" out of the cocoon with LIQUID wings and then turn into a GORGEOUS butterfly is truly breathtaking. I thought it'd be pretty cool to witness it myself, so I purchased a butterfly house and we experimented with watching this amazing process. I didn't get near as many pictures as I should've, but you can see a little bit! We eventually let them fly away! Would totally do it again if I could!

Ezra's Room

Ezra's new room!!

So we decided that a great time to paint Ezra's room was the week OF the adoption party! How smart were we!? :) Ahem!

Not as easy as it looks! :) Those stripes were a bit TEDIOUS, especially for a very "symmetrical picky" person! Ha! BUT, we did it! And I am so proud of our outcome. His room is ADORABLE! Now the only ones left in the entire house are Laine's, laundry, our master bedroom and bathroom! That's IT! Every other square inch of this house has been painted. I don't think I've posted pictures of the boys' bathroom or Chavalah's darling Pooh room, I'll have to work on that! :) Ezra is very proud of his room! He is our very orderly son, and if we even leave ONE dirty shirt on his floor when we put him down for nap or bed, the next morning it will be squished in a dresser drawer. His closet doors have to be shut, his fan has to be rotating, his water has to be on his bookshelf right next to his bed, he can't have the blue elephant pillow anywhere NEAR his bed, you get my drift! Mmmm hmmm! One unique, but oh so precious little boy! :) WE LOVE OUR EZRA!!!!!

Adoption Party

The party girl! :) With Great Grandma Cowley from Iowa!

An idea of the decor! Every seat was full almost the entire party!

Our very first guest arrival! Very special friend, CeCe, also one of our therapists.

Didn't actually get very many pictures DURING the party.

Mama's big hugger! LOVE my Laine hugs! He's so special!

Can we say, "WIPED?" :)

Opening a special gift that someone gave to each boy.
Aunt Joy & Ezra!

I think Chavalah's Adoption Party was a hit! We had over 100 people come to celebrate with us! We are SO BLESSED to have great friends and family like we do! We are so grateful! I fixed a huge meal of Taco Salad and Chocolate Heath Cake. I think it turned out pretty well. It was a great meal to serve in mass quantities. Thanks to my mom and dad, sister in law Joy and a few special friends that were so helpful in keeping everything filled while Benjamin and I were free to visit with the people in attendance. Thanks everyone that came and made that evening extra special for our family! We are so blessed to have you in our lives. We love each of you so much!

Be Right Back! :)

Oh dear, been a little too long again since I've posted. Have a lot to update on, so come back again soon for several more updates and posts. Everyone is doing well, just busy getting into this holiday season!

See you soon!