WE'RE HOME (IOWA)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW! Have you ever seen so much luggage!?
What was I thinking traveling with two little ones ALONE!?

Buddies! Brothers!!!!!

Getting on the plane! So excited!

Laine got spoiled! WOW! He got to go INSIDE the cockpit and look around and play around a bit. The pilot even let him try his hat on! He was ELATED!

Ezra got to be in there too! :) He was the "co-pilot."

Waiting for our next flight from Memphis to DesMoines!!

Aunt ShiSha picked us up inside!

Granny & the boys!

Besides Ezra being so darn cute, this picture is special!
The stool he is sitting on is the same stool I used to sit on
at the big farm table with Granny's yummy meals at the farm!
I miss those days so much! :( Just being a kid, playing like kids!

The boys played for a few hours this afternoon in Granny's GREEN midwest grass!
Ezra immediately found something to "drag" around!

Granny has a "play" bird that is on a stick and Laine was absolutely glued to. He went around pretending everything the bird would do. He even found a "real" bird's nest and landed him there (hope it was an old one and that we didn't "desensitize" it for the bird living there. He also connected it with some food from Granny's bird feeder! So sweet!

Ezra found a nice cool spot underneath Granny's porch, in the dirt and was having the time of his life crunching on the oyster crackers Granny had thrown out for the birds! :) Oh yes, that's my Ezra. If Ezra sees food, Ezra thinks he HAS to eat too!

And finally, at the end of our day we sat out on the back porch and swang on the swing.

"There's no place like home!" "There's no place like home!" "There's no place like home!" I LOVE being back in Iowa. I am so thankful and so BLESSED to be here. I'm loving every minute and there's just something special and unique about bringing your own kids back with you. We had a GREAT flight out here. Our flights were on time, no delays, Ezra did great considering the first flight was almost 3 hours. We got a bit restless towards the end of that one, but we did it! With no seat! He was literally in my lap, in front of Laine, or sharing a seat with Laine. We had a nice break with a 2 hour lay over. JUST enough time with kids. We stopped and had dinner then found our gate and boarded just about 15 minutes later! PERFECT! Our last leg of the trip was only about an hour and Ezra slept half of that finally. Otherwise had not slept or napped the entire day! Got to Granny's and set up beds, put the kids to bed and everyone was asleep shortly! Ezra had a rough night with waking up several times! I just think it was an unfamiliar place for the first night, but we made it!

Went to church with my Granny this morning, enjoyed seeing some old faces. We grandkids grew up going to that church whenever we'd be visiting for the weekend, and a lot of the same people are still going to that small church in Polk City. Came home and had lunch, and my friend Lisa came from Davenport to see me! We had a FABULOUS time together. Went and visited the graves today. It always takes me a few time going out there to "readjust" to the harsh reality of that. I plan to go a few more times this week. Grabbed a few pizzas and had dinner, then Lisa took off for home again and the boys went to bed! Much smoother tonight! YAY! Hoping now that they sleep well tonight. They both actually took fairly good naps today, but they needed them! ;) So did mommy! :)

Good night for now! I'll post again this week!

Our weekend!

The beautiful birthday girl, Dalaynie P.

The theme of the party was a "Jr. Chef Party" so the kids all got to make dirt cake. Here is Laine's beautiful flower pot full of dirt cake. :)

Dominick, the adorable birthday girls' brother!
He was SO THRILLED with his balloon!

Four of the bows I made this weekend. I'm trying to go "basic" so she can wear them with several outfits. Most of my bows are going to be solid colors.

Hello! Been a bit since I've posted! Sorry!

We had a great weekend! Benjamin was finally off after 10 long days and we were so happy to spend some time with him!

Saturday was a busy day filled with a birthday party of a friend, Dalaynie P., and then a Hairbow Making Party for mommy!!!!! WOW did I need that! A night out with a great friend, Amber D, and even better, making hairbows for a baby girl finally! I'm not an expert by ANY means, but I didn't do too bad! My dear cousin, Andra, hosted this incredible bow making party and taught about 20-30 ladies in her very own cozy home how to make these bows! Had so much fun. I made the red one AT the party Saturday night and since I've been home, I've made 3 more! It's a slow process for me, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but again, I am LEARNING! :)

This week will be busy packing for Iowa! Can't wait to go "HOME!" Oh, how I miss my dear state of Iowa! Looking forward to a relaxing, yet fun-filled week with my boys! Laine and Ezra are both going with me! We will miss daddy SO MUCH, and Chavalah! :( (My mom looks forward to a week with just Chavalah though! :) ) I don't blame her!

Our princess!

Chavalah Lyn - 6 1/2 weeks old

I haven't posted lately about Chavalah. She is doing SO GREAT! Sadly, I've missed the last several weeks of her GROWING, but she is so beautiful and I'm actually forcing myself to take the time and hold her while she grows in these last several days. THANK YOU for praying! I'm firmly believing now that the more she's held, the more she's turning the corners from her withdrawal symptoms! She's really been a mild case, and for that we are thankful. But, still, there are some!

Chavalah will be 7 weeks tomorrow!!! WOW! Where did the time go, and when we went to a dr visit a few weeks ago (maybe 2 1/2), she already weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces!!! So she's got to be closer to 8 by now! She is eating super well if you can't tell with the plump little cheeks you see and she still sleeps quite a bit, but also is awake, probably a total of about 2 hours a day now if you combine all the little "increments" of sleep throughout the day. She is sleeping through the nights now without any feedings but is super hungry when she wakes up! She is smiling TONS and is actually cooing if you really get to talking to her. It's priceless. The boys continue to LOVE HER UP with lots of kisses. Laine has held her several times and enjoys that, and Ezra can't leave her alone when she's in her carseat. Or when she's laying on the couch, he'll go over and lay his head gently next to her so their cheeks are touching and say, "Awwwww." Just TOO CUTE! Enjoy the pics!

Our school boy, Laine!

WOW! Now what do you say to that!? :) This mama is PROUD!

p.s. In case you're wondering why my boys aren't wearing many clothes in the video clips, it's still HOT here in Arizona! It's taming down, we're about 99-101 now in the afternoons, but that's still HOT! :)

Tradition

Our family has started a new tradition at our dinner table. Every time we eat dinner, after praying as a family, we sing a little jig. Ezra, one month ago wanted nothing to do with even holding hands and closing his eyes, let alone SINGING after our prayer when he's SO HUNGRY. Well, I'm happy to say that one month later he LOVES singing along with us, and often, you will hear him walking around the house trying to sing the song! Too precious! We are SO THANKFUL for a God-based foundational example that we can now pass along to our own children. We only pray DAILY that our children will learn and grow to know Jesus as their personal Savior and desire to ask Him into their hearts one day soon!

Petition To Adopt!

We received the DRAFT of our petition to adopt! Talk about emotional! It's the document we give to the court to request "legal guardianship" of our sweet Ezra! It petitions also to change his name to our chosen name of Ezra Daniel Baltzly! WOW! LOVE IT!

We signed the verification this morning and will mail it to our attorney tomorrow, once she receives it and signs it, she'll finally file it with the court to give us our hearing date. In the petition it says no later than 60 days from the filing, but it shouldn't take that long to set the hearing AT ALL. I've heard they are about 30 days out. One month, so not bad. Can't wait for this to be final!

Keep praying for our sweet Chavalah now. There is another hearing October 8 to finalize the publication, and at that point, we're praying judge has favor for our request to schedule a termination hearing immediately. I'll be in Iowa during that hearing, but I plan on calling the attorney and asking what resulted from the hearing and will try and post from Iowa when I hear.

This is all for now, but I'll keep posting as I can. Hopefully some pictures of the kids next time!

WE'RE IN!!!

Well, not necessarily the way we had anitcipated, but guess what! All of my stuff from old house is officially in the new! Just in a disasterous way! :) We had some movers scheduled to come at 8 AM yesterday and they never showed. Apparently their "system" went down and they lost our information. So, because the hearing for our "kick out" was yesterday WHILE we were intending to move out, I was too nervous about waiting even one more day to reschedule them and have them come back out. I was too afraid that the judge would've sent a sherriff out that night, so we went up and rented a Uhaul and literally started loading ourselves. We had to stop at 1:00 as Benjamin had an interview at his work for a promotional position and then he came back home and we were blessed with some people from our church lifegroup to help finish it up. We were "in" and officially here and locked our front door at 10:30 PM! Shew! This morning I'm "catching my breath." I've unloaded about 15 kitchen boxes, but have about 20 more, then the rest of the house! :) FUN! It's different though when "you own" and can actually feel like it's "permanant." Such a different feel! I LOVE IT!

Will post pictures when I get them taken! :) Unpacking for the time being!