One last visit..............

We brought tiny pumpkins to lay on their graves. The boys enjoyed that.

Can you tell who is getting their molars!?!?! :)

Even Ezra participated! I'll never forget these moments!

YES, he is weeping! Literally! One of the saddest things I've seen, but man did it warm my heart to see the tenderhearted, COMPASSIONATE side of Laine come out! I often wondered how much he actually comprehended when Gracie was alive for so little time, but he will talk about visiting Gracie in the hospital! Kids remember FAR MORE than what you can imagine. Laine was only 2 1/2 at that time! He misses his sister like crazy, so do all of us!

FAMILY! Just missing daddy and Chavalah! And believe me, THEY WERE MISSED!

The BEAUTIFUL cemetery! From left to right, Teya LeNae, Jobe Alan, and Grace Priscilla!

Ezra kept playing with the pumpkin, so we're bringing it back and placing it for the last time before we left! So hard to leave. So thankful they are all in Heaven in the sweet arms of JESUS!!! What a HUGE reunion we all look forward to when the Lord returns!!!

.............for awhile again. Not sure when we'll be back to Iowa again. But for now, this was an important stop.

More Vacation: The Ledges

Ezra tried SO HARD to get that wrapper off, but gave up and bit right into the plastic and ate the caramel with the plastic!! :) He was so determined to get it!

Have you ever been to the Ledges? Oh my goodness! Probably the most beautiful spot in Iowa! You almost don't even feel like you're IN Iowa! It's amazing! We enjoyed an afternoon of walking, riding, hiking, and finally a snack at the end of our hike! :) I'll let the pictures speak for themselves! No better way then to top it off with making caramel apples! Mmmmm, mmm!

Visit to Gpa & Gma Cowley's

Aunt Cheryl setting the dinner table!

Uncle Dave (the birthday boy) and Cousin Nicole carving the chickens!

Kids playing in the yard! BEAUTIFUL FALL DAY!
See all my Gpa's raspberry bushes! WOW! YUMMY!

Ezra picking his first batch of raspberries! :) Most of them got eaten! :)
Can you blame him?

Family all around the table eating! Big family, and this is only PART of our family!

Gpa & Gma Cowley! Still madly in love!
(My grandmother just had a stroke and heart attack! Doesn't she look GREAT!)

Cousins! :) Grew up close!

Bailey, Nicole's baby! Enjoying her chocolate cream pie.

Grandma with a few of her MANY GREAT Grandchildren

Laine climbing the tree in the front yard.

Thursday we drove down to Ames and arrived around noon. To our pleasant surprise, my uncle, aunt, cousin, her husband and two kids were all there to have lunch! It was my uncles' birthday! Happy Birthday Uncle Dave! They brought lunch for everyone! So yummy! Grandma Cowley actually had made a fresh raspberry pie from her very own raspberry bushes! SO YUMMY! (That happens to be my favorite pie! :)) Sat around and visited all afternoon. It was great.

Tuesday

On our way to the Blank Zoo! In the drenching rain! :)

Ezra's thumb is in his mouth EVERY time he's in his carseat! So sweet!

Laine in a cool "kids" size cave!

They had a fun wooden swaying bridge. Laine, Anissa & I all attempted! It was fun.

Marilyn B, a very longtime friend and really, considered a family member in my life, came from Cedar Falls to see me! I am SO BLESSED with people that love me! It's amazing! Anyway, this is Marilyn and Laine looking at the turtles in the water!

Ezra very much enjoyed his trip to the zoo! He's pointing at the blue frogs! Coolest looking frogs! Isn't it amazing how God so distinctly designed every single creature and living thing! WELL THOUGHT THROUGH! I'm in awe!

My sweet, SWEET boys! They are so precious! In front of the coolest Jellyfish display I've ever seen! See below for another picture!

Cool window seat looking into a huge aquarium. Ezra loved watching the fish swim right up to him!

This is the jellyfish set up I was talking about! Isn't it so cool!?

Laine acted out his own story of "Laine and the Hippo" much like "Jonah and the Whale!" :)

Marilyn and I trying to read the water sogged map of the zoo! The rain was pouring down but we had SO MUCH FUN!!!

This for me, was the highlight of the zoo! I've never seen a lion this up close and personal! We were literally one sheet of glass away from these lions! Again! IN AWE, of God's creation! Speechless!

This picture just doesn't do it justice! Hard to capture!

Monday

Our day started at Panera with some dear friends from Oskaloosa!!! Thank you Amy V & Cathy F. for driving up to spend the morning with us! We had a great time! Here is Ezra enjoying his PB&J sandwich! It was the thickest amount of jelly ever and guess what Ezra went after first! :) Ezra is our food man! He LOVES to eat! Any crinkle of cracker bag or the opening of the refrigerator door, wherever he is in the house, he will come RUNNING to partake! :) Secretly, it's one of my favorite to hear, those little footsteps coming to look for the food! :)

My friend Suzanne W. came to visit me from Waterloo, IA, thank you Suzanne for taking time out of your busy schedule to come see me! The day was GORGEOUS! We took our kids to the park and they played for three straight hours and it FLEW by! Here are our four kids. (L to R: Alexis W, Ezra, Conner W, & Laine)

Laine learned how to "pump" his swing to get him to go high!

Alexis and Laine feeding the ducks!

Anonymous Comments!

:) I am SO THANKFUL for the viewers of my blog! I truly am! THANK YOU for visiting when you can. We welcome you any time!

I have a small favor! If you write a comment and don't have a registered account where it will publish your name, is there a chance you could at least put it in your message? I LOVE knowing who is saying what! :) This has happened several times throughout my blogging and I haven't figured out who they are! :)

KEEP LEAVING THOSE COMMENTS!!!! :) Love them!

Our attorney.............

...............called us this morning to let us know we have an OFFICIAL date to mark on our calendar for Ezra's "gotcha" day. His adoption hearing will take place Tuesday, October 28, 2008 @ 0900. This is when we will meet in the courtroom, with the judge and he will grant us full legal guardianship of Ezra and actually officially change his name to Ezra Daniel Baltzly! If you've spent this day with me, you KNOW that my repeated phrase of the day has been, "I can't believe it!" "I just can't believe it!" :) Thanks so much for your prayers! There are more details to come!

Pray on now for Chavalah's hearing this coming Wednesday. They will decide whether or not to set a termination hearing next or not. We're praying the judge sees fairly and that he agrees to set a termination date, within this Wednesday's hearing, for the following month!!! That would be so fantastic!

We've had a wonderful day today! I'm exhausted at this point and am needing to close my eyes and go to bed, but I will blog about our day tomorrow and try and post pictures!

Good night!