Ezra's Adoption Hearing

So, I haven't posted in awhile, have I!? :) And I bet you're all wondering where I am!

Just was sitting here giving the boys baths and thinking about tomorrow! It of course, brought tears to my eyes, overwhelmed with a happiness that just CANNOT be explained in words! It too brought all of you to my mind. You that have played such a significant role, whether by praying, or loving us through the blog, or by actually taking care of him, etc. I THANK EACH OF YOU from the very bottom of my heart for loving us! And for taking this journey along with us! Adoption is an amazing thing!

I put Ezra to bed tonight and cried and I verbally said, "Well, Ezra, I'm putting you to bed for the LAST NIGHT EVER as Amado Joey." Tomorrow night when I put you to bed, you'll be "Ezra Daniel Baltzly." :) And then I started bawling! Again, with happiness! He just looked at me and grinned with his chocolate brown Hershey kiss eyes and sucked on his silly little thumb. Such a sweet boy! Full of life, love and laughter!!

I'll try and post some pictures tomorrow night! I'll do my best! Busy day tomorrow! But check back. I too have a few posts I'll post of our fun Saturday at the pumpkin patch and our fun Sunday night carmaled apple and hot apple cider party with my mom and brother and sister-in-law and nephew Jack!

Rule 57!!!

We're heading for Rule 57 with Chavalah! YAY! That's so exciting! Our Rule 57 hearing will be held November 12 @ 9:30.

What does this mean you say!?

It means that we can change the permanency case plan from "temporary" to "severance and adoption." Let me give you a normal circumstance so you can see how great God is and is mightily working in our home! By law, you cannot terminate a parental right for 9 months since they've been "placed" into the custody of the state. Once they've been in custody for 9 months THEN you can start the LONG process of severance and adoption. The ONLY way you can do it before 9 months is if you file a Rule 57. Filing this is RARE!!!! Once the Rule 57 has been "signed in" they can schedule a termination hearing, usually that has to be done within 30 days, so we're looking at middle of December for the severance and termination hearing! Once that termination hearing is over, at any point, we can file adoption paperwork again and start to file our petition and complete her adoption SOON!!!!!!!

Please keep praying for these hearings to go smoothly! Again, we're really at the mercy of the judge! I'd hate to have the judge's job!!

I'll keep posting as I know more!

Let the paint project.............BEGIN!!

As you can see, Benjamin got just a little carried away with the painting! (Bad hair day, I know!)

Here's a sneak peek at our front room! :) More to come once it's dry and everything is put back in place! :)

Laine Funny: The color of our paint is called Hot Chocolate! :) Laine very seriously asks, "Is it to lick????" Ben & I were laughing so hard! :) It's a very good question!

Here they are!!

Our living room.

You can see the living room from the corner view looking the other way!

Dining Room (you'll notice the steps in the back going up)

Kitchen (my favorite place in the house! :))

Other side of the kitchen!

Alright, so MANY of you have been begging me for pictures of our new home on the inside! I've tried to capture a few of the downstairs. Only room I haven't photoed for you is our front room which is our "toy room" as we are set and ready to paint TOMORROW! So, I'll photograph that after it's finished and give you an idea of what that room looks like! :) But for now, here are a few to tie you through to the next photo shoot! Enjoy!

Happy Saturday!

YAY! We've gotten so much accomplished today! It feels GREAT! Aside from hanging some bike hooks and hanging some garden tool hooks, our garage is all cleaned up!!!!! We FINALLY get to use our garage for parking! YAY! How exciting. One huge thing off our minds. Now onto the next project! Why didn't anyone tell us home owning came with "constant projects!?" :)

Now tonight I'm going to finish tidying up the downstairs and put my fall decorations out, then maybe I'll take a few pictures of the inside and post! Keep in mind, it's NOT PAINTED yet! But at least you can get an idea of what it looks like, THEN as we paint, I'll post new ones! :) It will take months to paint and furnish, and I'm just fine with that! At least I OWN a home now and am not going to get kicked out at any moments notice! :) I'll try and post later so check back!!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

We're home again! Back to the grind of every day life! BUSY! Especially now preparing for Ezra's adoption! We're so excited!

If for some reason I didn't get an e-mail to you (I've had some come back for wrong e-mail addresses, etc), please know you're cordially invited to Ezra's Adoption Hearing, in the Pinal County Courthouse (Florence, AZ), on October 28 @ 9:00 AM.

On November 2, at 2:00, there will be a dessert open house in his honor! We'd LOVE to have you and your families to come out and join us that day if you can!

I'll post more as I can.

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.