Back to court........................AGAIN!!!!

I'm writing this early, in hopes you'll join us by praying for this coming Wednesday's permanency hearing. Scheduled for April 8, 2009, at 9:30AM. Ben & I will be heading to Florence (about an hour away) to appear at our next hearing, and hopefully the final before TERMINATION on April 22!!!!!!!! Lord willing, the biological mother won't show up at the hearing! I will report back after the hearing on this to let you know if there's anything new or how it turned out.

"God Bless You"

Wow, we're just EXPLODING with words. Today I was sitting on the couch and sneezed. OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY, Ezra says, "God Bless you mommy, God Bless You!!!" WOW! Was I stunned. I pretended to sneeze again to try and capture it on video.

My Dear MIRACLE Children

Mommy and her three miracles!

Just having one of those................"overwhelmed by God's goodness and grace to us"..........days. As all of you that are reading this pretty much know, God has worked OVERTIME on our behalf to create/design our family with the most amazing children we could have ever asked for. He went far ABOVE AND BEYOND His calling to provide us our beautiful "quiver full." So, I'm warning you, this post is super long with loads of pictures, but I just want to type this post as more or less a HUGE THANK YOU TO EACH OF YOU that faithfully read our blog and FAITHFULLY pray for our family! TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!! He has done GREAT THINGS! I can't help but think about where these sweet babies would be right now in life if left still in the care of their own biological mommies and daddies. Makes me weep just thinking about it, and it makes me weep even HARDER, having been their CHOSEN mommy, by God! Here are a few brief updates on each of them!


CHAVALAH LYN

Feeding my sweet baby girl. Only way possible right now with my hand having just had surgery!

HOURS of entertainment! Jumparoo!!! She is so happy in this.

Laughing at daddy. The man of her life! :) She's DEFINITELY a daddy's girl! She's got herself wrapped right around her daddy's finger!!!

Just woke up from a short snooze on daddy. Still smiling!

Here's her short snooze. I guess these are out of order! :(

KISSES! She giggles and giggles!

Chavalah is doing GREAT! She is our princess. We are MADLY in love with her. She is 14 pounds now, EIGHT months, yesterday! You can be praying for us April 8 & 22. If all goes well, the 22nd of April will be our final "hearing" not including the actual adoption hearing! YAY! We expect everything to go well, but please pray!!! She is still getting therapy. They've uped her amount of appointments as she's testing at 5 months old. Nothing that can't be helped, just look at our Ezra! At two he's doing everything he needs to be doing, but only by the help of his therapists. We expect the same for Chavie.


EZRA DANIEL

Deep in thought! :) Enjoying the fire. Notice how far away he is! :)

Ezra found his very favorite, "Elmo" shirt, and got himself dressed! We were laughing so hard when he came out!

The best eater EVER! He'll eat ANYTHING!

Playing in the sprinklers while daddy tests them out. Big brothers' shoes on.

HAPPY BOY!

Oh, Ezra. Our sweet boy, Ezra. WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT, two short years ago, bringing this precious bundle of joy home STRAIGHT from the hospital at 4 pounds would be this darn cute and irresistible!? Ezra has had AMAZING turn arounds in his life and for that we are forever grateful to our Heavenly Father. Ezra, except for when sick, is the HAPPIEST boy, with smiles every moment of the day. He is our strong will, but nevertheless, he's so playful and happy. He is talking and saying SO MANY WORDS and phrases, it's crazy! As his name means, "Helper," he is definitely mommy's helper. He throws his own diapers away, he picks up his toys, he likes to help in the kitchen by standing on the chair to help me, it's DREAMY having him around! :)


LAINE JOSEPH

Give the boy a flashlight and he's happy for HOURS! He always goes on these "make believe" adventures with his flashlight. So darling to watch him play.

Monkey boy! This boy LOVES to tie things, play with robes, swing from things, be acrobatic, just BE OUTDOORS!

Laine has a love for Oatmeal! He LOVES it! And I'm thrilled he does as it's healthy and filling for him! What could be better!?

Being silly! He loves doing something funny and laughing at himself. He keeps us laughing! Hanging out in Uncle Brians' boots.

Can he get any cuter than this?! Shew! Big green eyes, darling round and rosy cheeks, wavy hair, THICK hair. He's gorgeous! Here he is enjoying a concert with the ear plugs in.

OH NO! We're losing our first tooth!!!! Daddy told him to take a hammer to it so it'd come out sooner. NOT GOOD! :)

Laine is GROWING UP SO FAST! He is handsome, LOVING, a servant at heart, a hard working learner in school, mischievous, happy and excitable! School is going SO MUCH BETTER than the first semester. He has been on honor roll for several quarters now, and again, as you see above, he's about ready to lose his first tooth! It's one on the bottom. He's living, right now, for the day that that comes out! :) He heard about the tooth fairy from his buddy at school, so he's working REAL HARD at getting that out. Laine has been SUCH A BLESSING in our lives. Since the day we got him. He has been through SO MUCH, and the biggest miracle I've seen yet, and thank God every day for is the miraculous changes from when we first got Laine. When he first moved in to our home, Laine was a very distant little boy. I, coming from an extremely, loving and hugging family, found myself WEEPING, literally time and time again when all I wanted to do was pick him up, hug him, kiss him, love on him. But to no avail. Our "cuddle time" consisted of him sitting on one end of the couch and I on the other and watch Veggie Tales together. LITERALLY. I remember weeping and weeping about this. Wondering if he'd EVER learn to trust me. And BY THE GRACE OF GOD, our sweet Laine is the most lovey, huggy little boy you'll ever meet. Unbelievably miraculous!

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Happy Birthday to the LOVE OF MY LIFE!!!!

Sweet love, you make me the happiest woman ALIVE!!!!! I love you SO MUCH, it often makes me cry! I hope today is a happy one for you!

Last Saturday - Garden - 3/21

Daddy's little helper!

WOW, how things have just POPPED! Although these were taken a little bit ago, I JUST got them posted.

Ezra's 2nd Birthday

Ezra's birthday was really quite nice, considering I had just has surgery less than 24 hours before! :) I rested most of the day, but we played and enjoyed our day together VERY MUCH! It was the biggest blessing too, as a friend of mine, graciously brought our family a meal so we wouldn't starve :) and it was the yummiest, most delicious "day after surgery/birthday meal" I could've ever have asked for! WOW! And to top it all off, she brought CUPCAKES as she knew it was Ezra's birthday and knew I couldn't bake a cake! WOW! Now THAT'S what I call FRIENDS! THANK YOU SO MUCH, Patty! No words to express my gratitude.

The weather was amazing and we all sat out on our patio to have a picnic dinner!

See my new birthday plate I just did!? :) SO FUN!
Yes, that is a tea light candle. How tacky is that!? BAD MOM! I didn't realize I didn't have any birthday candles, so we "ad libbed." :)

Make a wish, precious!

Mmmm, this is SO YUMMY! Isn't he HANDSOME!?

Maticulous just like at his first birthday! :) For those of you who couldn't make it or don't remember, I made Ezra his very own birthday cake that he could "dive in to" and I had colorful stars around the bottom of the cake to make a border and instead of usual, grab a fist full of cake and stuff it in the mouth move, he took his tiny pincher fingers and took one tiny little star and ate it ONE AT A TIME around the bottom of the cake! We were all laughing! He's my particular one! Has to buckle the buckle on his high chair EVERY TIME he gets out of his high chair and has to make sure he pushes it in. Crazy kid! Not sure who he gets that from! :)

Sugar dazed after all that heap of frosting!

Week since Surgery!

Well, I'm back again! Lots has happened since last Thursday this time! I'm awake, that's one thing! :) Had my follow up with my doctors' office this morning. They said the incision actually looks good like it's healing. At this point, I'm still very unable to do much of anything. Typing is slow, but at least I can with one hand! :) My pain level on a scale from 0-10 is still at about a 7. Not sure why, but that's the way it is. My hand, too, is SO WEAK. At this point, I can't even clinch my hand into a fist. My fingers don't move, so slow going, but getting there. There is still numbness!!!!! That's my biggest concern! Quite a bit actually! They say 70% patients that have had this surgery get immediate relief day after surgery. Another 20% gradually get it back over 6 months or so after surgery, and the other 10% the surgery never heals as there is permanent nerve damage. I'm optimistic and believe I will be of the 20%!!! :)

So there you have it! :) Thanks for your continued prayers as I continue healing!!