Countdown to Mommy & Daddy vacation

Aaron and I love to travel.  In my messed up childhood, one of the positive memories I have is getting to take multiple vacations each year.  Aaron did not get the same experience as a child, and has jumped right on board with my desire to see the world.  We honeymooned in Maui/Kauai in May of 2004, and that was the last time we vacationed alone.  We LOVE having our children with us, but lets face it, your travel distance and array of activities are very limited when you have 4 children under 6.
We have been back to Hawaii two times with children and LOVE it so very much, but it is very expensive, and a long flight.  We decided to search for a location that would be very similar, but cheaper and closer.  We quickly came to the conclusion that we NEED to visit Costa Rica.  We had no idea when we would actually get to go, but I was determined that it would be our next vacation destination.
As the roller coaster with the twins started to slow down, Aaron and I both realized that we desperately needed a vacation ALONE.  It literally took me trading in my big luxury SUV for a new Odyssey to make it work financially, but it was worth it (and don't tell my husband, but I really like the Odyssey).    We originally planned to trade one of our timeshares for a location in Costa Rica, but there are so many areas to see so I convinced my husband to travel around and spend a few nights in each area.
Our plan:
2 nights will be spent in the central valley.  We will be staying in Grecia where the weather is like eternal Spring time YES!!!

We will then drive 3-4 hours to La Fortuna where Lake Arenal and the active volcano are located.  We hope to go white water rafting, repelling, and visiting natural hot springs while here.  We will have a direct view of the volcano from our lodge

Next we will drive around the lake 4 hours to Monteverde where the cloud forest is located and will hike and do a zip line tour.

Finally we will be driving to Manuel Antonio......The BEACH.  We want to take surf lessons and hike in the national park while there.

I get so excited just thinking about it.
And then the anxiety sets in.  We have left the twins before, but never Camryn and Pierce.   We are so blessed that Aaron's mother and our assistant director will be staying at our house to watch all of the kids, but I am getting a little sad about not being with them for 9 days.  I know they will be fine and so will Aaron and I, it is just a little emotional.

The next time I post I will have actual pictures of our trip, and I am praying that we will have a new "Hawaii" to take our family back to very soon.

4th of July Celebration

For the past 5 years we have been celebrating the 4th of July at a party put on by some friends who's son has attended our school since the day we opened.  The first year we went, our Camryn was two and our little man pierce was only 4 weeks old.  We now go with four children, and find ourselves far from being able to mingle with the adults.  Thankfully, Camryn and Pierce can swim like fish, so we have to keep our eye on them in the pool when it gets crowded, but do not have to have our hands on them at all times.  The twins are a different story.  We have had them in our pool several times this summer and by the time we set them free on the sun deck in our friends pool, they were insane.  They both love to walk right off the step over and over and go under with no concern about who is going to save them.  Aaron and I had to set up a blockade on the steps to keep them safe.  Hopefully by next summer they will be swimming like Pierce was at 2.  We had no idea if the babies would make it to firework time after a couple of hours of swimming, but they did, and it was so worth it.
It started with Camryn and Pierce getting their very first sparklers.

I was sure that baby girl "E" would be afraid of the fireworks, and had no idea what to expect from baby boy "D."  At the first boom, "E" went for Daddy and "D" got SO EXCITED!  He would not even sit in my lap and wanted down on the blanket with the other kids where he would bounce up and down, point, and scream "WOAH" with every boom.  He even crawled over to some strangers, screamed, and pointed to the sky as if to say "Do you see this???"  Everyone around us was cracking up laughing at how excited he was.  

Needless to say we had a GREAT 4th of July celebration, and all came home and crashed!  Hope you had a wonderful time as well.

Tooth Fairy Failure

I would first like to brag about the fact that I am practically a professional tooth puller, and my daughter, Camryn, is a very brave little girl.  She has let me pull all 4 of the teeth that she has lost.  The tooth fairy did great for teeth 1 and 2, but failure set in on tooth 3.  The pulling of said tooth was very eventful.  We were in the office at the school and her top front tooth was hanging on by the front root and I could not get it out.  My crafty assistant director (who gets completely grossed out by the topic) suggested using dental floss to loop around it and then pull both ends close to the root to get it out.  It took two tries, mostly because I was a little nervous, but worked like a charm.  That night we put it under her pillow and I proceeded to totally forget about putting the dollar under her pillow.  She came up the next morning in tears.  She wondered what she had done wrong to be skipped by the tooth fairy.  I felt terrible, but with the idea from yet another great friend, we snuck a dollar under her pillow at bath time and suggested she check one last time before going to bed.  She was so confused and delighted when she found it.
Now fast forward to Tuesday night of this week.  She had been saying for a couple of days that one of her bottom teeth was very loose.  We were brushing teeth and I realized just how loose it was.  Again, the tooth was hanging on by a thread and I could not get it with my fingers so we used the dental floss trick again with perfect success.  It was actually pretty late for her bedtime so I was not far behind her going to bed thus totally forgetting my tooth fairy duties AGAIN!!
Her comment to me the next morning was priceless.  She waltzed into the bathroom where I was baggie holding tooth in one hand and the other hand providing complete inflection and said "Not a penny, not a nickel, not a dime, or a quarter, and certainly not a dollar.  I got NOTHING from the tooth fairy"  We could not attempt the same strategy as last time because she looked high and low this time, but I was saved by my wonderful husband this time.  He told her that she lost the tooth so late in the day that she must not have made it on the tooth fairies list for the night and we will just have to try again.  Fortunately, I remembered the next night, but I am feeling like the worlds worst mom.
My sweet daughter unknowingly made me feel even worse when she realized her brother was bummed about not getting a dollar and she gave her tooth fairy money to him.  I sure love that girl.

First Steps

When you have twins that are children 3&4 in your family keeping up with milestones is a bit difficult.  In the case of foster children you actually have to be very diligent about these matters, turning in monthly notes, and watching for sings of delays because of in utero exposure.  With baby girl E, we have never had any worries.  She sat up at 6 months, crawled around 8 months at walked at 13 months.  Baby boy D has been a different story.  He was very worrisome early on because he would not make eye contact and did not even flinch if you snapped in his face.  Around 5 months he "woke up" and has been the happiest go lucky boy ever since.  He is always excited, but in no hurry to accomplish his mile stones.  He has been a good 2 months behind his sister in each milestone (except rhythm, he has been dancing to the beat since birth it seams.)  Miss E started walking the second week in March at 13 months old so when the middle of May rolled around and D showed no sign of walking we started to get a bit worried.  We have been working with him non-stop, but he gets so angry if you try to let go of his hand while he is walking.  We knew that he could walk, he was just not confident enough.  On Saturday June 11, Aaron wanted him out of the bedroom so that he could get in the shower (he was already prepared for entry) so he picked up D and placed him, standing, outside of our room and he WALKED away.  Aaron was yelling from the bedroom because he could not come out so I came running to find a very excited little boy.  His first attempt and he took about 20 steps.  He still prefers crawling, but really can walk if he wants to.

The story of our twins

Aaron and I completed our Foster Parent certification in January of 2010 and received our license the first week of February.  February 10th was a snow day in Dallas, TX.  I was relaxing on the couch with my family as the snow fell out the window when my phone rang.  I had kept it close to me constantly in anticipation of our first placement call.  The woman on the other end was from our agency, and to be honest, I do not remember any other words than "THREE WEEK OLD TWINS."  I screamed, and wanted to give her an immediate yes, but to my right sat my dear husband, who admits that he is not a huge baby fan.  So I told her I must clear this one with my husband.  The poor man had no option but to say yes, but his actual words were "well, if they need a home......"
Their biomom had fled from CPS and the babies had been intercepted in Denver, CO, were checked out a the hospital and would stay with a temporary foster family in Denver until our county CPS could get court order to fly them back.  We were given exactly one week to prepare for their arrival, and had a weekend trip planned.  Just about every emotion was running through my mind.  We had previously been offered another placement that fell through so I did not know if this was a sure thing or not, but wanted to get excited and start my preparation panic.
Within a few hours, it was confirmed that we would be the family to take these twins and I was provided with some of the case information.  It did not sink in at all just what we were getting ourselves into.
We immediately sent out an "all hands on deck" email to our church small group who came through for our family in a huge way.  We had planned for the possibility of one infant, but needed an extra of EVERYTHING.  We had given away all of Camryn and Pierce's infant clothes, and we had a tiny boy AND girl coming, not to mention they were half the size of my babies at birth.
On February 17, 2010, two tiny little babies were carried through our front door.  They had just made the trip from Denver and were ready to be out of their car seats.  I have never seen such pitiful looking babies.  The baby boy was so thin with sunken eyes and a quiet little cry, and the baby girl had very large bugging eyes that looked stressed out.  We all just sat and soaked them in once CPS left and boarded what would be a 15 month roller coaster ride.
Foster Parenting is not for the weak of heart.  I took these sweet babies week after week to visit their biomother and the more I learned about the situation they were in, the more worried I became.  One week CPS would ask me if we would be open for adoption if the case went that way, and the next week the case worker would tell me that they may not have a reason to terminate rights.  Bipolar disorder meant that we never knew what story we would get each week.  Biomom would share information with me that was very incriminating, all the while completing each step of her service plan.  Thanksgiving would mark the 9 month mark when a return would be possible, and as that time approached we were told that even though CPS was not in favor of return, biomom had done what was required of her, and all she had to do was pass a drug test and a home check and they would be sent home.  As sad as I was to think of them going home, God gave me an overwhelming peace about the situation.  I had tried to stay realistic about the fact that they may go home, and I was trying to think about other children that needed us, and the time I would get with my own two children.
The day before I expected to get instructions on starting to transition the babies to their bio, I received a phone call informing me that plans had changed and transition would not start.  Bio had failed a drug test and had been arrested for a PI...............Everything seemed to go down hill for her from this point.  She did receive a 6 month extension, but began expressing her desire to give up.  We were not expecting to get to spend Christmas with these sweet babies, but we were blessed with Christmas and their 1st birthday.  At the end of Feb. 2011 Bio went to jail for aggravated assault of a family member, and her chances for a return were over.  She spoke with me about adoption and decided to relinquish her rights as opposed to going to trial.  On May 12th, 2011 we both stood in court together before a judge as she confirmed that she felt it was in the best interest of the children for her to sign over her rights, and I was asked if I was prepared to adopt them.  I do not know if I have ever had such a wide range of emotions in my life.  We had our final visit immediately following the hearing and we now wait for our 90 wait before the adoption can be final.
It is amazing to be at this point in the process and realize that this was God's perfect plan from the moment he placed fostering on our hearts.  I never once prayed for their biomom's rights to be terminated, I simply prayed for God's plan to be done, and for the babies to be safe.  It turns out that these babies fit into our family perfectly and have blossomed so much in our home.  Aaron and I have made a commitment to accept any challenge God puts before us and his blessings just keep getting bigger and bigger.  

My Story

I decided to start a Blog not only to save the moments that I may miss being a business owner and mom of 4 young children, but to share my story and give hope to those who may be going through a rough time in life.  I pray that people can look at my life and see what a difference a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can make.


Not all of my days have been so blessed.  I truly have a rescue story.  After a childhood of abuse, and loosing my mother at the hands of my step-father the month before I turned 16, I was headed down a very ugly path.  I had zero confidence or self esteem, and my life decisions were very evident of that.  I felt as though life was a battle that I had already lost, and had the common attitude of "I don't care what anyone else thinks."  From age 16 to 24 I sought out every possible way to numb the feelings of loneliness and anger.  Finally, in 2002, I decided to give God a second chance and I got out of a bad relationship and stepped into church.  It was though God instantly began to give me opportunities to turn life around.  A man entered my life that respected me, complimented me, and actually worked toward my affection.  This was something totally foreign to me.  This relationship with my now husband Aaron, and my renewed relationship with God, changed my life.  I had a new confidence, and was so thankful that God had given me this gift that I began to look for more.  The stronger my relationship became with Jesus, the more clearly his desires for my life became.  At 25 years old the vision was given to me to open a Christian Daycare/Pre-school in a new community that we were living by.  While it seemed impossible for me, I was no longer in control and after three years we opened our doors almost full.  As the school became successful and our family hit the perfect arrangement of one boy and one girl we hit the comfort spot and had the opportunity to sit back and relax.  That just seemed selfish and Aaron and I both knew God had more plans for us.  With utter amazement to me God placed the idea of becoming a foster parent on not only me, but my husband who was so sure that our family was complete.  We were licensed in Jan. of 2010 and received our first placement in early Feb.  I will never forget the words "We have three week old twins that need a home"  I let out a scream filled with excitement, panic, fear, etc.  We had one week to prepare for them and then the roller coaster began.  What an experience, falling so in love with these two precious babies, but trying to hold back just enough of your heart, and stay realistic to the idea that the goal was to send them back to their biological mother.  There were allot of up's and downs, and as many times as we tried to guess what would happen we were always surprised.  Only God knew the exact plan.  On May 12th 2011, I stood in court with their biological mother as she relinquished her rights to these babies and I was asked to adopt them.
I feel like the most blessed person on earth, and I can actually look back on all that has happened in my life and see that every moment had a purpose.
I can confidently and gratefully say that IN EVERYTHING I GIVE THANKS!!