PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE HAVE THE TRAVEL ORDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 40 minutes before the day ended, but we have it and are ready to get this vacation started :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Little Man is ONE today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is such a fun loving and sweet little boy that has touched our hearts in a way we never expected! :) He is celebrating his b-day with his birthmom today for a few hours and then when he gets back we'll have a little party of our own :)

A squeaky wheel gets some answers :)

Well...apparently the judge that needs to sign the order is out of town and won't be returning until tomorrow morning. The office of the Attorney General thinks it should not be a problem to have the order signed tomorrow and then it will be scanned and emailed to us. YAY!!!! We should be able to go as planned!!!!

Please PRAY!

We are down to TWO business days left to get our travel order :( I truly believe that we are going to get it on Friday but we can use all the prayers that we can get!!! If we don't get it then we have two choices...1) delay the trip until we can get the order 2) leave little man here in respite. I really do not want to do option 2 at all because he wouldn't know the people and go through those feelings of being abandoned/etc all over again, it would be horrible when we got back, and I'd just plain miss him! My sister was saying that she has known of several cases with her friends where the same thing has happened. It shouldn't be this way...guess we can say that a lot in foster care huh? Maybe this is why God is having us drive rather than fly...so we can be flexible??? Praying that it miraculously comes through on Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the prayers :)

What's going on here

We are busily preparing for vacation in just 6 days!!

I knew Little Man was cutting a tooth, but I really got a good look today as he was screaming his head off and no...not just one tooth....FIVE teeth are all trying to come in (2 of which are molars)!!!! Poor baby!! He just wants to be held (it's a good thing I've been working out!) and is pretty whiny :( We are of course praying these pop through or at least stop causing pain before Sunday!!!

L.M. is really starting to catch on to signing and in the past few days added "please" and "dog" to his repetoire :) Today Mr. A was playing a video game and L.M. pointed to the t.v. and then signed "please." It's amazing how young they really do understand things. At least he was polite about it :) He will imitate some animal noises as well. He has 8 words as well!! He likes to play the "walk between two people" game and is still learning his balance.

Still no travel order :( Grrrrrrrrr.....................

Chest x-ray update

The pulmonologist called me this afternoon and said that in the right base of Little Man's lung there are swollen airways and mucus collecting. She said it's coming back as "likely viral pneumonia" but she said that she doesn't prescribe based on just an x-ray and that's common with asthma. So she has increased his pulmicort from 0.5mg to 1 mg (still 2x's a day) and then we will do another x-ray again in about 8 weeks to make sure it's cleared. If he starts with a fever or any other symptoms we are to call her immediately and we will go from there. He has had some increassed wheezing the past few days and has slept more than usual, but no other symptoms.

Silly me...I honestly thought (or really wanted to!) that things would be "all clear!" Hope the increased meds help!!

Walking Billboard

The past several days have been very interesting for me :) It seems as though everyone has taken an interest in getting info about adoption/foster care from our family! People ask us here and there, but it's been crazy the past 3 days! In Walmart the other day as I was grocery shopping, no less than 5 people stopped me to ask about the kids/adoption/foster care! I was able to educate some and others just commented on "how amazing that is!" A few thought Mr. A and Mr. I were twins! Ummm...no...they are both Asian (one is bi-racial) but A. is 6 and I is 4 and they look nothing alike-LOL!

This morning I had to take Little Man to get a chest x-ray. The receptionist was asking all sorts of questions about foster care and said she was interested!! I gave her the phone number and of course 'played up' our agency since we love them so much! Then we got called back for the x-ray and I was able to educate her about foster care too! People seem 'hungry' for this information and it's awesome that I can help to educate and get the word out about how more loving foster homes and adoptive homes are needed!

I LOVE it when our family is used to touch/move the hearts of others to help the orphan or child in need. What a blessing that is!!! :-)

First steps!!!!

Little Man took 3 indpendent steps today! He will work for the remote, cell phone, or any other technical object :) It's amazing how fast little ones change! Just 6 months ago when he arrived at our door he couldn't even sit up...now he's OFF walking!! :)

HAIR!!

Here is a pic of Little Man's haircut! Those curls are just so sweet :)

Judicial Review

I had the opportunity to attend my first JR today and meet Little Man's mom. It was very interesting to say the least! There was a plea from her to increase visitation, but that was not granted due to no one being able to supervise an extra visit right now. The most time/questions seemed to be in regard to the birthfather. The situation with the legal father is still a mess, so until that gets figured certain things cannot happen. "Mom" really seems to be doing what she needs to do to get Little Man back, but there are definitely a few things left to "prove." It is difficult to be general and vague here, but at this point things will pretty much remain the same, I learned a few new things, and met the birthmother of our sweet little angel!

On another note...he got his first haircut yesterday!!!!!!!!! He still has tons of curls, but just a little more in check :) Super cute for those 1 yr old pics!! :)