Wednesday, December 28, 2011

One of the things about adoption

My house is Sickville right now.  Winter colds have 3 of us and I'm sure the other two aren't far behind. 
We took Mason (& Dylan) to the doctor today.  This was Mason's second trip in less then a week.  He has a icky cold, that regular antibiotics was just not kicking.  So why is this blog worthy??

Because with adoption you have limited family history, and in Mason's case no birth father history.  So when I gave him the first dose of Amoxcillian (sp?...and I'm too sick to go look at the bottle to see how to spell it) I was anxious to see how he'd react.  He did OK.  We changed to another medication and he got prickly raised bumps. It could be a virus or a reaction to the medication, we just don't know.  I know with any child, Bio or adopted, there are a lot of "wait and sees".  And with Mason it's wait, see, listen, and learn.  I want the answer to so many questions that only God knows and only time will tell...like:

Could he be allergic to peanut butter?
Glasses?
heart murmur closing?
veggie eater?
oh and so much more about who he'll be ( but that's for another post :)

With adoption you take a risk, and it's SO worth it.  So with each new medicine, detergent, or food we try we will watch our precious Mason carefully, and we will learn.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Dear Mason,

With your first Christmas coming to an end, I wanted to share with you how much it meant to have you here with us.  You have added so much to our life and our family.

You've added a couple more ornaments to the tree:
another stocking to our stairway, and another boy in Christmas jammies by our tree:
You have melted our hearts:



and embraced the true meaning of Christmas (literally):
but our biggest lesson this season has been the glimpse into God 's amazing love.  

Merry Christmas sweet baby!  I know the whole family would agree...Our greatest gift this Christmas is you!! 

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Baby Jesus

Our church's Christmas program was even more exciting this year because of our real "baby Jesus"
As "Mary" laid "baby Jesus" in the manger for the Shepard's to admire, Mason looked up and smiled at all his admirers. 
Actor in the making????  :o)

Notice to wide eyed cow in the back, what you can't see is the florescent pig that also accented the manger.... It was a great program!!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

So nice...

Let's start with the most important...Mason is SMILING!!! and cooing.  He smiled 3 times today, twice in response to people.  This is a huge milestone to him and so encouraging to us...God is so good!

In other fun news:
Tonight we went out as a family in our tiny car (so we could all sit close and talk).

We got in our jammies

We armed ourselves with hot chocolate

And we piled into the car.
We drove around for about an hour, getting lost, singing carols, and by the end of the trip biting fingers...don't ask :o)

It wasn't perfect but it was just what our family needed. With so much to do and all of us still adjusting to life as a family of five with two working parents, this was our perfect.  I love hearing the laughs in the back seat.  This Mommy needed tonight! 

Again God is so good!!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Back to work

So I went back to work today.  I am so lucky to not only have a job I love but am able to bring my baybe with me.  He stays in the infant room and I can snuggle with him whenever I want.  He did great, slept most of the time, but being a baby is hard work. 

You know who struggled the most...the 9 year old. 
For 6 weeks I picked him up from school.
For 6 weeks I helped him with his homework, took him to karate, and made dinner.
For 6 weeks he got to play with the neighborhood friends, listen to his books, and play Lego's with his brother.  Today that changed and he felt it.

I came home to a very tense house.  Tears, tantrums, and uneaten dinners.  Tyler's world was rough today.  When I got home, we snuggled, talked about our struggles, and were reminded that God is there, all we have to do is ask. 

As our family adjusts to me going back to work, I will work extra hard to remind my children that I'm here, that Jesus is here, and we love them VERY much!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

One step closer

Today was the court date for TPR; Termination of Parental Rights. 

My thoughts went to Mason's birth mother; at this time she no longer has rights to him.  I am sad for her and know that this is what she wanted for him.  I am forever grateful for her discussion not to abort this baby.  I'm so thankful to God for allowing us to parent him.

The Judge terminated rights which brings us one step closer to becoming his forever family.  We have two more social worker visits, and a court date in the spring, but we have been his forever family since the day we found out he was coming to us.  We love him so much.

I have to admit I did a little dance while I cried tears of joy today.  I never expected to feel the emotions I felt.  yes relieved, happy sure but I felt pure ELATION!! 

Ahhhhh.  I will sleep good tonight! :o)

Monday, December 5, 2011

Putting the tree up with one more ornament!

Tree went up today...


With one more ornament on it..


Our tree is complete!
It was so special to add an ornament to the tree that last Christmas we didn't even imagine would happen.  God is so good, his timing is perfect and we are so Grateful!!

Merry Christmas!

On a side note: Dylan then announced our tree looks like a bomb.
I asked a good bomb or a bad bomb...
a bad bomb that blew up...
Oh well, I love it
(someday we might have a kids tree in their room and we'll need all the ornaments)


Sunday, December 4, 2011

Baptism

Today was a special day! 

At the time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  As Jesus was coming up out of the water he saw heaven being torn open And The Spirit descending on him like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven, "You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.
Mark 1:9-11

The greatest part was that my dad was included in the officiating (like he has been for the other two boys) and he not only got choked-up when pouring the water on his head, but after making the sign of the cross on his ear and lips he bent down to kiss his forehead.  It was such a thing of pure beauty!!

Being that we forgot our camera we don't have any pictures of the ceremony.  But luckily phones with cameras were available afterwards for group shots.

Welcome to God's Family Mason Peter. 

P.s.  Termination of parental rights happens Tuesday!!! :o)