New picture!

We received a new picture of Julia today! She is 6 months old now. She is holding the care package we sent her. :) I edited this picture for the foster Mom's privacy. I am glad we have a picture of the foster Mom though. I appreciate learning about the family who is caring for Julia. I'm sure when Julia is older she will appreciate having pictures of her foster family as well. Julia looks so cute and tiny! I love her cheeks and her cute little mouth. Our social worker is sending in our paperwork to US Immigration today. We'll get the approval in about a month. About 4 weeks after receiving our approval we'll get our travel call! So maybe near the end of November we'll travel?? I feel like I'm nesting these days. There is alot of cleaning I want to accomplish, mostly b/c I haven't done a deep cleaning in about 2 years. :)

Nate has been gone since Sunday. The past couple of days have been rough, mostly b/c Isaac was sick. He was coughing alot at night and neither one of us was sleeping much. I had uninterrupted sleep last night which was great! I guess Isaac feels better too because he's refusing to take a nap right now, grr.

Happy 30th Birthday!

Nate is now 30!! His birthday was on the 25th. We didn't do anything extravagant. We had a nice supper at home with the boys and then my Mom came over to babysit. We then went to hang out with some college friends for the evening. Nate got to play some games with his buddies and I got to sit in the hot tub and have some girl talk. :) The pictures above are from this weekend when we went out to eat with the boys. I felt bad that I didn't get any pictures of Nate's actual birthday! We love Nate so very much and thank God for him! I gave Nate a list of 30 Things I Love and Respect about him, don't worry I won't bore you with the list. :)

Cardale has now been gone for a week. We've all felt his absence. The transition is impacting Isaac the most right now. He'll reference Cardale in some way each day. We keep reminding him that Cardale is "all done here" and that he is at Jenn's house. Isaac has been watching us put away Cardale's bed, highchair, carseat, etc. I've been telling Isaac that these things are for the new baby. One of Isaac's pj's is too small for him and Isaac held it up and said "baby?" I said, "yes, we can give it to the baby." He then promptly grabbed the pj's and said, "NO!" Ok, so he's not quite ready to give up his stuff. :) Isaac has been a little lost this week. He basically follows me around the house all day. He hasn't played with his toys much. I love having this time with Isaac, but he is also driving me crazy at times! I'm trying to teach him to play by himself for 10 minutes, etc. I also wonder what is going thru Isaac's head, if he's feeling a little insecure right now with Cardale's departure. Who knows if he is wondering, "Cardale is all done here, does that mean I'm leaving too?" Like I said, I don't know for sure, but it's just a theory.

In other news, Nate left this morning for Jackson, Mississippi. He is going there for some work training and he will be there for 2 weeks! I'm grateful I only have 2 kids to care for during this absence, but I'm still a little nervous. So, please keep us all in your prayers during the next couple of weeks!

Happy 5th Birthday!

The store bought cake, still slightly embarassed about it :)
Caleb's friend, Caedmon and his sister Maddie

Happy 5th Birthday Caleb! Five years old seems so grown-up! He is now in school all day and playing soccer. Caleb is our little scholar, he loves learning. He asks alot of questions and is excited about school everyday. Caleb has become more brave as well this year. He still has fears about animals though, dogs especially. Caleb is a great big brother. He played so well with Cardale and Isaac. He is excited about having a baby sister! He also enjoys helping us around the house (most of the time!). We are so thankful God has entrusted us with this loving, wonderful little boy and we are excited to see how he changes this year!

And now we are done

Sorry looking cupcake!
This is how they looked before the frosting fell off!
My Dad with the little boys
Last night with Cardale
Heading home with Jenn!

Funny story to start with. Caleb had to bring a birthday snack today. We decided to make bumblebee cupcakes. I didn't have time to make my own frosting so I decided to buy a generic can of frosting. That was a big mistake! After I decorated the cupcakes, all of the frosting slid off! So at 10 pm last night I was performing surgery on the cupcakes to salvage them. I put them in the freezer overnight in hopes that they would stay intact til snack time at school.:) I then had another baking failure. I made a cake from a mix and it didn't rise. It looks like an unleavened cake or something. How did I mess up a boxed cake mix?! I didn't have time to make and decorate a new cake, so I ordered one. I feel a little guilty about not making one, but oh well. At least I'm learning to not stress myself out unnecessarily.

Cardale left our house this evening. I thought I would feel more emotions, but I feel kind of matter of fact right now. I know I'll experience more emotions over the next couple of weeks. I still wish I could have explained to Cardale what was happening. We are so happy for him though. I pray this transition goes smoothly for him. We will visit him in a month. So just like that, our time with Cardale is done.

Soccer star

Chasing down the ball
A good action shot- Caleb is number 4
Watching Caleb
The first of many games Isaac will sit thru for his older brother :)
He looks so cute!

Caleb had his first foray into organized sports today. He was nervous when he first got there and during the practice time. But when the game started, Caleb was loving it! There are 5 boys on his team and only 3 play on the field at a time. I laughed so much watching the game. The kids mostly have no idea what they are doing except following a ball, no matter which direction it goes. I also enjoy that at this point Caleb doesn't know whether he is a "good" soccer player or not. He is just having fun playing a game.

We also received some exciting news on Friday. Ryan and Jenn's foster care license is open now! Praising God for answered prayers! That means Cardale can move in with them and start the adoption process. Cardale will move out of our house next weekend. It's hard to believe it will happen. I imagine my emotions will hit sometime after he has moved out. I feel like there is too much going on in the next week to think much about it. Please continue to pray for Cardale as he transitions to their home.

Road trip and school!

Lots of quality time in the van
Caleb still likes to rub hair :)
Isaac wasn't sure what to do with the video games
Grandma and the boys on the carousel. Isaac had a death grip and wouldn't smile at anyone. :)
At the park with Tessa and the kids. I'm pretty sure I am holding Isa in this picture???
The DeMaster cousins (minus Annika who was at market and Jack in WI) and Nate
First day of school- Off to Young 5's all day long!
Caleb's first desk

Time to catch up on blogging! We had a great vacation. We started by going to Freeport for a reunion. I got together with some grade school friends and it was alot of fun. It was also interesting to drive around Freeport again. I am officially a parent now- I kept pointing out landmarks to Caleb like, this is my old house, and here is my old high school! He was only mildly interested. :) We spent a night in a hotel with a pool which is great fun for the kids. The next day we made it to Toledo and spent the night in another hotel with a pool. Isaac slept in a sleeping bag and threw up during the night. Nothing like puke in a hotel room in the middle of the night, ugh. Thankfully he didn't throw up again. However, after that night Nate and I wonder how people sleep in the same bed as their children! I shared the bed with Isaac and he spent most of the night sleeping horizontally to me and kicking me in the side or sleeping on top of me. Nate got a fair amount of kicking from Caleb in their bed. :) After 2 nights in hotels and lots of driving I was starting to wonder why we decided to take this "vacation." However, Nate reminded me that the kids were loving the vacation. And it's true as long as the kids are enjoying the trip, the parents are happy too. Of course, the vacation is not truly relaxing for parents, but that is why we take vacations away from the kids. :)

Anyways, back to my travelogue! We arrived in Rochester and spent a couple days with Nate's parents. We hit the local children's museum and zoo. We also visited Lake Ontario and local playgrounds. The boys enjoyed undivided attention from their grandparents. Nate and I did alot of reading and relaxing. We then drove to Reuben and Tessa's farm. It was fun to see their kids again and catch up. Annika is almost 9, Simeon is 7, Britta is 4, Blaise is 2, Gwen and Isa are 4 months old. It is a busy household and I don't know how Tessa does it! Isaac enjoyed playing outside alot. Caleb mostly enjoyed it, but was a little stressed at times. By our last night Caleb was a wreck. He was crying and saying, "I want to go home and I don't want to sleep on the floor anymore!" He spent almost the whole vacation sleeping on the floor. :) The trip home took 12 hours and the kids did really well. We only stopped twice, which was a big blessing! Thanks to our family for hosting us!

And now that summer is officially over, school started today! Caleb was excited to start school and no tears or fears today. I was a little sad today. It was weird to eat lunch and spend the afternoon without Caleb here. Isaac would occasionally ask "Key-ub?" We'll all have to adjust to this new routine!