Recovering

Hey, everybody! I just wanted to let everyone know that the biopsy came back negative for cancer, but positive for polyps, which is really not that big of a deal. I had a little outpatient surgery to get those little suckers removed on Monday, and I'm still recovering, but doing better.

Remind me to tell you guys about the pool adventure, next time.

Friday the 13th lasts all week long...

If I were a superstitious person, I would never fear Friday the 13th. It's always great for me.

If I were a superstitious person, I would really fear the week after. Take this week for example. On Monday, I had to go to my gynecologist (grounds enough), and I had to get a biopsy. The biopsy is totally "for peace of mind", but it was extremely painful, and wondering about the results has made me slightly bonkers. I had an argument over the phone with a clothing company, the results for the biopsy were late, I had to hold my extremely full bladder while some lady pushed on my abdomen and took pictures (also known as Ultrasound).

And here's where my day really started to go downhill. We found out that the state auditor had a problem with our foster care application, so we have to re-do our background check, which will take 6 weeks to 3 months to complete.

So, we decided to take our sorrows to Applebee's to try to get some fresh scenery and enjoy a family evening. Juli dropped macaroni on her leg and know has a horrible burn and blisters to go along with it.

I'm just going to rent out a padded room for the rest of the week!

Update (A.K.A. Strike Two)

Well, as predicted, this placement also did not go through.

Please pray for us that we'll get the right placement at the right time.

Foster Parenting Update !!!

We got a call today about another sibling group that *may* need a home. I'll keep you guys posted, but this does not look like a likely placement.

The good news is that the placement that sticks shouldn't take long.

Foster Parenting ?!?!

People think that John and I are nuts, but we just want more kids. We have been so blessed with two happy, healthy babies who are growing up at lightning speed before our eyes... but still, we want a larger family.

I think for me it comes from being an only child. I was just so lonely growing up, and a lot of the lessons I had to learn later in life I think I would've learned earlier if I'd had siblings. And now, I've been blessed with a friend who's like a sister in every way but name (love you, Amber!!), but I'd hate to think what my life would be like without that connection. I would not rob my children of that experience for anything in the world -- not for my own comfort or theirs. I truly believe that God used those experiences to create this drive in me have more children. And not just for my kids, but for us, too. As fate would have it, it looks like we are not going to have any more biological children. So, now what?

We looked at international adoption, which is an incredible thing, but the expense is certainly a problem. Domestic adoption was never really an option for us... not in the way of having a birth mother pick you. I think for us it's always been about finding children who need a home. There's an abundance of people who want to adopt the babies. What about everybody else?

I had taken to watching "Adoption Stories" on Discovery Health, and those stories of foster parents who had adopted their children were just fantastic to me. "These are the kids who need us", I thought. For me, that was pretty much it. I started to work on John about it, but this was at the very beginning of our Christian days, and he just really wasn't that excited about the prospect. God worked on him though, and it wasn't long before he agreed. So, we started the process, but a few months later, the agency determined that we didn't spend enough time at home to qualify as foster parents.

So our goal for this last year was to be ready to try again this summer. God has blessed us in ways that I just didn't think were possible. We became youth leaders in our church. John got a promotion that allows him to pretty much set his own schedule. We moved to a house that is much larger, and is much better suited for a larger family. And God never let us forget that it was for an eventual goal -- there would be foster children in this house with us.

So, a few weeks ago, we contacted the case worker (CW), and we let her know that we wanted to try again, and that we spent a considerably larger amount of time at home. We thought we were going to have to take the classes again, and re-do all the paperwork, but we were okay with that. And let me just emphasize here, that this is now a calling for the both of us. John went from apathetic to just as excited and anxious as I am about this possibility.

So, last week we got a call from the CW. We had a referral of THREE CHILDREN!! We had 10-14 days to finish our paperwork and have our homestudy so that we could take in these three kids. So, we worked hard for a solid week to finish everything so that they'd have a place to go. Everything just went perfect.

Then, the day after we were certified (Friday), we contacted the CW, and she let us know that a relative had decided to retain custody of the kids.

And so we were introduced to the particular hardships of foster parenting. I have to say that we're still feeling a little lost right now, but I know that God has a purpose for all of this. Our youth leader said that it could be that having those kids stay in their family was an answer to a prayer. Wow. What a way to look at it, and I hope that's the case. As for us, it's back to business as usual -- sort of. Now there forever looms this chance of a phone call that can change it all in an instant.

I'll let you know when we get it.

The Wedding, Part II

Julianna and (officially) Aunt Bailey

This one is even cuter than it looks because Jonathan leaped into Harry's arms. He loves his Uncle Harry.

This is the only actual wedding shot that I took. It was a very lovely church.

This is the only picture I got of the bride and groom. The photographer nazi was always in the way. Please observe the elbow. Also, observe that awesome cake.

Just too adorable not to post.

Aren't they just beautiful?

Hey, didn't there used to be a Food Lion over there?

The Wedding

John's brother, Harry, got married this weekend in Gibsonville, NC. We traveled down on Friday to celebrate the big day. We stayed with John's brother and sister-in-law, Dave and Bhakti. We had a really great time, and the kids just loved spending time with their aunts and uncles.

The wedding went really well. All were in attendence, and the kids provided some great entertainment. At the part where Bailey said, "I will", Jonathan dramatically drew a hand accross his brow and said, "Whew!!!". As if he weren't sure she was going to agree. Juli was a little over zealous as the flower girl. She had so much fun walking down the aisle, she decided to go back and she met Bailey on the way in. I'm so glad that Bailey and Harry appreciated it for the entertainment that it was. All that aside though, the wedding was beautiful, and the reception was lots of fun. The wedding cake was really unique - a black and white paisley, and we had strawberries dipped in chocolate. John gave the toast (my husband just doesn't know how to be shy)... and it was sweet and funny. Bailey's aunt also gave a toast and called the couple Harry and Barry... to much hilarity.

After the wedding, we hung out with the happy couple awhile, and the kids got their "rewards" for being good at the wedding. In fact, as we were leaving the chapel, Jonathan announced, "Mommy, you ARE proud of me". He's a psychic. Who knew? Anyway, Juli got a new Bride and Groom barbie set, and Jonathan got the Shrek 3 Wii game. After, we had dinner with Dave and Bhakti, and John and I felt very sage as we gave advice about strollers and baby swings (Dave and Bhakti are 14 weeks pregnant, and the kids are so excited to have a little cousin on the way!). We then met back up with Harry and Bailey to play some Rock Band. We really had such a great day.

On Sunday, we had brunch with John's parents, Katie, Dave and Bhakti. Katie and Juli were joined at the hip again, and we looked at some family pictures before heading back.

Here are some pictures of our trip, and my beautiful babies, all dressed in their wedding finery.

Here are Uncle Dave and Aunt Bhakti. You can *almost* tell she's pregnant.

Jonathan's just taking a little breather.

And here's our flower girl. This picture was taken by Uncle Dave, who claims it happened only by divine intervention.