Our day in Court

We had court today so we got to see D!! Bonus visit, and without a 2 hour drive, yay!!!

Each boy had separate appearances and a caseworker sat in the foyer with the other kiddo. As this was a first time in court, boys were nervous but the judge was great! The judge talked to D about how the responsibility of getting his behavior together is within his control with all the helps we have in place for him and was sure to say he was proud of him for his progress!! Gave a little lecture to A re: his homework/school behavior and how he needs to buckle down and remember he's college so the choices he will be making in high school will have an impact on his college choices. Thanks Judge; love and appreciate your support!

Okay, full disclosure, both of us sat in court with tears rolling down our cheeks as the judge asked, "A, is there anything you would like to say?" A said, "yes, I'm really excited to get adopted and I hope it happens soon!"

Later when the same question was posed to D he about jumped up out of his seat with his answer, "I want to go home!" He then raised his hand and said, "I also want to say that I love my family, I want to do better so I can go home, get adopted, and not have to get sent away." Again, tears.

The judge also told D, "I've been worried about you and your brother for a couple years now. In my free time there are two cases that come to mind that I worry about. One is your case and I worry for you.  So, this was a great way to start my day because it makes me happy that you now have a family who loves you, wants to adopt you, and is advocating for you." Yup, more tears!!

He then thanked us and said some other stuff about how important it is to take care of kids in our community without families, how he was thankful for families who step up etc......it was awesome!

Honesty, Always the Best Policy

First, A's adoption paperwork is all in and we are excitedly awaiting for approval and ultimately to be given a court date! We know the process takes a long time but we really excited!!

This brings us to today...

NERVOUS.

We are going to visit D today. We are chock-full of varying emotions. Super excited, as always to see him, yet we have some concerns and prayer requests. 

We are concerned because behaviors have been such that our visit necessitates that we remain on campus. Visiting on campus is fine, but point to bigger concerns. Please pray he is learning through these moments and expanding his coping skills to the point of being successful at home and in the community. 

Our biggest concern, today, is that we will be explaining to D that A's adoption will go through soon, but because he is not in our home right now we have to hold on his.

It makes us want to cry just to think of hurting him in any way. The last thing we want is for him to feel rejection or that he is less worthy. We know these emotions, in this case, are unavoidable to some degree. So, we have sought counsel on how to go about this today. 

Like us, A is also concerned about how his brother will take the news. But agrees, he wouldn't want us to keep things from him either. 

You see, we told the boys we would never lie to them. If we withhold this part of their story, we risk losing the trust we've been working so hard to build. And honestly, if we held if from D, A would also lose trust thinking we may also keep things from him. 

Pray for D, please. Pray that the Lord go before us preparing his heart. Pray that he will be able to talk through emotions and not act out, pray that if he is going to act out it is while we are there and can work through the emotions with him, reassure him of our love and commitment.

We are all so looking forward to seeing him and giving him bigs hugs. If only a warm hug and love could cure...but despite what the Beatles say, it takes more than love! 

BTW, A is very excited about his paperwork being done and prays that the court date for finalization happens on his birthday in June! We think that would be a pretty fine present as well!!!

Stress Reduction

So....I have a penchant for "misplacing" the pager when I am on call; this leads to panic and a frantic search when I hear it going off somewhere! So, Beaver has rigged it to this clip with an RFID tag in it, lol!

Stress free on call week for both of us! #genius #ithasalreadycomeinhandy 😌😝😬😍😎

Chicklets

As much as I hate the dentist, I've one who is a gem and I am finally getting on the right track with my mouth!

Over the next few years I will have a lot of work done to repair years of damage from a fall as a kid, car accident as a teen, and genetics! Due to the crazy cost we've planned out the process over the next 3 years.

I just had the first part done, removal of two molars and a wisdom tooth.

Now I wait 3 months for the bones to heal and I get the first part of the implant done.

I look forward to having a "new" mouth with nervous excitement!!

My latest worry...Remember that scene from Dennis the Menace where he breaks Mr Wilson's dentures and replaced them with Chicklets??? I have scary premonitions of waking up in the dentist office to see I have a mouthful of Chicklets! Yikes!! Lol!

Here we go!

Now that's just cheesy!!

Today, The Beave and I tackled making homemade cheese! It was very easy and a lot of fun!!

We first made mozarella and then used the whey to make ricotta!

Dinner tonight: homemade pizza with fresh cheese!

Websites: 

http://m.instructables.com/id/Great-Ricotta-Cheese-From-Whey/?ALLSTEPS

Library Card

A few weeks ago we took Austin to the library down the road and headed for the counter. He was confused, and when we told him we were there to get him a library card, he was ecstatic!

The man was helping him "First name?"
Austin: "Austin, typical spelling, A-U-S-T-I-N."
Librarian: "Last name?"
Austin looks at me
Me: "It's up to you, whichever name you want to use is okay."
Austin barely containing his excitement and pride: "Trumble, T-R-U-M-B-L-E"

#bestillmyheart ❤️💜💙💚💛