Locked Door

The other day we thought we were having a repeat of Ava all over again. :)  We were hanging out at home and the older two were at school.  All of a sudden we heard this little knocking noise coming from Ava's room.  Here, Kaydence had accidentally locked herself in Ava's room.  This was exactly the age Ava had done it a few years back.  We were trying to talk to her from this side of the door, explaining to our not yet two year old foster daughter, how she was to get the door unlocked.  She couldn't understand (of course) so she was trying and we were working on this side getting the door knob off.  As we are working, we hear her stop whimpering and pause.  Then we hear the door knob wiggle and then we hear, "oh man" in this stinking tiny voice sounding so frustrated.  ahahha.  She is a funny goose.  Love that girl.  We did get her out and she was very happy to see us. :)  We told her not to do it again but she has an obsession with closing doors so we will see if she remember to not LOCK them now.  :)

Ava's 2nd Grade Project on Landforms

 

Ava had a project on landforms and her project topic was Valleys.  She had to fill out a research paper by doing her own research on line and in Library books.  Then she had to show some kind of landform model.  So we made this project with U-shaped and V-shaped valleys and then she painted it.  I thought she did a pretty good job.  She was nervous to give her presentation but she did it anyway!

Her cue cards she used as she gave her little presentation before her class was as follows:

Card #1 - My project is on a valley
Card  #2 - A valley is a low area of land between mountains
Card #3 -  Valleys can be formed by water or snow erosion
Card #4  - The bottom of a valley is called the floor
Card #5  - The valley soil is good farmland, rich in vitamins

The research paper was just answering many questions like what is the definition of your landform and so on and so fourth. I thought she did a great job.  She got what would be equivalent to an A in class for her project. :)  I guess the tough projects have started!

Goodbye Jameson

One cold February day in 2014, we called up a certain biological father and asked if for our anniversary, we could take his little son out with us to celebrate.  We had invited Micah and Renee over to watch our four kids, and then we could think of no better way to celebrate and make both of us happy but to see him. . .the JAMERS.  His dad admitted we were a little crazy, but obliged our request and we were over joyed.  It had been possibly around four months since we had seen him, not because we wanted it to be that long of course but we were at the mercy of others.  Anyway, as he stood behind his daddy's legs peeping out at us (he was about 2 1/2 years old at this point) our hearts were beating so fast just dyeing to rush in and scoop him up and kiss all over him.  His dad says, "well, his skin is doing really well.  It is really looking good lately."  We didn't think much of it till we got to the restaurant and started seeing others staring at us.  When we took off his hat and coat, we saw the same thing.  He looked like a burn victim.  His eyes were swollen and his eye lids were cracked.  We thought he was beautiful but the way others were staring at us we felt as if we should explain why he looked like he did.  Every inch we could see was scarred and blotchy with cracked and chaffed skin.  We held back tears as we tried to just enjoy him, knowing we were powerless to change life for him in anyway.  Our only power was to pray and be there for him whenever we were allowed. We loved him so much and couldn't imagine why he was allowed to be so neglected.  One lady, our waitress even came up to us to say, "wow, is his skin ok?"  bold I know but it was the question EVERYONE around us was asking.  We slightly filled her in on the quick version of what had happened to him and his situation, and then we went on to love all over him.  He opened his birthday present we had bought him so many months before.  He called Micah "amike" and we just laughed.  He shared French fries and peanut butter milk shakes with us. 

After we ate, we left to go to Walmart because we were not ready to take him back yet.  I took him to the bathroom to change him and his socks were pasted to his feet with dried blood.  I took them off to find open wounds on his feet from scratching and untreated eczema.  .  A lady in the bathroom, again bold, walked by and said, "girl that is the worst case of eczema I have ever seen if it even is eczema."  Again, another stranger, judging and commenting.  Another realization this was bad.  Walking through the Aisle of Walmart, pushing you in a cart, and a couple we barely knew stopped by to say hi.  They too commented that we needed to "put some cream on that kid!" 

 To us, Jameson was our sweet boy and we saw him in there, deep inside, when his little eyes peered out at us through this foreign wrecked body.  We felt as though we were peering into his soul and he was saying, SAVE ME!  It was so hard to see and feel that and yet be so helpless.  The other odd thing was after four months of not seeing us, he was latched to us like we were his life line.  He, at age two, didn't want to go home.  This made us feel good on some level, but also devastated us that he was not really ok where he was.  Not emotionally anyway. 

We took the little man back to our house and made the decision to take some pictures of him and try and have some evidence.  We knew what we had to do . . . we had to make the call.  The hard call that would literally have potential to break our already breaking hearts.  We had to make that call to CPS about our Jameson, knowing that we possibly were single handedly cutting our last ties with him.  For, he was isolated enough that he didn't see ANYONE except his family and us, so though anonymous, we would be found out.  Sure enough, we were.  When we dropped him off that night, Micah was so sad as Jameson cried to hang onto him.  Then he waved bye at Micah and that picture has never left his mind.  A lot of things transpired from that day forth, but we lost Jameson.  Our last time seeing him was that night and we didn't hear of him or see him again, until September.  Everybody told us we had done the right thing and what we had to do, but all we knew was we had let the poor buddy down.  We wrote him lots of letters trying to hold onto the hope that someday we would see him again.  Love that sweet little boy. God did work it out and little did we know that almost exactly a year from this date he would be returning to care and to our home! God is good, but sometimes it is hard to feel that in the hard moments. :)  Praising God for Jamers safety.

Christians Shocks

I have this memory of buying Christian his first pair of Nike Shocks.  They were on sale and I was o excited to be buying them for him. I loved them and every time he wore them I was so happy cause they were so stinking cute and small and adorable.  As he grew out of them, I passed them on to my nephew Roman.  yesterday, he came to my house to hang out for a bit.  His little shoes he was wearing were none other than the pictured above beloved SHOCKS.  I quietly reminisced and thought how amazing it was that the sweet shoes were now on my adorable nephews feet.  Then, at one point, my daughter gathered the pair of shoes up and placed them over on the doorstep.  When Micah came home, he stepped inside the door and went to step over the shoes.  He stopped and said, "awww, Those are Christian's little shoes!"  I guess he was thinking along the same lines as me  . . . .WHERE has the time gone.  He is growing and changing and yet, it seems like yesterday he was our tiny laughing man running in his very new SHOCKS.  had to take the time to capture the shoes on camera. 

Old Man Christian

 

Today was Christian's 100th day of 1st Grade.  This is the year they are supposed to dress as if they were older, like 100 years older. :)  So he wore his suspenders, a tie and we did his hair with powder.  This was funny because he was a big poof ball of powder every time his head was touched.  Also, then we drew on a mustached which he really appreciated.  We couldn't get him to smile, but we think maybe he over heard Micah saying that old men are grumpy.  So we think he was trying to follow through in character. :)  hahahaa.  He sure did make for an adorable Grumpy Old man!

Christian's 1st Grade Music Concert

What was your songs you sang for your concert?
"five little snowman.  We copied the fourth graders, and we if your married we say no man."
What was your favorite song and why?
"I like about the five little snowman.  It's fun.  I love it really bad."
Who is your music teacher?
"Mrs. Powers-Davis"
Were you nervous?
"yes, I was nervous because I couldn't sing when the fourth graders were singing."
Who did you stand beside?
"Selena and Jaden"
Danielle Smith came along with me to help with the kiddos as we went to see Christian's concert.  :)  He was so very excited and though the was sad daddy had to miss because he was home with a sick baby, he was very excited we were coming.  Ryah, the neighbor girl from across the street came along and of course Kaydence and Ava came. When we first go there, he was more than happy to prance off to get in position behind stage waiting patiently for the curtains to open.  During the concert, he kept waving at me, or so I thought.  Really, Danielle and I later figured out he was waving at his sister in the front row who was waving crazily at him along with Ryah.  However, Danielle and I decided we would pretend he was waving at us.   At one point he did catch my eye and he saw me taking some video of him, so he gave me a really quick thumbs up in the middle of the song.  He did an excellent job this year and followed with all of the words and motions.  He stood pretty still, except when the kid behind him bumped him in a crazy moment and Christian turned around to point a finger at the kid to tell him to leave him alone.  The second bump, Christian looked ticked as he turned himself around and looked like he was going to sock the kid a good one in the stomach. Yikes!!!! Other than that, he did an awesome job.  My little guy is growing up so fast. :)

 I love that he was beside all his buddies. . so many of my very favorite 1st Graders all beside each other in a little group.  :)  Anna Sullivan, Lexi Lawson, Jaden Davis and Christian.  Below is the picture of him telling the little boy behind him to stop bugging him . . he looked as though he was going to punch him at one point. :) Size never phased him!  Also he was hugging on Jaden, who didn't seem to really appreciate it. Personal Space was never an issue to Christian either.

 

 

Ava's Ipod Touch

Ava had been wanting an Ipod for so very long.  Well more like for a little over a year time frame wise, but for an 8 year old that is a VERY LONG TIME.  In fact it was often referred to as "FOREVER" when said in a whiny voice.  Anyway, so for a VERY LONG TIME Ava had been saving up her money to buy herself an Ipod touch.  She saved birthday money and Christmas money and anything she made on the side with chores or for special occasions.  She was collecting pennies and coins too.  Finally, one night, our neighbor told her she had enough saved up, so she got all her money out and we counted it up.  It was not quite enough but her daddy decided that as a reward for all her hard work she had done over the past 6 months with the new foster girls (our angels) that he would foot the rest of the bill!!!! He said that she had willingly given up her room, her toys and her time to help whenever and wherever she was needed so he felt that deserved some sort of reward.  I think you can see by her face how excited she is!  She loves her new Ipod Touch that she saved for and her daddy even bought her a cool case with Cinderellas shoe on it1