It's Official!!

This piece of machinery is the first step in our new ADDITION!
We need more room for our sweet little foster babies, so we are building on an additional bedroom! Due to the location of the new room, it will be ours, (a master bedroom & bath) and the baby girls will get our current bedroom! This will be so nice, as we have been tripping over baby stuff for a year now.

I will keep you posted as the room begins to take shape. Also, stay tuned for another baby update soon!

With Everything....

I love this song!!!!!!! I could play this over and over, and just praise my Lord all day long! Listen...

We have a 4 year old!

Friday July 16th, miss L turned 4 years old!!! It is hard for almost everyone to believe she is this old already! She chose Disney princesses as her birthday party theme, and couldn't wait to wear this dress on her special day. The morning of her birthday she was so happy and truly believed she was much bigger and could do many things now that she couldn't do before. Some things about little miss L: she is very girly, and loves to wear "pretty dresses" which she asks to wear every day. She would wear make-up if she could. She loves to learn, and loves to do "school". She loves to sing and dance. She loves barbies, and can play with them many times a day. She loves to swim, and loves "lots" of attention. She loves food, her favorite being chicken nuggets. She also loves cereal, and ice cream. She is one of the most loving kids I know. She walks around saying "You are my special momma, I love you" "You are so cute" "You are my momma, and I want to be a momma when I grow up just like you!" She loves hugs and will readily give them at any moment. She is full of life, and energy, and lots of love. Today I asked her to sing me a song and this is what she sang: (It was to the tune of "you are my sunshine")Hmm hmmm hmmm hmm hmm, you make me happy when you do a job, when you don't listen you make me sad, you make me maa-aa-aad! M and I burst out laughing! You would have had to hear it directly from her mouth. L and I talk a lot about listening and following directions as this can be difficult for her at times. She really likes to please, but also has trouble linking her disobedience to how it effects others at times. She recently sees that it does make people sad at times, and she doesn't like this. She is very outgoing, and willing to try anything new. She is a character, that's for sure! Happy birthday sweetie, you are growing up way too fast!!

Sisters...and other random thoughts

I always wanted a sister growing up...I have one brother, 3 years younger. I even cried the day he was born, and stated, "I didn't want an Alan, I wanted a Jennifer!" My poor brother had to put up with me dressing him up, and role playing in the skits I would put on for our parents, and more. We fought a lot growing up, too. It wasn't pretty. It was downright, violent! I even remember my mom locking us out of the house, so we could just go at each other in the back yard, in the rain! What fond childhood memories I have.

Even as an adult, I still wish I had a sister, or two, or three. My mom was visiting this weekend, and she shared that she has 88 cousins, and this is just on her mother's side! My grandmother was one of 17 children. Only a few decades later, and my children have no cousins on their mother's side of the family because my brother doesn't have any children. It's amazing how things change over time, isn't it? I find it sad that many americans now value materialism over children. I find it sad that they feel they just cannot afford another child, but they can afford 2 SUV's and a dream home. We had several family members visiting this weekend, and one of them made a comment that we are really pushing it with the 4 children that we have right now. He actually couldn't believe that we would ever consider even one more. He looked shocked! He has one child himself, but will probably never have another. Adoption is something he would never consider. Fostering? No way. My mom has been here for 3 days and tonight exclaimed that she is tired of babies.

Yes, it can get tiring caring for 2 babies, but it is not something I regret now that we have them. I realize often that our experiences really do have a lot to do with our beliefs. It's how we look at what we have that determines how we will experience it. I look at our foster babies, and children as precious gifts from the Lord. Others look at children as more of a burden and a hardship, not something to cherish. This motivates me even more to foster and adopt. I can't imagine anything more meaningful. I am so thankful for the children I have, biological, adopted, and foster, and I am so glad my girls have each other. I really believe having a sister is a special gift, and I remind my children of this often.

All kids should get a chance to go for a ride on one of these!

Did I mention it was free???

Yes! As foster parents in Wa. state one perk you get is that you can stay at any State park for FREE!! So, we had a 5 day vacation and didn't have to pay for any of the campgrounds, and saved well over $100. One of the parks we stayed at even charged $42 a night, which I think is a bit high for camping, but we were able to stay free.
I have recently been talking to other foster parents in other states, and they said that they have to transport and supervise parental visitations for their foster children. I can't imagine. Thankfully, in our county, most visitations are done at the local DSHS building by an employee who transports and supervises the visit. We aren't asked to get involved at all.
Tomorrow we have a mtg. with the SW for our two foster babies. Stay tuned for some sort of update with some new information...hopefully.

Remember this?

This is the little vintage trailer we purchased two summers ago. It was completely restored inside by the man we bought it from. Time sure does fly, because this trip we took around the Olympic peninsula was the first time we have really had a chance to use it! It was great! The girls loved it, and it made it so easy to go from place to place in, not having to take down tents, just hook up and go!

Our trip began with a ferry boat ride which the girls loved, then we arrived at this campground. After a hike, we arrived at this beach. M loved it because it was full of small rocks you could flip over and find lots of crabs underneath. L wasn't too excited about the crabs, and didn't like this beach.

At Ruby beach, L had a blast. It was such a large beach that she had so much room to run. She played in the water, and in the sand. She couldn't just find a little stick to play with, no!, she had to drag this big piece of driftwood around with her. Later she found a place to put it in the water and she sat on it like a boat. She went swimming, clothes and all!

Good-bye Ruby beach! M found an orange sea star while we were there, as well some other sea urchins, and sea creatures. We also found a small "ruby" colored rock to bring home as our souvenier from there!
From here we stayed at one more campground with a lakeside campsite. We had a small river otter that visited our site, along with a group of canadian geese. The girls had their share of new experiences on this trip! It was so much fun.

Almost home...

Hiking, exploring, biking, swimming, and more...they were wiped out!

Hope you have time to enjoy a little trip away this summer too!

Blessings!

Sorry I've been absent, but...

We've been here {Ruby Beach, Olympic Peninsula, Wa} A stunning beach I only wish I would have found sooner! I love how this picture turned out of Jeff and L!

And here {Old Fort Townsend, Port Townsend, Wa} A wonderful, woodsy campground, with lots of hiking trails, and room for the kids to ride bikes.

And here {Hurricane Ridge, Port Angeles, Wa.} Off in the distance you can see the San Juan Islands, Wa., and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

And Here {Hoh Rainforest, Olympic Peninsula, Wa.} Loved it! So glad we visited, had no idea such an amazing place existed in our state!

And Here {Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Wa.} Our new favorite place, sandy beaches, and just an all around great place to be!

We had beautiful warm weather, which I wasn't expecting for this part of the state! We squeezed in a lot during this short, 5 day vacation, but it was wonderful. More pictures to come!!!