My Little Man

Brandon is such a sweet loving child that anyone who meets him instantly falls in love with him. He loves attention and will be as sweet as he can be if you give him the slightest bit of attention (although this means that at times he seeks after negative attention...)! He is my detail man, he doesn't miss many details and is quick to tell you if you don't have it just right! I believe Brandon will grow up to be some kind of engineer or something along those lines, he can take apart and put things back together so easily and, as I said before, is detailed oriented.

My heart goes out to Brandon for what he has been through. He was 3 when he went into DFCS custody and remembers a lot of his past. He has had a harder time adjusting to life with us for various reasons. See, Brandon and Abby have two older half siblings who live with their dad. His brother had always been with him until the day that Brandon and Abby came to live with us. His brother was his rock through this situation and suddenly he was gone. It breaks my heart that he has had to go through such a difficult loss. The loss of his brother had been more significant than the loss of either biological parent.

But, my little man is a trooper. I have seen the most changes in him in this last year. He has gone from being a very scared little boy who was even scared to go upstairs by himself to one who runs around our house full steam and will even play in his room al by himself (big accomplishment). I have seen him begin to step into the big brother role from little brother role and begin to take his place as the oldest sibling. Everyday he seems to become more and more confident in himself.

He loves going to church and especially Cubbies. He loves to sing, although likes to be silly while singing! He loves sports, fishing and all things boy! As you pray for us, say a special prayer for my little man! Pray that he will continue to gain confidence and that he will be able to one day understand all that has happened to him. Pray for their brother, too, unfortunately we don't have contact with him but we know he has had a hard time dealing with the separation also.

I thank God for Brandon, he has been a challenge at times, but I wouldn't take back any of it! My prayer, just like my prayer for Abby is that I can be the mother he needs be to be, direct him the way he needs to go and to comfort him when he needs comforting. These children have forver changed our lives and God has given us a big and awesome task of raising them to be people of God.

My Sunshine

Most of you know the song "You Are My Sunshine," every night at bedtime Abby and I sing that song together. It is something that I had started when both kids first came to us and had actually gotten out of the habit of doing for awhile. Until, Abby started asking me to sing it again. For awhile that song was very hard to sing because it ends with "Please don't take my sunshine away;" there were so many ups and downs during this process and that particular line was my plea, my prayer and my heart's cry.


For those who know her personally, Abby is my little sunshine. There is no doubt that she is mommy's girl and she is so full of personality that she lights up any room she walks into.  She is a vivacious and precocious two year old. I know I am biased, but I have never met a two year old who can think outside of the box. She is very creative, imaginative, independent and stubborn. She loves to talk and sing (she even makes up her own songs). She is a challenge at times because she is so slick (according to her daddy) and can come back at you with stuff that makes you stop and think.

I was actually surprised when she started to ask me to sing this song again because I honestly thought she didn't remember it. I know she knows what it means on the deeper level, she knows that she is my sunshine when we sing. For example, we were leaving a park one day and I was just a little bit ahead of Robert and the kids. She started yelling, "Mommy, don't leave me!" I turned and stopped and said, "I could never leave you." She looked at me and said, "Cause I am your sunshine!" So, she knows.

She lights up my world and fills it with joy. She is such an amazing little girl. She will never know how I much I love her and how much she and Brandon changed my life for the better. I thank God that I have the privilege to try and be her mother. I pray that I love her the way she needs to be loved, direct her in the way that she needs to go and that I can be the mother she needs be to be. My prayer is that she grows up to be a strong, vibrant woman of God.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,
You make me happy when skies are gray.
You'll never know dear, how much I love you,
Please don't take my sunshine away."

Next post is coming soon, all about My Little Man!

Adoption Day and Dedication Day

Just a few days late, but the last week has been a whirlwind of events. It started last Monday, the 15th with Abby starting Preschool, then Adoption Day on the 17th, then Dedication Day on the 21st, then Brandon started PreK on the 22nd and today is our wedding anniversary! Whew, I am worn out just typing it all out. But, here are a few pictures to show:

 Our first "official" family picture with the judge!

 Proudly holding their certificates!

 Dedication Day!

 I love both of these pictures because they were looking at the pastor so intently and Abby was batting her eyes at him!

I will write more later, I have a lot on my heart to share, just need the time to sit and write!

16 days and counting...

It is hard to believe that in just over 2 weeks (16 days to be exact), we will walk out of a courthouse with two sweet children that a judge will declare as "forever ours". Two children that we have believed to be ours since the day we met them (since the day I first heard about them, at least for me). For those who haven't heard, August 17th is our schedule adoption hearing. We are so excited! We have been busy making plans, buying outfits for the children (okay, so I have been busy buying the outfits, let's be honest, Robert hasn't done that), creating adoption announcements to send out, etc.
In 16 days I will finally be able to share with everyone, my sweet babies' names and pictures. So many of you have been blessed to know the sweet children known to the online world only as B and A. Those who haven't been blessed will meet them soon enough.
So many of you have been such precious blessings to us during this process. The prayers, the support and the listening ears, you all have been so helpful and we are grateful. I wish I could thank each and everyone of you individually, but it is not possible to do so. We have been blessed with wonderful DFCS caseworkers, who truly had the children's best interest at heart. We thank them also. Thank you to our family, who has been so understanding and loving during this process. You loved them as family before they were "officially" family.
Our sweet church family at Cartersville FBC has been such a blessing to us also. Never in my life have I been to a church with so many families who have adopted or are adopting. It is such a unique community of believers who are obedient to God's calling to care for the orphans! Thank you CFBC family and my prayer is that you will continue to support adoption! We will be sharing our adoption joy with our CFBC church family through a "baby" dedication the Sunday after the adoption.
We have been so blessed (the world would say lucky) to have gone through the process as quickly as we have. We pray and ask you to continue to pray as we head to the final stages. I also ask that you pray for other families who are adopting, many of my friends are in this group, who are having struggles, difficulties and roadblocks. Pray that God will keep them strong and faithful to see it through to the end. It is so worth the wait and such a blessing. So many people tell me, "those kids are lucky to have you," but honestly, we are the lucky (or blessed) ones. So many times I think, these are two wonderful kids (I am not biased...), how did we get so lucky for God to have chosen us to be their parents, we don't deserve them. I don't have an answer to that question, all I know is for some reason, He chose us and we were obedient to His calling to be their parents.