It's hot!

loving this weather....ok that will probably get me shot most normal people do not enjoy the high temps mixed with equally high humidity but I love it! Love the heat, do not like the cold! So anytime the temp is above 40 I am so very happy. Today we are in a heat advisory...guess I won't be able to run, or ride my bike or mow the lawn, aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh darn. (not that I would do any of those activities on a mild temp day) planning to be lazy. now let's see if it works.
last night I walked out to the fairgrounds for the Relay for Life...I'm always humbled by the turnout and efforts put forth by so many. I think the best time is at night when all the luminaries are lit what a sight that is. Fun to connect with so many people I rarely see...and yes I did say walk...what was i thinking?????
well best keep this short, Rose is explaining to me (crying) why a nap isn't part of her plans for the day....naps are so wasted on little people...someone wouldn't have to tell me more than once to go take a nap.
enjoy your weekend...will try to post pictures as soon as eblogger decides to let me.
Edited: go figure the time I try to post a pic it finally does it of course this pic has no relevence to this post..it was suppost to go with an earlier post...but enjoy! this is rose age 1.
Deb

trying not to shock anyone

by posting twice in one week....goodness what happened?

She is 1....Rose that is. A little over a year ago if you had told me I would have a newborn in my home I would have laughed and then looked really scared. We had wondered if there was a Rose, for a few months before the actual announcment but chalked it up to rumor. About a month before she arrived the county confirmed that there was a baby, but I think at that time everyone still believed the parents would leave and therefore no baby to place. The call came the day she was born saying mom was in labor and the a placement would be imminent. I think throughout that time I just didn't believe it was possible (mental block, or denial if you will) but reality hit home later in the afternoon on July 7th when the call came saying it's a girl (somehow I knew that, the few things I had purchased just in case were all girl things) (so much for denial)
we were told to be at the hospital on the 9th to pick her up. ok nothing, and I mean nothing can prepare you for a newborn, it really doesn't matter if you have raised 3 children of your own, or that you have taken care of countless babies/children..... a newborn is simply amazing and exhausting. (there is something to being pregnant for 9 months honestly it does prepare you for no sleep) Waking up one morning to a newborn well, it isn't pretty, exhausted didn't begin to describe how I felt, did i mention I didn't take any time off, kept right on working...let's not forget the other 5 children in our home, no none of them took a break from needing us. Yeah it really was an amazing ride. We have weathered much this past year, adjusting to visits with her birth parents, adjusting to life with 6 kids, just simply adjusting. And through out it all in the back of your mind is the question will we still have her at 3 months, or 6months, or will we celebrate her 1st birthday. Well here we are a year later, we have reached those milestones and so many more, celebrating Rose's 1st birthday was an amazing event, made more special just simply because she was still with us. She has woven herself into the framework of our family and enriched our lives in ways I can't begin to count. She is unlike any other child and yet compliments us so wonderfully. We still have uncertainity, will we see her walk, will we celebrate a 2nd birthday... those answers I don't have, but I plan to keep enjoying what I do have and that is the time right now to be with her, the rest we will know when the time is right. no matter the outcome I am always grateful that at this time in my life I have rose. life is truly good.

and a few more pics :)

anthony and Kevin riding the ferris wheel at the county fair. Anthony loved! the rides, Yahaira was a bit reluctant at first but after finally riding one ride she was totally excited about it. Rose loved all the farm animals as did Anthony and Yahaira and Daphne.
and a pic of Yahaira modeling her new sunglasses from Kelly.

Beckie and Cassandra's busy month of July...

Bekcie is now the proud owner of a car yikes! A necessary purchase and one she handled with a lot of maturity...(when did she grow up?) She bought this car on her own, what an exciting day that was for her. Paying for the car insurance wasn't such a fun thing, and I have heard her mutter about the cost of gas :) welcome to the world of a car owner.
Cassandra had an incredibly busy month of July, we hardly saw her, she began with dance camp in Iowa for 4 days, home for 2 days and then on a bus heading to San Antonio Texas with our youth group from church, she was there for a week and had a blast. It was nice to get her home, missed her a lot!

more pics....

I am playing catch up today, finally getting pics from various summer activities uploaded. We attended a MN Twins game early in July, we had all 7 kids in attendance, Linette and Kevin, Gracie and a friend also joined us, the twins won! Yeah. all in all the little ones did quite well.
also a pic from the 4th of July...Rose loved the fireworks, no fear in this baby at all. We had a BBQ at our home, then headed out to Memorial Park to watch Attitude perform and ended the evening watching the fireworks over ST. James lake.

Pics from Rose's first Birthday....

for some reason blogger isn't let me load pics...here is one that finally worked. yes that is a new face on the left...her name is daphne she has been with us since the end of June, she is also 1, actually she is two weeks older than rose.

It has not been a month

Since I last posted. Honestly you blink and time flies. (it is not an age thing, or at least I refuse to admit that)
So where have we been? Just trying to live life as normally as possible. I have tried hard to not focus on the unknown. Waiting for this decision by the judge is by far the hardest thing I have had to face. As I looked at summer and all the events that would be happening, I truly did find myself wondering, will the kids be with us when we reach the 4th of July, will we be celebrating Rose's 1st birthday? And so on and so on. As we reached each milestone/or event I found myself simply thankful for being able to share one more thing with them. Trust me we weren't always upbeat and cheerful, often it was quite different, as you let uncertainty slip in...Some days it was quite easy for me to slip into quite a miserable place. Thankfully we are surrounded by amazing family and friends. People who often unknowingly pulled us back, and stayed positive for us when we weren't able to be that positive. We did receive a ruling from the judge yesterday. Custody was not granted to Grandma. As with everything in this case there are many unknowns. But this is a positive ruling. So for now we focus on that. I think I am learning that nothing with these children will ever be just a clear cut decision. There will always be more just below the obvious. What does the future hold? aahhhh to know that answer would be the best feeling ever...But I can speculate, and in that I believe we will be beginning to travel the road to adoption...How long will it take? No idea. Will it be a smooth road...Ok that I think I can answer quite firmly.... No! I imagine we will still face many bumps along the way. I hold on to my faith, God did bring us here, and thru this he will be there...I look at the people who have traveled this path so far with us, offering support and strength...With them how can we not make it? And perhaps these three little ones won't be legally mine in the time frame I want, but ultimately if they are ours some time in the future, that will be a good thing. For now I am going to just keep loving them. Enjoying each moment granted us, celebrate each milestone. And simply thank god for bringing them to us,and for putting so many amazing people into our lives who have supported us.
I will leave you with some of the activities we have enjoyed during the hot days of summer... The fourth of July, Rose's 1st Birthday, (she was completely unimpressed) Cassandra's trip to San Antonio, Beckie's new car. I trust you are finding some fun in your summer too.
Edited to add: no pictures attached see later posts, eblogger was being difficult today and not allowing me to upload pics. I finally got them to work later in the day.