A day late... Sorry

Well I know some of you were waiting on the pictures of our new gigantic sand box and I am sorry I didn't get the pictures posted yesterday. I am glad to say that we had a great day yesterday and it was a busy one too. Early yesterday morning we headed to Grand Island and had a family picnic at a park. The park is super nice and is really a lot of fun for all the kids. We met my most of my family from my moms side. Our girls are about the same age as my two aunts kids so they always have a great time when we get together. At the park there is a wading pool, a huge playground area, and a little train that you can ride on. Of course we had to try them all. When we finally left later in the afternoon the girls were exhausted. Actually Keely didn't even make it the whole afternoon and fell asleep during the train ride. Both girls slept all the way home so it was a very peaceful drive back to Lincoln. After we got home we decided to have some friends over and grilled steaks. It was great seeing them since we hadn't seem them in what seemed like forever. Supper was so good and the weather outside was great. Today we really just relaxed most of the day and straightened out the yard when the girls napped this afternoon. Tonight we went out and got the girls a little bigger kiddie pool. Tate could hardly contain herself when we were still at the store. She kept saying "Lets go home." So when we finally got home we HAD to blow it up and put water in it even though it was starting to get dark. The girls didn't care if it was getting dark as long as they got the chance to try out their new pool! We had a great weekend and hopefully got rested up for a busy week ahead. I have an appointment early tomorrow morning. Keely has an appointment Thursday morning plus the neighbor is having a garage sale Thursday to Saturday that I am taking stuff to so I kind of feel like I should help out with it or help with her kids while she runs it. We will see what happens. Then Thursday afternoon we are getting the two girls we did respite for last weekend and they will stay with us until Monday. Then as soon as they leave the girls and I are heading back to Sargent to the fair for a couple days. Gosh makes me tired even thinking about it! Oh well, it is going to be a lot of fun and I know the girls will love having the other girls here to play with. I hope they enjoy the carnival this year. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

Our hard work has paid of....

I sit here tonight in disbelief of what we have accomplished over the last week. I am sure most of you saw that we installed a privacy fence around our backyard last weekend, and yes it took ALL weekend. Now, we fast forward to yesterday when we decided to have 4 tons of sand delivered to convert our former 19 x 19 parking area in the alley to the ultimate sandbox inside our new fence. Well, to make things easy, the sand company had a small dump truck that they thought would fit inside the posts of our fence, boy were they wrong. The dump truck was only 3 inches too big. So, we decided that we would have them dump it in the opening we made in the fence. After 12 wheelbarrows full of sand moved to various spots in the area, we STILL aren't finished. There is about and inch and half of sand throughout the area but we still have about 6 to 8 wheelbarrows full of sand left to pickup and move. But, it has completely paid off when you see how much excitement it brings to the girls to be able to go out and play whenever they want. After Scott's softball game last night we headed to a nearby town to pickup a "little Tykes" slide and climber thingy (I'm not sure what its really called) and moved it into the sand area. I am not surprised at all, but the girls absolutely love it. They played on it for about an hour last night after dark and most of today. We even invited our neighbors over tonight to let their little boy and his friend play. I can tell this was one of the best ideas we have had in a while and is going to provide hours and hours of fun! We hope to find a swing set and get the rest of the sand moved in soon. We will post pics of the girls enjoying the new sand pit this weekend.

We need a vacation from our vacation!

Well as I mentioned in our last post we were going to be putting in a privacy fence around our back yard over this long holiday weekend. That indeed did happen after many many hours and lots of hard work. Scott worked all Friday evening tearing out the old chain link fence so we would be ready Saturday morning to start on the new. Well he didn't get all of the chain link out Friday night so Saturday morning he had to finish that up. We also rented a piece of equipment Saturday morning to help us dig the holes where the new posts would go and also to help clear out a bunch of white rock where a drive way once was that we decided to fence in. We didn't end up getting as much done as we wanted with the machine so we decided to rent it for a whole 24 hours instead of only 8. If it weren't for the machine helping us we would still not be done and I think Scott would be dead from exhaustion. Scott worked nonstop until sundown both Saturday and Sunday. Our goal was to be done Sunday night so we could rest and relax on Monday. We didn't quite make that goal but only had to work until noon today to get it all up. On top of the work we did we also had two extra children this weekend. We did respite for two girls. They were very good and our girls had a great time with them. Thank goodness for the little sprinkling kiddie pool the neighbor brought over because the girls all had so much fun and kept busy in it both days while Scott and I worked. We are so glad it is done and love the end result after so much hard work. I don't think I better be asking Scott to complete anymore project anytime soon or at least till he recuperates from this. He told me this was my present for mother's day, birthday, Christmas, and any other holiday that comes around. We are so thankful for him and really don't know what we would do without such a hard working husband and daddy!

Today after we finished everything up around noon and when the girls we were watching left we decided it was time to go out to eat and have a little fun. We took the girls to the Lincoln Children's Zoo. It was pretty warm out but at the zoo there is a lot of shade and it's not so huge that you spend hours and hours trying to see everything. We were there about an hour and a half and the girls really did have a good time. Tate said her favorite animal was the seals and watching them swim around. Keely said the monkey was her favorite. All day Tate kept asking what sounds all the animals make then would say the ones she knew. Too cute! I think Keely mostly enjoyed getting to get out of the stroller and run free. She loves to go wild and be a wild woman so we love places that allow her to do that. Everyone was so tired when we left we didn't even make it half way home and both girls were asleep. When we got home we just watched some TV and I even took a little nap. It was so refreshing and felt great to not have to do anything the rest of the evening. We hope everyone else had a great weekend too.

Summer is near

Finally, we have had some great warm weather here this week. The girls have had the chance to play outside every single day this week and are absolutely loving it! Monday when Scott got home from work we had the sprinkler out. Tatum really wasn't too sure about it and knew just where the edge of it was hitting so she would just barely go in then laugh like crazy. Keely on the other hand walked right into it and just stood there as it soaked her with all her clothes on. Gosh it is so much fun seeing them have such a good time with such cheap entertainment! And any of you who know Scott know that he couldn't stay out of the fun since he really is a kid too! The three of them had so much fun and I had a great time watching them and taking some silly pictures. It has been a pretty quiet week with us just hanging out at home and enjoying the outdoors.

This week has also been a fabulous week of eating and gaining weight for Tatum! It is so hard to write about her weight because at any moment all the excitement and celebrating can turn into worry and frustration. But, this week Tatum has weighed more than she EVER has! For the last two days she has weighed in at 26.6 lbs. That is so huge for us to know that she can gain so well on her own with out the feeding tube. We were starting to question if she would ever gain on her own or break past 25 lbs. Her appetite seems to come and go but thankfully it has been great more lately than not. Last week I don't think I wrote about it but it was a miserable week and every meal with her was a fight and would last forever it seemed. I guess I am going to just have to learn to better deal with these moments and react differently. I talked to the psychiatrist this week and he gave me some more good ideas to try when we have days like we had last week with her pocketing her bites in her cheek and not chewing or swallowing. Hopefully we don't have to use any of his ideas but at least we do have some options other than getting totally frustrated and wanting to give up. As long as we stay healthy and out of the hospital it is looking like we are on our way to a growing girl!

We have a very busy memorial day weekend planned and can hardly wait for it to start. We will be doing respite care for two little girls that are 3 and 4 years old. They have stayed with us before and the girls all have so much fun together. We are also going to start a major project that we hope to get done over the weekend. We have decided to put up privacy fence in our back yard to make it more private. Right now there is chain link so we will have to begin by tearing out all the old and then putting in the new. We are renting a skid steer type think with an auger to help dig the holes so that should speed things up some. It should be very nice if we ever get it all in. One motivation will be that we have the dogs that will have to be tied out until the new fence is done and those of you with dogs know that isn't fun for very long. We hope everyone has a happy and safe memorial weekend!

Vacation Time!

We are very happy to announce that we have finally got our vacation booked! We are going back to Mississippi and can hardly wait to leave. We won't be going until June 17th and will return on June 24th. Actually that is when the girls and I will be going. Since Scott doesn't have any vacation time he won't be able to come until the 19th and will have to return home for work on the 21st. After much debate we have decided it will be best to drive the extra miles to Omaha so we can have a direct flight to Memphis. I was a little nervous about carrying the girls and all our stuff though the Chicago airport while trying to make a connecting flight. It will be great to leave Omaha and be in Memphis only about two hours later! While we are gone we will be staying with Tatum's foster parents. We love to get together with them, they truly are the nicest people we have ever met. We have gone and stayed with them one other time since getting Tatum and have met them in Branson quite a few times. We are also hoping that things are going to work out so we will be able to meet Tatum's birth mother while we are there. I am also looking forward to doing some relaxing while we are there. Last year we tried to plan a trip back to Mississippi but with everything so up in the air about Scott's job it never happened so it's a great feeling to know that it is going to happen this year. I am sure some of you wonder why we would go to Mississippi for vacation. We love the weather, the people, and everything else about it. It is very diverse. More than anywhere we have ever been in Nebraska and it just feels great being there! Speaking of the weather it is going to be super hot while we are there I am sure. When we got Tatum in December of 2006 it was a fabulous 60 degrees when we left Tupelo with flowers blooming. As we drove north to come home about two hours after leaving when we were in Missouri it was 40 degrees. That was a little shocking to our systems after all the beautiful weather. Then to top it all off as soon as we got to our house an ice storm started and kept us home for about three days. That is the point where we decided we want to live in Mississippi someday! But since we are stuck here for now we will just try to make the best of it!

Gloomy day and some pics

I don't know how many of you have checked out the blogs on the right side of our blog but these are my favorite blogs to follow. I usually check them daily when I see they have updated. One of the blogs that I have been following is about a little girl named Kayleigh who was born prematurely at one pound. She has been hospitalized since birth 11 months ago. She has had many many medical procedures done and also been close to death before. After her last surgery a few weeks ago they discovered she was brain dead. After some testing they determined she had had a lack of oxygen sometime during or shortly after surgery. Well when I read there blog today it broke my heart to see that she had passed away yesterday. This family has been through so much and we can't even imagine how they must feel. We don't personally know this family but have been reading their blog for quite a few months and it almost feels as if we do know them. We have been happy with them when things were moving forward and looking like Kayleigh would get to go home someday and also been sad for them when things would unexpectedly go wrong. I feel so fortunate that our children as so healthy. Their minor health problems really are nothing when you look at Kayleigh's situation and all their family has been through. On another note, tomorrow Kayleigh's family will be on The Doctor's TV show. Of course this was filmed a while back but it should be an interesting show. Please keep Kayleigh's family in your thoughts and prayers as I am sure they are going through a really rough time. You can check out their blog with the button below.

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! I know I sure did. My mom and my sister were able to come and spend the weekend with us and we had a great time. On Saturday Scott stayed home with Keely while my mom, sister, Tatum, Crystal and I spent the day going to garage sales. It was a great time and we found lots of bargains! On Mother's Day we went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, HuHot. Then it was time for my mom and sister to leave since they had about a three hour drive back home. We just spent the rest of the day relaxing and rented a couple movies. Today it is raining out again and quite honestly it has taken the energy right out of me. I am excited though that my grandma will be coming by to see us tonight. She has been on vacation in Seattle and will fly into Lincoln later today and is planning on stopping to see us. We are so happy she decided to come by since she has never been to our place here in Lincoln. When we lived back in my home town we got to see her often and I loved getting to go to her house just to talk or have one of her great meals. I really miss her cooking so I have tried a couple of her recipes on my own but it just isn't the same!

Interesting Story

We checked a local paper today for the news and saw a news story that caught our eye. It is about a young man who lived 40 minutes from my (Tiff) home town. Its always great to see a positive story about adoption. I liked it, and I hope you do too...

http://www.theindependent.com/articles/2009/05/10/life/lifestyle/doc4a065691cb088698373777.txt

Happy Mother's Day!

As I sit here and think about how lucky I am to be Tatum and Keely's mother I also can't quit thinking about the girls birth mothers. I think about them both often and hope that they are doing well. We do get to communicate with Tatum's birth mother over the computer once in a while and we cherish every moment. We have never met her in person but do hope to some day if that is what she wishes. When we met Keely for the first time we got to meet Keely's birth mother too. I will never forget that time we had with her. We have corresponded through letters a couple times and will be forever grateful for the letter she wrote for Keely explaining her choice and love for Keely. Although nobody has been able to get into contact with her for sometime we think about her often and hope to have contact with her again someday if that is what she wants. On Mother's Day its nice to think about how we are impacting our children's lives but we also can't deny or forget who gave our children life. We will always be grateful for our daughter's birth mothers and think they too should be recognize on this special day. So, happy Mother's Day!

Progress

I think I have talked here before about our home study we are having done with with the worker who has done our other two home studies. I don't think I have told you all that last August we took the foster parenting classes required in Nebraska to become a foster parent. We completed the classes I think at the end of September or the beginning of October. We took the classes with a Christian based agency. In December they came out to our house to ask some questions and do the the last minute things needed to get our home study done and everything submitted to the state to get our license. One of the questions was weather or not we had found a church and we hadn't. I suspected that this would be a problem. Nothing was said that day other than they would be working on our home study and we should get our license shortly. In January we got a call from them stating that they thought we should transfer to another agency since we hadn't found a church and we didn't really know if we were going to either. That was fine with us even though we really liked everyone at that agency and really enjoyed working with them. There were no hard feelings when we left we were just ready to get our license and wanting to get everything transferred as quickly as possible. They suggested an agency for us to switch to so that is where we went. After the new agency got our stuff that we had completed we set up an appointment with the lady who would be working on our stuff. That is when we found out our home study hadn't been started by the first agency and that the new agency would have to come out and ask all the stuff over that is needed to write a home study. We were very disappointed that we had been led to believe that our home study would be done and actually nothing at all had been done on it. When we talked with the new agency they told us that they were very busy and that they really didn't know when our new home study would be done. They estimated by the beginning of April. We thought OK that is about two months away but we really don't have another choice. In the mean time we found out about two different babies that were available for adoption and we wanted to be considered for them. But we had to let the agencies know that we would have an approved home study. When I called the new agency about if they could get it done quickly they said there was no guarantee. That is the point where we decided to hire our original social worker to get another home study done on our own. We didn't really want to have to pay for another one but we also wanted to have a home study in case we were to hear about other situations of children that are available for adoption. That home study is very close to being done. Just one more meeting with the social worker and it will be complete. OK, back to the foster agency story. I called the new agency at the end of March to see how close they were to getting our stuff submitted to the state. I got the reply "Are you in some kind of hurry or something?" Well actually yes we are. We took many hours of classes, got physicals, background checks and divulged our lives in order to get licensed and that is what we want to happen. So I decided to give them some more time figuring that if we changed agencies again it would just drag it out longer and mean we have to start the process all over. I called again in April and was told again that they are really behind and they would get to it very shortly and it wouldn't take long. As you can tell we were about to just say forget it and not worry about doing foster care. Well I gave them some more time and called just a couple weeks ago and was told that our worker had been gone on medical leave for about a month and nothing more had been done on our home study. They also had no idea when it might get done. That is when we had had enough and contacted a couple other agencies to see about how far behind they were. Well we found one that now has told us once they get all our info they can have our home study done in about a week. So yes we have transferred again. We met with our new worker last night and it made us a little more optimistic that things are going to start moving forward. The lady was very nice and had a lot of information for us. She was also very positive about us being able to adopt from foster care which is our ultimate goal. We are also considering doing emergency care with them. She also thought maybe the state would not take as long on our stuff considering we have already adopted twice and we have been waiting for so long just to get licensed. I told Scott "I will believe it when I see it" We have been told that foster care is not something that is for everyone. That is so true but we haven't given up yet and hope that we will be licensed foster parents sometime very soon. We still continue to do respite care on the weekends for children in foster care and really enjoy it. We have one twelve year old girl that comes almost every other weekend and we love it when she comes. She is a great girl, loves our girls, and is just a great fit with our family. She will be with us this weekend and we always look forward to her coming. I will keep you all posted how things proceed since changing agencies again.

Sunny days

We had a great weekend back in my home town this last weekend. It is about three hours from where we live so we didn't get there very early Friday night. But we did get to go to my high school friends house. Our kids played and had a great time and it was nice to get to catch up with her. On Saturday we got up bright and early and went out for breakfast. Yum my favorite meal! After stuffing ourselves we headed to my sister's track meet. Since she was only participating in one event we weren't there long but while we were there it was great getting to see her do the shot put. My grandmother and aunt also live in the same town as where the track meet was held so we got to have a good visit with them as well. The rest of the afternoon we just relaxed and that sure was nice for a change. Scott's mom and her husband came and met us for supper. It was good to see them as it has been a while. We had a great weekend but were also ready to get home on Sunday. We got back early in the afternoon and were able to get our yard mowed. Then it was time to pick up the dogs from the doggy hotel and boy were they glad to see us. There really hasn't been any exciting news with us lately. That is definitely a good thing! We are trying to plan a vacation back to Mississippi to visit Tatum's foster parent but nothing is set in stone yet. We hope everyone had a good weekend! Well I have been working on this post all afternoon and tried to post some pictures from the weekend. I guess you aren't suppose to see them because I can't get them to post, maybe another day.