It's a Girl

Today we picked up a newborn baby girl from the hospital. She was born on Sunday, the 13th. Her family situation is up in the air at this point, so time will tell. Her given name is Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards), but we're not big fans of that name so we're going to call her Grace. So far she's just been sleeping a lot, which is good for us! Here are some first pics. The second one is of Grace with "Flat Tyson," which is a flat version of my nephew (Deb's son). It is for a school project based on the book "Flat Stanley." I've been chosen to take care of Flat Tyson for the next few weeks, take pictures and journal his experiences. He went all the way to DC with me. :) So of course I had to capture a picture of him with his new foster cousin.

Sad Farewell --- again

We just learned today that this Friday (today is Monday), the state will be sending Jordyn home to live with his grandma. I have so many thoughts about this, but I think the news is still too fresh for me to make any sense of them. Even though I had been suspecting that this is what they're going to do, it's still hard to imagine having to say goodbye to him again. He is such an awesome kid and has brought so much joy to our lives. We will continue to pray for him to grow up healthy, and to come to know Christ one day. And we pray for Grandma as well, that she will have the wisdom and strength to parent him better than she parented Jordyn's mom.

I've had so many people this week ask me why we keep foster parenting, especially with all of the sadness we've experienced recently. And as difficult as it is, I really can't imagine NOT doing it. I know God has called us to this ministry and we just hope that one day we will have a kid (or two or three, or . . .) that we won't have to ever say goodbye to. Some of you may think we're crazy to do this, but I know we're doing a good thing, and more than that, I know we're doing exactly what God wants us to do.

Hiking Today

So if anyone in Prineville *ahem* ever gets tired of living there and wishes to move ... the days here are GLORIOUS. We went hiking today and after 5 months of snow a day of 70 degree weather is like magic.