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.

Mission Trip

I am leaving tomorrow morning to take 13 wonderful high school girls on a mission trip to the inner-city of Washington, DC. It all started 3 years ago when I had the wonderful privilege to start co-leading a group of high school freshman girls. Well, the group has stayed together all the way through this, their senior year. Last August, my co-leader, Rychelle, and I met with our Impact pastor and asked him to help us plan a mission trip. We had been dreaming of doing this for quite awhile. So after 8 months of planning, praying, fundraising, and training, we are ready to leave for this exciting adventure.

We'll be keeping a daily blog of our activities, awesome moments, ministry and work projects, etc. Keep tabs on us at www.lakecitydc.com. And please keep all of us in your prayers.

The Boys

There's not much in the way of legal updates for the boys. Zackary's parents went to court yesterday, but there wasn't enough time for all of the testimony, so the hearing will be continued on April 4th. Just more waiting. Nothing has changed with Jordyn. He continues to see his mom once a week for 2 hours. I'm still confused as to the process because the timelines I thought existed don't seem to exist. Supposedly there isn't another hearing until the summer. So now my fear is that he'll go back to live with mom before then. I am fighting discouragement as I seek to trust God to work things out to make sure that Jordyn stays safe. I had a very blunt talk with his advocate yesterday about how they have placed Jordyn in danger by choosing to overlook some glaring issues related to mom's care for him. Please, please, please continue to pray for Jordyn.

I absolutely LOVE being a mom to these two boys. They bring so much joy to our house. Jordyn is such a ham and loves to make other people laugh. He also adores Miles and imitates everything Miles does. He has learned some new sign language this week, and now does the signs for "eat", "milk" and "all done." Zackary is quite the loveable little baby. He has started to smile at me when I talk to him. Miles has yet to witness it, so he thinks I'm making it up, but I swear it has really happened!!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers. I know God is faithful and has a plan for all of our lives.

Funny pictures

I just had to post these 2 pictures because they make me laugh. The first one brought back painful flashbacks from my own childhood as visions of Gary dangling spit over my face flashed before my eyes!

The second picture is Jordyn giving me one of his trademark kisses -- wide open-mouth, sloppy wet with spit kisses.

Transition # 2

He's back and he's had a rough day/morning/night.

Mom is in the clink.