The Calm Before the Storm

Saturday afternoon, we had a neighborhood Halloween party. Our committee did a great job putting it together. There was yummy food and tons of cute games for the kids. It was amazing to be at our second neighborhood party (the first was a pool party 4 days after we moved in) and not be the new people anymore. Its amazing how many families we have gotten to know in such a short time. Addison isn't dressed up at the party because we had a little pumpkin carving crisis and had gotten finished at Urgent Care just a few minutes before the party started.

She was attempting to help Tommy carve one small piece of her pumpkin, with his close supervision. She only had the knife in her hand for a few seconds, before she slipped, trying to put the knife into the pumpkin and ran her hand up the blade. We didn't really know at that point what we were dealing with, we just knew there was ALOT of blood. Thankfully we just finished CPR/First Aid. Tommy rode in the back with her and applied pressure to her hand, while I drove to the closest urgent care. Reagan and Gracyn were a great help getting what we needed and getting loaded in the car quickly. Throughout the ordeal, both sweet little girls shed some sympathy tears out of worry for their sister. She ended up with 5 stitches in her thumb and her index finger glued together. We are just so thankful she didn't do any serious damage.

Friday night, before our Saturday carving incident, all was well. They debuted their costumes at 2 parties that night. One of our neighbors hosted a cookie decorating for the girls and then Tommy's office rented the party room at FASTLANES and we had a fun night of bowling and arcade games with his co-workers.

This is the calm before the storm, just a few minutes before she cut her hand. Our pumpkins never got past having the lids cut off, and I don't think they will this year. We were all a little traumatized. I see lots of painted pumpkins in our future.

First Days in Bentonville

Mimi came to help unpack the house and play with the girls. She unpacked tons of boxes before she left. On this afternoon, she painted birdhouses with the girls while I worked on the house.

We caught a turtle. Contrary to what you might think, they are actually pretty speedy when they want to be. We were just heading to a pool party when the girls found him. We tucked him up in a corner of our yard and he was no where to be found when we got home.

I knew before we came that alot of our furniture wasn't going to be well suited for this house, but I never had time to sell it before we came. I was right and we spent the first few days here with furniture stacked everywhere. Then, I sold it all on Craigslist and we had a few days with no furniture, until I got some new things.

First day at the town square. The girls and I had a blast exploring and they loved that they had just seen this location weeks before on TV, during Jill Duggar's proposal episode on 19 Kids and Counting.

We explored the square and then spent a few hours hiking around Crystal Bridges, which is a huge trail system around our art museum.

Then we had our first Crepe....from a food truck (another first) and we were in LOVE. Definitely a fun, unique must-see experience here. The BBQ truck next door is also delicious.

Unique Art displayed outside the museum, just off the square.

We went to Tulsa for a long weekend and met Miss Debra, Phil and Austin at a horse show Deb was judging.

We watched lots of hours of horse show.

And, on our last day there we went to the aquarium.

We spent many days at Addison's new barn. Thankfully the sisters love to go. These adorable kitties and the owners 4-year old daughter help.

We got used to a new gym. NOTHING even remotely like Lifetime Fitness here. We realized we were spoiled, but we have gotten used to it. Gracyn asked me nearly every single time, "Mommy, why is Jesus naked here?". 

We got to know new neighbors. One of our neighbors built this fabulous bike wash for the kids.

Daddy's office hosted a skating party. Our favorite!!!

The big girls took turns going with me to my early morning Pilates class.

More and more days at the barn.

Thank goodness they love these kitties.

This picture should have been first. It was the day we closed on our house. Nothing eases the pain of a move or makes a home-buying celebration better like a cookie cake. Since then, we get one any time we can think of a reasonably good reason too. 

Gracyn's Dance Recital

Miss Linsday's ballet and tap class 2013 

Gracyn's PreSchool Graduation

Way back in May, Gracyn had her pre-k graduation. I have said it 1,000 times, but I LOVE the preschool she and Reagan went to in Ohio. Love the school, Miss Marsha, chapel, the teachers and most of all the families we attended with. Gracyn's class stayed almost the same between her 3-year old year and pre-K, and we were very close with several families in her class, so it made for an extra special year. Miss Julie and Miss Dana gave her a great foundation for her school years to come. This day was a tough one for Mama. Last baby to finish preschool and moving in 2 weeks is a tough combination. I got through the day and ducked out quickly before there were any major public breakdowns!!! Miss Julie and Miss Dana awarded Gracyn with a leadership award, which is the same award Reagan had received in her class. We were so grateful for this special final day and all the amazing days of learning and fun that lead up to it.

Meet Mrs. Fluffy Whiskers

Sometime in August, just before school started back, we were outside with lots of neighbors playing one evening. During our playtime, one of our neighborhood families returned from a walk and joined us. They also had a sweet little kitty following along. They had been walking for quite some time and she followed them home. My girls, of course, began to love on her and feed her. She liked their turkey and also all their affection. When we headed in for the night, she followed us home and waited patiently on our porch until the next morning when we came back outside. And this was the beginning of our porch kitty.

Her first full day at our house, we ran to the store to get cat food. The girls and their friends played with her on our porch for 6 straight hours. By day 3 or 4 it was starting to look like she was content to stay. We posted pictures and lost signs around the neighborhood. After a few weeks with no phone calls I began wondering what we were going to do with this cat. I called every local shelter and they were all full. The city was no help and had no ordinances in place for cats. After a few days of phone calls, it was decided that we would take the kitty to get her shots, be spayed and have a wound she had on her side treated and she would live permanently on our front porch.

She has turned out to be the sweetest pet!!! While we weren't expecting to get a cat, we are so glad we did. Mrs. Whiskers prowls around some, especially at night, but by day she lounges on our porch. She loves all of us and snuggles and purrs whenever we come out. She even follows us to the bus stop everyday. When neighborhood kids are out playing, you will find her nearby. Even she and Maggie have become unlikely friends. The girls frequently say she is the best thing about Arkansas. We love our new porch kitty.

Fostering

Years ago, in the early days of our marriage, God put a place in both our hearts and minds for children in foster care. At one point when Addison was a new born baby, we went to church with a single mom who had 3 young children she had adopted through foster care. One day, despite her house being what social workers would consider "full", she was called for an emergency placement of a tiny baby girl. We went by to visit that day and bring her lots of pink clothes and a supply of diapers and formula. We held "Baby Victoria" that day and have never forgotten it. Holding that tiny infant, who didn't have any family capable of caring for her and hearing her foster mom's words, "I won't have her forever, but I can love her while I do and let God handle the rest.", has stayed with us.

Last fall, I took Kelly Minter's bible study on the book of Nehemiah. The entire study asks over and over again what we will do with the gifts God has given us and how we will make a difference in the world. It talks about doing what you can, instead of just thinking about it. She challenges her readers to "Get out of the boat" and put your faith into action. By the second week foster care and what my family might be able to do for children in need began to come to mind. By week 6 that small stirring was a full blown conviction. Tommy was in complete agreement and by the end of last year we were certain that the time had come for us to begin looking at how to open our home for foster care. Every song, every worship set, every sermon and every passage we read began to relate back to foster care and as we prayed we felt certain that it was God's calling for us. For months, I could barely make it out of a church service without tears. Several basic thoughts kept coming back to us.
~There is room at our table, and in our car and in our house and most of all in our hearts.
~To whom much has been given, much is expected.
We have so much and when you think of it in terms of all we have been given, it seems pretty simple to open our home to a child who isn't having their needs met and to love them and care for them while they need it most. If, at some point, a little one comes into our home, we will consider it a privilege to be God's hands and feet in caring for one of his children.

After several months of praying and considering if this was indeed the right time, I went to an information meeting in January for people considering foster care. It's funny how these things just fall in line. One day I shared with a close friend, for the first time, that foster parenting was on our hearts. It just so happened that her church was holding an information session, in our town, that weekend. I love how God works. All week I was nervous about attending the meeting and wouldn't quite fully commit to it. The Sunday of the meeting came and I wasn't feeling that great and was in a terrible mood. It was yet another below freezing day with snow and ice in the miserable winter we had last year. I believe it was our 4th time that year to miss church, because of bad roads. I had a million excuses to skip the meeting that afternoon, but Tommy encouraged me to go (he was staying with the girls). By the time the meeting started the roads had begun to clear and he and the girls dropped me off at my friend's church. It's funny how an hour focusing on someone else can make you feel 1,000 times better. My pity party for myself and my bad mood were instantly gone. That day we registered to begin the certification classes the next weekend.
Our girls have been on board with having a foster brother or sister from the very beginning. As we have gone through training, they have learned with us. In January we started a series of 14 Saturday morning sessions. We left the house every weekend at 8:15 am and were in training until 12:00. The girls had child care there and made great friends along the way. The picture at the top was at the end of April, having a celebration lunch at Chuys after our last training.
Of course, nothing is ever simple, so we were about mid-way through our training when we found out that Tommy would be accepting a promotion in Arkansas. I made a few phone calls to DCHS in both states and with a tentative commitment that Arkansas DCHS would accept our training from Ohio, we continued on.
Now, since moving to Arkansas we have completed an initial homestudy, gotten a waiver to officially approve our training, filled out a million documents, had physicals, done background checks in 3 different states and completed FBI fingerprinting. We are just starting a homegroup at church that is for families who are fostering or have an interest in foster care. We are thankful to have found a church here that is strongly vested in helping these kids. We are doing some final things around the house (think crazy child-proofing things we never did for our own children) and waiting for a CPR and First Aid class. We should be ready for our final home study in the next few weeks and hope to have our home "open" after we return from a Thanksgiving trip to Texas.

We tell the girls all the time that we hope the call never comes for a child placement, because if the phone isn't ringing, that means a child is not being traumatically removed from their home and parents. But, if the time does come, we want to be ready. Would you join us in praying for children who need a home. Pray for them, for the restoration of their birth families. Throughout this process our hearts have grown tremendously not only for the children in care, but also for their families. For families who love their children, but have made some bad choices or are in a bad place. Pray that those birth parents are shown love and given guidance to get back on their feet, and for our home or any other foster home that can help them in the process.

The Last Three Days

Menchie's with the crew after their last gymnastics class. It was the 2nd to last day of school, 9pm at night and the movers had started that morning.

The day before the movers arrived, the big girls were at their next to last day of school and I took Gracyn with her friends to have one last swim at the neighborhood pool.

We had such a sweet morning with this crew, while I continued in my state of DENIAL!!!

This was the last picture we ever took in our neighborhood. It is hard for me to look at it now and actually a few days ago, when I printed it for Gracyn for a school project, she started to cry. We quickly printed a new picture. Too many emotions wrapped up in this one. The truck had just pulled away, the house was locked up and we were saying prayers with the Janzen's and Leslie's and then walking down the cul-de-sac to our car for the last time.

More Menchies.

Our friends were all sweet to have us over for dinner during the move. So nice, since it's hard to cook when your kitchen is packed, plus it gave us every extra second we could have with them.

After the mover's finished their second day, I left Tommy and a few other dads playing with kids in the maze of boxes around our house and snuck out for one last night with my favorite fellow Mamas at Melting Pot. 

Another dinner with friends. The Sphire's had us this night. We grilled out, fished (I caught my first fish) played outside and threw water balloons. My crew think their house is better than DisneyWorld.

Every year, I host a big ice-cream sundae party at our house on the last day of school. This year, would be day 2 of our movers packing, but we didn't let that stop us. Thankfully, the Leslies let us set up in their driveway. I hauled all the ice-cream and supplies down there and I think we had about 30 kids playing in sprinklers, running around the cul-de-sac, eating ice-cream and celebrating summer! Apparently, between supervising movers and dishing ice-cream I was too busy to take pictures, because this is the only one I have.

After the sad neighborhood good-bye, we checked into a local hotel for the night and the Bowles family came over for one last evening together.

We had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and then came back to swim.

We played at the pool for a few hours and tried to ignore the big good-bye looming over us, but it was tough.

The end came to soon and I think we were all totally spent and just emotionally drained. It is a lot for an adult to process and even more for the kids. I am proud of how my girls handle it. They are sad, but also, they know how to embrace the new adventure.

One last group picture. After this, it was pretty much the ugly cry. We said good-bye to our sweet friends and tucked in some very emotional little girls. We had just a few hours to sleep before heading out to Addison's show. And, I should mention, the dog was pretty much a wreck at this point as well. All the house packing activity and a hotel stay had made her a bit jittery!

One last picture of Dunlop Court. The truck was loaded and they were just heading off.