They are Holding my Little Boy Hostage

This is Cody.  I can't show his face right now, but I got this picture and was excited to be able to share.  That is a book that we sent him and he fell asleep with it, so since his face is covered, I can share.  :)

I beg your prayers for his adoption to move quickly.  Ohio's ICPC is driving me insane.  They keep saying we have to provide something else or that our agency has to provide something else.  We've heard that they are being told to deny every adoption that they can from out of state.  Evidently some children have come from out of state and their adoptions have disrupted.  That puts them back into care, but this time the state of Ohio is footing the bill.  You'd think that, since our first adoption was over 9 1/2 years ago and all ours are home, that we'd have proved ourselves by now.  I have 18 and 19 year old daughters that still live at home, when many bio parents would have put them into the MRDD system to be housed.  It also isn't like Cody is some delinquent child.  He's a cute little 4 year old who has overcome so much in his short life and NEEDS a family. 

Please pray that they will move this thing forward rather than delaying with endless attempts to find some reason to deny him a family!  It is like they are holding him hostage and every time I think I paid the ransom they just change it to another ransom demand.  It is exhausting and my heart breaks each day for this little boy who deserves a family to love and adore him forever.  Please take this before God for us.  The devil must really be angry at what God has planned for my little boy, because otherwise he'd not be fighting it so hard.

I know this picture is a little blurry.  I just thought I'd share that THIS is how I FEEL RIGHT NOW!  The day I took this picture I was trying to take some pictures to send to Cody.  She let me know very clearly that she was DONE with getting her picture taken.  I can't help but think she is adorable even showing a mad face.  lol

I very much feel like the face she is making and the idea she is trying to get across.  I am DONE with the waiting.  I am tired of waiting for ICPC to move on Cody's adoption.  I am tired of waiting for Central Registry checks on my oldest daughters.  I am ready to have all my kids home.

The thing that is DIFFERENT is that no one cares if I am TIRED and DONE.  Julianne is cute and we love her so much that we CARE.  The government offices that do all of the things (or don't do them) that I need done for my adoptions don't care that there are real children waiting and mommies worrying. 

SO I STILL WAIT!

I think I'll go back and re-read my post about the cost of adoption now.  I think God means for me to "get it" and I'm instead feeling ticked off.  Maybe He is ok with me being ticked off because He too is tired of the people in charge wasting the lives of children?  I am going to have to pray about that. 

Cody News - Good and Sad

I got an email from Cody's foster mother. 

First of all he had his annual MRI.  His shunt is still doing great!  He will need to follow up with a pediatric neurosurgeon in a year for another MRI and an appointment to get the results.  That is great news!

Cody is continuing to ask every day at each meal, if he can go eat in "Hio" with Dayton.  That makes me feel so many mixed emotions.  First of all I am just so SAD.  I mean, my little boy wants to come home and can't.  The world is an unfair place and children are not valued as they should be.  Our foster care system is so broken that it has taken forever to get him home.  I am also GLAD that he wants to come home.  I know that means that God is preparing his tiny little heart for coming home to his forever family.  I know that it is amazing that he is wanting to leave the only home he remembers ever living in.  I know it means that he is comprehending that the gifts, pictures, and phone calls are coming from REAL people.  He is ready to go see those real people and is longing to do things with the brother that he will share a room with. 

I need to hold him so badly!  I thank God for preparing his heart.  I am thankful that I got some more news on him from the foster mother.  I am heartbroken that this process still has so long left before he will come home and I pray that he hasn't given up on the whole idea by that point. 

Pray hard that he comes home soon to eat in "Hio" with Dayton and all the rest of us!

Snack Mix

I get a lot of questions about how I feed them all, so I thought I'd do a series of posts about the ways I make food work.  :)

One of my kids' favorite things in our "Snack Mix".  I started making snack mix as a way to give them good snacks with stuff they like, but keeping it as healthy and low fat as possible.  I also HATE TO WASTE anything.  On top of that our snacks need to be low sodium because my oldest three had high blood pressure until I adjusted their diet (mainly cut out school lunches). 

Here's what I do! 

I go through our "cereal cabinet" and get different cereals that have been mostly finished.  I put them all into a huge container.  I add some type of small marshmallows (the kids especially like it if they are seasonal - snowmen, spring time, heart shaped).  I then add some chocolate chips, M&Ms, Reeses Pieces.  If we have a partially eaten package of pretzels or gold fish crackers then they get added. 

Just a quick and careful (non crunching) mixing with my hand and we have a snack that will last for quite a while.  If another bag of cereal gets almost empty then I just add it whenever it gets that way.  Right now I did a special one for Spring and added a package of jelly beans to the mix. 

It has just enough "sweet" and "junk" to it that the kids ask for it, but plenty of cereal, crackers, pretzels, etc that it is a good snack as well. 

I love it because it eliminates waste, saves money, and is something they all love!

She Did It!

Yes, Julianne did just pee in the potty!  While Dayton and I were carrying on about her peeing in the potty, she smiled and said "Potty".  :)  Have I ever mentioned how much I adore my little girl??  Well, in case you don't know, I adore her more than you could possibly imagine.  She makes every day wonderful.  She is so sweet and cute that I didn't even mind cleaning up pee 3 times yesterday.  lol 

Ok, well there is my "happy Mommy" post!  :)

Potty Training Julianne?

Well, yesterday I put Julianne in big girl panties for the first time.  She is 4 1/2 years old and it is time to give it a try.  She's peed and pooped in the potty many times before.  We've never gone full fledged at potty training though. 

I can say that she only peed in the floor 3 times.  The problem with that is, that is the ONLY times she peed!  Yes, every single time that she peed it was in the floor.  She did go sit on the potty once with her panty's still on, but even after I pulled them down for her, nothing came of it.  I think she may have thought - ok well its been more than 15 minutes and mommy hasn't sat me here yet so I guess I should probably sit down on my own.  haha

We are back at it this morning.  No successes yet.  I'm not giving up!  I think she can do this.  She knows what the potty is for.  I think she just needs to understand that it isn't just for before bath time.  Oh well, we'll see how this goes!

I Got to Talk to Cody

Yesterday I got a phone call from CODY!  I wasn't inside at the moment so I even have his sweet little voice recorded on my voice mail.  I called him back as soon as I got back inside. 

He kept asking if "Is Mama still on here?".  It melted my heart even more, which is nearly impossible since he stole my heart two years ago.  He was talking about coming to "my new Ohio".  He has such a little voice and is so cute!

Today his foster mother emailed to tell me that at lunch time he said he wasn't eating there but instead "in Hio" with Dayton.  lol  He is so cute.  I can just see God preparing his tiny heart for the move.  His foster mother is working with him and he even knows his new last name.  I can't wait to hold him. 

Please pray that our Central Registry Checks for Precious and Unique come back quickly.  We need those to clear Ohio ICPC.  I am so tired of waiting, but I have no choice.  I love him and he is going to be my little boy.  When I get a hold of him, it will be very hard to let lose of him after this long wait.  Please pray!