First of all, I should say THANK YOU.  Thank you for being faithful to pray every time I ask.  How do I know that you pray, you may ask?  Because prayer works.  And when you pray, things happen.  Jesse is much better.  He has only had one fever today and he’s been able to keep down his last three meals.  Owen now has a fever, but it’s not high like Jesse’s.  There are some pretty nasty viruses going around and we’ve been told that is very likely what they’re passing around.

Now for the GREAT news.  Remember the baby girls we were praying for a few months ago?  The little girls from out of town who were going to be ‘foster-to-adopt’??  Well we received news today that THEY ARE COMING!!!!  We’re still unsure of when.  We were told it may be a slow process because they’re moving out of county; possibly several months.  But wow.  I can hardly believe it!  The crazy thing is, I was just telling a friend, the other day, about our decision to let our current foster children stay with us if things didn’t work out with their family taking them and my friend asked, “What about the girls you were suppose to adopt?”  I said, “Well, I’ve all but given up on that situation, since we haven’t heard anything in so long.  If everything were to work out with the girls, it would be a tremendous surprise, but until then, six kids will definitely keep my mind off of it!”  The funny thing is, no one has asked me about “the girls” in several weeks, but all of a sudden several people have asked me about them in the last week or so.  Now I’ll have great news!

We still don’t know anything about them.  Names, exact ages (they were 4 months old and 2 years old when we got the first call a few months ago but that may not have been completely accurate), or nationality.  I suppose it’s kind of like not finding out what you’re having when you’re pregnant…times TEN!  Now I really can start picking out baby girl names!!  Oh my goodness, I can start planning how I want to decorate their room, I can shop clearance sales for next years’ winter wardrobe, shoes, hair bows….you just don’t understand!  SEVEN YEARS OF BOYS and suddenly I will get to buy GIRL STUFF!?!  FUNNNNN!!!

The down side is, when the girls do finally arrive, our current foster children, who we’ve completely fallen in love with, will have to move to another foster home if they haven’t already been reunited with their family.  But God’s timing is perfect so I’ll continue to trust in His ways.

Uh-oh, Owen just peed on the floor in the bathroom and I hear my husband saying, “YOU WERE IN THE BATHROOM!  THE POTTY IS RIGHT THERE?!?”

Time to intervene.

Good night.   🙂

~audrey

Today was another gorgeous “taste of spring” day. Sunny and 72. Absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, I spent my day in the Children’s Hospital with Jesse. It all started Sunday night after his baptism. The water had been freezing, he had gotten really cold and by the time we got home, he didn’t feel well. Monday morning he was complaining of not feeling well and he had a cough, so we kept him home from school. By Monday afternoon, Jesse was running a 104 fever and by bedtime he was vomiting. He threw up throughout the night as he would try to sip on water or take medicine for his fever. When Jesse gets fevers, they are always high and he gets terrible headaches with them.
This morning, he looked like he’d been hit by a truck, so I took him to the doctor. The doctor tested him for strep and the flu; both came back negative. His urinalysis “lit up like a Christmas tree”, according to the doctor, and his tummy was very tender to touch, so the doctors decided to send him to the children’s hospital for IV fluids and further testing.
When we arrived, my phone died. Lovely. All day at the hospital and no way for Josh (or ANYONE) to contact me. Jesse’s fever was still around 104 when they admitted him. His heart rate was in the 150’s and his blood pressure at one point was 85/24! He slept off and on for the first few hours. They had him hooked up to a monitor, with leads on his chest, an O2 sat. on his thumb, and an IV in his hand. When his fever finally broke, he sweat so profusely that the leads on his chest fell off. They had to clean him up and put new ones on. He perked up for a bit after his fever broke. His heart rate went down slightly and they talked of discharging him around 1:30.  Unfortunately, by 2:00pm, his fever was back with a vengeance, heart rate was back up, and his blood pressure had plummeted.  We were there for another two hours as they pumped him full of fluids, monitored his stats, and waited for him to stabilize.

Now it is 8:00pm.  Jesse fell asleep on the couch when we got home, but he woke up with a 103 fever and terrible headache.  When Josh gave him tylenol, he threw it up five minutes later…along with the little bit of lunch he was able to eat.  Thirty minutes after throwing up the tylenol, we got permission from the doctor to let him SIP a dose of motrin.  So far, so good.  It has stayed down and his fever is down to 101.  I’m praying we make it through the night without having to return to the ER.

Jesse’s blood work at the hospital revealed that his immune deficiencies from two years ago have gotten slightly worse; the labs show one more deficiency than his past labs.  They’re referring us back to an immunologist who can follow Jesse more closely and run further tests.

Jesse was healthy all last year when we home schooled.   Since he’s been back in school this year, he’s had this high fever with vomiting, five or six times since October.  I was really hoping that year off was what he needed to strengthen his immune system and get well.  I guess I was wrong and now we’re back at square one.  I do feel even better now about our firm decision to home school all of the boys in the fall.  This was definitely confirmation that Jesse’s body needs it more now than ever.

Please pray for wisdom as we go back to specialists and procedures and blood work for answers.  I trust that God will send us where we need to go.  I have peace; after all, we did this for a full year and a half, just under two years ago.  We’ll get through it again.  Hopefully with more concise results this time…and treatment!  Until then, we’ll continue to pray, trust the Lord, and double up on Jesse’s Juice Plus+.

~audrey

I had visitation last night with the foster children and their parents. As a result, I started dinner, but asked Josh to please finish it for me. I had boiled several chicken breasts to make chicken and dumplings and I left instructions on how to finish it. When I got home, I ate the BEST chicken and dumplings I’d ever put in my mouth. No lie, Josh had perfected the broth to the perfect thickness and flavor and the dumplings were out of this world. He was quite proud and I was quite excited that I will probably never cook chicken and dumplings again; Josh will gladly do it with pride. 🙂

On another note, while we were at visitation, which takes place at McDonald’s, I noticed the baby had a handful of cheetoz!! I’m suppose to be ‘hands off’ at visitation. My purpose is to observe and report and only intervene if absolutely necessary. So who am I to snatch the cheetoz out of the six month old’s hand. The six month old who will hardly even eat baby food for me. The six month old that doesn’t even have ONE SINGLE TOOTH?? Surely someone saw my jaw hit the floor, but I exercised self-restraint and stayed in my seat. No wonder he doesn’t eat my baby food! His first food was cheetoz and bits of hot dog!! I understand that every mother is different. There are cultural differences, family differences, differences in parenting techniques based on the parent’s age, etc. I’ve always been rather particular about what goes into the mouths of my babies. Oh well, surely it’s no worse than my grandmother (God rest her soul) sneaking Jesse little pieces of pineapple cake at Christmas…when he was FIVE MONTHS OLD and I was strictly breastfeeding. I can laugh about those things now. 🙂

The kids are all doing great. We’re enjoying a beautiful Saturday outside in this gorgeous weather. My boys are going to spend the night with Mimi and Papa tonight, so we’re looking forward to a “quieter” evening with our other three.

Here is a sneak peek of Jesse’s kindergarten cap and gown pics. He is now completely obsessed with wearing a tie and asks me daily when I’m going to buy him some of his own. The one he’s wearing in the picture is borrowed from a friend.

Also, a pic of the Joshua at his recorder recital.

~audrey

Last week, our foster childrens’ case went back to court. They were suppose to go into a relative’s custody after the hearing…if everything went exactly as planned; like THAT ever happens!

Josh and I had a talk the night before the hearing and decided, after much discussion and prayer, that we would agree to keep the children in our home if things didn’t go according to plan in court. We had originally taken these children in as an “emergency placement” and we told our agency they would have to find another foster home for them if they needed to be in care for longer than a month. Six children under the age of seven was just too much for us and we had been pretty clear on that. However, after just two short weeks, we had really grown to love these children and see in each one of them, how much they need a stable, loving environment right now. With that, we made our decision.

Here we are, a week later, and we still have six children. It’s funny how you can see in hindsight, how God has prepared you for certain tasks. I can honestly say that we do have peace about our decision, and although there is a screaming baby in the other room, and I’m going to have to load up four kids into the car, in the pouring rain in about ten minutes to go get Jesse from school, we’re making it all work. Somehow, making the decision to keep them in our home has changed the way I love them. I’m feeling more like their temporary Momma now, rather than just their foster parent. Unless you’ve been a foster parent, there is really no way to describe how uncomfortable those first few weeks are. You have new children in your home, making things a little crazy. You can’t discipline them the way you’d like. They don’t necessarily treat your children the way you’d like them to be treated. They don’t talk like you or eat the food you prepare. They don’t sleep through the night like your own children have for at least the last two years. You can’t get a babysitter for them when you want a few hours away, because all your babysitters must be approved through the agency after much investigation. It’s just different; in an indescribable way. But, I’d say after the first two weeks, it’s easier to tell whether or not the children are a good fit in your home. Our first placement, which was also three children, including a ten year old boy, was NOT a good fit. These kids, however, I can see staying with us for as long as they need.
It’s funny how this crazy control freak that needs to have everything planned out is suddenly flying by the seat of her pants, running on a measly few hours of sleep per night, and learning to enjoy it!
God surely has a sense of humor.

~audrey

Sometimes I look at my children and still can’t believe they’re mine. The last eight years of my life have gone by so very fast. Josh and I recently celebrated our eighth anniversary and we were able to tell Joshua that he was our first anniversary present. We got pregnant with him three months after we got married and came home from the hospital with him on our first anniversary. What a miraculous gift. I can honestly tell you I have never once regretted getting pregnant so quickly into our marriage. We trusted God from day one and knew that He’d bless us with children in His timing.

Joshua Nicholas was born on February 20, 2003 at 5:38pm. I was induced that morning at 7am and after ten hours of labor, including two and a half hours of pushing, Joshua arrived with the cord around his neck twice, completely blue, and not breathing. Being as young as I was and being my first child, I didn’t know to be scared, so I wasn’t. I’d seen so many episodes of The Baby Story on TLC, I was kind of wondering where the music was?? I vaguely remember my mother-in-law holding oxygen to his nose as the nurses ‘bagged him’ and pumped air into his lungs. Eventually, he let out a wimpy cry and by the time they did his second set of APGAR scores, he was close to perfect. Aside from never being able to latch on, Joshua was the perfect baby.

He began sleeping through the night at seven weeks. He was always smiling and had the most beautiful blue eyes and long eye lashes. No matter what I dressed him in, people thought he was a girl, at least once a day. It was really quite ridiculous.

Joshua took his first steps two weeks before his first birthday. He’s the only one of my boys that walked before they turned one. Jesse and Owen weren’t until months after their first birthday!

Joshua was a small baby. At his well-child check-ups he was always off the bottom of the charts…5th and 7th percentiles for weight and height. However, he was always healthy, so the doctor never showed concern. He only weighed 18lbs. on his first birthday. But now, at seven years old, he’s a normal seven year old boy. He weighs about 55lbs. and is over 4ft. tall. I often have to remind myself how old and mature he is. I’m finding myself talking to him a little differently. He understands so much and handles things like a typical first-born. Joshua is definitely a leader. He enjoys helping around the house, doing chores, “managing his money” (haha, he’s saving up for a car and is quite aware that he only has nine years left to save!), doing manly stuff with Daddy, Grandpa, and Papa, and he loves to learn.

It’s hard to believe he’s finishing up first grade! This is our second year homeschooling and we’re still loving it. Joshua always asks to do math first. Some days he’ll do four or five lessons in one sitting. Reading, on the other hand, has taken some extra practice and perseverance, but now that he has the hang of it he’s enjoying reading all of our Dr.Suess books to his brothers…although, at the rate Jesse is learning to read, they’ll be taking turns reading to Owen by the summer.

He loves using his imagination and going on wild adventures in the back yard. He takes a music theory class on Thursdays and is learning to read music and play the recorder. His first recital was last Thursday and they did an excellent job. I’m so very proud of him.

His newest interest is LEGOS. He got quite a few LEGO sets for his birthday, and the very next week, he and his brothers were invited to attend a LEGO club at a local church. Josh took all three boys and they had a blast. That will definitely be something they do together on a monthly basis.

It is a joy and honor to be raising this Godly young man who will be a vital part in the kingdom of God. Joshua and Jesse will be getting baptized on Sunday. I am still amazed at my boys’ yearning to ask Jesus into their hearts. Joshua did it at VBS last summer and I had the privilege of praying with him.  Jesse actually stopped me in the middle of our bed time prayers several months ago and said, “Mommy (with frustration), when are you going to help me ask Jesus into my heart??”  We prayed right then and he simply smiled, as if he’d just been waiting for the right moment.   The best part is, Josh will be baptizing them both.  I hope I can hold it together long enough to take some pictures and video.

Okay, this post ended up a lot longer than I had planned, but here are some pics from his birthday:

Here is Joshua eating his traditional birthday cinnamon roll with a candle on it.

Owen was probably crying because he realized this day wasn’t going to revolve around him! Poor kid.

Jesse is holding Joshua’s new Bible that we got him for his birthday. Jesse was so proud to wrap it for him.

It was so fun to watch him open all of his presents as he read some of the cards himself and was so gracious to his friends and family. Not to mention the excitement over getting so many great new things.

I love the look on his face in this picture. He was so excited and wrapped up in the moment.

Joshua, we are so very proud to be your parents and we pray that God would continue to give us wisdom to raise you to your fullest potential and destiny.  May you always seek the Lord in all that you do.  I pray you’d have eyes to see what God is doing here on Earth, ears to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, and boldness to carry His light everywhere that you go.  We love you Joshua!

love,

Mommy and Daddy.

~audrey

Sorry, I had to do that disclaimer because my sweet brother is a faithful reader and I’d hate for him to unknowingly begin reading about his big sister’s sex life on a Monday morning. LOL! 🙂

So anyways, there is a local church that does a “Sex Talk Series” in February. I think this was the second year they did it. Here is the link to the podcasts if you’d like to check any of them out. I haven’t actually listened to any of them yet, but I plan to listen to the one entitled The Battle In the Bed. My friend told me about some of the stories Pastor Brent told and it melted my heart. Like the couple who put a dollar in a box by their bed every time they made love, and by their 40th or 50th anniversary, they had enough cash to go to Hawaii! Daddy would come home from work and say, “I’ve got a dollar in my pocket.” and Momma would say, “I know just where to spend it.” I think that’s awesome.

How about the man who went through many hardships in his life, including losing his job at one point. For most men, losing their job and ability to provide for their family, even if for a brief time, is a huge shot to their self-esteem. It is in their heavenly make-up to have the drive to provide for their family and when they lose that ability for one reason or another, it has the potential to scar, and even ruin a man. However, this man had one crucial constant in his life. His wife was faithful in the bedroom. He knew that no matter how life was going, his wife would be there to fulfill that one particular need for him almost every night. I don’t know if Pastor Brent gave an actual number of how many times a week, but clearly, it was consistent…more than my poor husband can say at the moment. For those of you/us that have read Created to Be His Helpmeet, you know how vitally important it is, not only to our marriage, but also to our husbands individually, that we are meeting his needs in a physical way. I’m going to try to listen to this podcast today…and maybe tomorrow and the next day, because I’m committing to consistency in my bedroom this month…and hopefully every month after that as well. I suppose I ought to commit to caution as well or we might have some pregnant bloggers after a month or so!! LOL!! 🙂

Happy Monday!

~audrey

I’m feeling like a new woman this morning. The babies slept eleven hours through the night, two nights in a row…if only Josh and I hadn’t stayed up till almost 11:30pm watching My Sister’s Keeper! It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep does for you psychologically! Moms, you know what I’m talking about!

Our foster children will be leaving soon. Their case went back to court and DFCS is allowing them to go to a family member. Even though we’ve only had them for two weeks, it will be harder letting these three go. We’ve really fallen in love with the babies. I wish so much I could post pictures of them; they are absolutely adorable. And Sister and I have really spent some quality time together. Unfortunately, everything that I’ve observed at visitations tell me that she doesn’t get much attention at home. It’s all about the babies and she’s just another “momma” in the house. It’s sad. She’s such a sweet girl.

Still no news on ‘our daughters’…any of them. The ones from out of town are still in the process of checking out the grandparents, which aren’t expected to be approved, but it can be a long process. And the girls that are with my friend’s parents are going to have to stay put until their parents’ TPR hearing takes place. For those of you not from Augusta, we are about ten minutes from the South Carolina state line. Going back and forth from SC and Augusta is a daily thing for many Augustans, so when I say the girls are in a different state, they are, but it’s only about 20 minutes from here. If they were in foster care in my county, they could be moved to my home and remain there, even before the hearing takes place, but everything changes when they’re out of state. So once again, we wait. I feel like a cartoon character walking around with a huge question mark floating over my head. Someone at church last night was asking me for updates on everything and once I told her all the updates, which were: we don’t know, we’re still waiting, haven’t heard, and should be soon, she just laughed and said, “Girl, your life is just one big question mark right now, isn’t it!” Yep, sure is. But, you know, I seem to rest better in God’s sovereignty when my life is up in the air like this. I guess because I’m a planner and I like to be in control, I have no choice but to chill out and wait on the Lord in situations like this.

Joshua has music this morning and his first recital tonight. I’ll try to video a little clip of his recital. He’s very excited.

So many of my friends are at home with sick kids; fevers and throwing up. I’m so thankful mine are back to being healthy.

Okay, more later!

~audrey

Clearly I’ve been a little busy lately. I’ve hardly even sat down since last Saturday…at least that’s how it has felt. I’m tired.
I have lots to write about:

Joshua’s seventh birthday
Update on our current foster children
Celebration of our 8th anniversary
Enjoying the spring weather…

But…I do not have time right now.
Hoping to catch up tomorrow during nap time.
Don’t give up on me just yet! 🙂

~audrey

It has become quite apparent, even though it is only the end of February, that God intends to give us daughters this year. First we had the situation with the two little girls out of town and that is still up in the air, but doesn’t seem promising. Of course right now we have a temporary placement of three children, but they will likely be returning to family sometime in the next week or so.

I got a call from a friend the other day. She said she’d had us on her heart and wanted us to consider praying about two little girls who are currently in foster care with her parents. The girls are 5 and 10, which would normally not sound like the ideal adoptive situation, but the more she told me about them, the more my heart broke for them. By the end of our call, I was ready to go pick them up and rescue them from a childhood of moving from foster home to foster home. It is very difficult to place children of these ages in adoptive homes. Most families that are taking the adoption route are looking for babies.

We are praying earnestly about these girls and plan to meet them in person as early as next week. Please pray that God would give us wisdom in this situation. We came into foster parenting with no intention to adopt. We wanted to strictly foster. I had the idea that if we adopted, then we wouldn’t be able to help any other children. But what better way to help two little girls than to give them the promise of a permanent home with three little brothers and two parents that will love them forever, no matter what? I’m astonished with how quickly the Lord has changed my heart. I now long for the children that we are meant to adopt. The yearning to have “one more baby” is gone. Just a month or two ago, I was ready to be pregnant again. That is no longer the case. Even if neither of these situations work out with the girls, I feel confident that we are meant to adopt any additional children that will be added to our family.

I look forward to keeping you posted!

~audrey

Not sure if I mentioned that Joshua was throwing up last Saturday night. Josh stayed home from church with him the next day and I prayed no one else would get it. Well, last night, Jesse didn’t want to eat dinner and was complaining of a tummy ache. He fell asleep on the couch and I was going to let him stay there since I had already prepared a little trash can beside him and if he did get sick, it wouldn’t disturb the rest of the kids. About an hour later, everyone in the house was asleep but me. I went back into the living room to get my Bible study book and noticed that Jesse was asleep sitting up. He was laying down when he fell asleep. I went over to the couch to lay him back down and I noticed puke. EVERYWHERE. Puke on the couch, the blankets, his pillow, his clothes…he hadn’t even woken up!! GROSS!!!!!! I know I’ve mentioned before, I CANNOT clean up puke. I can do poop all day long, but I cannot do puke. I will puke.

So, I had to wake up my husband who was in bed at 8:45pm because he had a fever. Just for the record, I tried to do it myself, but Josh heard me gagging and dry heaving from the bathroom.
We got Jesse all cleaned up, Josh stripped two of the cushion covers off of the couch (I pray they make it through the wash!), and we settled Jesse back to sleep on the love seat.

Then the fun really began. **can you sense my sarcasm?** We finally got back into bed around 10pm and within 30 minutes, the two babies began waking up crying. They don’t want food, juice, bottles, etc, they just wake up screaming and one of us has to put the paci back in the mouth of who ever is crying and normally they go right back down….except this night, they woke up over 15 times. This is not an exaggeration. I saw every single hour on the clock; many more than once. It was truly a night from hell, and those are the nights you just have to keep saying, “Thank you Lord for healthy babies. Thank you that I have the ability to wake up every 30-45 minutes to take care of these babies. Thank you that they are in a safe, warm bed. And thank you for a husband that helps in the middle of the night!”

Poor Josh is back in bed at the moment. He has a 3:00 meeting this afternoon, so he’s trying to get some rest and hoping his fever doesn’t come back.

Please, please, please pray that none of the other children get this stomach bug! I’m not sure we can take another night like that. Ironically, I prayed over the babies last night before putting them to bed…it was their worst night yet!! I’ll definitely pray harder tonight! Haha!

~audrey