New Year's Eve

Nine years ago today I decided to put my faith in my Savior Jesus Christ. It's hard to believe it's been nine years since I made the awesome decision that rocked my world!

Today, I am celebrating the New Year with some wonderful family members. I'm sure it's hard to believe, but Titus and Leeann are still bright-eyed and bushy tailed just 30 minutes before we ring in 2009. Titus looked like he was going to give in for a few short minutes, but then he regained his energy rather quickly. Surprise!

We've been eating good food, playing awesome games (like Blokus... it's great!) and hanging out. Now we're watching the Bee Movie and counting down time until we pull out the cider and count down to the New Year.

I made some pumpkin rolls. Yummy!
This is Batman showing me how strong he is... mind you it's nearly mid-night.

Logan gave in!

Here's part of the clan. Since the taking of these pictures Leeann and uncle Chuck have fallen asleep beneath the Christmas tree. I took pictures, but I don't want to download them just yet. I'll try to remember to post them later because they've gotta be cute.

Happy New Year!

I haven't seen my kids in days!

We finally made it up to see Rob's family in the Kent area on Saturday. Suzy and I drove up with all the kids after a lunch stop in St. Helens (thanks uncle Steve for fixing my head-light and brake light!). We made it to Kent that evening and Rob joined us on Monday afternoon. We've been enjoying time with Rob's family, and the kids are having so much fun I virtually haven't seen them in days!

Seriously, Leeann's been sleeping in Ashly and Amanda's room (they're 10), and Titus has been sleeping in Joshua's room (he's 13). They wake up in their cousins rooms and pounce on them and play with them and aunt Shelly gets them breakfast and we get to sleep in until ridiculously late hours... I even slept in until 10:30 one day! It's been beautiful! Of course, we also stay up extra late hanging out with Chuck and Shelly, but that doesn't stop them from getting up at a normal hour!

The cousins are all worn out from all of their chasing of my kiddos. They are all so good with them! Josh even has the energy to chase Titus around all day and he's LOVING it. It's crazy that the cousins keep getting older and older (KayLee is 15), as I still think of them as young. I feel like Ashly and Amanda should be Leeann's age and KayLee and Josh should be about the age of the girls. Rob and I were talking about what it would be like to be here 5 years from now when Titus is 8, Leeann is 10, the girls are 15, Josh is 18 and KayLee is 20. Now, that will be a whole different ball-game. Before too long the cousins might start having families of their own adding more kids and a whole new generation to the mix. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves though... for now we're just having tons of fun together as a family. In fact, tonight we'll do our Buhl family Christmas. I can already smell the turkey!

On a not as happy note, Rob's mom has been in the hospital since the Tuesday before Christmas. She's been having some trouble with her liver for a long time and something happened with her kidney's where they've started to have problems too. I don't really understand it all, but I know that she's in the hospital and until she's able to get a liver transplant she'll continue to have significant health problems. So, we've gone to visit her and just spend some time with her every day we've been here. We bring by some grand kids and to fill her room with happy sounds, and we wear her out! The grand kids have plastered her wall with colored pictures and snap shots in attempts to help her keep her hopes up.

Leeann left her Disneyland flip book (with the pictures and signatures of the princess and other characters) with MeeMaw to give her something to look at and hope for. We keep telling her to get better so she can go to Disneyland with us at the end of 2009. We had so much fun with her when we got to go in 2007. Leeann politely asked her not to get anything on it because that book is very special to her. It was perfect, because it was actually MeeMaw who insisted that it was the one thing that she needed when we went to Disneyland. We weren't inclined to spend the money on it but MeeMaw bought it at the first stand she found in Disneyland. And, I admit, she was right... it was probably the best purchase of the whole trip! Now it's in MeeMaw's possession, helping keep her spirits up while she's in the hospital.

Carmin (Rob's step-dad) is taking great care of her, and the kids and grand kids are trying to visit as often as we can. It will be hard to go back to Albany, leaving her here. I went stir-crazy in the hospital for only 2 days even though I had a brand new baby, lots of visitors and my husband by my side the entire time. Oh, and I was recovering from a major surgery. I can't imagine what it must feel for her to be there. We appreciate your prayers for a quick and perfect liver match, and for the ability to fight to get healthy enough to have the transplant in the mean-time.

Anyway, I should probably go, but I wanted to get an update off to you since I've been terrible at keeping up lately. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year, and thanks for reading in 2008!

Just a few pictures!

These are some of Titus's birthday presents. After Christmas is done, the only vital Cars character we are missing is Tow Mater. I have looked for him everywhere, and the only time I've ever seen him he was the brand new mater (which he only is for like 2 seconds of the movie). Anyway, if any of my faithful readers ever come across Mater, I'll pay a high price for him! Well, not really, but I'll pay you back and thank you like crazy!

This is Leeann and Titus playing under Rob's counter in his office. Why are they covered in toilet paper covers? Glad you asked...

Because Pastor Joel and Branden decided to decorate Rob's office for him! They actually did a great job and it looked quite decorative until you realized what they were! Rob had the kids at the office with him when he took them off of his ceiling and they had a blast playing in them. Go figure, the best things in life... uh, never mind!

We Tried

This morning it appeared that there was a break in the weather and a stability in driving conditions so we packed as fast as we could and hit the road in hopes to be with family for Christmas. Suzy's clan followed close behind us and we made it just north of Salem before we realized venturing out was a bad idea. The further north we got, the more clumps of slush and show were on the road. It was bumpy and we were going less than 20 miles per hour. There were semi's and cars and trucks all lined up on the sides of the road to chain up, so we turned around and came home.

The whole way home Leeann and Titus kept begging us to just try to go a little bit further so we could make it to Aunt Shelly's. We tried to distract them by asking them to help us brainstorm some things we could do together, and with Suzy's family to make the next couple of days extra fun at home.

After a few great ideas such as painting and making cookies Leeann said, "I know, we can drive home and get our shovels (sand toys) and come back to the freeway and shovel the snow out of the way so we can get to Aunt Shelly's!" Rob told her it was too cold outside to do that and it would take too long. "We can wear our boots!" she replied. Ah, I love that she would think to do whatever she could to make it to Washington. We are sad to be missing family, but we are looking forward to creating some Oregon Christmas memories this year. Hey, at least we tried!

Snowed Out?

The only thing worse than being snowed in for Christmas, is being snowed out! Although Rob has the week off, we've yet been able to find any hope from the weather man to be able to travel to visit family on any of our days off... because they're all buried in snow. We, on the other hand have only had a few flurries today and other than that it's just been raining for days. 30 minutes north of here roads and businesses are closed as the snow keeps coming down. None for us though. I'm getting the impression that if you travel 30 minutes in any direction you'll find treterous conditions... crazy eh?

So, we anxiously watch the forecast trying to figure out if we'll get to spend Christmas with family, or we'll be hanging out here. The good news (or at least the silver lining) is that if we're stuck so is Suzy so we'll at least have some family around for the holidays.

Other than that, I still have a lot to update you on (and loads of pictures) but my laptop is seriously slower than dirt, and my desk top doesn't have any room for more pictures. That's why you're getting these boring wordy posts. I may have nothing but time on my hands this week though, so I'll try to get those up soon.

High Lights since my last post:

Leeann has a deep cough and she sounds miserable, but the on call nurse didn't seem concerned all.

Titus and Leeann had a Christmas Program at church and Titus discovered his angel wings as of the second performance and decided he could fly. He ran back and forth across the stage like a wild angel. Yup, that's the Pastor's kid! It was a circus! I was quite entertained, yet embarrassed at the same time. Every performance has to have a clown and I wasn't at all surprised that it was mine, honestly!

That's all I can think of for now. Enjoy the snow, since I'm sure every one of my readers has it but me!

So much to blog, so little time!

When I have a lot to blog I tend to blog nothing. Strange eh? What's really bad is when I wait so long, wanting to blog everything all at once, that I don't end up blogging anything at all.

So, in a nutshell, you've missed:

Leeann's last swimming lesson for the Fall season (see, I'm so far behind you didn't even know she was taking swim lessons huh?)

I'm racking my brain trying to remember what I did this weekend, but I'm at a loss! Oh, yeah, the kiddo's and I went to a friends and decorated sugar cookies... and I'm still not sure what happened after that.

Sunday we went to church and McDonald's then had Dean and Deborah and their family over for some tater-tot casserole, Cold Stone Ice Cream Cake (yummy... and Happy Birthday Deborah!) Then after they left we went out to play in the freshly fallen snow and took a short trip to Target... which ended up being a lot of fun since nobody was out in the snow.

Monday the snow kept falling and Rob took a day off to play in the snow and in celebration of our 7th wedding anniversary. We braved our way over to Suzy's place to play in the snow. I have lots of pictures and I promise to post them soon! We had lunch and hot cocoa there and mossied home to put the kiddos down.

Then we took Leeann to Red Robin to have dinner with some of her birth-family and Rob, Titus and I headed to Applebees. We were going to go to P.F. Changs for dinner on Tuesday to celebrate our anniversary, but that ended up getting snowed out! Anyway, just as we were finishing dinner Suzy called. I ignored the call because we were at dinner, but when she called back again a few minutes later I picked up the phone and she was crying and I could hear Landon screaming in the background. Landon rolled into a radiator styled space heater and got his arm and hand stuck in it while it was on. Suzy didn't know where the hospital was and it was super icy on the roads and she didn't know what to do. So we ended up meeting her part way so Rob could drive her car to the hospital and then he took all the kids back to our house and I stayed with Suzy at the E.R. Landon is a trooper and he's doing well, but he got some pretty good burns and blisters.

So, Suzy and the boys stayed the night at our place Monday night, just in case something went wrong especially since the roads were still icy.

They hung out at our house all day Tuesday until the roads cleared up a bit then Suzy took Landon back to the doctor. We invited them to stay at our place to weather the upcoming storm together. It was supposed to be several days worth of snow and freezing rain, so we were gearing up for not going anywhere for the next several days. Rob got some last minute grocery shopping in and we hunkered down ready to face whatever would come our way. The funny thing is, the storm never came. Oh well, it's always fun to have sleep-overs anyway!

This morning I had an interview to take on a day-care kiddo (I'm looking at picking up some part-time kids), and then I got to tackling a good winter project: Closets! I rearranged and cleaned out both of our hallway closets and it felt great! It makes me wonder why I didn't clean them out ages ago since it only took an hour and a half and now they are both function and far from chaotic!

That's been our last couple of days in a nutshell, and I'll post pictures when I'm able. I hope you're enjoying the snow wherever you are. Assuming that there's snow wherever you are. Oh, and Happy Birthday to our 10 year-old neices Ashly and Amanda and Rob's step-dad Carmin!

Snap! Snap!

Yesterday Suzy and boys came over for lunch and the kids all played upstairs for a while after we ate. A few minutes before Rob gets home I usually try to have the kids pick up their room so it's not too chaotic for him as he walks through the door. So, about 10 minutes before he was scheduled to be home I went upstairs to encourage them along in the clean-up process and their room (and hallway outside their room) was TRASHED! I mean, it was bad... really, really bad. All of the Poly Pockets were scattered and Titus took every flash card in our house and scattered them in the hall. Blankets and cars and stuffed animals were strewn throughout the room. I should have taken a picture.

So as I'm barking out orders like, "Two hands, two toys" and "Super speed kiddos, gotta work fast Uncle Rob's almost home!", Leeann comes up to me and asks me, "Mommy can you just snap really well so that our room will clean up all by itself?" I couldn't help but laugh in the midst of chaos. "Oh sweetie, I'm not Mary Poppins, but I wish I were... you're going to have to clean your room up all by itself!"

More Updates

Just in case you are wondering where we're at with the adoption pursuit, we went and looked at bulletins last Thursday and put our name in for 4 girls in state and 1 girl in a neighboring state.

We've heard back that 3 of the 4 Oregon girls have been placed (their bulletin's were pulled the next day) and the other one's caseworker is out of town this week so we don't know if she's still available. Our caseworker sent our home study along to an interstate worker who weeds through out-of-state home studies and forwards along ones that seem like they might match. We don't yet know whether or not she'll send our home study along to this girl's caseworker, but we're hopeful. We're not really sure where to go from here because these 5 girls (now 2) are the only ones that are currently available that we're wanting to get more information on.

So, we wait. Again. We're trying to patiently wait on God's timing for the child he plans for our family. We're coming up on 7 months from the time we decided to adopt again. I was hoping to by-pass the whole 9 month gestation processes this time around, but it looks like we'll easily surpass that mark in this pursuit!

Anyway, that's where we're at. We're both doing well, recovering as expected from the dissapointment of not being selected for the previous young lady. We were both sad and bummed, but we're committed to moving on, continuing the pursuit of our next daughter. We'll let you know when we get closer to going to committee for anyone specific.

The Church Office Part 1

This is the first of three videos made by our fantastic staff to help teach the congregation what not to do as part of our Project Christmas series. It's well worth watching, and I'll post the others later. Leeann makes a special appearance in #2!

My Little Texter

7:39 am: (Blank message sent to random number unbeknownst to me)

7:48 am: Is this robin?

7:49 am: Yup (Me thinking--who on earth is texting me at 7:48 in the morning from a number that isn't programmed into my phone? And why are they texting me asking if it's me. Weird!)

7:51 am: whats up? just textin? (Again thinking--What? Just texting? I hardly ever text. Who are you and why are you texting me so strangely so early in the morning...

Ah, I get it. I woke up to Titus in bed next to me playing with my phone... he must have texted this person. But their name isn't even showing up, how'd he randomly text someone who's number isn't programmed into my phone? Seriously, who is this? Maybe I have a programming genius on my hands!)

8:00 am: That must have been Titus... Sorry! Who's this?

8:16 am: Haha this is Branden
Haha thats funny (How did he text Branden... I don't remember calling Branden or getting a call from Branden anytime recently. I went to find Branden's # in my phone and it wasn't even showing up... stranger yet even!)

8:18 am: I hope he didn't wake you! Sorry about that!

9:11 am: Haha no im @ work. Silly titus

Anyway, I figure that somehow Titus texted Branden and then erased his contact information which is why his name wasn't showing up next to his number... hence all the confusion. After flipping through my recent calls I remembered that I'd called him Saturday evening to let him know I'd locked up the church and set the alarm after a wedding so he didn't need to come lock up. Still though, Titus had to do some pretty crazy maneuvering to find Branden's information and text him, and erase his information. It makes me wonder who else he's erased from my phone without my knowledge! Silly boy!

3rd Birthday!

We had a small party here, with Suzy and the boys in celebration of Titus's 3rd Birthday.
It was fun times had by all!


Titus showing off his new Doc car. One of many Cars vehicles he got for his Birthday this year!

Opening up some presents!

The final cake picture. Oh, and the red frosting tasted so bad that later that evening Titus exclaimed that he didn't care for the red parts! Titus chose to eat the tire, Logan chose the spoiler, Leeann chose the window and Weston said he was find with whatever he got. I ate an eye and Rob got lucky by choosing the numbers... he didn't get very much red! I'm not sure which piece Aunt Suzy got. I'm sure you were just dying to know who ate what parts of the cake huh?

My 3 year-old son, blowing out his Birthday candles! Can he really be 3?

Birthday Breakfast

Rob took Titus out for a late Birthday breakfast, which turned into lunch when Titus insisted on macaroni and cheese and grapes at Denny's. Thought you might enjoy a sneak peak of the Birthday Boy!

Cake Mess!

I found myself up until 2:00 this morning putting the finishing touches on the much anticipated Lighting McQueen cake in celebration of Titus's 3rd Birthday! As always, it was a long daunting process full of "learning opportunities". So now I have a Strawberry Shortcake, a Blue's Clues, 2 John Deere Tractors (one was pink), a Princess Belle cake, a Cinderella cake and a Lightning McQueen cake under my belt. I have done others too, but these are the character cakes that I've done.

It seems like each one takes longer than I anticipated and runs into some sort of catastrophe before turning out okay in the end. This year I learned that it takes a boat load of red to turn white frosting into a deep red. I ended up using 1.5 ounces of Wilton cake decorating food coloring, and 3 full tubes of regular food coloring, adding some Wilton brown to try to tone down the awful pink color I kept getting. In the end it turned out okay because I also found out that red darkens as it sits. I almost cried at the thought of all of that effort for a pink Lightning McQueen cake!

What I didn't know until I hopped on-line to try to figure out how to get a deep red, is that when you use that much food coloring it makes the frosting taste bitter unless you get the no-taste red (would have been good to know before it was too late to go get some). So, I added some almond flavoring to try to mask the bitterness, but honestly, I'm not holding out hope for this to be one of my best tasting cakes! Hey, you learn as you go right?


I also made a huge mess! This was even after cleaning up some as I went along. Notice my lap top, I watched some Super Nanny on-line to help pass the time while I was making a mess... I mean... decorating. I go through tons of paper towels for some reason... and lots of tooth picks too. Oh yeah, and spoons and bowls!

This is how I left my kitchen counters last night, I was just too tired to clean up at that point. Here's one of my tricks by the way: I buy store bought frosting then add some powdered sugar to it to thicken it up. And if you need brown or black, just add those colors to chocolate frosting so you can get it a nice deep color.

More mess!

And here's the finished product! Well, almost finished, I added a black line to his mouth and some writing beneath the cake later, but here's the mostly finished product for now. Ka-Chow, Ka-Pow!

Three

My little baby turns 3 today! I remember the day of his birth like it was yesterday. I remember all sorts of crazy silly details, but most of all I remember the joy and excitement of bringing this little boy into the world and holding him in my arms for the first time. How have three years come and gone so quickly?

He's such a sweet boy, full of spunk and energy. He has a great joy-filled personality and a smile that melts my heart each day! I'm so blessed to get to be his mommy!

Last Year's Tadmor PIcture

I found last year's Tadmor picture of the kiddos on that same log. We've got a lot of good memories up at Tadmor. I went on a college retreat there about 3 weeks after I started attending Western. Rob was speaking about love throughout the weekend, which was quite fitting for a bunch of college students. I tell you, even then I admired that man so much! I remember always trying to be in the same place as him and trying to get his attention. I was just a measly 18 year-old girl and he was 25 though--WAY out of my league! Still, I really liked to be around him and I learned a lot from him. It's so crazy to think that somehow I did get his attention and we're about to celebrate our 7th anniversary. God is good!

Tadmor Retreat

At the beginning of November we snuck away to Camp Tadmor with the Youth Pastor, Joel and his wife (and my good friend) Brenna and their kiddos. It was a great time of rest and relaxation as we played games, watched movies and just enjoyed some time together in the Lake House.

Titus wasn't so sure about posing for this picture, but I still think it's cute.

We have a picture similar to this from last year about this time. I'll have to see if I can dig it up.

This is one of the low ropes course pieces. Titus caught on right away. He's an adventurous boy!

Leeann took a little while longer to get the hang of it, but she hung tough and eventually figured it out!

Claire spent most of the 'hike' just hanging out on Brenna's back... it's a great invention if you ask me.

This one is my favorite. If you click on the picture you can read the WARNING: KEEP OFF! sign a little better :0) This one was a teeter totter thing. In Joel's defense he claims he's been properly trained to run ropes courses, and he did give the kids a great lecture and demonstration on how this one worked, and how important it was to step on and off only in the designated spot.

And here is one of the 6 animals we found on our hike. We also spotted a squirrel, another salamander, a slug, a worm and something else that doesn't come to mind right away. At least, I think it was 6. Hmmm...

Anyway, that was our short vacation in a nutshell. I haven't been great at uploading my pictures, or even taking them lately, but I'm sure I'll get more pictures up soon with Christmas fun just around the corner!

Quietness

*Sorry for the long post, this is more about processing my own feelings than keeping you informed... but hey, I'll let you 'listen' in if you want.*

I left for my home town, St. Helens just after 6 o'clock yesterday morning. I had to pick up my daddy from his, well, "extended vacation" and bring him back home. I left the kiddos home with Rob (and Brenna for part of the day yesterday) and they'll be joining me here sometime today.

In the meantime, I spent the day having breakfast with my daddy and running some errands with him. By mid-afternoon I was enjoying some time at Starbucks and then had an hour or so to kill before my Aunt Pam got home so I went to Wal-Mart. I like Wal-Mart! At first I went through the store looking for more Christmas ideas, then I landed in the ladies clothing department. I NEVER get to shop in the ladies clothing department at Wal-Mart, or anywhere else really because the kids don't seem too entertained there, and it takes a lot of mental energy for me to pick out clothes to try on, try them on, critique them while they're on then agonize over whether or not it's worth my allowance money.

However, I felt that a new out-fit might be just the thing to console me after disappointing news. So I leisurely browsed the clothing section and carefully selected several shirts off of the $3 clearance rack and a couple of pair of jeans to try on. I have plenty of jeans, but I'd really like some that are 'short' so I don't have to fold them and they don't get wet on the bottom in the rain.

Anyway, I went to try on all 6 items and I must have been in the dressing room forever. It was the first time I was alone, without anyone around me and my mind started to spin, finally beginning to process the decision that was made today. Trying to get my mind off of that however, I focused on the task at hand... getting a new out-fit. All of the shirts were cute, provided I could lose 10 pounds between now and when I'd wear them, but I know better than to buy even cheap clothes with the hopes of 'shrinking' into them. My feeble attempts at shedding a few pounds have been unsuccessful so far. So I vowed to watch what I eat and exercise more. This happens every time I shop for clothes mind you. I think it's something about the HUGE full-sized mirrors.

So I ditched the clothing idea and thought perhaps a pair of shoes would do the trick! Ah, but no shoes were available that were what I was hoping for, so I decided to take one last browse through the back of the store. I'm rolling along with my empty cart and BAM... her bunk beds. Big sister's bunk beds were right there, all set up in the middle of Wal-Mart. We bought those months ago. We bought those for 'her'. She's a girly girl and loves pink, so there's pink all throughout 'her' room. What if the next 'her' doesn't like pink? Why does there have to be a next her. Why not her-her? Well, (thinking positively) now I can print Christmas cards from our family photo we took last month, knowing that that will be our family constellation for Christmas this year. And, we can use some of those days off we've been saving to meet her with to do work around the house. Or, we can take a whole day off to set up for Christmas which is a favorite day of the year for our family.

Oh man, I was so looking forward to doing that with 'her'. I'd played out in my mind that it would be our first family tradition that we'd partake in together. It would be her first Christmas in a real home, with her forever family. I was willing to wait to put up the tree until right before Christmas if that's the soonest we could do it together.

So, I tried to stop the train of thought that was going through my head as to not break down into tears in the middle of Wal-Mart, all by myself. Of all of the days I had to be hours away from my family! So, I got in the car and fought back the tears some more. I was pretty sure if Aunt Pam hugged my too tight when I saw her I'd become a big blubbering mess. I was grateful that the hug was short and sweet and I was able to blink the tears away before they fell from my eyes. We went to Sunshine pizza, which is my all time favorite place to eat. Honestly, it was even better than a new out-fit or new shoes! Then we came home and watched a movie. Okay, I watched 2 movies. I wasn't really ready to be 'alone' in quietness yet. I also surfed the net while I was watching the movies, looking at other profiles, looking at Christmas ads, looking at blogs, reading the news, surfing Craigslist for who-knows-what! It worked. By the time I hit the pillow I was out... no time to let my mind run away from me in bed, without my sweet husband to turn to.

And the best thing about it, was that Pam and Steve would be gone for work early in the morning and I could sleep in as long as I wanted! No kids to wake me up :0)

Ah, but my Grandma called at 8:00 and as much I tried to go back to sleep, I couldn't stop thinking about 'her'. I know that she was probably extremely excited to hear the news yesterday. This was the one family that she really wanted to be a part of. She was hoping that this family would be her forever family. She couldn't have gotten better news. I'm happy for her, I really am, but I'm sad all at the same time.

See, the reason that the decision was so difficult to make is because we were exactly what she said that she wanted in a family. Our home really would have been a great place for her to be. We're a safe, secure, 'normal' home and she so desperately wants to be a 'normal' kid. We're a young, active Christian family. She really wanted to be a part of an active Christian home. However, she also has an attachment to one particular former foster parent, even though she only lived there for a month and a half. She's kept in contact with her over the years and they have an on-going relationship. One of her biological siblings was also adopted by this lady. So, the committee was torn between what she said she wanted in a family vs. the family she said she wanted. Of course, she didn't know that this particular family was one of the two families, so they were trying to figure out how to make this decision in her best interest without telling her too much about any one family. They didn't want her to be able to connect the dots that she already knew one of the families. If she'd been placed with us, and knew the other family was the other family it might have sabotaged the placement before she could attach to us. It gets complicated. It gets even more complicated, but I'll stop there... the details are just details and are all irrelevant details at this stage!

I feel like I know her, though I've never met her. I've read her pages and pages and pages of social history. I've talked to her counselor, former case-worker, and some of her former foster parents. I have spoken with her current case-worker regularly. I have studied her profile and read books about the things that she specifically deals with. I uncovered some things in my research that her case-worker didn't even know about. I know more about this girl than perhaps, anybody. Strange huh? I'll never meet her. There's this 15 year-old girl walking around knowing for the first time in her life who her forever family will be... probably on cloud-nine... and she has a piece of my heart even though we've never met. We'll never meet. I'm sure she'll never inquire about 'the other family' and there's no reason for her to even know we exist. The whole thing really is just strange!

So, all of this to say, it's hard. I'm sad but I know I'll forever be grateful that God worked things out the way he did. He doesn't make mistakes. I've been praying and praying that the committee would make the decision that was in her best interest. Honestly, I don't know how I would have cast my vote had I been on the committee. The case really was a complicated one.

I'm naturally a stuffer of my emotions, so blogging is good for me. I get my thoughts written down and archived, and I get to let you in on a little bit of the fun. Sorry if these particular thoughts are a little bit jumbled. I still need to keep some details of the case private, yet I want to help you understand some of the twists and turns in this particular case. So, if it doesn't make total sense, I apologize.

All of this as I sit in Aunt Pam's living room. Ironically, she's a big part of why I want to adopt an older child. They took me into their home the day after I turned 18. They opened there home to a scared young lady who had spent the last several years wondering what the future would hold. That's a whole other story though. I learned a lot in the time that I lived here. It meant the world to me to see a 'normal' family function. It wasn't a perfect family, but a normal one. I needed to see that normal families existed. I needed to see that marriages stayed together, even after fights. I looked forward to our morning chats before she went to work. Someone cared about me that wasn't so unhealthy that they couldn't see past their own problems. I needed to learn that doing the dishes once a day is far better than once a week, and that normal families ate dinner that didn't come from McDonald's, a box of cereal or the frozen dinner section. Really, in some ways these are little things, but they were big to me.

And now, I have a place to come home to on Thanksgiving. We have a place to stay for the holidays that we are welcomed and loved on and treated like family. My kiddos love it here, and Pam and Steve treat them as if they were their own grand kids. Okay, now the tears are falling...

I look forward to coming 'home'. I'm so grateful that Pam and Steve took me into their home and their family even though I was unpolished and had 'issues' because of my past. They took a chance on me on I'm extremely grateful for that. I can't imagine my life without them and I'm so glad that they opened their homes and their hearts to girl who so desperately needed the love they had to share. They made a huge difference in my life by simply being there for me. I really want to offer that to someone else. I want to pay it forward, because family is about far more than biological connections. I know in time that we will pay it forward, and that God will build our family in his perfect plan.

Adoption News

We heard today that they decided to place this young lady with the other family. Thank you for your prayers and support as you waited with us and prayed with us. We know without a doubt that God has lead us to this place and so we rest in the fact that he has a plan for this girl, and for our family.

So, it's difficult to process, being that in some ways we've given our heart to a girl we'll never meet. We've been praying for her, and thinking about her, and imagining her in our home since June. But, we're confident that God has other plans for our family and we are anxious to see how he builds our family in his timing. Thanks for taking this journey with us!

$26.02

That's how much it cost me to fill my tank today! From the gas light being on to the tank being full. $1.75 a gallon at Costco, yee haw! Earlier this summer it was costing us nearly $70. It's such a welcome relief on the budget!

24 Hours?

Hmm... seems like de ja vu for some reason. I somehow recall having a "We'll know in 24 hours post" on here once or twice before!

Well, the committee is at 11:40 Idaho time tomorrow, 1o:40 our time. For some reason I'm a bit skeptical though. Hmm, I can't imagine why! I'm so anxious to know. Honestly though, I don't feel the same build up of anticipation this time around because I'm just not at all convinced that we'll actually get an answer tomorrow. It would be just our luck!

Of course, the chances of this happening to the same people 3 times seems unlikely... so we'll see. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update you because I'll be away from home, but I will try to update you as soon as I can. If I'm unable to update I might be able to convince Rob to put an update on his blog, so you might want to check in there.

Please keep our family and this young lady in your prayers. We look forward to God's answer, in his timing, with great anticipation!

Adoption Day Anniversary!

Four years ago today Leeann's birthmom, Kyndall, entrusted Rob and I with the most precious gift in the world! We are so grateful for Leeann and Kyndall, and to God for letting us be a part of their story. Most days I'm simply amazed at how God brought our family together, and how he's worked his amazing ways in and through our lives.

To Kyndall: I'm so grateful for you and for your love and sacrifice and care for Leeann. Thank you for loving Leeann, for trusting us to care for her, and for bestowing on me the greatest name in the world--Mommy!

Head on Over...

Head on over to Rob's blog for more exciting news! I've been waiting for him to blog about this, so as not to steal his thunder... www.robbuhl.blogspot.com!

Adoption FAQ's

What made you decide to adopt?

Back in May we decided that it was time to expand our family. We talked briefly about our options, and quickly decided that we wanted to adopt instead of trying for another biological child. We've talked for years about giving a forever home to an older child. I wasn't anticipating it being while our current children were so young, but God obviously had another plan!

Why a teenage girl?

If we wanted a baby we probably would have tried for a biological child, and we didn't want to adopt kids too close in age to Leeann or Titus. So, we decided that we wanted a girl (since Leeann & Titus are so young we thought it would be the best fit for our family), and that we wanted her to be at least 8 years old so Leeann wouldn't have to deal with the same sort of competition issues that come with siblings so close in age. So, our official age span that we are looking for is 8-16. Most 17 year-olds in the system opt not to be adopted, because by the time it's finalized they'll already be 18.

Why this particular girl?

This particular girl caught our attention because of what she was looking for in a family. She wanted a young, active Christian family that had at least one other adopted child in it. We couldn't help but wonder if God has been preparing our hearts for this specific girl! A lot of kids profiles state that they should be the youngest in a home, or an only child, or that they should have older parents etc. This is the one girl in our age range that our family seems to be the perfect fit for. And as we've learned more about her over the months we just keep feeling like perhaps God has prepared us and our family for this specific girl. Hopefully, we'll see soon enough!

What's her name?

We aren't telling her name because she might want to change it. It would be easier for her to change her name when she moves down here if not very many people know it. So for now, we've been mostly referring to her as "big sister".

Will she change her last name?

We hope that she will, but that's completely up to her. We respect her heritage and her story, and totally understand if, at 15 years-old, she's not wanting to give up her last name.

What's her story?

Because she's 15 years-old, we would like to respect her privacy and let her tell the details of her life story to whoever she would like to, when she's ready.

What if she doesn't like you?

It's kind of a funny question, but it's legitimate! A child over the age of 12 has to consent to her own adoption, so if she doesn't like us she doesn't have to become part of our family. It's her choice. But, she is choosing to be adopted which shows that she really does want a forever family, so we're optimistic that she'll like us!

If you adopt her, when will see come home for good?

There are a lot of x-factors, so it's hard to pin-point an exact time line. Roughly it goes like this: We'll meet her. When she's comfortable, she'll come visit us, we'll take her back and visit some more and then when the red-tape of interstate adoptions settles, we'll get to bring her home for good. Okay, that's a really rough time line, but the concept is the same.

What do the kids think?

Oh, Leeann and Titus are quite excited! Of course, they don't fully understand what any of it means yet, but they talk about "big sister" often. I personally think that our kids are at the age where bringing a teenager into our home and family won't even register to them as strange.

Hey, you'll get free babysitting right?

Okay, I have to address this one because I'm surprised at how much this comes up! No, we won't get free babysitting, and that certainly is not why we're adopting a teenage girl. We won't ask her to babysit our kids (in fact, I think it may even be illegal until the adoption is final), and even if at some point after the adoption is final we feel like that's something that we want to do, we will pay her for it just as we would any other teenager watching our kids. There ya go, just thought I'd clear that one up for you :0)

When will the adoption be final?

It usually takes 6-12 months.

Will you be crushed if you don't get her?

Obviously we'll be sad. We've spent months learning about her and praying for her, but we truly believe that God has a plan for her and for our family. I can think of many reasons why he might have brought us this far even if she doesn't get to become part of our family. Maybe she needs to know that more than one family was interested in her? Maybe having 2 families to choose from will help the state workers see something that will benefit her that they wouldn't have seen before if it were an open and shut 1 family case? Maybe God's been preparing our hearts but the girl he has in mind for us isn't available yet, and he's using this young lady to help us learn what we need to learn while we wait? Maybe we'll end up connecting with another child because of this case that we wouldn't have been connected to before. Her caseworker has said that she has several co-workers that have seen our book that would like us to submit a home-study for their girl if we don't get this one. Crazy huh? Who knows what God is doing?!?! We trust him and his plan, so while we can't deny that it will hurt, we recognize that God is at work here and he doesn't make mistakes!

Bizzare

I'm feeling, bizzare right now. It's so strange to ride the emotional wave twice without any let down or resolution. Our whole world is on hold. Our ability to plan for the holidays is on hold. Our family as we know it is on hold. Weird I tell ya!

It's just a strange, strange feeling. And a week from today we may very well find out that these months of waiting and wondering still leave us without a "big sister". When, where, who, what will the circumstances be of another potential daughter? Of course, maybe it is her after all, just far later than we were expecting it to be. Maybe next week will leave us once again without an answer.

It's so crazy because I know that I'll be content with whatever the answer is. We believe that God has asked us to come this far, so we can say with confidence that we are doing what God has asked of us, and that we are where he wants us to be. We can't say with confidence that she'll come home with us... because, well, that hasn't been answered yet! But this whole limbo process, honestly, it's hard! I'm emotionally spent once again and I feel like I'm running out of steam in regards to being excited. You can only stay excited and optimistic so long before you start to go stir-crazy!

So, here I am, caught somewhere between trusting God and his will, and his timing, and battling my own emotional state of frustration regarding the unknown. Welcome to my world!

So, you'll never guess...

I woke up to an email this morning from the young lady's caseworker informing me that there was not adequate staffing for the permanency committee meeting this morning. Most of the supervisors were at training or sick. So, yup, we wait and do this whole thing again a week from Tuesday. I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or throw something! Ah, but God has a plan... I'm sure of it. I'm not quite understanding the way he's unfolding this, but I'm sure it's not an accident to him!

Decision Day

Sorry for the lack of updates regarding the adoption progress. I've had lots of thoughts rolling around my head so I've neglected to share any of them since I haven't taken the time to write them all out. So, here's what you need to know for now...

Tomorrow, at 8 am the adoption permanency committee will reconvene. In the state of Idaho it takes at least 3 supervisors to make a placement decision. Because of the stale-mate that resulted last time they are pulling in additional supervisors to aid with tomorrow's decision. The committee usually take less than 1/2 hour, but I'm not expecting to hear anything for potentially a couple of hours being that they'll have to bring the other supervisors up to speed, and also work through the additional information they've received since the last committee meeting. There's a potential for another delayed decision, but they're going to try really hard to walk out of the room with an answer tomorrow.

Rob and I are doing well, we've kept busy and ultimately believe that God has a plan. There's not much we can do to effect the outcome, so we continue to pray. We appreciate your prayers too! We especially appreciate your prayers for this young lady, as she's been waiting a long time to find out who her forever family will be. Tomorrow's the day though, it will be a lot of mixed emotions for everyone involved.

It's crazy to believe that tomorrow is almost here... again! We anxiously await word and promise to keep you updated as we're able to. Thanks for praying!

Settlers, Sugar Rush, Girl Fun

Rob was at Convergence this weekend, so Suzy and I put the kids to bed (or, attempted to put them to bed) upstairs and we invited some girls over to play the world's greatest board game... Settlers of Catan!

We ate ginormous ice cream splits (with extra oreos, whip cream and sprinkles even!), and stayed up until 2 in the morning vying to take over the world. I've played 6 times in the last week, and I've lost 5 of them. Shelly, I thought you might like to know, I'm losing my touch!

Anyway, the kids ran around like screaming banshees far too early this morning, and I want to crawl back into bed. But, alas, I have to spend the next hour or two undoing all the fun we had before Rob gets home!

So, here's to Melissa, for winning her first ever game. And to Suzy, for out-smarting all of us to come from behind and take over the world. To Eroica, you played one heck of a game. And to Deborah, you left far too soon, we missed you during the 2nd round!

I'm pretty sure this one's going to have to become a tradition.

A Historic Moment

Leeann cries at the drop of a hat... literally. Or with the shifting of the wind, or the upon hearing the cries of someone else. She's our crier. When she's hurt, she wails. If someone brushes up against her too hard, so she thinks she should be hurt, she wails. The tears fall, and the helpless screaming begins. It's just routine in our household!

Well, a few minutes ago Leeann called to me in a very rational voice and said, "Mommy, I scratched my finger on the night light and it's bleeding." No tears, no screaming, no flopping onto the floor... and there was even blood! I'm so proud of her!

You've got questions, I've got answers!

I'm officially inviting you to ask questions about me/us/my blog/or anything I write about. I realized the other day that those who are new to my blog (like my college roomie, Tara), or those who don't get to read my blog very often because I'm too wordy and they don't have time to sift through my non-sense--may be missing things from time to time.

Or maybe I left you hanging and didn't follow up on a subject?

Maybe you're just curious? Or nosey?

Maybe you've never met me (like friends of Rob's who've come across my blog) and you feel weird asking me questions... but you wish you could?

Don't worry, if I don't think your question is appropriate I won't publish it... and won't answer it. It's that easy :0)

Anyway, whatever category you fall in, feel free to leave a comment and ask some questions. I'll try to collect the questions and answer them from time to time when I'm bored and looking for something to post about. So, go ahead. Ask away!

In the land of sleepiness

Sleep. I like it. I know, we've been over this before, but here's the funny thing. I woke up about 6:45 this morning when Rob leaped out of bed more than 1/2 hour after he was supposed to have left this morning.

I immediately bolted up and asked him if there was anything I could do to help. "Can I pack you breakfast?" I asked. Silly me, what was I going to do, make him some eggs for the road? But he said "Sure." as he rushed to the shower so I went downstairs and tried to figure out what to do. So, I grabbed a couple of cereal bars and made him some coffee/hot-chocolate/english toffee blend that I usually only make during staff meetings. Anyway, he was grateful to have something for the road (he's got an 1.5 hour drive this morning).

I've been thinking a lot to myself lately (okay, for years really) that I wish I could pluck myself out of bed at or before 7 on a regular basis in stead of rolling around in my bed for another hour wishing I could go back to sleep (which I rarely get to). And, I figured, since I'm up I might as well stay up. And it feels good. I'm rested, relaxed... It's beautiful. It's quiet. The kids are in bed. I get to blog, and read blogs. I might even shower here soon and eat breakfast before our morning festivities.

Is there any chance I won't be running out the door frantically at 9:25, for our 9:30 play-date? Ah, not likely, let's be realistic. But hey, there's a chance right? Why on earth is it so hard to actually get myself out of bed in the morning?

Oh no, I heard skirmishing. This is me, fighting the urge to go snuggle with my kids and fall back asleep! Welcome to my mornings!

Nibble Nibble

We got a nibble on the house today. Wouldn't that be a huge blessing? These particular people would want it for an investment now and a home later... that would be an amazing situation because our renters love the place and really want to stay. It would be the best of both worlds!

What are the chances of the first nibble turning into a bite? We'll see!

6 randomly fantastic facts about me...

Jenny 'tagged' me, meaning I get to write 6 random and ever-so-useful facts about me. So here goes nothing:

1.) I eat from 3 food groups. Ice cream, cereal and decaf German Chocolate Blended mochas. Seriously, I could partake of any of the above mentioned items before, during or after any given meal any day, any time!

2.) I eat pathetically slow. It can actually get embarrassing because I'm always the last at the table. It's not that I eat more than other people, I just eat slowly. And I talk a lot, which doesn't help me scarf the food down any faster. Rob and I were at a fancy fund-raising dinner a few weeks ago and I had to ask him when I needed to stop eating. He told me I'd be fine as long as they were still serving desserts. Well, when the waiter came and asked if he could take my plate while my fork was still in my hand I got the hint. Oh, the chicken cordon bleu was sooo good too, I was sad to leave some on my plate!

3.) Enough about food. I've always had a secret desire to be famous. I'd prance around as a little girl dreaming of being an Olympic gymnast (though I'm not very athletic). I also wanted to be a writer, or an artist. Most significantly I wanted to be Governor of Oregon. I dreamt of acting or singing too (I can't carry a tune... I just wanted to be famous remember!). I think this blog is currently the closest thing I have as a claim to fame. Only, it's pretty much only friends and family members that read it, but still... it's a start!

4.) I've never excelled at anything. This is something that's always bothered me actually. Most people have something they're really good at: a skill, a talent, a gift. Sure, I've got some gifts, some skills and some talents, but I don't excel at any of them. I'll never be the star of the team, the first to be called to do something, bake something, create something or fix something. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a low self-esteem, it's just this thing that's always bugged me. This goes back to my deep-seeded desire for fame. Hmm, I'm sensing a trip to the therapist coming on...

5.) I'd like to start my own business someday. I'm just not really sure what I would do!

6.) I enjoy doing crafty things (especially piecing together quilts) but I haven't had much in the way of time, energy or space to do any of these things since Titus was born. I was even dreaming about starting some projects today... but it's unlikely. Oh, and I really like board games too, especially Settlers of Catan!

So, now my job is to tag others that probably won't respond. But hey, why not try? Sara Jane, Jennifer, Jessi and Krista... good luck!

Have you ever seen a frog kiss a chicken?

Titus was a frog and Leeann was a chicken for Halloween this year. They got dressed up early in the morning and went grocery shopping with Rob, then they went to the Indoor Park for a party. After I got home from work we went to Papa's Pizza in Corvallis with Suzy and the boys, where the kids got free pizza for being dressed up :0) I like the price of free!

Leeann and Titus went trick-or-treating at Grampy's (Kyndall's dad) and Pam and Denny's house, then we came back and made carmel apples!

Birthday Fun

We all got to go to Applebees in celebration of Rob's 33rd Birthday. All of the kids made him books, and Weston and Logan made him airplanes too! It was lots of fun, a day to remember for sure!

Root Beer Floats and Friday Night Dinners

I'm not sure if I've blogged this yet, but we've spent the last couple of months enjoying "Friday Night Dinners" with Suzy and the boys. We do it in honor of Gilmore Girls! Anyway, these pictures are from a couple of weeks ago when we had root beer floats. This last week we played hide-n-go-seek in the dark with glow sticks (.20 a piece at wal-mart... post Halloween sale!). It was SO MUCH FUN! I love making silly family memories, and it's sooo good to have Suzy and the boys around so much. Leeann and Titus love having the cousins around all the time. I feel like it's been too long when we've gone more than 24 hours without seeing them!

PuMpKiN PaTcH!

Better late than never... right? Here are some pumpkin patch pictures. Titus and Leeann both got to drive the John Deere tractor with "Mr. Farmer", which was quite fun for both of them!

We went with Suzy and Alison and their kiddos. Brenna and Eroica came too, but they weren't exactly on time so they had to take the next tractor out to the fields!

Titus was more interested in throwing the pumpkins than anything, but that's okay. Afterward we got to have donuts and apple juice. It would have been especially delightful if it weren't for a boat load of bees who wanted to partake also!

A Shameless Plug to Buy our House!

Cue cheesy infomercial music:

Are you or anyone you know looking to buy a fantastic 1442 square foot, 3 bedroom 2.5 bath home in a great neighborhood? It could be yours for the great price of $175,000.

Did I mention that the market is great for buyers and the interest rates are currently fantastic?


See pictures and purchase information here: http://www.beavercourtrental.blogspot.com/.


We need a fourth bedroom to accommodate our growing family, so we're putting our home on the market. We love this home, and don't want to sell it, but the time has come. Please feel free to spread the word, as we'd love to get this sold so we can move on another house we'd like to buy.


End of shameless plug!

Loud

Titus is one seriously LOUD child. He's been talking for 3 days straight asking all sorts of obnoxious questions, over and over and over and over and over again. And he only speaks in one volume--loud! For some strange reason, my head hurts! Today was an especially difficult day with him as he has just been all over the place, all the time... flying at the speed of light. He's fun, and delightful, but sometimes he wears me out!

Feeling Better

We ended up having a lovely day yesterday, in celebration of Rob's Birthday... I'll post about it later when I download the pictures.

I'm feeling much better today. Really, what's 3 more weeks in the grand scheme of life anyway? I do look forward to hearing an answer (and I'm hopeful the answer will be favorable to our family), but I trust in God and his timing.

Please continue to be in prayer for us and our family, but most especially for this sweet young lady as she anxiously anticipates finding out what her future holds.

Blah!

That's how I feel today. Blah!

I didn't peel my eyes open until 9:30 this morning. Baby gates and Mary Poppins are beautiful inventions!

When we originally set out on the adoption adventure we were hoping to have her home by the time the new school year started.

Every week since the middle of the summer we've run into a snag of some sort. Our background checks were taking longer than expected, our previous adoption agency had to send in our previous home study before our worker could finish our new one. The new one took longer than expected. We had to wait on some background information which took longer than expected. We wanted to talk to specific individuals in this girls life and past prior to moving forward. Each phone call was pushed out longer than we'd expected. I tried to get in touch with her counselor which took two weeks longer than expected. Finally, we were able to officially ask to move forward only to find out there's another family that wants to move forward too, but that their home study wasn't finished. And of course, to finish that study took longer than they'd expected. So finally, finally we get a committee date. A date on the calendar. The date we finally know! Only to have yesterday's events transpire and to be put off another 3 weeks. I'm exhausted!

I've been trying for months to hold my calendar pretty open not knowing when to expect this ball to get rolling. Now I'm trying to keep it open through the holiday season which is especially difficult. And quite possibly... all for nothing?

Nearly all of my mental energy has been wrapped up in this young lady that honestly, we may never meet. I'm in her room right now, on her computer staring at her bed wondering if any of these things will ever be hers. Isn't that just strange?

I usually handle stress pretty well. I can keep my adrenaline going when I know there's an end in sight. I feel like my adrenaline was anticipating being finished pumping through my body and great speeds months ago... but especially as of yesterday. I don't truly know how adrenaline works but I'm pretty sure it all left my body. Hence, the blah feeling!

All of this selfishly feeling blah and today Rob turns 33! Ask me what I have planned... yeah, pretty much nothing. Maybe you could hop over to his blog and flood his blog with Happy Birthday comments?

Undecided...

I finally got the call and it was quite possibly the worst news I could hear... they didn't make a decision today!

They have some more questions that they want to ask us and the other family, and they want to give the young lady a few more details on each of our families to get a better picture of where she'd like to be placed.

The case worker said this was their longest, most difficult and frustrating committee yet. I could hear it in her voice. Anyway, so we wait. There's a slight possibility (though not likely) that we could get a new committee scheduled for next Tuesday if someone else backs out of their committee time slot. The following Tuesday is Veteran's Day so we probably won't get another committee date until the 18th of November. Yes folks, that is 3 long weeks away!

Please continue praying for this young lady and for wisdom for the placement committee. I imagine it will be hard for her to hear that a family wasn't chosen today since she too has been looking forward to today with great anticipation. As always, I promise to keep you updated.

Still no word...

For those of you waiting, there's still no word. I expected to hear more than an hour ago... but still I wait. I'm being treated by my hubby to Starbucks so we can wait together so you probably won't hear much of anything on here until noon. If anyone is even anxiously waiting and watching my blog that is! Hopefully you'll hear from me soon!

15 Minutes Until Committee!

Okay, seriously, I'm giddy, nervous, excited, scared, freaked out, hopeful, hope-filled... etc., etc., etc.

Within the next hour I shall (likely) know one way or the other. We've been praying for this young lady and her placement for months. We've been preparing our home and our hearts too. We've been thinking, praying, reading, talking to people, listening to advice, gathering information and driving ourselves crazy with hypothetical "What if's?".

Well, today's the day. I will know today how to proceed with my day, my week, my month and the rest of the year. Will it be spent in preparation and transition, with our home projects put into hyper-drive? Will we try to get our houses on the market super soon, or do we have more time to plan and take things slow?

Okay, I'm simply driving myself crazy and there's no reason to do that. God already has a plan and already has the details worked out. So, again, we wait. I'm going to try to busy myself getting ready for my day and by the time my hair is dry and my make-up is on and the kids are fed and dressed I will know if we are to be a family of five. Stay tuned!

POTTY PARTY!

Today we had a potty party in celebration of Titus' first successful potty in the big boy potty! I cannot tell you how ridiculously excited I was. I know, I'm pretty much a big dork!

Seriously, this was a momentous occasion as we've been talking about it for months and months now. I think I said this earlier, but I've been trying to bribe him with ice cream at McDonald's with Weston and Logan for a couple of months now.

Well today I went to put them in the bath and noticed that Titus' diaper was dry and I hadn't changed him in 3 hours, so I was pretty sure he had to pee. I was determined that today would be the day! I confess, I made him sit on the potty chair until he went which was near an hour. But, we did read books and play cars together and kept a generally upbeat attitude about the whole thing.

When he first sat down Leeann went and got him a candy necklace that she'd gotten at a birthday party the day before. She's great at sharing! I gave them each 4 pieces of it and told him that he could have the rest after he went potty.

Part way through it he started negotiations. "I get candy and ice cream at McDonalds?" "Yup!" "And fench fies tooo?" "Sure, if you go potty you can have candy and french fries, and ice cream. In fact, you can have just about anything you want if you go potty in the big boy potty!"

"I want fench fies mommy."

Anyway, finally he told me, "I'm doing it mommy, I'm doing it!" And sure enough... he did it! Of course, more ended up on the potty seat than in the little toilet bowl thingy, but that's quite all right. As I understand it he'll be perfecting his aim for years right? I squealed, and Eroica got to hear the whole thing first hand since she was on the other end of the phone at the time.

So, Titus called Rob to share the good news and he told Titus he would meet us at McDonald's to celebrate. Suzy and the boys came too and we had ourselves a potty party!

The party clan.
You have to enlarge this one to see the terrific mess he made!

A seriously cute kid!

The appetizer!

I personally welcomed the distraction today. It was fun to celebrate with my "big boy"! It's also good to feel one step closer to being a diaper free home. I know, I know, it still won't probably be that for many months but please, don't rain on my parade!