Rainbow in the Sky

Tonight was one of those strangely beautiful hot summer nights - a small spattering of rain, and the sky a strange color. We had a beautiful rainbow, and I wish I could have captured it better with my camera, but this was the best I could do. One of these days, maybe when the kids are in school, I'll take a couple of photography classes.

Future Bloggers!

I just had to take this picture the other day - after diaper changes, I found both boys at my computer. I grabbed the camera for a quick photo op - I'll have to frame these for the future work desks someday when they are out in the "real world" with jobs of their own!

Little Man's funny sayings

I thought I'd take a few minutes to share some of the things Little Man says - more for my own record keeping, but I thought you might all get a kick out of them! He can be so funny sometimes, and he really makes me think about what I say around him, because he's such a stinkin' copycat!! So, some of his most used phrases:

"Oh my goodness, mommy!"
"Wait - jus' a minute"
"That's a no-no!" (usually used when I catch him red-handed with something he's not supposed to have! My thoughts - if you know it's a no-no, why is it in your hands?!?)
"Twinkle twinkle yittle star..." (he actually sings the whole song, and uses the right voice inflection!)
"I wanna rock a nigh-night" (used when he wants to cuddle and rock while I sing him a goodnight song)

There are more, but at 11:00 at night, that's all I can think of. I'll add more to this list as I remember - or hear - them! He actually talks really, really good for 28 months. He sometimes talks non-stop, and often says the same thing 10 times in a row. Which is why I think Little Guy is not really talking much yet - he can't get a word in edge-wise!

Why Foster? Why Adopt?

I posted a comment on another bloggers site http://watsonschreiber.blogspot.com/2007/06/adoption.html, and after posting, realized this was something I wanted to explore on my own as well.

Why, when faced with infertility, did I not go straight to the thought of adoption first?

For me, it was a process of learning - of finding out what God truly wanted for my life. I knew I always wanted to be a mom, and I always thought - of course, I'll give birth. But then, when I found out I couldn't - it rocked my world. Coming to the place where I knew I was supposed to foster and adopt was a long road, but one I know God wanted me to travel. It was the only way He was going to teach me what I needed to learn, and that is that He has so much more in store for me than I could have ever dreamed possible.

We went through a lot in our process to have a family. After finding out I was pregnant in November 1996, I lost the baby the very next day - the pregnancy was an ectopic one, and not able to continue naturally. We then tried for the next three years to conceive, to no avail. After seeking out a fertility specialist and undergoing several tests and procedures, including two failed in-vitro procedures, I was given the words "unexplained infertility". We were heartbroken, and it took us another several years to grieve and come to the point of adoption. And wouldn't you know it - the very weekend we attended our first adoption orientation, we became pregnant. That was Valentine's weekend, and we unfortunately lost the baby to a miscarriage on Easter weekend. That was in 2003, and it was horrible. It took another two years before we could even talk about adoption. There were a lot of prayers and crying times in those two years. But God started opening our hearts, and opening doors, towards being foster parents and adopting that way. And now we know - this is what God's plan is for us. But I also believe that God was right there with us during our 10 years of struggling to have children, teaching us through the pain and heartbreak. He has given us a testimony, and has given us an ability to reach out to others in our situation and given them a shoulder to cry on and an understanding heart to help heal.

So, again, why didn't we go straight into adoption? Because we needed to be taught some things, and we didn't know that being adoptive parents was our calling.