Just Treats

Healing

We are slowly getting through. Muddling our way. Seeing light at the end of the LONG tunnel we've been in.

Prior to my leaving I kept Olivia and Braeden home from school for a day. We began the day at a local state park, looking out over a gorgeous view of our river, trees, and just God's creation. We talked about who created the beauty we saw and if He created THAT, then we could just imagine what heaven was like. We shared memories of Grandpa. And then we each let go of a heart shaped mylar balloon, sending them to the "heavens". After, we walked a bit but it was cold, and we are wimps. :)

Then we went to an indoor bounce house place to allow them to "jump out their emotion." I thought it would be especially good for Braeden. And it was. :)

Each night until I left for Florida the kids camped out in my room. It was nice to have that family time.

The soul is healed by being with children.
-- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I went to Florida Thursday and stayed until Sunday, spending time with my mom and grieving with her. We also went to a couple movies to get out of the house a bit. She is doing as well as can be expected and I've been so proud of her and how she is handling everything.

I'm hoping she'll decide to come up this fall/winter sometime or maybe even over Christmas. She does have some great friends and neighbors who have helped her get out some as well.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
-- Helen Keller

We are on the path of healing. And it feels good. It was good to get back to work and routine today. The kids did so great while I was gone and it's been so good to be back with them again.

My face.book post last night was...

Oh how good it feels to see and smooch these three PRECIOUS faces... These three BLESSINGS... And to realize all the more how very LUCKY and BLESSED I am to have the PRIVILEGE to parent them...

Public

In case you haven't noticed we're public again. We'll see how it goes...

Thanks for all of your prayers and concern!

Struggling

My father passed away yesterday.

I'll be trying to go to work today, keeping the olders home with me on Tuesday, and leaving for FL Thurs-Sun.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Catching Up - Photos

I hadn't wanted to post many pictures until my blog went private, and now I feel comfortable doing so again. Last week I took the week off to decompress and have a little time to not focus on work. It was much needed and so good for my soul. The week prior I was off three days and the last one of those was spent with this munchkin who hadn't been feeling well.

Luckily we've only had the "gunk": sore throats, coughs, etc and not the flu like many I know!

This past weekend we spent time with Grandma who came up to visit. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we took advantage of the weather and our Six Flags season passes and went to Great America on Sunday. It was all set for Fright Fest which the kids haven't been to since they were very young (just the olders) so all was new to them and they were thrilled!

Liam, however, wasn't so sure of the "scary" decorations!

LOL! (Mom did spend a couple nights after this warding off zombies, but did you know they are repelled by Mom kisses?!) :)

Olivia didn't get the chance to ride any of the "cool" big kid rides this day as it was crazy packed and the lines for those were way too long. But, despite the look in the photo, she had fun riding with Liam! :)

And this one, while not a big ride guy, still had fun anyway!

Also this week we finally got our new swingset built! This was mom's big splurge on the kids with the amazing tax return we were granted this year with our adoption tax credits becoming a refund. (And that was AFTER paying OFF the van and credit cards, AND keeping some in the bank for savings!)

In this picture the slide isn't up yet, but it is now and they are loving every minute of it. That and the trampoline have proven WELL worth the money even after having them such a short time!

Tomorrow I head back to work and the routine. And I'm looking forward to it and to seeing my class again!

Borrowed from a FB Friend

Cocooning Part 2

If you're reading this I assume you've gotten your invitation, accepted, and are checking in to catch up.

Some of you had asked whether or not we were cocooning due to a referral of a new little one. Unfortunately, no. And due to what is happening, my agency and myself decided to put my adoption on hold. I can't fathom walking the road of an intl adoption any time in the near future, worrying about leaving my kids, traveling, bringing home an older child into a new culture, new language, and then also dealing with what we are currently dealing with.

That isn't to say I'm not still open to a fourth adoption. In fact was contacted THIS WEEK about a semi-local possibility that I'm trying to not get my hopes up for. Just the process of deciding to go forward somewhat in finding out more about this situation was enough to show me that this is something I would still consider on a case by case basis taking my children into consideration even more than I normally would.

We've had some serious things happening in our lives lately. Things that I won't go into detail about due to keeping my children's and our family's privacy. They have been life-changing to say the least and it's caused me to "defriend" approximately 400 people on FB, take this blog private, and put many other privacy "walls" in place as well. Even with this blog private, I did send invites out to some people I don't really know. People I have not over the past "talked" to, even online, and that does worry me. It's so easy now a days for someone to make up a false identity, email, etc and pretend to be who they're not. If I fear something of the sort, then unfortunately anyone I don't "know" will have to be let go.

I HATE making this blog private. I DESPISE the reason I had to do so. I WANT to be "out" there, advocating for children, talking about our experiences as a foster family, adoptive family, HIV + family, etc etc etc, but I just can't chance things. It saddens me to no end! Especially now, when I need support more than ever.

Thank you for asking to follow us on this journey. Thank you for walking our walk with us.

God is good. He has brought us down so many paths for a purpose, especially over the past 14 years which I've seen up close and personal these last few weeks.

Please pray for our family. Please keep my kids in your hearts right now. We are still struggling and most likely will continue to do so for quite some time.

Cocooning

There is a lot going on in our lives right now. We are taking some time for cocooning as a family. This blog will be going private starting next week. If you'd like to continue to follow our journey, wherever that may lead, please email me at anglsamngulb at hotmail dot com and I'll send you an invite, thanks. Be sure to include your email address!