9 weeks of sweetness

Yesterday afternoon I picked up a 9 week old little boy. He is so very sweet and very little! He only weighs 9 lbs! He is a very good little guy. I don't have a lot of information on why we are caring for him, only that his mom and dad are going through some issues they need to work out. Mom has a good job and housing is not an issue for this family. The baby has an unusual name... Sage Amir and his family calls him by Amir. The day before we picked him up, Amir suffered a minor burn during a bath that required a trip to the emergency room but he seems to be doing fine. We have a dressing that needs to be changed once a day and I will need to take him to his pediatrician for a follow-up next week. He slept good last night, we got him to sleep around 12:30 and he slept until 6am. He had snoozed all evening and when we fed him at 11pm, he wasn't quite ready to go back to sleep just yet! This is our 4th placement and all is going well so far. The kids are enjoying him and being very helpful as usual! We would love your prayers over the next 2 weeks both for our family as well as for Amir's parents.

Jaydon is coming...

I received a call today from Safe Families to see if we could keep little 5 month old Jaydon. I actually babysat for him yesterday so the family he is staying with could attend her bible study. His placement was supposed to end today, but the place Jaydon's mom is moving into isn't going to be ready as was planned. The family who had him isn't able to keep him another week, so we will pick him up tomorrow evening. This has been a very successful placement thus far and I expect it to be a smooth week! Jaydon typically goes home to his mom on the weekends and is with his Safe Family through the week. We ask you to pray that the housing will not be postponed again and that we will all adjust well to having Jaydon here for the week. He is a very easy going baby and I know the kids will enjoy playing with him. I will keep you posted on how we are doing!

A Tearful Goodbye

Friday afternoon, I took Andrew to the Bethany office to be re-united with his mother. I am glad she decided to parent. It was difficult for Maddy to say goodbye to Andrew. Since he was so small, she was able to help with him more than she could with Paris. Maddy changed diapers, fed him, and was a great little mommy. She sobbed half the way home from dropping him off. Andrew's mom was very appreciative to us. Maddy made her a picture with a bible verse and she teared up when she read it. We will continue to pray for God to be big in her life and help her be a great mom!
Overall, we had a very good week with him. He was a content little guy and was very easy to care for. We were a little sleep deprived, but that is to be expected with a 1 week old! I took him to the pediatrician for a newborn check while we had him. He had a good check-up and had gained 6 oz. since he left the hospital 4 days before the appointment.
Our social worker doesn't think it will be long before we have another placement as they have been receiving lots of calls. So for now, we will be catching up on our sleep to prepare for the next one!
Thank you for all of your prayers and good wishes!

It's A Boy!

Yesterday afternoon I picked up a 2 day old boy from the hospital. He is absolutely beautiful! Andrew's mom is trying to make the decision of whether or not to place him for adoption. We feel so blessed to be able to minister to her during this difficult time by providing a safe home for her son. I am in contact with the mother and so far she definitely wants to talk to me a couple of times a day. She is very appreciative of what we are doing and I keep trying to encourage her and let her know that she is not alone. Pray that I can be a comfort and an encouragment to her during this time and that I can convey the love of Christ for both her and Andrew. I do not know what her beliefs are, but will try to approach that subject with her soon!
Andrew is a really good baby. Last night he slept really well except that he is a very noisy little guy! He was groaning and cooing and slurping almost all night long! Needless to say, Brett and I did not get much sleep! He eats regularly every 4 hours. He is a tiny little peanut, when he left the hospital yesterday, he was 5 lbs 14 oz. Mine were both over 8 pounds, so he is really tiny to me! He has slept all morning either in the bassinet or the bouncy seat so we got all of our school work done without any troubles.
Thank you for your prayers and for your support! I especially thank my mom, dad, and sister-in-law, Amy, who rounded up some clothes and the basinnet for me yesterday afternoon while I was picking up the baby!

Paris went home...

On Monday, I brought Paris back to Bethany to be re-united with her mom. It was bittersweet! Our family has grown to love Paris over the two weeks she was with us. Paris was a fantastic baby and God really gave us an easy one to start with! She slept great, ate great, and never cried unless there was a reason. It was nice to see her back with her mom, she had really missed Paris and that was obvious. We aren't sure of details with her mom, but she had gotten several things in her life sorted out so she was able to take Paris back and care for her. I thank you for all of your prayers and the support from all of our friends and family. 

One thing God has shown me through Paris' stay with us is that this is not just our ministry. It is the ministry of every friend who held her for me so I could participate in my kids' field day. It is the ministry of my sister who gave me tremendous help almost every day I had Paris! I think Laura will miss Paris as much as I will! It is the ministry of a generous friend, Tina, who gave up several hours to come babysit so I could go to the movies and lunch with my mom, sister and good friend Sharon. Everyone who held her took part in ministering to her and I thank you all! 

A Baby in the House!

As I write this, I have a beautiful 3 month old baby girl asleep in the crib upstairs. I picked her up at Bethany this morning and the plan is to have her for two weeks. We had a busy late morning/early afternoon, but she has proven to be a trooper! Her name is Paris and she is a very happy little gal. She takes bottles easily (reminds me of Austin a little when he was a baby!) and is easy to keep entertained. I just laid her in the crib and walked out, she fussed about 30 seconds and she was out! The kids and I did our music lesson and so I am feeling very accomplished! 

Please pray for a continued smooth transition and that I will get back in the swing of baby life easily. We were at the park for my children's Renaissance Faire and I left the burp cloth in the car which was parked really far away!

Not meant to be?

Well, we will not be getting the twins after all. The mom has been extremely unreliable throughout this entire process and she once again tried to change the plans to have them here beginning on Wednesday. Along with our social worker, Amy, we decided that we can no longer be "on call" for Tammy. We all really feel like Tammy is never going to commit to this program and will continue to push us off. As you can imagine, I have to make lots of arrangements to prepare for having twins in the home! It just isn't fair to our children, our family and friends who have so graciously agreed to help us to keep pushing it off to another day. Safe Families will continue to work with Tammy, but we feel she can learn a valuable lesson from this situation. I also have learned an important lesson! I need to lay down boundaries and expectations from the beginning. God is faithful and I believe this is all part of his greater plan for the twins. I was conflicted at first whether or not we were doing the right thing. I talked to our social worker later in the day, after all had been decided, and she gave me some additional information that helped me have peace with the decision we had made. 

I will definitely keep you posted for the next time we work with a family!  Please do continue to pray for Tammy. She has been enabled for a long time and needs some tough love. Also, keep Justin and Austin in your prayers.

Awaiting the Twins...

After much back and forth, we are expecting to have twin boys, Austin and Justin come to live with us this Wednesday.  The boys are 5 1/2 months old and the biggest challenge will be that they have never been on a schedule or away from their mother for any significant length of time.  Their mom, Tammy, will be homeless by the end of the week.  Our prayers will be for her to find a place to live as well as a job.  The goal is for her to be in stable housing, with a job, and able to have the boys join her after a few weeks.  

On Wednesday, my sister, Laura, will be helping me with the babies.  My parents have graciously agreed to have our children so we can dedicate this first day to getting the boys adjusted.  Unfortunately, I anticipate many tears as is normal when getting babies on a schedule.  I am so thankful for the wonderful family we have who have supported us in this ministry.  Many of our friends have also offered various means of support and we are grateful for you all!

I will try to update later in the week to let you know how we are faring!