Our Visit With The Kids....What Fun....

Back in the Saddle again....

We arrived home from New York yesterday, Tuesday July 6, and oh what a wonderful time we had. We filled every day to the brim of being with our little adopted family. Jordan who is now four years old knew us instantly and we could hear him calling Grammy's here, Grampie's here before the door was opened. It took just a little longer for the twins to remember us, but once they did we were joined at the hip.

The weather was fabulous, the first few days being mostly cloudy, windy and cool! Coming from 100 degree in Texas it felt so refreshing to us... Then it warmed up by the weekend so that our plans to visit 1000 islands and take in the local sights was just perfect. Of couse, the days sped by and before we knew it we were driving away, in tears, Jordan wanting to come and live with us now, instead of having to wait until February. Then, we will take the children back with us for another 15 months or however long it takes.

So here are just a few pictures of our time with the kids. As you will see the twins are still so identical and hard to tell apart. For their birthday present we bought them new, more expensive earings, green for Josslyn and pink for Brielle.

Here are Josslyn and Brielle on our first day together...



We took them to a local school ground to play on the swings and slides - Jordy had a blast but the twins enjoyed running all over the field and pulling up grass.





Here we are enjoying the day at Old MacDonald's Farm. They got to touch lots of animals and to see new born piglets, bunnies, a baby goat and ride the pony...





After the farm, where we had lunch and ice cream, we went to Alexandria Bay which is on the St. Lawrence river. We enjoyed two boat rides and a trip to the Boldt Castle.

Here is Bill holding one of the babies, I can't remember who. They both took naps off and on during the day...Earl is sitting beside them.



One of the days we stayed close to home the children enjoyed playing in the pool and the girls just love their new picnic table. Our time was over with so quickly :-(





We are now counting the months until they come to live with us again...7 months to go...sigh!

Professional photo session...

A few weeks ago we went to a local professional photographer to have some pictures taken of our little family. It was a throughly enjoyable session, he took hundreds (it seemed) picitures and we were out of there in about 30 mintues. They were so kind to give us a disc of the photos we ended having made. We have the large family shot with the three children underneath in a beautifully matted and framed photo. It is now on the wall in our living room. We also got lots of wallet sized photos which we have framed a few of to give to those who meant so much to us during the past 15 months. So here are the photos that we chose - and they are so precious to us...

Here is my Darlin' Boy, Jordan with Grammy...



I have called Jordan my darlin' boy ever since the first day he came to stay with us. He knows he is my Darlin'Boy forever and always. We say it to each other every day. I also sing to him daily, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine"...and he sings right along with me.

Here is Brielle, such a happy baby always with a ready smile. She talks the most of the girls (all gibberish) but she's very verbal.



This is darlin' Josslyn...the fiestiest, the first to do everything and not nearly as social as Brielle, but she can hold her own...



My Darlin' Boy again. Isn't he just the most handsome child? Aren't they all just gorgeous children, but we're just a little biased...tee hee...



And now the family shot. We are so pleased to have this in an 8 X 10 with the three children below. Our most wonderful rememberence...



Thank you for standing by us as we face this difficult farewell. Friday is our last day with them as they leave early Saturday morning for their long journey back to New York, stopping in a couple of places to visit with family. We will miss them terrible and though I feel this incredible peace in my heart, I'm also struggling with grieving for them already. I can't hug them enough, but we've backed off to let the parents take over and allow them to get to know their children. Still the girls are coming to us to be picked up, but I can see a shift taking place...please pray for this family as they are going into a very difficult year with no babysitter lined up yet and long long work days...

Thanks so much for you prayers and support...hugs...Bill and Barb!

The time has come...

Many of you know that for the past 15 months my husband and I have been caring for three small children while the parents were serving in the military in Afghanistan. They are now home, stationed in New York and are, as I write this, on their way to Texas to be reunited with the children.

The babies were only 4 months and 3 days old when we first began this awesome journey. I can remember days, sitting on the floor in my living room, crying out to God for help because I was overwhelmed with their care. He heard me, and gave me the most wonderful, frustrating, joyfilled 15 months of my entire life.

We have fostered babies for a long time, beginning our journey in July of 1990, adopted two precious little girls in 1994 (we had already raised one family, the girls were our second family) and then took a 10 year sabatical. We picked it up again in 2004, but on October 20 of 2008, we stepped aside from fostering to become the legal guardians for this precious three. It's been a wild ride to say the least. I can tell you that God definitely designed young children for young parents, not 60 year old women!

So here are some recent photos of the kiddos, and I'll have more pictures to post of their departure, which will be so very hard for us.

Travelling with three children - oh what a squeeze...



Santa visits our house at Christmas...it was Bill but Brielle didn't care and Josslyn wasn't to sure about that beard either...




Brielle with panties on her head talking to the baby in the mirror...



My handsome Darlin' boy, he is my sunshine...



Who pulled out the cereal box? Which one of you did it?



Bill playing with the girls...



Jordan has to get in on the act too - even if it mean my taking his picture - which he hates...



Thank you so much, those who have followed our incredible journey and left your wonderful encouraging comments. I share this part of my life with deep joy. Stay tuned, you never know what God has in store next.....

Hugs to everyone, even as I shed a tear or two.

The powdered donut gang...

I simply couldn't resist getting a couple of shots of the girls enjoying their powdered donuts today. Oh my goodness - they cried when I washed them up and put them down...they didn't want the donuts to end!

Here is Josslyn:



This is Brielle:

Our girls...

Today we did some more Mall shopping. We're nearly done, whew! We stopped and let the kids play on the playground in the mall and the girls love it so much. They had a blast. Though the mom is now back in the USA - NY to be exact, dad is still in Afghanistan until early January. So looks like the kids will be leaving us in February. It's been an incredible journey that we're so thankful for! We've gained a whole new family, with grown-up kids and grandkids. Love 'em all to pieces. Here are a couple of pictures Bill took while I was in line at a shop...



Brielle is in the foreground of both of these shots. Believe it or not, they have crawled the leather completely off the toes of their shoes...



Where was Jordan, you ask? Not standing still long enough to get a good photo of! He's a turkey!

Still working on a card I hope to finish sometime soon. I've been working on it for days, but not getting very far. I'll post when I get the inside finished.

Cute Kids....

I managed to catch a few pictures of the kids today. Bill, better known as "Billy Crocker", make a cheese cake and brownies from scratch today. These are his award winning brownies. Not to be left out, Jordan was up at the counter with a chair as soon as possible. Bill is so patient with him, and let him play with the bowls and mixing tools for about 30 mintues. There was water everywhere...

He so enjoys playing with all the equipment and pretending that he's baking just like Grampie. He had nabbed the medicine syringe from the window sill and was injecting himself with water. Too funny!






Here is Brielle, playing with a block and enjoying her time.





Here is Josslyn...




I put different colored bows in their hair today so the nursery workers at church could easily tell them apart. They are getting themselves to a standing position now, but still not attempting to walk. Teething has slowed down also. Josslyn has 6 teeth and Brielle just 4. But we can see some just behind the gums, so I expect more to arrive any day now.

Robot Boots!

Now anyone who is raising young children will identify with this...anyone who has raised young children will also identify. Why do we spend our hard earned dollars on all those expensive toys that line the shelves at any toy store, or elbow and fight our way through horrific lines at Christmas to ensure our children have the very latest and heavily advertized new toys?

Here is a simple solution, thought up by our 3 1/2 year old grandson while I was preparing dinner. ROBOT BOOTS! And what are those on his feet? Empty boxes!! Doesn't matter that they didn't match, they were his Robot Boots and he had a blast with them for about 30 minutes until they fell completely fell apart. Enjoy...

Halloween Night - so much fun...

This year even the girls got to participate in Halloween a little. Their mom had ordered costumes for the three kids and they were so cute. The girls went dressed as princesses and Jordan was a pirate - Arghhhh!

We took them to a church for a free hotdog dinner and lots of games and tons of candy. While Bill took Jordan around to all the different stations, the girls and I parked ourselves at the tail end of all the event booths and they got to crawl around and keep busy. I stayed pretty busy too dragging them back to the safe zone where they wouldn't get trampled down. When that was over we headed home and did some trick or treating on our own neighborhood.

Here are some pictures of the splendid event...

Here are the girls before we got them into their costumes. They got into the box of diaper sacs and were having so much fun...



They munched on cheetos while we scarfed down our hot dogs and cookies - yum! And "Grammy, what are these things on our legs called again?"



I tried for all I was worth to keep them together for this shot...no such luck...



The girls really enjoyed themselves while Jordan did all the games...


Here's my Darlin' Boy...forever and always...





Then my camera died. We never think to bring along spare batteries - duhhhh! But all in all it was a very fun evening...

Busy Little Elf

No cards to post today, but I am in the middle of a huge project. After seeing an Advent Calendar Box on Norma Lee's blog I decided to make one for the children this year. Well, four days into the project and I feel like I'm never going to get finished. Here is a picture of what it looks like now that I've got all the drawers assembled - no easy task - and I'm putting the shelf fronts and knobs on. I'll never make antoher one! (heaving a hugh sigh)



I have a long way to go, but I hope to have it finished by December 1.

A Day at the Fair!

Oh what a day this has been! The last day of the HOT (Heart of Texas) Fair and Rodeo! This was the only day of fantastic weather our poor Fair experienced as we had rainy or cloudy and very cool weather for the greater part of the week. I'm so glad we waited until Saturday to take in the event! The weather was fantastic, sunny and not too hot - just perfect for the day.

Our day was very, very full! We arrived at the Fairgrounds just past noon and took in as many rides as we could. Jordan was pumped, I mean he was really pumped!! His Pre-K class had visted the fair earlier in the week and he was so excited about going. They weren't able to ride any rides that day, but went on a Field Trip to the livestock building. They got to see a cow being milked, but most importantly (and those of you who are raising boys will understand) he saw a cow...ahem...well...peeing!! That was the best part of the entire fieldtrip to him and he told us over and over. Boys! Gotta love 'em!

My Hubby Is a Blue Ribbon Winner! I just have to tell you, my wonderful husband loves to bake and so decided to enter his NOW famous Brownie recipe in the baking department. AND HE WON A BLUE RIBBON! Not only did he win "Employee of the Year" at work, but he won a Blue Ribbon for his Brownies. I just have to brag on him. He is such a gem, and we love his baked goods around this house! He ROCKS!!!

Okay, on to the rest of the Fair...

Since the girls remained in the stroller for the 5 hours we attended, I only got one picture of them the entire day. This was really Jordy's day to shine! So here following are some pictures of our day.

First stop, the Petting Zoo...









Then we headed off to get Armbands for the rides:



The Ferris Wheel was a huge hit -


This was probably Jordan's favorite ride -



And of course no day is complete until you've ridden a Morotcycle -




We came home from the Fair pretty exhausted, and stuffed from eating all the good junky food, but our day wasn't over. Jordy's school had it's annual Carnival that evening, and we had to work his class sponsored booth. Bill is so much fun at these events! He took Jordan to every both available and Jordan got to try out everything and Bill is the biggest kid there. He really has fun at these things. They did some of the booths twice - like the cake walk!

Here are Josslyn and Brielle. They were absolute gems for being in their stroller for the most part of the day. When it was my turn to work the Pre-K booth they finally got to get out for a while and get some exercise.



This is what I mean about Bill being such a good sport at these events. He took Jordan to the hair painting booth and they both got their hair painted!



I didn't post all the pictures I took. Jordan actually rode rides at the Fair more than once, while I wheeled the girls around the Exhibits building trying to get them to sleep (no luck) and it was a tiring day for everyone. Needless to say, we all went to bed early last night and it was wonderful!