Five Months Old

Oh, it kills me that I can't post a better picture of our boy's face. He is so cute! I guess y'all will just have to put up with it with me for a while longer.

Since today Mr. Baby is 5 months old, it seems a good time to update you all about him. We have had him home for about three months now and are still in the Foster Parent stage of this game. We probably will be for quite some time or until the state decides that he must be returned to his biological parents. We aren't able to provide any more information than that, so I apologize for the vagueness.

Mr. Baby seems to have grown by leaps and bounds in the last month. He is holding his head up quite well, sitting up assisted, trying to roll over, and starting to stand while held. It is so fun watching him learn all these new things! He seems to be a contemplative little guy, watching and absorbing his surroundings. His is also having rice cereal and oatmeal with his formula at every meal. He didn't want to do it at first and had quite the little fits for the first couple of days. Once he figured out that he liked it he became much more cooperative. He sits through bedtime stories, his favorites being Hop on Pop and the Little Golden Books (which are mostly Disney in this house).

We are having great fun with our Little Guy and continue to pray that the door to adoption will open soon with a smooth path before it.

The Magic Tree

I saw this stick-on tree and bought it on a whim when we were getting our bedroom ready for kids, not really sure where I would put it but really loving it. It now is over the changing table/dresser. Mr. Baby has loved it from the first day we brought him home. He stares at it, talks to it, and has started reaching out for it, especially for Piglet. It's a great place to put him when I just need a minute to do something. At least until he starts rolling over...

So many appointments...

Wow, where to begin? My inbox has been going crazy with emails and confirmations of appointments for all kinds of things. We received word that our case file for the Foster to Adopt license was opened on November 19, starting the 90 day clock ticking. A few weeks ago we went in for our mandatory physicals and are just fine, thank goodness. Then our social worker, Alexa, flooded me with requests for home visits and paperwork to finalize. Most of the paperwork is little things, like copies of our driver licenses and vehicle insurance. The other stuff we have to take time out to do. Tomorrow we go to be fingerprinted for the FBI/Homeland Security to make sure we aren't crazy people. Then in January we have our three-phase Home Study with Alexa. First, is my individual interview on the 4th, John will meet with her alone and then both of us together after that on the 19th. Each interview is about 2 hours. The dual interview will include looking over our home to make sure that we have met all the safety requirements for the age of children we will be getting (probably 4-8 years). We also need to go to the hospital lab and be tested for TB somewhere in there. After all that is done, we will wait for our license to process and then for them to match us with a child or two.

In the middle of all that, John will be flying to Bozeman every other week for the spring semester to teach a class at MSU. I am hoping to audition for the Seattle Symphony Chorale in January, although after 2 months I still have not heard back from them about scheduling. I am currently in two choirs, the Seattle Bach Choir and our church choir. If I get into the Chorale I will most likely drop out of the Bach Choir since three 3 hour rehearsals each week is kind of ridiculous! Also, Erin is coming to visit me (YAY!!) in February the week after I come back from DisneyWorld with Mom and Dad.

Ok, that's nuts! I was hoping to have some down time in the New Year, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. In the mean time, we are driving to Billings on Friday to spend Christmas with my side of the family. We will be home again on the 2nd, ready to start all this craziness.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Church Membership

John and I are now officially members of Bethany Community Church.

The weekend before last we stood with 50 other people and made a commitment to be a part of the church community and take on all the responsibilities that go along with that.

We have historically had reservations about church membership in general. It seemed to be a way for churches to keep tabs on you for giving or be otherwise invasive and our former home church in Pasadena didn't practice membership. Our new church, though, really focuses on the family that is the Church...helping, supporting, and praying for each other. In the months that we have been attending, we have found this to be true. It is a very safe community where we can be real and honest and is what we have been looking for since we had to leave Christian Assembly.

Our senior pastor also has a blog, which seems to follow his sermon topic. Here is the link if you would like to check it out and follow him.