Welcome ....Pull Up A Chair

Our journey really began years ago when we had a miscarriage and then battled with infertility for years afterwards. I will make a long story short (and promise to give you the whole story at a later date). After trying everything in our power to become parents we felt like God was leading us to foster care. Heartaches, disappointments, and sadness were immediately lifted on January 6, 2011. That night our Princess arrived...our first foster child. Ronnie was at work and I was busy trying to make things as perfect as possible and calm the butterflies in my stomach. When I heard the car pull up I jumped to the door and all I can tell you is I felt exactly as the disciples must have when the boat was rocking and then Jesus commanded the waves to be still. It was an instant peace....and love at first sight. I have never in my life known such an instant peace as I did in that second. She was beautiful and precious in every way possible. She brings so much laughter to our homes and lives and..despite the present goal of reunification with her mom...will ALWAYS be out baby.
On March 23, 2011 our lives once again changed when we received a call asking if we would be interested in adopting a 2 year old little girl. I don't even think they finished their sentence or had a chance to tell me her name before I said, "YES!!! WE WOULD!" There was nothing else I needed to know, except that she was going to be ours! Again, there was an instant bond and love at first sight. Madison arrived and she was perfect in every sense of the word. She is amazingly soooo much like Ronnie. Everyone thinks she looks just like me, and she might, but she is her Daddy through and through. It's amazing how God works everything out to the smallest of details.
If you had asked me on January 5, 2006 I would have told you I had given up on ever being a mom. If you ask me today I will tell you I am blessed beyond words with two beautiful girls in my life. My cup runneth over.......
I hope you will follow us on this journey and laugh along with us! It's quite the journey and He who has us on it is quite a God!

The Stork Got The Wrong Lady....

because The Princess is definitely, without a shadow of a doubt my kid!!! She is so much like me in temperament (which is scary), personality and even tastes. I come in the living room all the time to find her sitting down in front of the bookshelf with some of my cookbooks. She will say, "Ohhhh, I eat that!" or just make yummy noises. She will sit through 30 minute cooking shows with me and take it all in. She gets just as excited as I do, and will say, "Mama, look at that! Cake!" She comes in the kitchen when I am cooking or baking and wants to help and will cry if I don't let her. She is CONSTANTLY cooking with her play food and dishes and then bringing it to me to eat. "I made you cake, Mama!", she proudly says. No, proudly yells is more like it! She has one volume....EXTRA LOUD!
Yesterday at the doctor's office she was cuddled in Ronnie's lap with her blanket feeling awful and he was watching the news on the TV. The news ended and a cooking show came on. She immediately sat up and said "Cooking!". Ha ha, I looked at Ronnie and said, "See, people think I make this stuff up!" The girl loves all things cooking and food. Ronnie had to turn his chair around so she could see the TV better. She is my child.
She can't let things go and has to have the last word....that she must have gotten from someone else ;) Ronnie lets things go and brushes it off until he just can't anymore and then just blows up. He is so nonconfrontational. So is Maddie. Me and The Princess? You are going to hear about it whether you like it or not and we aren't done talking about it until we have said everything we want to say. Our fuse is short and we CAN"T hold it in for days and just stew about it. It's not in us. We butt heads on this. Because of her speech delay though, hers ends up in temper tantrums because she either can't say what she is upset about or because she find it easier to just scream and cry then to attempt it. It depends on her day. And when she wakes up grumpy....your day (and everyone else's that will come in contact with her) is shot! Ronnie thinks someone else is like that too. I won't mention any names because it's just not polite. 8)
A morning person, she IS NOT! Let her wake up on her own if it's possible or you will reap the consequences. Don't talk to her until she has had time to wake up. She won't eat until until then either. Once again, me made over. Ronnie and Maddie are morning people. They wake up ready to take on the world. The Princess and I wake up feeling like the world just took us on and out if we have to wake up too early. We like to stay up late and sleep in. Ronnie and Maddie like to go to bed early and wake up early. I think we have just had a breakthrough!! He should wake up early with Maddie and The Princess and I will sleep in. Whatcha think, Ronnie? And could you have the coffee pot on?
Lastly, is her food preferences. She, like me, has an issue with texture sometimes. If it's supposed to be crunchy, she doesn't mind it. But if it's supposed to be smooth, it BETTER be smooth. We don't want fruit cocktail in our Jell-O...we don't want peanuts in our peanut butter or chunks of fruit in our jelly. Call us weird, but that's just us! You can have a smorgasbord of food...The Princess and I are making a bee-line for the desserts. And not just any dessert...we want CAKE!! She tells me everyday, "I want cake, Mama!" Just this morning, she had a bowl of yogurt and a bowl of applesauce (she has a fast metabolism and is incredibly little...okay, so there is one way we differ!) and then asked for cake. At lunchtime, when she finishes her food, she will ask for cake. And again at suppertime. She loves cake. She prefers chocolate cake. I swear she is MY KID! The stork got the wrong lady. On May, 24, 2007 the stork got lost and left my baby at another woman's house. But God sorted it out!!