Logan's 6th Birthday Party

We had sooooo much fun today! Logan turns 6 on Tuesday (how can he be 6 already???) and we had his birthday party at My Gym. We invited Logan's entire Kindergarten class and some friends and nearly everyone came. My goodness, there was a ton of 5 and 6 year old energy in that room! I think the kids all really enjoyed themselves and Logan had a BLAST! The played games, did freeze dance, played hide and seek and then did Space Flight on the zip line. We had Mario cake and the kids went home with Mario goodie bags. I bet they are all sleeping good tonight :)

Do You Believe in Signs? I Do.

Today is 2 weeks since my mom passed and some days are harder than others. Today was rough. I've been missing her so much. My mom and I didn't see eye to eye on everything but we did talk about 5 times a day and when you talk to someone that much you don't always see eye to eye. I am thankful for the time I had with her at the end. I got plenty of chances to tell her that I love her and that I would take care of things after she left.

Well, here comes the "signs" part. Stuck inside my mom's will was a letter that my foster mother wrote to my parents as they were bringing me home. I was with a foster mother before my parents adopted me. I cherish all of the correspondence that we have with Devon's foster mom and we talk about her and look at pictures often. She is an important part of Devon's life just like my foster mom (although I do not know her) played an important role in my life.

Curly and I have gone back and forth and have talked about adopting again and we've faced some roadblocks. Now I think I know why. We are meant to be foster parents because we understand the important role that a foster parent plays in a child's life. We know it just isn't the fear of letting them go when it is time but was is important is the impact we can make while they are with us.

So we are signed up to take an insane amount of classes through the county starting at the beginning of March. I'm excited. I am really excited.

Celebration of My Mom's Life

Today was a rough day but it I was able to get a little more closure. My mom always made me promise that I wouldn't throw a "lavish" funeral for her. We granted her wish and had a "Celebration of Life" at my brother's restaurant with friends and family today. It was nice. I'm still numb and feel like this is a dream/nightmare but it was nice being with all of the people who have given us such strength through this rough time. We all took time to look at her happy pictures and talk about fun times. And of course, we listened to reggae as our background music :)

The memorial cards were designed by http://www.littleladybugdesigns.com/ She is so awesome to work with and I reccommend her highly!Isn't this a precious picture of Logan?

All of us after a long afternoon

Valentine Fun & Chuck

So far we've had 2 Valentine's Day parties. One was at Logan's class and the 2nd was at Chuck E. Cheese's with our Guatemalan group. Both were super fun.

I think Devon is ready for pre-school. Look at her in the middle of all those Kindergarteners!
My happy boy

Playing Mario Karts

This was the ONLY time that she didn't slide down head 1st.....sweet little daredevil!

"Play Freebird!!" Devon thinking that Chuck takes requests....lol.

Here favorite "games" were these free button. A-OK with me :)

Reggae Dancing in Heaven

Last Thursday my mom died in my dad's arms at home. She left us quietly and is no longer in pain. I miss her like crazy and each day is a new struggle to get past the tears and sadness. Tonight I am going through pictures for her Celebration of Life and scanned in a few of my favorites. Even though my mom isn't here with me, I know exactly where she is. She is up in heaven, dancing in the sand at a Bob Marley concert and I know that she has the best tan there :)

Thanks to all of my friends for their love, support and prayers. Your strength has pulled me through these rough times.

The Emotional Roller Coaster of Stolen Hope

We're pretty much in a holding pattern in terms of my mom and her health. She's had so many negative health effects in the past few days (hallucinations, bloating/swelling, inability to produce urine) but today she was lucid and full of sass! She was rolling her eyes, making faces and back to her usual antics. I honestly don't know what to think. I know that she is incredibly sick and the medical staff is just working on providing her comfort and not health improvement at this point. We are meeting with hospice people tomorrow morning to talk about our next steps in terms of mom's care.

I appreciate all of your continued prayers, good thoughts and words. They have given me strength that I never knew existed inside of me. I only wish my mom peace and to not be in pain anymore.