Videos of Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. I was trying to email a couple videos that we took and was unable to do it so I am trying to put them here to be viewed. I just might make this blog private and try it again. Enjoy.

Giving Up

In case anyone is still following this blog I plan this to be my final post. I am officially giving up on blogging but since this is my last post I will give you an update. Since my last post we have expereinced a tremendous amount of change in our lifes.

In March we welcomed a foster baby into our home who is still with us. It would be a violation of privacy laws to post any information or pictures of foster children and this is a big part of the reason I am ending my blog. We are full time foster parents and the children in our home are such a big part of our lifes that I can't figure out an accurate post without including them. This baby is a great joy to have in our home.

In April Jared got into a teaching program in Louisianna. Me and the kids moved in with my in-laws (my in-laws were gone all but 4 weeks that Jared was gone so I didn't have a lot of people help but it did help a lot with expenses) and in May Jared moved to Louisianna to start the program. Although Jared enjoyed teaching he did not enjoy the culture/attitudes/philosophy/discrimination against white men, which he experienced both student teaching and subbing within the education sector in Louisianna. At the end of August we agreed he should quit the program and come home. He arrived home at the end of August.

My summer as a working single Mom of two kids was incredibly difficult and I have increased empathy for those single Mom's who do this all the time. I was also incredibly blessed. So many people gave our family service. It was humbling and I am so grateful. The first weekend Jared was gone the water heater broke. This was the one time Spencer was openly upset about Jared being gone. I told Spencer we had to call someone to help fix the water heater and he told me "No, Daddy will fix it." Besides this one experience, Spencer was a strong kid. He tried to help me however he could. He made sure I had a glass and siverware at dinner time. He tried to carry things in from the car for me. He was great. I had so many people call and check on me, jump in and take care of things in young womans for me, help me with my kids at church (one woman took the baby every sunday during the second and third hour of church so that I could handle my calling in young womans), let my kids come to play at their houses, babysat for me, sent me cards, fixed my water heater, helped me when my car broke down, gave me and my children blessings, and I am sure there was more. In this regards it was a summer full of miracles.

I am so glad to have Jared back home. A week and a half after he got home we moved out of my in-laws and into our own place. Things have continued to be so busy and so full of change. I have increased my work hours and am now getting up at 5am to work every weekday before the kids get up. Jared is reevaluating his career plans and trying to figure out if he still wants to be a teacher and if not then what he is going to do.

On top of this we took a second foster child into our home three weeks ago. He is three weeks younger then the other foster baby in our home and so I am counting this as my experience with twins. I am now in charge of three kids under the age of three (Spencer is almost three and the babies both recently turned one). Life is exciting and exhausting as I try to learn to manage these three beautiful children that God has entrusted to my care at this time.

I do not want to overlook Spencer in this post. He is growing so much and fills our life with many smiles and much joy. He talks a lot these days and I love it. He has also started singing songs. He is so sweet with the babies. He sings to them he plays with them sometimes and he tells me if he thinks they need something. He also potty trained this month. He loves to go swimming, he is so happy to have his Daddy home, he loves watching Bob the Builder and Clifford and Dora. I am so blessed to be his Mom.

All in all I am grateful for the challenges we have faced this year as I have grown tremendously as a person. Being a foster parent has been so much different then I anticipated. It is incredible and emotional and full of joy and love (both for the babies and their parents, I didn't expect to love their parents), and hope, and pain, and never knowing how many kids you will have in your home next month or who those kids will be or how long they will be there. It is by far the most selfless thing I have ever done and even though we started foster parenting with the goal of adopting and increasing our family, our feelings have changed. We still hope to adopt some children through foster care but we also realize that this isn't just about the foster child placed with us, it is about that child's whole family and so somehow I am coming to a place where if these parents are really prepared for their children to come home I will send them home and feel happy for their parents succeeding and grateful for the experience (although I am sure it will also rip my heart out).

Thank you to those who have read our blog. You can still find me on facebook or feel free to email me.

Big Changes

It has been a long time since I have updated this post. After working on it since April, we finally became licensed foster parents in December. Since becoming licensed we have had two sweet baby boys on a short term basis. The first baby was about 10 weeks old and we had him for a weekend. Last week we had a 6 week old for two days. Spencer has really like having a baby at the house. After the last baby went home he has started asking for a baby.

Spencer is now 2 years old and is so much fun. He is talking a lot more and interacting a lot. He loves to read books and to be outside. We earned a library card for 2010 and he has been enjoying trips to the library.

In January Jared decided to go back to school to become a jr. high or high school teacher. He wants to teach: history, political science, economics, business, and/or math. He found some awesome programs in Lousianna and applied to both of them. He has had an interview with one program and we should hear back about it within the next two weeks. He has an interview scheduled with the other program at the end of March. Jared is also looking at some on-line programs or night programs that he could do from Washington.

At the same time we decided I should probably go back to work full time if we stay in Washington. I found what looks like my dream job and I have had two interviews there so far. I should find out soon if I move on to a third interview.

I am not sure what is going to work out in our life but both plans include moving and will bring big changes. We are excited to have a new plan for our lifes and are excited to see what works out.

Finally, an update!

I am Finally updating our blog! I typed up the blog and then tried to add the pictures to the corresponding places but that didn't work so the pictures are out of order.
Riding trains with Aunt Ali, Aunt Amy and Ethan, Carter, Logan and Collin.

Lots of Cousins and others and Cousin Logan's second birthday party in CA.

Value quilt I made for girls camp this summer. There is a picture of a temple drawn on the middle square but it is hard to see in the picture.

Jared is the Weblos leader for the boy scouts. Spencer and I went along with the scouts on a fishing trip. We didn't catch anything but it was still fun.

The planter's day parade in Woodland, Wa.

The 4th of July parade with Aunt Rosie and Cousins Kaylee and Lily.

Frank and Elaine Wade (Jared's Parents) celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. Way to go guys!

Our trip to the beach in May.

The last few months have been pretty busy. In April we decided to become Foster Parents. We did all of our foster care training in May. In June we passed our home inspection and our interviews. Now we are just waiting for my background check to be complete (Jared's passed in June) and then we will be licensed for foster care. We are only going to take one baby at a time between the age of 0 and 1. We were originally told to expect a baby in August but since my background check is taking so long (I had to get refinger printed) it might take longer. We are excited about getting a new baby (although I am not looking forward to night times with a new baby, it has been great sleeping through the night).

We have also had some adventures over the last few months. In May we took Spencer to the beach for the first time. The weather was beautiful at our house but was cold and cloudy at the beach. He had a lot of fun playing in the sand. We also went to a party celebrating my in-laws 45th wedding anniversary!

In June we went and saw my sister, Chelsey, graduate high school. She is such a hard working beautiful young woman. I can't believe I have another sibling all grown up. It was fun to celebrate with her. I know that she is prepared to face the challenges that come with being an adult. I am so impressed by the way my parents prepared her for this time in her life and I hope I can prepare Spencer likewise. We also went to the Planter's Day Parade in Woodland, WA. Spencer really enjoyed that. I was asked to make a quilt for girls camp. At camp they tie 10 quilts and the girls who help get their name put in a drawing to keep a quilt. I made a young woman themed quilt. There was a square for each value and then squares with power stars made up of all 8 values.

For the 4th of July Spencer and I went to a parade. Jared and his parent's were in the parade. We also went to the 4th of July celebration at the park here in town. They always have booths and fun things to do. We also watched the City firework show and had a BBQ at my in-laws with Aunt Rosie, Uncle Todd and Aunt Karen, and there kids.

In July we helped my parents dig a french drain. A large number of people from church also helped them. I was touched by all of the people willing to help. Jared got to use a mini excavator and enjoyed that. It was fun to visit my family. I am so glad we only live 2 hours away so that we can see them at least once a month.

For my birthday in July, my Mom and sisters, Emily and Tess, came to visit. They took me out to lunch and then we went to the spa for pedicures. It was a lot of fun and I am so glad they came. My in-laws also threw me a family birthday party. My sister-in-law, Rosie, cooked a wonderful meal and made a delicious cake with fresh strawberry and ice cream filling.

In July we also went to California for a week. We had a great time visiting Jared's family and friends. Spencer has two cousins in California that are his age and four others that are close in age. It was so fun watching them play together. The cousins are all little blue eyed blond kids. People often ask us where Spencer got his blue eyes and blond hair, but if they saw him with his cousins they wouldn't need to ask. Spencer and I both got the stomach flu while we were down there but otherwise it was a great trip. Spencer also got to meet two of his great grandma's and we went on a short train ride.

August is off to another busy start. The last few weeks Jared's work has really picked up (which we are so grateful for). I have also been busy with work. It feels like most of the day is spent with Jared and I running in and out switching who is taking care of Spencer. That has been tiring. I have been in court a lot over the last couple months and I have learned a lot being there. I have two more court hearings scheduled next week and then I am hoping to cut back for a little while. Spencer has been a trooper. He has adjusted pretty well going back and forth between Jared and I. He has also accompanied me to the courthouse a couple times (just to file things, he doesn't come along when I am in hearings). I don't have to walk through security at the courthouse anymore and the security people extended that luxery to Spencer (which I really appreciate). On top of all of that I was made the young woman president at church.

Each day I pray for the ability to know what is most important to accomplish. Life is so busy I hope that I will not lose focus on the things that really matter.

This Sunday is our 6th wedding anniversary. I am so grateful that I married Jared. I loved him so much when I married him and somehow that love has just grown each year. He is a wonderful husband and father and I know marrying him was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Here are some newer pictures.

Easter, Earth day and the rest of Apri

We are dogsitting Rusy again and Spencer couldn't be happier. Spencer had a great time at Easter this year. On Saturday we went to the primary easter egg hunt. The leaders limited the number of eggs each child could find so once the older kids found their limit, they helped Spencer find some eggs.

On Sunday we went to Frank and Elaine's (Jared's Parents) for dinner and another Easter egg hunt. Jared's brother, Todd, and his family were also there. It was a fun night.

This Easter Spencer discovered that Easter eggs contain candy and choclate. He loves both of those and the first thing he did in the morning was go straight for his easter basket. He was so excited with the choclate eggs that he didn't bother unwrapping them before he took a big bite. He bit me really hard trying to get the foil out of his mouth. It was a lot of fun watching Spencer enjoy easter.

This year Jared had a booth at our local Earth Day Celebration. Him and his nephew, Conner, stayed all day giving out coupons. Hopefully we will get some business from the event.

While Jared and Conner were working the booth, Spencer and I enjoyed the rest of the fair. It was a neat event with a small planetarium, Ronald McDonald, an African music playing band, and a petting zoo. The petting zoo was Spencer's favorite part. I had a hard time keeping up with him, he was so excited to pet the animals.

Cake and Chiropractor

A few days ago Spencer did the cutest thing. He found a box of cake mix. The box had a picture of a piece of cake on it. This very smart little boy brought the box to me and was trying to open it. I opened it to let him see what was inside and he was very confused. He looked at the bag of cake mix and then looked in the box and back at the picture on the box. He repeated this a few times and even stuck his hand in the box to make sure there was nothing else in there. I realized he thought there was a piece of cake in the box. It was adorable.

The last couple days Spencer hasn't been feeling well. He is cranky and has been pulling at his ears. My chiropractor had mentioned chiropractic care can help ear infections. When I realized Spencer was running a fever today I decided to try the chiropractor. Spencer went in for his first chiropractic adjustment today. He did very well. The Doctor also used one of those ear looking in things to look in his ears. His ears were red and irritated. She then recommended some vitamins and ear drops to help him. On the way home we stopped at the store to get the stuff. The lady at the store gave Spencer a sample of a child's chewable vitamin. He choked on it and then threw up all over both us. It was not a fun trip to the store and we didn't buy the vitamins. The ear drops seemed to help him but he threw up again after we got home. I hope he will feel better tomorrow. I am interested to see if this chiropractic thing really helps him or not.

Toddler

It has been a long time since I have done an update on here. I keep meaning to download pictures but that is not going to happen tonight. Over the last month and a 1/2 Spencer has been growing and developing at super speed. He no longer looks like a baby, we seem to have a full fledged Toddler. This month I took a wonderful parenting class based on the Love and Logic approach to parenting. One of the things the instructor told me to do was to start giving Spencer some responsibilities. I was amazed to realize he is capable of helping out. He has started helping pick up his toys after his bath, he kind of helps me do the dishes (mostly he just plays in the rinse water), and he has started helping me cook by dumping in the ingrediants after they are measured. Spencer has also been responding to us in ways that we know he understands. It is amazing watching him try to communicate with us. Lately he points at things and says "That" when he wants something. He has also started trying to say other words and he gets frustrated when he can't say what he wants to communicate.

This last month Jared has been getting more work which is great. I also started teaching basic estate planning classes to the community. I had my first class this month, it is a two night seminar and the participants go home with a basic will, power of attorney, and health care directive. I have three more class scheduled. The first class seemed to go well and I came away with some ideas on how to improve the class. My next class starts next week and I hope it will also go well.

Overall we are happy and healthy!