Gobble Gobble

Josie's 1st Thanksgiving was awesome! We left Georgia on Wednesday afternoon and drove down to my dad's house in Keystone Heights, Fla. Josie was her perfect little self on the 5 hour drive down there. The whole weekend was so much fun for all of us. The whole Purmort family was there, my dad's family, my brother, my uncle and aunt, and my grandparents. It was a house full!

I was SO excited for my brother to meet Josie, I knew he would just love her! I was also really glad that she could meet my uncle who has cancer and isn't doing too hot. Well, I thought he was doing better then what I expected, but he just isn't the same Uncle John I grew up with. It was hard on my dad. I can't imagine what it would be like for me if Aaron was sick. I don't know if I could handle seeing my big brother need help walking and forgetting people's names. But overall, John did great all weekend.

We hung out at the house on Thanksgiving and took a million family pictures. You'd be surprised at how many different configurations of people you can make with 13 family members! We stuck around the house on Friday too. My grandparents headed back to there house that morning so we were down a couple people. Saturday we drove over to St. Augustine which was really fun. I love being a tourist and walking around new places! Plus it's fun to take Josie anywhere!
My dad and step mom are avid Gator fans. The coveted Florida v. Florida State game just happened to be on while we were in St. Augustine, but thankfully Tivo was invented so it was safely being recorded at the house. Well, the Tivo was in the studio and we wouldn't all fit in there, so we decided to move the Tivo into the living room. We all waited nervously as he unhooked it and tried to hook it back up in the other room. We were so sure we had done this before with ours. Well, we watched Andrew start to sweat when we began to realize that something happened and the game was erased! (It was Andrew's idea to move the box). I thought we were going to have to leave that night! Luckily, it was on again the next morning so we were just banned from watching TV that night in fear that the score may be revealed! I guess that's just what they get for trying to turn my Baby Bulldog into a Gator! (or is she a Gopher?!?)We left on Sunday afternoon. It was a long drive. I think everyone decided to leave Florida at the same time as us, so we sat in a fair amount of traffic. But it felt good to be home.Now I am up to my eyeballs in laundry and suitcases. Settling back in after a trip is always a project in itself. Missy, Sara, Sydney, Josie, and I are going to have a Christmas Girls Weekend this weekend. We are going out to celebrate Missy and my birthday and then going to spend Saturday decorating our house for Christmas and baking a million cookies! (We're starting our own Ladybug Club of the South). Andrew will be off wrestling alligators and doing other manly things with some of his friends all weekend. I'll be praying he doesn't get eaten!

On a very happy note, Sunday was the last day of our waiting for Josie to be officially free for adoption. It's now too late for any family to come forward. We are now just waiting out that 6 month time frame that she has to live with us before we can finalize. Everything looks great for an adoption date in March or April! Looks like she's stuck with us!

Going to Florida

We are off to Florida in about 4 hours. I am SO excited I can hardly stand waiting. Josie will get to meet her uncle for the first time. He is going to love her so much! And I know my dad is on pins and needles waiting to get his hands on her. This is going to be a great weekend!
And it's Andrew's birthday which means...COOKIE CAKE!! yum!!

Work Shower!

My work threw Josie a shower today! It was a lot of fun and a lot of great food! It was so fun to get to bring Josie to work with me and show her off. She was really good right up until naptime. Darlene took her back to her house for the day, so I'm sure she will continue to be spoiled! I can't believe all the great stuff she got! I think we need to add on to her room to fit all her things in it!

Retro Baby!

This was my outfit when I was a baby! How cute!!!

Squishy Face!

This is Josie's new favorite thing to do! We call it her squishy face! She is big on mimic games and copies the faces we make. She is so fun to play with right now!

Needless to say, we had a busy weekend. Friday night Andrew's aunt came to spend the night and help out with the boys, which was great! We'll take all the help we can get! I had Missy and the girls help all day on Saturday and we spent a lot of time playing outside. I am so glad we have a nice yard and no neighbors to worry about! The oldest boy, H, has really taken to Andrew. I don't think he has had much male attention in his life so he gets SO excited when Andrew asks him to help around the yard. On Saturday he helped Andrew fix the lawn mower, helped bring all the trash out to the barn and got to help cut the grass! Sunday Andrew let him "help" change the oil in my car. You would have thought Andrew took him to the moon! Sunday we went to church, in 2 cars since I can no longer fit all the children in my car! The boys were a little nervous being in a new church, but after some reassurance, they were OK with staying. They ended up having a great time! We spent the rest of the day at Andrew's Aunt and Uncle's house on the lake. The boys got to go on a boat ride and spend lots of time outside. None of them got a nap that day so I was pooped by the time we got home and so were they. So all the kids were in bed at 6:30! I love the time change, if it's dark, they think it's bedtime!

The boys are all so sweet. We have our moments when we are in desperate need of a break, but overall it is completely manageable. Well, we have a lot of help from Missy and the girls. I don't think I'd be as calm if it was just the two of us! Their whole situation breaks my heart. They have had to go through so much change and it just isn't fair that a 4 year old has to deal with all of this. I hate that Foster Care is even needed, but I am grateful to be able to help in some small way.

They started their new school today. It was a hard morning for them. They didn't quite understand why we were leaving them. It took all I had not to sit and cry with them. It's so different then with Josie who is too young to understand. All they know is last week they went to school and a strange lady picked them up, brought them to our house, and now they have to start a new school. I think they were worried that we wouldn't come back to get them. Ugh! It is so sad.

I wish I could post pictures, but if you want to see who you're praying for just email me and I'll send you some. They are gorgeous!

We're still not sure how fast they will be moving to their permanent home. For their sake, I hope it's soon. They are starting to adjust to how Andrew and I do things and I hate for them to be moved again right after they get used to us. At least we will still see them a lot when they do move. It's crazy how fast you can fall in love with 2 pair of blue eyes and 1 set of brown!

Woo!

Well, four kids is most definatly different then one!
The boys are great. They are polite and mind well. Plus they are SO cute. I think they are still a bit confused about what's going on. It's hard to explain it to someone who is so young. They should be with us for about a month until they move in with the family that will ultimatly adopt them. It's going to be a busy month!
Right now I am a little bit overwhelmed, but I think things will settle down this weekend. I was overwhelmed when Josie first came and now we are doing great, so hopefully this will be the same.
I can't post pictures since they are not going to be ours, but they are totally adorable!

A few more additions

Well, temporarily at least! Andrew and I will probably be adding three more bodies to our house tonight or tomorrow night. Three little boys, ages 4, 3, and 14 months. The situation is pretty amazing. Andrew's aunt and uncle, who have 3 little girls who were adopted through Spalding County DFCS, heard about these 3 little boys and have decided that they would be the perfect addition to their family! The only problem is that after the adoption of their 3rd little girl, they closed their home (meaning they were no longer open for foster care or foster to adopt placements). That was 4 years ago. So now they have to get their fingerprints redone and have their case worker come out and reopen their status. That can take from 4-6 weeks. However, the little boys don't have 4-6 weeks to wait.
So their caseworker, who is also our caseworker, suggested that they give us a call to see if we would be willing to help. The second Andrew's aunt asked me if there was any way we could help, my mind was made up. I know that if we were in the same spot as them, if there had been some sort of road block to get Josie, they would have jumped through any hoops to get her to us. And we will do the same for them.
It's a totally different feeling then with Josie. We know that these little boys will only be with us for a month or so. I know we'll fall in love, but we know they are going into a home that is so overflowing with love, that they will always be provided for, and that makes it OK. It feels amazing to be used by God to create a family. I wish everyone could feel this way.
They are currently in a foster home, but it is not a safe place for them anymore. It breaks my heart to think that a child can be taken out of the only home they know and then be placed in a home that is just as bad. What kind of justice is that? But this whole situation has opened my eyes to the calling God has on Andrew and my life. James 1:27 says that, "true religion is this, to care for orphans and widows in their time of need and not become corrupt by this world." I want to live up to this expectation that God has on us. I want to show all of these children what it feels like to be loved unconditionally. I know that it will be hard, and tiring, and hard!, but God will give us strength and endurance. And it will be worth it if it gives these boys a chance at life. A chance that they don't even know that they have. I have been searching for what God wants me to do. For a ministry that I can put my whole heart into, and this is it. It's clear as day and I have never felt more complete or confident in any decision. I want to get the word out. I want people to know that it isn't as scary as it sounds. I want people to understand the urgent need. I want all these kids to be safe and be allowed to just be kids. I want to have a True Religion.

Good Habits Start Young!

Now that Miss Josie has four teeth (and is working on number 5!), we thought it was time to start teaching her good oral hygiene! She LOVES to brush her teeth! Well, she loves to chew on her tooth brush, but she's learning. We all sit in the bathroom and brush together. Sometimes she isn't ready to be done yet when we are, so she'll continue for awhile longer! We may have a dentist in the family!
She also loves to read. She spends half the time looking at the pictures and letting us read to her and the other half trying to eat the book!
We had a great weekend. We went shopping for Andrew (a rare occasion) on Friday night. Saturday was very laid back. We just spent the day in sweatpants, lounging around. We had some friends over for dinner that night as well. The time change kind of screwed up Josie's sleep schedule so she's been getting up pretty early these past few days and not taking her naps very well. We're not sure if it's due to teething or the time change. Probably a little of both. Sunday Josie went to her first jewelry party with me and had a blast. She loves to scream and listen to her voice echo. She is so perfect!

Lack of Updates

I know that I haven't been posting many updates about Josie's actual case. And that is because we really don't have anything new to report. The TPR was granted on October 3rd and the lawyer has 30 days to file it, which would make today the last day. So hopefully that will be done at some point today. Then we have a 45 day wait before we can officially file our "Intent to Adopt" paperwork.
However, the clock is still ticking towards the 6 months that she needs to be in our house before we can finalize. March 2nd will be the first date that we could finalize. Of course we will have to wait for a court date to be open for the hearing though.
Either way, we are still extremely confident that the adoption is right on track. We have our monthly meeting with our caseworker next Thursday at 3:30. It will just be a routine visit, but hopefully we will get the info about the 45 day wait (when it actually started and when it will officially be over) at that meeting.
She is doing great, rolling over and trying to scoot forward (without much success!). We've had a busy week with all the Halloween events, so this weekend we plan on spending time as a family at home. Our new favorite thing to do!