Fledging and the Empty Nest

Sitting in my home office

Watching the sun shine on my 1949 pick up truck

Memories flooding back of happier times

Tear stained cheeks

Sad that this moment has arrived

But filled with gratefulness and pride because it has

Whispers early on of poor prognosis

Years of therapy and hard work

Have yielded to spreading wings

And the fledging from the nest

Yes, the youngest has fledged

And my nest is now empty

Little Madi has moved into a group home

30 miles away

I know it's not that far

However, it is a Huge move

And a major change in both of our lives

Madi has been my side kick since Mark passed 

December 24, 2010

We have shared so many laughs 

And shed tears of joy and sorrow

Today, Madi is hanging out in his new nest

My prayers are for safety, peace and joy

Timing is right, it's a new beginning

The first of 'several' major life changing events

That will take place for me

Over the next several months

Has happened

Although, I've been away from blogging for some time

I shall be sharing more 

As the next life change

Will begin to take place next weekend

I'll share as things unfold

It's hard to live with puzzle pieces

And today, that is all I have

But, I'm excited to see all the pieces be put into place

To have a clearing understanding of what the Lord is doing

And how this picture comes together

I'll be back next week with more to the story...

This Boy .. Happy 30th

It was November 1, 1985 when we met you for the first time.

You were just over 4 months old and weighed about 8 pounds

You were the cutest little 4 month old I had ever seen

Although you came to us as a foster child

I had no doubt that you would be ours forever ... someday

The social worker told us not to get our hopes up

Not to expect too much from you 

And to remember that the status of your future was up in the air

She told us you might be deaf, blind and paralyzed on one side

She told us that you may never walk or talk

And honestly they didn't even know if you would live very long

They really didn't know what your prognosis was at that point

We were soon to find out that your diagnosis was

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

With mild cerebral palsy and mental retardation

But I will tell you

That Never bothered us

We loved you from the moment we met you

And prayed everyday that we would get to keep you in our family

The next 2 years were filled with medical appointments

Therapy sessions and visit to your birth family

Lots of tears were shed and laughter was shared

You brought joy to everyone that met you

The day you turned 2 1/2 we walked into the 

Mono County Courthouse

And were so excited when Judge Roberts

Signed the papers to allow you to live with us 

from that day forward

There were many difficult days during those 2 1/2 years

But we believed it was God's plan for you to be with us

And we just trusted that HE would complete our family

And He Did!!

We have walked through our share of ups and downs

Fears and Joys have landed on our doorstep numerous times

But I would not want to change any of it for the world

Doctors can never predict what God has planned

Nobody can determine our future or the outcome of our lives

It is in God's hands to orchestrate our time here on earth

And I believe HE has done an amazing work in You

You make me laugh and cry

You challenge my faith

You open my eyes to see things in new ways

You tug on my heart strings

 Your smile melts my momma heart

 

Happy 30th Birthday

You are My Joy

 

A HUGE Thank You

Hi Friends,

I just wanted to send out a 
HUGE Thank You
To each of you that left comments
On my last post

Thursday morning
As I read the comments to my boy
He and I had tears in our eyes

Your words were so very encouraging to him
Which in turn encouraged my heart

I think he was concerned that everybody
Would tell him to cut his hair
But as I read the comments to him
He smiled more and more

His long hair is so much a part of who he is
And he just loved having so many friends
Support his decision to have long hair

I may be able to encourage him to trim it
Just to help it continue to stay healthy
But I do realize it IS his hair and his choice

My husband and I had two rules while the boys were growing up

1. NO TATTOOS
2. NO PIERCINGS

They were always told they could do whatever they 
wanted to do with their hair
It would grow back
And believe me
They did crazy stuff
Dye, Bleach, Long, Short, Shaved, Permed

Someday I'll put together a fun post
With some of their Best hair styles

But for today
Thank you
You made my boy So Happy

Oh, and BTW:
My oldest got tattoos once he was married :(
Still no piercings- Yay
My youngest still lives at home
No tattoos or piercing :)
 

Blessings for a Super Weekend!!



Down Sizing

I'm on a journey

And I've kept it off of social media

But it's time to share

Weight was never an issue for me when I was younger

But after a complete hysterectomy at the age of 26

With the many adjustments of synthetic hormones

And other challenges I was facing at that time

I began to gain weight quickly

I've attempted various diets and programs

With some success but none of them were long lived

In the few years since Mark passed

I have allowed myself the pleasure of eating whatever I wanted

Whenever I wanted it with no real thought to the damage I was doing to my body

In recent months it has become more of a health issue

So, I decided, with Lots of prompting from my doctor, 

That I needed to make some Major changes

Thus, the Journey began

After some research, prayer and understanding my own needs

I decided to join NutriSystem

It's strict, well planned, and exactly what I needed

As sad as it may sound

I really needed someone (plan) to make the bulk of my decisions for me

 It has been easy

The food is good and I like what I am seeing

Today I begin my second month

What happened during the first 28 days

Downsizing

Pant size: down 2

Inches: down 7

Pounds: down 13

Ummm....Yes, I am one happy adventurer!

Why am I sharing now

The journey gets tougher as you go along

I rather love support and encouragement

I don't have my Mark around anymore to nudge me in the right direction

 So, once a month

I hope to chat and share here in hopes of being encouraged

And nudged toward my health goals

Next week I go for my annual lab work

I'm hoping to see a nice decline in my cholesterol

My blood pressure is already better (yay)

Thank you for allowing me to share

NOW

Here are a few photos of Halloween

A Few Sweet Visistors

My youngest and one of his buddies

Yes, they went out and came home with 

Waaay too much candy

 

K~Baby

 

K~Bel

 

K~Bug

 

My 3 Beautiful K's

Besides the fact that they came late

Had already been out for a couple of hours

Were rather tired and wired

They are still beautiful girlies!

And make the Nana's heart Smile

The Faces of Thursday

Hi Friends,

Well it has been a Busy week

And to be quite honest

I'm tired and not feeling all that great

I guess it's just been all the excitement 

And Busyness of a Super Special Week

 

SO

I thought I would just share a few

Of the Faces of This Thursday Afternoon

We had a fabulous day
And enjoyed Lots of pool time
I think I should have joined Little Miss K-Baby
And taken a nap

I hope you all had a great day
And are preparing to enjoy a wonderful weekend
May the Lord Bless you tonight

I must go make some dinner for a few boys :)

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

Thank You
To the 31 friends who took the time
To wish my My Matthew a Happy Birthday

He kept checking FB and my Blog all day
He was SO excited to receive so many fun wishes
I will print each comment this weekend
And make a huge card for him
He will absolutely Love it
And it will be kept forever, I'm sure :)

These are the 4 young men I have/am spending my week with

Of course, my Matthew is the tiny guy in the front

But as you can see his friends are not so tiny

Yet they are such fun guys to hang out with

Their diagnoses' range from:

ADHD

Anxiety

Asthma

Autism

Bi-Polar

Depression

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Mild and Moderate Mental Retardation

Mood Disorder

ODD

Kidney Stone Syndrome

And a few others

They are 25, 28, 29, and 32 years old

They have been friends since the year 2000

They are great friends and enjoy spending time

GAMING together

One of them spends about 6 to 8 weeks a year here at my home

They are all like kids to me

I love that they get along so well
And enjoy each others company

But mostly I love that they treat my Kiddo so kindly

It's a special week for a very special kid
I know God knew how much he would bless my life
And how much I would Learn from having him as a son
God has been So Faithful

Happy Birthday Again Matthew
You Are SO Loved!

Happy Birthday To My Miracle Boy

It was November 1, 1985

When a social worker placed him in my arms

This 4 month old 

Weighing only about 7 pounds or so
With a diagnosis and a 
Not so positive prognosis

We were told not to expect this to be like our first foster child
Not to expect too much out of this child
It was possible he was deaf, blind and paralyzed on one side
He probably wouldn't walk or talk
It was best if we didn't get too attached
He may not live a year

This was taken at 6 months

He was just as cute as a button

I won't lie

It was tough

LOTS of therapy

MANY doctor appointments,

hospital visits and even times

When we had to let him go for visitations with his birth family

But through it all we had Faith

Trusted God and Believed he would live

And he would be ours

On his 2 1/2 year birthday

The judge signed the paperwork

He became ours

Life has not always been easy with his precious kiddo

He's faced many challenges along the way

But God has been faithful

And this young man is truly a treasure

This momma is never quite sure about the Long hair

But it does make for a fun photo shoot

Which reminds me that we need to do another one

I don't have any recent photos of this kid

I remember praying for this unborn baby one day
My husband and I took a load of trash to the dump
While there, I saw a young mother to be
Standing on the side of the dump
While her husband was down below going through the trash

I knew the situation they lived in and I prayed:
God,
What will ever happen to that little baby
God,
Protect that baby and keep it safe
Give it a good home and keep him healthy

WOW,
God answers Prayers Friends
Little did I know that several months down the road
He would be placed in my arms and given
A safe, protective and healthy home

I Believe In Prayer

This Momma is So Proud to call you Son
This Momma Loves you So Much
Happy 29th Birthday Mr M

Wow, that makes me feel old :)

Hoping to Receive at least 29 Happy Birthday Greetings for Him
Will you Leave a comment please :)

JOY #24 Son #1

August 1983

This little guy came into our lives

As a 21 month old foster child

Who would not have fallen head 

over heels in love

With this red headed, freckle faced

Chunky little kiddo

 

Today 

Married and raising My 3 K's

He is still the joy of my life

And even with a face full of hair

Tattoos around his neck

And sunglasses 24/7

 

I'm still head over heels 

In love with my oldest son

Happy 32nd Birthday

JOY #24

MY ANDREW

JOY #16 Helpers

It was Such a Blessing 

To have my brother and my oldest son

Come to the house and help clean up some 'treasures'

The guys loaded two trucks full of those treasures

One we took to the dump

The second my oldest is taking to the

Scrap Metal business next to his work

 

Speaking of his work

When we went to the dump

He thought it would be nice to take us to his work

Which is just down the road from said work site

I was Totally Not dressed for photos

(Please disregard my 'style')

Yet, it was fun to climb on this chipper machine thingy

Thanks for the tour of your playground kiddo

And...

Thank you to both of you for cleaning up the side yard

So nicely :)

This momma is Happy 

MY JOY #16

HELPERS

JOY #14 Day Trippin'

Because this is my vacation week

And I had to postpone my trip

And we have worked so hard on projects

I decided we needed a day trip

So,

We drove up to Payson and then

Tonto Natural Bridge

Be Ware

Photo Over Load 

The temperature was about 60

There was a slight cool breeze

You can see in the above photo

How the water is being blown as it falls

It was a perfect day for colorful photos

Beautiful Crystal Clear Blue Skies

LOVE the color of these leaves

Twisted Trees

Matthew's Doggie and Me

We did an impromptu photo shoot of 

Matthew's hair 

Nearly made Matthew sick

When I slammed on the breaks to take a 

Shot of this windmill

Color Everywhere

More twisting and turning

Under the Bridge

More Hair

Oh, how he Loves his hair

JOY #14

Day Trippin'