Jamie's photo shoot.

We are loving, loving, loving her
Sadly, things aren't going that well for our prospects of keeping her.
Pressing forward, with sleepy, but positive thoughts and prayers.

Our "delicate" situation.........

A baby girl was born today! Mia was born at 7:40 this morning. She weighs 6lbs 11oz and is 18 inches long. She is beautiful. Some of you know, most of you don't - that we our going to have this little girl come and be with our family for a while. We are hoping forever.

Here is our story......

We met Emilee this summer. She a very sweet girl who was looking for an adoptive family for her little baby. She was signed up with LDS Social Services and praying for an answer to know what to do. When we heard about Emilee (through family in St. Louis) we decided to present our family to her as a possible option. We knew the timing wasn't so good (I was thick in the MAT program) and our chances of being the "ones" was a bit of a pipe dream. But we felt good, and we felt the spirit and we decided to try. It turns out she liked us! She prayed about us! and she picked us to be Mia's family. We are all thrilled and feel very blessed - all 7 of us.

Over the last several months we have met with Emilee about once a month. She is a wonderful girl with a great deal on her shoulders. She has gone about making this decision with complete reliance on the Lord, and she believes this is what is best for her and for Mia. She has shown so much faith, kindness, and love to our family as we have gotten to know each other. We have met her parents and two of her brothers. We have had them come to our home. They are very nice and wonderful people and have also relied on the spirit as they have been trying to help and support Emilee through this difficult time. She and her family are absolutely wonderful.

Now to the "delicate" part.....

Mia's birthfather has not made his decision regarding the adoption. We cannot legally adopt this little girl until he does make a decision. Because of this, we have been hesitant in telling our news. We could easily only have Mia with us for a short while. We have always known this, and understand that this whole thing is very uncertain. This is why we haven't been talking or sharing much about our plans. We just don't know what will happen. We are looking at a very "delicate" and tenuous 30 or so days. We have tried to prepare ourselves and our kids. We may feel some heartbreak in the end of this, but Wayne and I both wanted to give it our best. If it works out in the end - we will be forever happy. If it does not, we will be okay and we will feel blessed for the experience.

We are going to be at the hospital with her now.......

The real reason

I decided to become a teacher...........

Pajama Day!

I took full advantage.

My new best friend......

The dreaded copy machine.

I took over the "hoolagins" this week.

I taught all day every day!

Besides, my sweaty armpits (tmi), my huge laundry pile and the fact that I'm eating my stress.

It was fun.......and I really like it.

I miss my Annie though.

She meets me at the door, and we cuddle.

My first week......

of my illustrious career - over!

Teaching (more like observing) 5th grade was actually a blast.

I really liked it.....and I think - when I get more used to things, I'm really gonna like it!

Yeah!........it would not be good at this point if I hated it.

1st day - I did an activity based on my science unit - traits, and I learned everybody's name.

I now know ALL of them......and I am so glad. It is hard to teach when you don't know anybody's name, I did that last quarter, way too many times.

2nd day - I taught science. I always get assigned science. Does any regular teacher like to teach science? Twice, I've been introduced to a mentor teacher , who immediately asked ........."uuuuh - how would you feel about teaching a month long science unit, and how'bout starting on Monday ?" I gulp - and say okay (do I look like a scientist?).

My science lesson went great, and I learned how to use the elmo, and I KNEW everybody's name.

3rd day - My mentor teacher had "something come up" (she really did), and had to leave me alone with the class. No warning. I just told myself that I was a 43 year old mother of five - and I knew exactly what I was doing - hmm. I went ahead and did the spelling bee that was scheduled for 11:30 - fun. My "use the word in a sentence " sentences, were exactly like the one I just wrote. Luckily, no one seemed to care.

Next, - I taught gym. LHM!!! 6th graders and 5th graders - at least 40 of them.......sliding all over and paying no attention to me - whatsoever!
I screamed my guts out for 40 minutes straight.

Hint: Don't ever take on this project your 3rd day of student teaching - bad idea for self esteem and positive thinking, and "love of the game".

4th day - I taught another science lesson with well behaved 5th graders. Who knew? I also discovered the teacher salad bar. I'm not really good at preparing my lunch in the morning and , school lunch is really "quite yucky" - but I love a good salad - so that will work for me. Too bad, I had already eaten shrimp poppers and......I can't remember. I also learned to bring my own crushed ice - it reminds of my old life and by 12:20, I need a diet coke.

5th day - No teaching. Just preparation for my school meeting that afternoon. I really like my supervisor and my group. I cannot complain!

6th day - Today. Saturday Jan 9, 2010. I had to take the Praxis test for elementary school teachers (7:30 am). I am pretty sure I flunked. If I would have just asked Olivia what range, mean, mode, and median meant before taking the test......maybe I could have go that question correct......................... Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

Oh well.......I'm on my way.

Annie has a little problem.....

she is suffering from "holiday schedule".

Yesterday morning when I carried her downstairs (7:45 am) to contine her slumber on grandma's couch; she stayed up. Grandma had to take Lily to get her haircut.

Well, Annie is used to "holiday schedule" and 7:45 am is practically the middle of the night. Morning begins at 10:30 or 11:00!

So, last night while doing errands, Annie took a much needed nap in the car (6:30pm - 9:30pm).
At 9:30 she woke up (well rested), and ate a huge bowl of macaroni and cheese. She then watched her nightly movie, Cinderalla, which ended around 11:30 p.m. Annie was in full "play mode". She stayed in her room and played ponies. I was still up but needed to go to bed, because of my new full-time working status. I left Annie in her room talking to herself. I heard her close the door, turn out the light, and tuck herself in at 1:00 am (during the "holiday" we tucked each other in around this same time - my bad).

Do we have a problem? (Don't answer that)

This morning, Annie slept in until 10:30, and grandma reported she was sleepy until school - which starts at 12:30.

"Holiday schedule" is serious business.

Christmas Eve....

Calling all Cousins!

Penny and Craig

Lisa, Chad and Belinda and all children, spouses, dogs, and cats (and babies)

Kathleen

Michael, Libbi (that's me), Emily, Joseph, Jamie and all children, spouses, dogs, and cats

Becky and Mark

Kyle, Kassie, Heidi, Bud and Laura and all children, spouses, dogs and cats

Cindy, Allen, and Ben and all dogs and cats.

You are all invited to

Christmas Eve Dinner at my home.

5:00 p.m. - whenever

Please bring a dish to share

$10.00 Gift Exchange (the easy version, and only if you want)

Just come and visit for as long as you like.

We would love to see one and all!

Merry Christmas!