Happiest day of our lives!!!!!

Today was the day....Finally....the culmination of almost a years worth of emotions joy and stress. Today we went to court with all of our friends and family in tote and the judge finalized the adoption!!!! I am exhausted. Long weekend of preparing, highly emotional day, much needed nap time with G-Man!!!!!!! He is still sleeping so I just went through this entire blog preparing it for the public ;) This is such an amazing story, you can see if you read it from start to finish how God's hand has been in every part of it, weaving events and hearts and lives together, like he so often does. I am in awe of his goodness!!!! Gavin Lane Terry is officially our son!

I want to thank Deb, Tim, and Cara for making this day possible and Amy for being our liaison and planting the seed in our hearts. If you are reading this and have not started at the beginning you are missing out on a story that shows that hand of God in action.

I LOVE YOU GAVIN!!!!!!

updates

So just to update from my last post, Christmas went great. He got to see his grandma and Papa and had a great time there, then he got to meet his new family too. All of my family was there to meet him and so was Trint's. He had a blast with all the kids and they welcomed him with open arms, all very excited to finally meet him and he was just part of the family :) He doesn't really play with any of the stuff he got, even the train set that I was absolutely sure he would never stop playing with, he has played with all of an hour. I guess that how it goes though. Next we had his birthday 1-2. We had a couple parties for him at Christmas and then 2 at home once we got back. We did a small party at the house with the neighbors on his actual birthday and he really enjoyed that, We had Spongebob cupcakes, then we had a swimming party with all of his friends a couple weeks later with a huge Spongebob cake. It was awesome, Kristin Schroeder and I made it and it turned out great! He had a blast swimming!
We have recently had a hang up with the adoption process. Carla, the gal who did out home study, emailed to inform me that DHS has to review it and sign off on it since Trint is a felon. That sparked lots of emails and digging on my part to get all the info that he was requesting. He wanted to know about the charge and what Trint had to do as a result, as far as probation is concerned. Well he got off probation in mid 2009 so tracking down all the documents was a headache. Just when I thought I had gotten all the info he needed, he would write and say that he needed more. It was a difficult process but finally a couple weeks ago I got him everything he needed, he wrote up and sent off his recommendation, and now I think we are waiting on ICPC to do the paperwork and approve it so we can take it before a judge and make it official :) This has been a long process and I will be glad when its over and we can officially call him ours. No more stressing about it! Hopefully it will only be a couple weeks now, but I say that every week. This time I mean it though. I am praying for it to be finalized by mid March, beginning of April at the LATEST!!! I know no one know about this blog but I thank all of you who have been praying for us!

Loooong Time.....again!

Well I have realized that I no longer have any free time. So this is last on the long list of things to do, but I really want to start being more consistent with blogging cause he brings us great joy and we have had some really fun times with him. So as far as fun activities we have done we took him to the Iowa State Fair in August and he LOVED it!!! He wanted to ride every single ride but because he only 3 he could only ride the baby rides which made him pretty mad. He rode em all though. He had a great time and did NOT want to leave. On a side note, anyone who does not believe in kid leashes does not have kids. He was a maniac running around, trying to climb the ATM machines, so we finally had to get a stroller and lock him in it. Not happy about that either ;) Then we took him to Adventureland (may have blogged this one already?) He LOVED that also!!! He learned if he stood on his tip toes he could get on all the big rides so he drug daddy on all of them!!! I am a scaredy cat when it comes to that stuff so dad stepped up and they had a blast!! He even got on the roller coaster....he didn't like that one too much. He was loving all of the rides, even the ones that had Trint sweating ;) We got to go see the real Thomas the Train and go for a train ride and that was a hit, he was really upset and crying when we had to leave. He got his pic with him though. We took him on his first plane ride to Colorado to visit our friends Jer and Jenny and he met some new friends Thomas and Anna. He realized his love for train sets and that ended up being his Christmas present. I hope to get it set up soon, it will be huge! He would literally wake up and go play with the trains and would not stop unless we made him. He loved the plane ride, at the end of the trip I was getting off the plane and saw his bright green shirt in the cock pit, I about died thinking he just ran up in there. Well he did....the pilots were amazing though....they let him sit in the seat and steer and gave him jr wings! We went to Jess's wedding (my co-worker) where he met his Love, Holly, he talked about her non stop for weeks. He would make me pull up her picture on facebook on my phone and would sit and watch Spongebob and stare at her picture. "Holly my girlprend" he would say and "Mommy I love Holly" So CUTE!! At the end of October I had surgery to remove my gallbladder and so Grandma Kathy came up for about a week and then Geri came up after that for about a week. He had a great time playing and bonding with his new grandmas. By the time they had both left it was like trying to detox a heroin addict. I called it grandma crack. He was used to getting everything he wanted, waking up in the morning to brownies and candy and getting even more spoiled. We took him trick or treating and he was Spongebob (of course). We went to the mall, around the neighborhood and Night Eyes at the Zoo. It was great. He was going up to all the people at the attractions and taking pics with them. Then we got to ride the train, which was a big hit. We took him to the apple orchard where he got to ride HUGE slides on potato sacks, jump on a HUGE balloon trampoline, swim in a corn pool, feed goats, and race little tractors and rubber duckies. This summer him and dad would go to Chad's and ride the gator and that was his favorite thing to do. Everyday he would ask to go to Chad's house.
Kristin was babysitting him for a while but Brian got sick so she got a full time job and we were on the daycare hunt again. We found a good place that all the staff are certified teacher so it is like a preschool too. He likes it there and is making new friends. Once in a while he has really bad days that he kicks and hits and breaks stuff, but not too often. As Christmas got closed I was starting to get really worried about the adoption process as Nothing had been done. We paid out attorney in September to start the process and it was almost Christmas as NOTHING had been done yet. I had to write her a firm email stating that we were getting another attorney if she didn't have half of the paperwork done by Christmas. And by half of the paperwork I mean she hadn't even gotten Cara and Brian to sign over parental rights yet....YIKES!! I was so stressed that I started getting Anxiety Hives and am still getting them to this day. Well the email worked cause within days she had an attorney in Lincoln paid and they both signed over rights December 23rd. whew!!! Now all we have to do is finish paperwork, file the petition and after 6 months of being in our home (which is January 22nd) he will be officially ours. Our final meeting with Carla for the home study will be next week and all we need is the Judges signature!!!! YIPPIE!!!!! This is so exciting, he is totally settled in knows we are mom and dad!! He has started to act out in different ways and now when he gets mad he telly me "No my like you mommy" or the dreaded "No my love you Mommy". I can't help but take it personally even though I know I shouldn't, it just breaks my heart so bad when he says things like that. I am starting to struggle with him more, he refuses to listen to me and fights me about everything! He is an angel for his dad and then when I walk in the door its like an instant change. Dad is really having to step up and tell him not to treat me badly or speak to me like that. They have that conversation often. I am hoping to be able to use my FMLA in June or July and be able to stay home with him for 3 months to bond. I really hope that it is a good time for us, that it will be a good bonding time and our relations ship will benefit greatly from it. Lord make it so, please!!! It is my last chance to spend good quality time with him before he starts school for good :(
Well that is enough for now, lots of stuff happening. Hopefully I can do this at least once a week on my lunch break to keep it up to date.

immmmmmmm baaaaaack

Now like a month and a half after my last post I finally have some time to jot some stuff down. Where to start? So much happens with a 3 1/2 year old in that time. We went to Adventure land and had a blast! He rode all the rides except the space shot and 2 of the roller coasters. He loved it and is very brave. Even loved the stuff that made Trint and I wanna hurl! We took him to the Iowa State Fair and he loved it there, I used to think child leashes are mean but I am a strong supporter of them after that. He did pretty good and was great after we got him into the midway on the rides. He could only ride the little stuff though cause they really watch heights there, and he was too short for any of the big rides. He was NOT happy about that ;) Tim and Deb came up to visit him and that was nice. We had a good visit and they were all glad to see each other. We took him home to meet our families and it was good that he got to meet them but it was a hectic weekend and not one I want to do again. Now we are forced to go home on long weekends. A day and a half to visit 4 families is about 6 hours a family and that is just too much!!! He got to meet Grandma Marvel and Nette so that was really nice cause they both live so far away. I think Nan and Pop are thinking about coming this way soon too so that will be a nice visit. He is now staying with Kristen during the day. She was praying on a Saturday night and looking online for a nanny job. She told the Lord that she wanted one kid and $200 a week. I did not know that and at church the next morning was asking her how many of her kids are now in school, knowing that we needed a new babysitter for Gavin, and she said "I'll watch him", I told hr we would give her $200 a week and she said yes. After church she told met that she had been praying and that is exactly what she asked for. Thanks Papa!!! YOu are so good, fulfilling 2 needs/desires with no stressing on our parts. He loves it there and she loves having him so it all worked out. I gotta admit that he liked it a little too much :) I went to pick him up the first couple days and he didn't even want to leave with me, which in all honesty hurt my feelers. I would tell him its time to leave and he would either scream and say NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Or just sit down on me and refuse to move while saying "Dabin stay Krisins house". I pouted a few days on the car ride home. Now he just wakes up every morning "Go Krisins house?" SO funny. He has started to call us mommy and daddy intermittently. It is such a sweet thing to hear that from him "Mommy", when we were at adventure land we lost Trint and when we found him, Gavin went running to him saying "Daddy daddy daddy" almost brought tears to my eyes! He is such a sweet boy.....when he wants to be ;) He and I butt heads quite a bit. He is generally an angel for daddy, but when daddy leaves the room all hell breaks loose and he will not listen to a word I say! Then when daddy enters the room again all is well. I don't even think Trint believes me when I say he is naughty cause all Trint has to do is look at him and he straightens up. Me I am like about to loose my mind and he still wont listen! Trint did tell me that I could quit my job and stay home with him, just as long as I go to school when he does. I guess I better start figurin out what I wanna do?!?!?!??!?!?!?! LORD PLEASE HELP ME CAUSE I DONT KNOW!!!!!!

Our last meeting for the home study is on Sept 13th, which is just around the corner. We hopefully can get a meeting with our attorney and get papers drawn up for Cara and Brian to relinquish rights and then we can file for adoption!!!!! It is getting closer and so exciting. We have seriously fallen in love with this little man. He is spoiled right now....eh....who am I kidding he is going to be spoiled rotten, but here is the list of boughtens. We had to immediately go out and get him some new clothes, then a bike, then we had to deck out his room so we bought all Spongebob stuff. Found an awesome SB toddler bed, Table and chairs, and toy box. The stuff was great, all wood, awesome. Well after purchasing toddler mattress, toddler mattress sheets and blankies we found him on the floor every morning and came to the conclusion that the toddler bed is too small, so I returned the mattress and am keeping the bed and sheets for Stella and Cael. The I got on craigslist and found a bed and mattress set for $100 delivered and that is working out well. Got all the sheets and SB blankies, SB curtains, SB pillows, and all the cool SB wall stickers and now he is pimpin a sweet room. Got him a dresser and Bookshelf, and pretty much everything else his little heart desires. I cant stop myself from just looking for things to buy him when I am shopping, he is breaking the bank ;)

Hope to be able to post once a week here so I dont forget stuff.

Its on!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got a message from Deb last night that she contacted Gavin's dad and he is agreeable to the adoption!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is the last piece to this puzzle, now it is just the home study and he is ours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His dad said that event though he has not met him, he thinks about him every day. That is really sweet. He said he know that this is what is best for him.

I think it is amazing that 2 young people can look beyond selfish motives and reputation and think about what is best for Gavin. He deserves to be raised by two loving parents and I thank you Lord for letting them see that. I thank you Jesus for giving us this little precious 3 1/2 year old gift. We know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have set this thing up from the foundations!!!!!!!! You designed him to be ours, but because Trint cant have kids you gave him to us in a very unconventional way. Thank you Jesus!!!!!!

The last week

Well hey there, long time no blog ;) Blogging is not really easy with a 3 1/2 year old running your house ;) Actually I don't even try, I would much rather spend time with him, so now I am up at 6:30 on my day off cause he sleeps till like 9 or 10 and now I can get some stuff written down. We have had him for a week now and it has been great. I am going to fit a weeks worth of stuff in this blog so it may be lengthy but will be good. Let me say first off that we have had him about a week and have spend buku bucks already. hahahaha go figure. He is all stocked up on toys, Trint wanted to buy him new clothes, pretty much anything the kid wants he gets. Now I am trying to find a car bed for him so I can do his room. Lets see here, he is so stinkin sweet you can't help but just grin at him. We have had naughty spells, believe me it has not all been a bed of roses, but we are setting boundaries and learning what he reacts well too. He does good with counting to 3 and if we make it to 3 and he has not stopped he get a time out. Usually only take a 1 count. He has made friends already. He stays with Jacob during the day cause Robin is watching him for me while I am at work and they get along really well. He met Tuckie and Hunter the other day and they both really liked him, he had to sit between them at dinner cause they both wanted to sit by him. He met Gunner and they got along really well too. Isaac and Beth came over last night and Brought the girls and he was amazing with them, I can see him and Sophia getting into trouble together, he would do something and she would explain it away for him ;) Hopefully this weekend he can meet Rachel and they will be friends. He has had a busy week, lots of swimming, sprinklers, shopping, and meeting new friends. Today I am taking him to the rocket ship (his term, actually my office building in downtown des moines, it is the tallest building in DM and he thinks its a rocket ship ;)) The dogs are still getting used to him, he does not know how to be gentle cause at grandmas he has a big dog that he can rough house with, so the boys get mad at him a lot. hahahahahaha. We have quite a few times during the day when he has naughty spells, when you can just tell that no matter the consequence, he just wants to be naughty. We have to shut him down right away or it gets worse. We also think he is hyper sensitive to sugar cause he tends to get crazy and naughty right after candy or juice. Looks like I have to find snacks and drinks that are sugar free.

Um did I mention that he sleeps in till like 9 or 10. We don't actually know when because we have had to wake him up at 9 to go to church.....um....hello....could the Lord have picked a better kid for me, mrs loves to sleep in? 9 or 10 for a 3 year old are you kidding me. THANK YOU JESUS. I am going to get all our pics from this week uploaded soon :)

Dreams do come true

I woke up yesterday morning with this overwhelming feeling that I needed to back my heart off this situation because I felt like I was going to get hurt. Neither my sister or I had heard from Deb and I felt like maybe Cara was going to start doing right by Gavin and I was not going to get him. I was crying because my heart hurts so bad in not knowing how this is going to turn out. I absolutely cannot turn off my feeling for Gavin, I am already to far along in this process. I felt in that moment like if I can't have Gavin, I don't know that I want to try to adopt another child. I don't just want any child, I want him. I told my sister that and told her that she needed to talk to Deb when she got there to drop Gavin off cause I cannot go on if they are changing their minds about letting us adopt him. Well Amy called me a couple hours later and asked if we wanted to take Gavin for 2 weeks. Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, yeah duh!!! I was frantic like what is going on. She told me that Tim and Deb told her that they want us to have him, they know it is what is best for him and tey told Cara that morning that she needed to call Brian and tell him what is going on. Cara packed all of her stuff and is moving away. She knows that she cannot provide the life for Gavin that he deserves and so as long as we do not cut her completely out of his life she is willing to let us adopt him. Tim and Deb are such good grandparents. I cannot imagine how they feel trying to make a decision like this. They love him so much and want what is best for him and know that he needs young parents. I know this is not easy but I think it helps that we are all connected. Tim then called me at work and I could not talk so I was crawling out of my skin the last couple of hours at work. I could not wait to get oof work and hear what he had to say. We connected later that night and we had a great talk. He told me that they really like us and know that we will be great parents for Gavin. He said when we went there last weekend and he actually saw us with him, he knew that they are making the right decision. He said they want him to get aclimated to us and so we are taknig him for 2 weeks and he said that after that if we are all ready to move forward they will start the legal process. I was crying and shaking and so excited I could barely contain myself. Trint was running around the house jumping in the air kicking his heels together :) We started talking about furnishing his bedroom and getting him toys and a pool and a bike. This is going to be one spoiled boy!!!!! We takled to Amy and Trint was going to go pick him up on Friday after work. Well we decided we could not wait that long so Trint took thursday and Friday off work and left at 10 am this morning to go get him :) I can't believe I am at work, I am not getting anything accomplished, I am worthless here. I told Trint he needs to bring him straight to my work when he gets in town. I announced to my office and emailed pics of him to everyone. We have the absolute most amazing friends and family!!!!! There are so many people who are jsut as wrapped up in this as we are. People are already telling us they want to be his godparent and they alll want to meet him right when he gets to town ;) Thank You Amy, Danny & Robin, Andy & Kari, Brian & Amanda, Matt & Laura, Ashley, Chad, Natter, Rowe's, Schroeders (all of you), Pike's, Seitz's, Tonja, Mom & Randy, Dad & Janice, Geri, Stephannie, Leah & Anthony, Carri, Terra, Jill, Judy, Shannon, Susie, all the girls at RHI WDM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys will never know how much it means to us that you have been praying for us. I love you ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much Tim and Deb for giving us the opportunity to raise your grandson, I promise you with every ounce of me that you will not regret this decision!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!