O boy!

Whoa....I haven't been on the blogs in forever. Things are a changin!

Things are changing in my life, too. The plan is, we'll be adoptive parents by year-end!

We have a hearing on the 24th for termination of both parents rights. I can't go into details in the here and now but his parents are making it really easy for us. Once rights are terminated there will be a couple of 90-day reviews but then we should be able to adopt O. It could happen in November or December. I am praying that it is this year.

This boy was made to be ours. All the tears and fears and anger and doubt and wondering are in the past. He. is. our. boy. period.

He and E have bonded unbelievably. We had concerns about that since his dad wasn't in his life and it was just he and his mom but all fears are now gone. He loves E and wants to do everything he does. He loves me too but he can take me or leave me when E is around. That is fine by me! I couldn't imagine a better role model than my husband for this little boy. Plus, it gives me time to do my thing which is usually vacuuming and cleaning without the assistance of my little man, LOL!

He's in daycare usually 3 days a week and he appears to have caught up socially with very little effort. Everybody loves him. We registered him for kindergarten already and he has his testing in early June. This kid is off the charts in intelligence; we can see that already. He can write. He can already read some words. He knows his colors and shapes and letters and numbers....he is smart. (Did I mention he's 4-1/2?) He's not into sports at all but loves music and art. He loves working in the wood shop with E or my FIL too. They have been making corn toss games and birdhouses and then painting them in cool designs. I have a SpongeBob one hanging in my yard right now! (He loves, loves, LOVES SB!)

I cannot say enough about this child and how amazed I am by him. We are seeing very little effect from the neglect he endured while with his mother. He is resilient. He is a fighter. He is a survivor. And, he'll be fine!

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On a sad note, our previous boys have been back in foster care for almost a month. They were home for 4 months to the day when their mother was arrested. Our worker called me on a Monday and said they were filing the petition for removal and wanted to know if we could bring the boys back. E and I talked about it and prayed about it and called our parents and my mentor and we had to say no. It about broke my heart in two. We had to do what was best for O and bringing the two boys back was not going to be good for him as he had only been with us for a monthat that time. I about died inside.

The littlest guy may be going to his dad's. They are working on that but then D will be alone. We are all concerned about that. His little brother is his best friend and they have been together every singe day for almost 4 years. When and if that happens, we will try to get D back with us. I would love to have 2 boys and then O would have a playmate. D and O are 1 year and 1 grade apart so it may be ok. We will see how it plays out. I just knew that I could not handle 3 boys ages 5, 4 and 3. I know my limitations inside and out.