Bye Bye Little Guy...

Tyler with his mom, Mama B, and Papa B - so many people love you little boy!

Riding on Papa B's shoulders before our drive

Saying bye to Kai-Kai

Mesmorized by the huge sea lions.

"Elfants!"

Driving the super cool tractor.

Watching the fish at the zoo.

Mama B giving him a kiss in our hotel room in Portland

Helping me vacuum and wearing my shower cap:)

Morning playtime with his Elmo toy

On February 17th we received the phone call that Tyler would be leaving us and joining his mom the very next day. Since that day became our "last day" with Tyler, we both decided to take the day off work to spend with him. I, of course, was a ball of tears that day and was pretty upset that we were only given one day's notice from DHS that he would be leaving. Thankfully, the weekend before we had been able to take a little family trip to Portland which included taking Tyler to the Portland Zoo so he could see the "efants".

When Wednesday morning rolled around I was still feeling pretty weepy. Robert got all of Tyler's clothes and toys packed up since I was too emotional to say "goodbye" to even his belongings. And at the last minute Robert got the idea to ask his caseworker if we could accompany them to the reunion with his mom and help ease him into his new living situation. The reason we hadn't been asked to join in the reunion was because his mom is currently in a treatment facility in Eastern Oregon which is about a 5 hour drive - one way. Tyler's caseworker said we were more than welcome to drive him there ourselves, so we threw a suitcase in the car, loaded Tyler and all his gear into the Mazda and headed for the Oregon/Idaho border.

When we pulled up to the treatment facility I couldn't stop crying. Right then and there I said "Lord, you've got to get me through this. I just can't do it on my own." And He did. We walked into the center, Tyler's caseworker asked one of the staff to let his mom know that we were there, and we waited in suspense for Kim to come see her son. When Kim came around the corner, she was overcome with emotion. The first words out of her mouth were "Robert and Holly came too!" and she burst into tears. We've been in contact with Kim via telephone every week since December, and most of her phone visits with Tyler have also been phone visits with me (it's hard to get a 2 year old to carry on a conversation). She couldn't believe we had driven all the way to see her, and once I saw Kim and how happy she was, I knew Tyler was in the right place. In fact, rather than crying, I ended up comforting Kim during the reunion with Tyler, and let her use all the kleenex I had stuffed into my purse for my own anticipated breakdown.

At first Tyler was pretty clingy to Robert and me, but after about 10 minutes of observing Kim and hearing Robert and me talk to her it was like a switch was flipped in his little brain and he toddled over to her and said "mommy?". She picked him up and hugged him and he wouldn't leave her arms the rest of the night. My normal reaction would have been severe jealousy (hey, I was "mommy" for the previous two months!), but God changed my heart towards the situation, and I was glad for Tyler and for Kim that they had found each other again. We took some pictures, gave Kim a list of his daily routine, gave Tyler a kiss goodbye in Kim's arms, and headed to our hotel. And God was faithful... I didn't shed a single tear.

Just last week I received a phone call from Kim (which was quite a surprise!) She had called just to give us an update and to let us "talk" to Tyler (although he had just woken up from a nap and wasn't feeling like talking on the phone:)) Kim informed us that she was still going to church and that she had Tyler baptised! She even confided in me about some of the difficulties she's been having learning how to be a mother to Tyler and that she feels like she gets pretty impatient with him. She said the sermon at church last Sunday was on being kind and patient with others... and she felt the message was just for her! We hope to visit Kim and Tyler again soon, and to continue to be a source of friendship and support for them both when her treatment is done and they return to Bend. We sure miss having Tyler around, but we also feel blessed for the time we had with him, and for the way God has used this entire situation to bless all involved.

Life at Home with our Little Guy

Having fun with Mama B

Someone likes Mama B's red shoes

Molly, T, and his bear from Grandma Marsha

Opening up his presents on Christmas morning

Fun with Papa B

Looking smart in Papa B's glasses

Wearing Mama B's snow boots

T and his buddy Jack from church

T enjoying bathtime!

We sure are enjoying having little T around! He brings so much energy to our home and we love how he says "hiya" everytime he sees us, how much fun he has playing with his toys, wearing our big clunky shoes around the house, chasing kitties, and of course, taking baths. And he sure has been soaking up all of the love and attention his five foster grandparents have been pouring on! His caseworker came by the other day and told us that his mom went into a drug treatment facility and that as soon as she has had a chance to settle in and get a little better they are hoping to have T join her there where she will receive training on how to be a good mommy to her son in a supervised environment. So, if all goes as planned, our time may be short with T so we're trying to enjoy each day with him and fill his little life with as much love and security as possible. We know God has a plan for his life, and whether that includes us or not, he's touched our lives forever and we'll always keep him in our prayers.

Meet T

Yesterday our second foster child joined our family. He turned two in November and is quite a ball of energy! About two minutes after we got home he was running laps around the house, climbing up the back of the couch like a little rock climber and then jumping from it with abandon. This little tyke climbed up to the top of the bunk bed (without the ladder) and today we found him perched atop of the cat tree - he's so little and yet seems to have more arm strength than Robert and me combined!

He loves drinking his "baba" with milk, loves petting Kai and chasing the kitties, and his two favorite words are "no" and "mine" - hmm, sounds quite a bit like all of the other 2 year olds I know! He also seems to really enjoy bathtime. I was wondering how I was going to get him clean, but as soon as I mentioned the word bath he was taking off his clothes and jumping into the waterless tub. He loves playing with his bath toys and dumping cups of water on his head. He also really likes to play hide and seek and give hugs to Papa B (Robert) and he's currently sitting on my lap "helping" me write this blog!

T's case is a little unusual - mom is being very cooperative and really wants to turn her life around to get him back so DHS thought it would be good if we all met and got to know each other so yesterday when we picked our little guy up we also met "mom". It was, of course, a very emotional day for her, but she was friendly and tried to make the transition as smooth as possible for T.

Robert met with T's mom, the caseworkers, and the judge today, and the first hearing is set for January, so we are pretty sure we will have T through Christmas.

A $5 Christmas Tree, Hot Cider, and Dolly!

Beautiful Mt. Bachelor (taken from the passenger seat)

Ready to find our Christmas tree

Kai helping us look for the perfect tree

She's the one

Got her!

Our lovely tree

Last year Robert and I purchased a beautiful live potted white fir to use as our Christmas tree and then we planted it in our front yard. This year, we decided to spend $5, get a tree permit, and hike through the woods to cut down our own tree! Although it hasn't really snowed yet in Bend, as we drove towards Mt. Bachelor, (about 15 minutes from our house) there began to be patches of white on the side of the road and an awesome view of the great white mountain. After driving around for awhile trying to find a forest road to turn onto, we decide to just pull over to the side of the road and trek our way in. We didn't have to go to far before we found quite a few good-looking Christmas trees. Granted, these aren't the big, round, symmetrical variety you find at your local tree farm, but a real life Charlie Brown tree is exactly what we were looking for! Kai had a blast running around in the snow while we picked the perfect (well, perfectly imperfect) tree, Robert sawed it down, and we headed home with our lovely Christmas shrub.

Later that night we put on the Bennington Christmas CD of choice (Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton), drank hot cider, and decorated our lovely 9' tree - which looks a lot bigger in our house than it did in the forest!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Thanksgiving 2008

My Thanksgiving pies

My mom and cousin Mike waiting patiently for food.

(And there's me taking the picture and Robert in the kitchen!)

Russ, Terri, and Mike's tattooed arms

Dad and me in the party room - their garage!

Robert and cousin Mike being silly

How many men does it take to carve a turkey?

Apparently it takes my two step-brothers: Russ and Mike

Frank and Marlene all the way from Maui

Sewing!

My lovely tree skirt

Well, it was another very busy Thanksgiving for us! Robert's cousin Mike came up from Corvallis to spend the holiday weekend with us (for the second year in a row... it's a tradition now!). We had my mom over for brunch Thanksgiving morning, and then headed over to my Dad and Terri's for a big family reunion - with family members coming from as far as Minnesota and Hawaii! After a full day and a delicious meal there, we headed over to Gene and Penny's for some late night pumpkin pie:) On Friday Penny got out her sewing machine and helped me make a lovely tree skirt! My mom came over and we all went for a walk around Sunriver. On Saturday morning I headed back over to my Dad and Terri's (Robert was sick), for breakfast. Marlene made exquisite french toast for Terri's birthday and I had a chance to say goodbye to everyone. It was a whirlwind but it was so good to see everyone. I think from now on we'll be hosting all holidays at our house... I don't think I have the energy to do that again! :)