New Year's Eve

 Happy New Year's Eve, Everyone!! 

We had a fun night partying with some of our family friends!

Keishun's Adoption Story

As you can see on the right sidebar, I have over the years typed out each of my children's adoption stories in an attempt to give some background to our family for new readers and to inspire those who stop by that adoption is a beautiful way to build a family.

So while the ink is still fresh on that Adoption Decree for my 5th child, I wanted to share with you the journey that made him ours.

 

Keishun's story of course began when he was born on December 26, 1996. He was the 3rd of 4 that would be born to his firstmom. In his childhood (that was not easy), he lived through his aunt's sons whom he was raised with, all being taken into foster care.  

Two of them would become our Isaac and Jayden.

Keishun was just 8 years old when CPS came in and removed 5 month old Isaac from the home. He said he was the only one willing to walk the baby to the car because everyone else was too upset. This is our only photo of Isaac as an infant and it was taken the night he was removed. 

A year ago, when I looked at the photo I had viewed dozens of times, I finally realized the sweet looking boy holding him was his cousin, Keishun. This picture that once gave me so much joy to see my first child's baby face, now brings me sadness to think of all the loss it represents. 

Fast forward to the summer of 2010. We get an unexpected call from CPS stating that Isaac has a brother...two and half years old...named Jayden. He had just been removed from his first home and had been in foster care for a week. We were asked to take him as our son and of course we said, YES!

He was a delight. Thick...and looooved to eat.

That is one of Keishun's biggest memories of Jayden's toddlerhood...

he could EAT.

But something else happened on that day in July 2010 when they came for Jayden...Keishun and his siblings were all removed by CPS as well. For the first time in their lives. 

At roughly the ages of 10, 13, 15, and 17.

And they were all split up.

We didn't find out about these cousins until that November when our caseworker asked of Jayden could have a goodbye visit with the cousins that had been raised as brothers, Terrance and Keishun.

No, we said.

Why should he have to say goodbye?

We wanted to say hello, so we did.

And then we asked the boys if they would want to spend Thanksgiving with us. 

And they did.

The following month we brought them back to give them Christmas presents and take them to Six Flags. They were thrilled and our hearts were very full that year.

Then that spring, Jasmine was born.

And we couldn't get the boys as much during those newborn months.

But a couple months later we got them again for a weekend in the summer and they fell in love with the new baby:

Then they came back to go to court with us for Jayden's adoption that July, a year after he had come home. 

Fast forward to April of this year.

I had arranged for the cousins to spend Easter weekend with us.

I bought and stuffed two huge Easter baskets full of wonderful surprises. We eagerly anticipated their arrival. Then the day before we were to go get them from their foster homes, I got a cryptic call from Keishun on my voicemail saying they had to move and could not come. All of my efforts to retrieve them anyway, failed. So I waited until summer when I would try again.

But before I had a chance, their caseworker contacted me to say that the homes she had lined up for their permanency were not working out. Billy and I quickly talked and knew we wanted to welcome Keishun home as our son, but that it would not be possible to have six children at this time. 

I made a promise to the caseworker that I would work hard to find a home nearby for Terrance that would not just foster, but would want to make him their own. I wanted parents for him that we could grow close to and he could always be a part of our family too. God answered my prayers when a precious foster family from our church stepped up to the call to welcome home a 12 year old son, a brother to their 3 year old. 

And they did bring him home.

On July 9, 2012...we were able to welcome home our son as a kinship placement through CPS...and we spent the next five and a half months simply...or not-so-simply, parenting him.

It has not been an easy road welcoming a teenager home, we have fought and railed against Satan's attacks in doing what God has clearly called us to do. But it has also been an immense joy to live this incredible story.
Here is a video montage of our time leading up to his adoption finalization on December 27, 2012 the day after his 16th birthday.

 We are so so glad to have him home.
And to have him ours.

If you want to read more of our journey to adopting our teenager, you can read past blog posts here.

Christmas Wrap~Up

With the whirlwind of birthday and adoption day directly following Christmas, there is just no way I can post all of our pictures. So...before the new year comes and our party pics from that night get posted, I thought I would sneak in this last bit of Christmas! 

A few highlights: The kids LOVED opening presents and were very polite and very excited. We are blessed to have children who are not selfish when it comes to receiving things. They do not ask to open more presents then a sibling (we open our gifts one by one rotating between kids) and do not ever complain about what they got or didn't get.  Christmas morning is always a joy for us because we can tangibly see the payoff of all our hard work building into our children's characters. 

They are delightful on holidays and their birthdays...as they scream "this is the BEST day ever!!" and jump up and down when they open their gifts. I said to a relative, "this is the reaction everyone hopes for when giving a gift to a child."

Pure Joy.

We spent all day at friends' houses and ate and ate, played games, and enjoyed each other's company. It snowed here in Texas...which was a delight to behold on Christmas day. We came home after dark with full tummies and our love tanks full.

My heart cherished this past week and all of our festivities. I slowed down and didn't do all the little things I usually do because I just wanted to sit and enjoy our life. The sheer miracle of being barren and yet still a Mommy of many children through the sweet blessings of adoption are always very pronounced during the holidays in our full house. 

Hearing my baby shout "Mommy. Mommy. Mommy," in her demanding way and the joy I get every single time my teenage son of only 6 months says, "Hey, Mom" is enough to keep me happy.  But it doesn't end there, cause sandwiched in between are 3 incredible little people who hug me, need me, and are devoted to my every move even on days I am grouchy and unruly. 

 

On days I am convinced FIVE is too many for any sane woman to manage and that I will surely go crazy before my forties...I look at each face and think how different our family would be if even one was missing. 

 

We adopted our first child in December 2006.

 

Five adoptions in 6 years.

 

WOW.

I always knew God had a plan for us and would have never ever guessed it would be this grand.

Adoption Party!!

 Tonight was Keishun's adoption party. 

Several families came out to celebrate which meant the world to us.

 I went with a white and silver snowflake theme.

With all white snacks.

It is official...We have a SON!

Today was adoption day for a certain teenager!!

(pronounced "Key-Shawn")

 My favorite moment: when the judge came over to take this picture and said to Keishun: "you are taller than your dad!"

With our awesome attorney who has finalized all five of our adoptions.

 The whole crew (including Grandma) that came to witness our 
very special day and keep me sane through the no-cameras-in-the-courtroom debacle and the hour long delay waiting on our CPS caseworker to finally show up.
LOVE my sister friends, Robin and Maile.

   

Keishun's 16th Birthday

 Our SON Keishun turned 16 years old.

 We celebrated in the morning, hence the horrible hair pictures. :)

 Here he is pouting that I made him wear a party hat!

 So he jazzed it up a bit:

 I bought him the yummiest cinnamon rolls EVER...

 He wanted to light his own candle.

 Then it was time for presents. His gifts are wrapped in pink because we call him our princess since he is so high maintenance. He said he didn't care what color the paper was, as long as there are gifts inside!

 Excited for white Nike basketball pants.

 And of course money and a giftcard...every teenager's dream gift.

Happy Birthday the best teenage SON in the world!

The Eve Before

 Anyone reading my blog for a period of time knows I post an obscene amount of pictures on Christmas and my kids' birthdays! 

So this will be installment 1 of 3. ;)

 Last night we went to church and then came home and had our new tradition~ Christmas Eve Quesadillas courtesy of K's arrival into our family and it being his favorite home meal.

I of course appreciate the production of these colorful chips to aide in the festiveness.

 Then we decorated our annual bundt cake provided by 

Cousin Stephen in Las Vegas. 

This provides our Happy Birthday Jesus cake.

I think our Lord would have appreciated double chocolate chunk.

Just sayin'.

 We light one candle to represent the star that shone in the sky for the shepherds to know that the Christ Child had been born.

 We had to relight this bad boy 5 times cause all of the kids needed to blow it out. LOVE that.

 Then as per our tradition, the kids all open their personal ornament which represents what they had achieved or were in to that past year. Then they go hang them on their bedroom trees.

 After we read Christmas stories to the littles and tucked them into bed dreaming of sugar plums...my big boys put together the girl's kitchens while I assembled their dollhouses.

 Nothing like father/son bonding time over Little Tikes assembly.

And of course we all know that real men play with pink dollhouses.

 Then I shooed K to bed and brought in all the gifts. When he saw them he said, "these are the most gifts I have ever seen in my life."

 The stockings were stuffed and we went off to bed for a total of about 5 hours of sleep before my oldest was the first up and wondering why all the little kids were still asleep. LOL!

This morning was a blast of laughter and paper flying as each child took turns opening one gift at a time and appreciating the gifts of family, fun, and our Savior who came to a broken world. This time of year we always celebrate the abundant provision of our God. The many gifts that are under the tree represent a year's worth of faithful budgeting, frugal living, and deep love and attention I place in picking just the right things for my five children. I feel very very blessed this year to have such a life worth living.

I hope that whatever you are facing this Christmas season and New Year...that you will know there is light at the end of your hard road, a God who hears you and loves you, and a Savior who wants to welcome you home to live with Him in eternity.

May you enjoy a very Merry Christmas.