Up to Speed Update

So. Again it's been a long, long while since I've updated, but I'm going to have to train myself to get better at this soon before we have another baby in the house. Steve and I are going through the process of being licensed to do foster care with the goal of having one infant placed with us and then adopting that infant after the court has terminated the parental rights. It's going to be a long and intersting process, and because of the circumstances we won't be able to share much, if any, information about our new little girl until after the adoption finalizes. So... be prepared for changes - like making this an invited reader only blog. But not yet.

The girls are both getting bigger, smarter, and funnier each day. Olivia can have a conversation in simple sentences now, so we get lots more interactive play and laughs. She cracks us up daily. It's hard to believe that we have less than a month until her second birthday. She is starting to have hair and desperately wants to put it into a pony tail, but it's too short. And she loves her Bitty Baby that she got for Christmas. She takes Sally all around the house and sometimes even takes her to bed. Olivia is excited about "baby sister" but I'm pretty sure she has no idea what that idea really means.

Abby has been flying through her Cubbies book and will randomly tell me the verses she has learned this year. She loves spending time at Cubbies and learning more about God. One of her favorite games to play is pretend church or pretend Cubbies. What a blessing to this mom. She aslo has discovered chapter books and loves the new adventures we can go on in the pages of books. I purchased a book called Honey For a Child's Heart and I highly recommend it - we have so many great books on our radar because of the recommendations made in the book. We just finished Stuart Little and we have been enjoying lots of good imaginary play with our invisible mouse brother Stuart. There is something very exciting in watching a child learn to love books, especially when you are a book lover too! Abby is also very excited about a baby sister. She frequently asks when we will be getting our baby, whose belly our baby is growing in, and whether she can care for the baby when it arrives. We have had to disappoint her several times when we took papers to the Department of Human Services or had caseworkers come to our house and didn't get a baby right that minute. The concept of soon is much different for a girl of almost 4 compared to an adult who has gone through a pregnancy.

We've had a ridiculous winter up here - barely any snow. We didn't get our first accumulating snow of the year until after January 1st and we've had not much snow since then. I think Steve has pulled out the snow blower once or twice - not what you'd expect when you live in the upper peninsula. Not that I want to be buried in snow... but if it's going to be wet I'd rather have snow than rain or ice.

Steve is off to Guyana in a few short weeks for another missions trip with my dad and the team from Grand Rapids. I'm excited for this opportunity for him, but not looking forward to a week of parenting without his help. He's pretty essential to my sanity. Before he takes off though, we get to spend a long weekend (Tuesday through Sunday - yay!) in Chicago for the mid-winter dental conference. I'm looking forward to catching up with some dental school friends and introducing the girls to the wonderful world of museums (and big cities). They are pretty excited to go see the animals at the Shedd Aquarium.