No More Curls

Do you remember these beautiful curls that took us almost four years to grow?

Well I am sad to say as of Friday, December 18th they are gone! Not by my choice of course, but by this little princess.

Kenedy got up Friday evening, snuck into my bathroom, and had a cutting party. When I got up Saturday morning to get ready for the Moss family Christmas party, I might add, I saw lying in the garbage these beautiful ponytails.

At first, I thought, which doll did Kenedy give a haircut to? That is really pretty hair! And then I noticed the rubber bands that I had put into her hair the day before and I ran into her bedroom to find my worst (Okay probably not my worst, but close) nightmare come true. Kenedy had cut her two ponies right off. I started sobbing! Kenedy woke up and immediately knew what I was crying about. She said, "It's Okay mom I still look pretty!" Being the good mom that I am, I blurted, "No, you look like a boy!" Gold star for me! LOL! I sobbed and then sobbed some more. When I realized that I had totally hurt my precious daughters feelings, I realized it was time to grow up, act like a mom (this is really hard sometimes) and fix those poor hurt feelings. After all it is only hair!

We hugged her tons and told her it was a good thing she has such a pretty face, asked her to promise to never cut her hair again, threw on this,

and off to the Christmas party we went to meet my sweet cousin Colette.

Colette is a hair genius and helped me calm down over the phone. When she saw Kenedy's hair, I had to help calm her down.

Mullets are in, right?

After a small haircut (I say small because there wasn't much left to cut) we now have this result.

She looks Five years older! Hair please grow back quick so I can have my little lady back!

I have learned something through this three years old independence gesture: never to judge when I see little girls with wacky hair. I see these little girls that have haircuts that are for grown woman and I think, "Why in the world did you trade, ponies, bows, braids, twist, curls, etc for that?" Now I know. I wish someone would have just explained instead of making me learn this fabulous lesson this way, but oh well!I am so grateful that Kenedy has no hair by her choice and not by the choice of cancer or some other horrific disease. So for the present (and hopefully not too long into the future) we will say Good bye to curls and hello, to hats, low ponies, and wacky hair.

Merry Christmas to us!

My sweet sister has been updating my blog so that all our friends and family can see our sweet "ANGEL BABY". Thanks Kamie! Romnee truly is an angel! She rarely cries and when she does it is so soft you can barely hear it. She is sleeping in 3 hours stretches at night, so we can't complain too much. The kids are absolutely in love and so are the parents.

Kenedy acts like her little mother. She gets mad at anyone who wakes her up or unwraps her. The other night my brother and his cute girlfriend were unwrapping her and she said, "you need to keep her blanket on her. Hers will get cold!" When they ignored her, she went and got another blanket and laid it on her and then said, "Babies like blankets. See?" She has been so sweet and gentle with her. She will be a great mother one day.

Lincoln on the other hand is still learning what gentle means. He likes to poke her eyes and stick his fingers in her mouth. When I burp her, he likes to help. I have to remind him that we don't smack, put we pat. He will make high pitched burping sounds when I burp her, it is hilarious. The first time he held her, he would say, "NO!" when we tried to take her from him. He loves to stare at her and wave and say, "Hi."

It is so fun to watch these to kids just love their baby sister. We took Romnee to the doctor yesterday and she growing. She weighed 4 Lbs. 9 oz. She is almost back to her birth weight. She loves to be held and wrapped up tight. She hates to have a bath and be cold. We are so grateful to our sweet birthmom Vonnie. She is our "Earthly Angel" and we feel so blessed to not only have Romnee, but to have Vonnie for our eternal friend.

We feel so blessed and feel like we received the best Christmas present ever!

Romnee Emma Bird

She's Here!!!

Romnee Emma Bird
December 11, 2009
12:26 AM
4lbs. 10oz.
18.25 inches

Congrats Bird family we are so excited

for this new little angle Baby.
We love so much.
I will post pics when I get some

September

Bear Lake

Over Labor Day weekend we headed to Bear Lake with our good friends the Halls and the Craneys. We went on walks, went to the beach, rode four wheelers, played games, watched movies, ate and laughed! Thanks for the fun weekend!

Fire station
For our first preschool Field trip, we went to the Fire station. The kids were in awe! Kenedy asked when we first got there, "Where are the Fire girls?" The Firemen got a kick out of that one. They brought in their secretary just for Kenedy.

Zoo

After the Fire station, we headed to the zoo with my favorites. We always have a blast when we are with grandma and the cousins. The baby elephant was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! The pictures do not do it justice.

August

Here goes another long catch-up. I promise myself every time I do this, I won't get behind again. With finalizing an adoption, getting ready for a new baby, getting ready for Christmas, and driving back and forth to St, George every couple of weeks, I have had no time to blog. We do have more going on in our life than adoption and here it is.

August

We headed to Park City With the Bird Family for our annual family reunion. We shopped, swam, ate, visited, and played lots of fun games

A few ladies in my ward and I started a Joy School. I got to teach the first two weeks. I felt like I was back in my element. the first couple of days I was sad thinking that I wouldn't get to teach the whole year. By the end of the two weeks, I was ready to pass the teaching supplies on. I take my hat off to all you working mothers out there. That is hard stuff! I loved the teaching part, it was the planning part that I could do without! Kenedy has loved her school and her friends! The ladies I teach with are the best!

These are Kenedy's cute little friends!

Angel Baby

Mike and I feel so blessed to announce that another sweet "angel baby" is going to enter our home. This story has me still saying, "WOW!" The following is of the last few days.

Thursday:
My mom, the kids and I were getting ready to head down to Salt Lake at about 1:00. While my mom is putting her socks on, Kenedy climbs up on her lap and says,

"Grandma, we are going to have a new angel baby come to our home. Hers is brand, brand new and her teeny tiny and hers name is Emma."

My mom looks at me and asks me what she is talking about. I tell her I have no clue who Emma is and that Kenedy is a very creative little lady. We head out the door for a day of shopping.

While shopping at Ross in Bountiful, about 2 hours later, I get a phone call from my cousin Trisha asking if Mike and I are interested in adopting again. I say of course and before we know it we are arranging a meeting to go and visit a sweet woman named Vonnie who is having a 3/4 African American baby girl. She is due January 7th, but has a tear in her placenta and is praying the baby will be able to stay in at least until the 10th of November. WOW! is all I could think!

Kenedy continued to talk about baby Emma throughout the day. Always talking about how teeny tiny she is and how soon she was coming. She also said, "Mom remember when I was a little baby and I had a friend named Emma? We used to play all the time. Remember? I was just a baby and hers was littler than me, but we played. Remember?" She gets frustrated with me when I tell her I don't remember. so I finally asked, "Did you play in heaven?" She tells us yes! WOW!

Friday

I walk into the office and Kenedy is printing pictures off the computer. How does she know how to do that? I want her to stop, she is using all my ink! ha ha! I got after her about it because last week she used up a whole cartridge.

she says, "Mom I am making pictures for the baby's room." I asked her, "what baby?" she said, "You know, the one we talked about yesterday." I asked, "Baby Emma?" "Yup! Cute huh?" I said, "Where is baby Emma going to sleep? We don't have another room." She said, "We have to build her one! OK?" (I guess the famous line here would be, "If we build it, she will come!" I know I am a dork. It is late and I can't sleep)

At 3:00 Mike and I drove down to Cedar City and met with Vonnie and her two kids (ages 2 and 1). We talked about her childhood, family, children, trials, and her emotional destination to adoption. Her plan was to meet a few families and try to find one that would raise her sweet baby. We were afraid that this meeting was going to be awkward because we were not "picked" yet but we being "interviewed". However the meeting was anything but awkward! The moment we got there, we felt such peace and so did Vonnie. Her little girl (15 months) climbed up on my lap 5 minutes into our meeting and put her sweet head against my chest and snuggled for a few minutes with me. I was loving it and told Vonnie how much I love snugly babies and she said, "I don't know why she is doing that, she is so not snugly. She never does that with me." I wanted to say, well she is trying to tell you that we are the parents of this baby, but I used my tact and said,"well I love it!" Half way into the conversation she told us that she felt so nervous about meeting us but just feels so comfortable with us. After talking for an hour we went to dinner with her and my cousin. When she took her little boy to the bathroom, Trish told us that she asked her if she had to meet anyone else or if she could pick us. She also told her that she had felt something while she was meeting with us. Trish told her that was the spirit. We were thrilled! During dinner she was really quiet and we wish we could have seen what was going on in her mind. After dinner we went over to say a quick hello to my aunt and uncle and Vonnie stayed in the car. Trish told us that Vonnie said she was quiet because she wanted to tell us that she wanted us to raise her child, but she just needed to pray about things first. We were again thrilled! We said our quick goodbyes and headed home from Cedar at 10:30 pm.

Saturday

We felt peace about the meeting and about Vonnie. We were anxious not knowing when or if we would hear something. At 9:30 pm, we got a phone call from Vonnie telling us that she did want us to be the parents of this "Angel baby"! She told us that since she met us yesterday she has felt so much peace and has been so happy. She said she can not stop feeling happy. She said she dreamed about us Friday night and has been praying since we met and knows that she wants us to be the parents. She also invited me to see the baby be born. I sobbed! I feel so blessed to now be able to see all three of our children be born. She said "When the baby is born, I want the doctor to hand the baby to you. You are the mom and I want her to know that. I want you to have the first bonding experience with her. You probably don't know this, but when a baby is born, they lay the baby on the mother's chest before they do anything else and I want you to have that experience." I am sure you can imagine my response, "sob, sob, sob, THANK YOU, I have never got to do that before sob, sob!"

WOW! WOW! WOW! We really have no other words than that at the moment. Occasionally I laugh and throw in an, "Oh my Goodness!" Our plan was when Lincoln turned three to turn our papers in. As we have been taught once again, the Lord works in MIRACULOUS WAYS! We feel so blessed and a bit overwhelmed! We can not even put in words are grateful we feel. There were times when we thought maybe two is all we would get. We are so very blessed! We are now praying that our "angel baby" will cook a little longer. We are asking that you all pray that will happen. The longer the baby can "stay in" the better. at 32 weeks (November 10th), the baby will most likely weigh between 2 and 4 lbs. and will be in the hospital for a month. Do you all feel like you are always praying for us? ha ha! Well your prayers work, so keep them coming! We love you all and will keep you informed with new information when we receive it!

The repeated question

Are we going to name the baby Emma? Yes! either Romnee Emma or Kate Emma is what we are thinking right now! We love our Sweet Kenedy (and Lincoln of course)!!

Together Forever

I can't believe that this day has already come and gone!

We went to court August 25th. Judge Paige was darling with Kenedy and Lincoln. When they had Mike and I swear in, Kenedy raised her hand too. Thanks to my mother-in-law, we got a cute picture of Kenedy promising to tell the truth! After Judge Paige was done asking us questions, he had Kenedy come up and he asked her a few questions. She was so serious! He asked her how old she was, if she loved her brother and if she promised to be good to him. She of course told him she loved him and that she would treat him good. It was the sweetest thing to watch her be so serious! This whole legal mess was quite the ordeal for Kenedy. For a week after court, she still would pray that her little brother would not be taken away from her. We have now got her in the habit of thanking our sweet Heavenly Father for Lincoln. After court and the temple, Kenedy would say, "I am so excited, Lincoln is ours forever!" Out of the blue she would start clapping and say, "I am so excited, Lincoln is ours!" It has been so precious to watch her complete joy!

Before we went to the temple, Mike's good friend, Rotish, took some family pictures for us at the temple. He did a great job! It was hard to get one of the whole family, but it was so much fun to watch the kids dance and play in front of the camera.

The following pictures are the pictures we used to decorate at the luncheon/blessing. Lincoln is the sweetest Little Man!

We are truly blessed to have this wonderful woman in our lives. We are eternally grateful for her love, compassion, and sacrifice. Lincoln has my heart and I don't know what I would ever do without him! Thank you Britney!

The temple was amazing! Seeing my two angels dressed all in white was breathtaking! When the temple workers brought Kenedy and Lincoln into the sealing room, my eyes filled with tears, gratitude filled my heart, and the most amazing peace filled my entire body. Kenedy looked me up and down. I had been waiting for questions about my apparel, but instead she said, "Oh mom, you look beautiful!" I cried harder of course! Lincoln was so mellow and Kenedy so calm. They both knew how serious this sealing was. The sealer talked right to Lincoln as he performed the ceremony, and Lincoln stared right into his eyes as if he had longed for this just as we had. We feel like the biggest weight has been taken off our shoulders. WE ARE SEALED TOGETHER FOREVER!

Ours, at last!

After the temple we went back to our church and Mike gave Lincoln a beautiful blessing. I held Lincoln while he was blessed. He kept trying to pull the hands off his head. It was hilarious! Kenedy sang Families Can Be Together Forever all by herself. She did a great job! She amazes me with her little memory. After the blessing we had a luncheon and celebrated!

We want to thank everyone who took the time out of their busy Saturday schedules to be with us on this great day. We also wanted to thank everyone that was there in spirit and to everyone who has kept us in their prayers the last year. I honestly can not tell you how much peace those prayers brought. Along with the prayers and blessings, this quote brought so much peace this last year:

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God.

I am so grateful for the gospel and the peace that it brings. I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that does not leave us when we need him. We are so blessed! We are so excited to enjoy our Little Man's life!

I Love to See The Temple

We settled! Our Birthfather is signing his rights away today! I have so much gratitude in my heart right now! I feel sad for the Rex and his family. They have and will suffer this loss. I know it will be hard and I pray that they will be comforted during this time. This is the hardest part of adoption for me, while our family is rejoicing another is mourning. I know that all of this is part of his plan and I know that Lincoln is suppose to be apart of our family.

We have set the date:

August 29, 2008

Our family will be sealed for time and all eternity in the Bountiful temple. The minute I heard our birthfather had decided to settle, I shopped for temple clothes, booked the church for a baby blessing, and made an appointment at the temple. I can't believe it is finally here! We have longed for this day for 16 months now! YAHOOOOO!

Thank you for all your prayers and kind words! We honestly couldn't have gotten through this without everyones' support. I have gained the strongest testimony of prayer and the power of the priesthood throughout this trial. I would not change any of this past year because of the things we have learned! Thanks again!

Our Prayers Have Been Answered!

We won today in court!! Even writing this is making me scream! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! The judge told our Birth Father his fight is in Utah and that he needs to come here! WAIT, it gets better! One hour after court, Our attorney got a phone call from our Birthfather's attorney asking us if we would consider settling! HOORAY! He said that Rex (Our Birthfather) is out of money and he doesn't think he can afford to come to Utah. He is about 80% to 90% sure that this is the rode he wants to take. We will know for sure Tuesday what will happen and then we will work out the agreement (Ex. pictures, money, visitation, etc.). If we do settle, we will be able to adopt Lincoln in the next couple of weeks! That is right, we could be sealed together forever by August! We are still in shock and we are trying to not get our hopes up! For now we will thank our Father in Heaven and do a happy dance for the positive outcome in court. We will continue to pray that he does want to settle, so that this legal mess will come to an end. YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!

A little Behind

A Little "Behind"

I have been a terrible blogger, AGAIN! Here goes the update!

New York

Mike and I had the opportunity to travel to New York with Mike's company again this year. We had a great time shopping, site seeing, and spending time together. We sure missed our kids, but we knew that they were in good hands.

Little Mother
Kenedy is turning into the sweetest little lady. She still has her occasional three year old moments, but she is the sweetest little girl. Lincoln has two mothers. She loves to cuddle him, play with, feed him, and most importantly boss him around. It is so fun to watch them interact with one another. Kenedy is so mindful of this whole legal mess. She talks about constantly. The other night we we sitting at dinner and this was our conversation about it.

Kenedy: "Mom, we are a family, right?"

Mom: "Yes sweetie!"

Kenedy: "No one is going to take us down, huh?"

Mom: (Chuckle) "Nope, they won't take us down!"

Kenedy: "Because we are STRONG and BRAVE and we will FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

Hand the little lady some pom poms she is ready to cheer for you! She is a hoot. She prayers everynight that the judge will let her keep her little brother. She has taken this whole legal matter into her own hands. This is how she has decided she will take care of things.

"Mom, I am going to go on a plane and fly to the judge building. I am going to go fight the judge. Don't worry mom, it is not a real fight, just a pretend fight. He won't fight me for reals because I am too cute. I will say, "Judge can I keep my baby Lincoln because I love him so much!' He will say, "Sure Kenedy!" Then I will come home and get you guys and then go to the temple to get married! Good Plan?"

If only it was that easy right? These little kiddos have my heart and I don't know what I would do without either on of them.

SUMMERTIME

We have had lots of sand time, swimming time, and cousin time the last month! There are times I curse that stupid sand as I am constantly sweeping and vacuuming my floors, but the kids love it! Kenedy and Lincoln spend hours in that sandbox, so I guess the work is worth it!



This is what happens when the only toys your cousins have are girl toys or baby toys!


WE LOVE AMERICA!!

15 Months

I can't believe it! Lincoln has grown way faster than I remember Kenedy growing. We can't get enough of him and thank our Father in Heaven daily for him! His little personality has really come out the last few months. He is hilarious!

Loves: Phones, remotes, anything with buttons, loves to pretend he is talking on the phone, suckers, Popsicles, Murphy, mommy, playing outside, climbing, the water bottle, exploring, animals, books, his blue blanket, peekaboo, singing, head bang, clapping, baths, buckles, taking things on and off, swimming

Hates: strangers, not getting his own way, when people take things from him, his diaper changed, getting dressed, when mom leaves, getting in trouble

Words: Hi, more, mom, Mike, ball, book, milk, dog, dad, bye

Signs: more, done, tired, milk, food, drink, gentle

Sounds: dog, bear, cow, duck, monkey, water bottle, all other animal sounds are a growl

Murphy
We added a new member to our family the past month. Sweet, little Murphy. My brother recently got divorced and inherited a dog which sat at home while he worked and went to school. He wondered since we familiar with the whole adoption thing if we would take Murphy in. We were thrilled! We had grown to love this little dog and were sad when he didn't get to come around for awhile. After a quick dog lesson and a kiss and a hug, we were dog owners! What a nice uncle! The kids love Murphy! Kenedy loves to feed, walk , and take him to the potty. Lincoln loves to growl at him and fight over toys. What could be better than a dog that is potty trained, nurtured, eight months old and only cost a kiss and a hug? Welcome to the family Murphy!

This is my favorite thing about actioned packed summer days! CUDDLES!

COURT UPDATE
Our birthfather has slapped us with a temporary custody motion. We will be going to court Thursday, July 23rd in Idaho! WHAT A NIGHTMARE!! WILL IT EVER END? We are still working on the case in Utah. We are hoping the judge in Idaho will STAY (put on hold) the case in Idaho until a judge in Utah has ruled whether or not our birthfather has any rights! That should take place sometime in September. Keep those prayers coming, we honestly can't tell you how much they really do help! We know one day our family will be sealed for Time and all Eternity! We long for that day! In the mean time we are living life and loving being together!!