Thoughts and Prayers

A father's love is a quiet thing. Like the fall of footsteps on green grass and the sound of hope in the human heart.- Anonymous

I wanted to post and tell my father how much he means to me and my family. We recently learned that he has lung cancer. One word was that he has the most curable kind of cancer then another opinion was there is no lung cancer that is curable. So needless to say he is facing a rough road ahead. The word is that he starts chemo next Monday.
It has really been tough this last 2 weeks knowing that the rest of my family has had the opportunity to "go home" to "just be there" for my parents.
We really wanted to make the trip but mother nature has decided to bless the inland northwest with loads and loads of winter storms with record snow falls and no end in sight. So we have had to send our love through email and phone calls.
I have been home sick since this all came about. Hopefully we will see an end to all this snow fall so we can make the trip to Southeast Idaho.

Dad-I love you with all my heart. You are such an example to me and our little family. Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Love Sara

Our 3 Little Rugrats

Here is a cute photo of our 3 children. They are adorable. Enjoy.

Winter Wonderland

Welcome winter. We decided to share with everyone the first two snow storms of 2008 (well the 08-09 snow year). The first one hit Friday afternoon. The kids and I decided to travel to Sandpoint and we ended up following Daniel home in the storm. Then Wednesday morning about 7AM it started snowing and NEVER stopped. So when we woke up Thursday morning we were in for a surprise. Everything was shut down. Public transportation, Health & Welfare actually closed also, all the schools in the area from Coeur d'alene all the way to Bonners Ferry. IT is now 11AM. The snow has let up a little bit but it is still really blowing. The news is saying that there is another one on its way for this evening. If Divyne and Riley were not sick I would totally send the outside to play.

Preparing for Christmas

Sorry this is a little late. It has been a crazy few weeks at our home. I feel like I am getting to know the court house rather well.

Well, this is going to be our FIRST Christmas with children in our home. I can't tell you how excited we are. We went out and bought 3 more stockings. I didn't ever know if we would have that opportunity. We already bought Divyne one present and have it sitting on her dresser until we can find a box to wrap it in. She keeps grabbing for it but can't quit reach it. Christmas morning is never really Christmas until you have little ones to share it with. It just isn't fun if that person KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE GETTING (just had to put this little ad lib in there LOL!! ) So needless to say Christmas will be a lot of fun this year (even though I know what I am getting).

We had the kids help us put up Christmas decorations and that was an experience. Needless to say out living room wasn't so clean afterwards but it was fun. Since Riley is the oldest we let him put on the star. He had a lot of fun.

We are excited to see what this year brings and hopefully if the weather stays as nice as it is now (other than the cold temperatures) Grandma & Grandpa Aikele can come up to Northern Idaho for Christmas (well the week after Christmas). We are excited. I just can't belelive Christmas and the New Year are just around the corner.

Divyne Update

Well it is December 10. We were supposed to have court on December 9 for divyne but nobody bothered to tell me or the birth mom that the date had been changed to Monday NOT Tuesday. So I had to hear what happened through other sources.

The judge gave Divyne's mom 3 more months (March 10) to work more on her case plan. So March 10 is a Post permanency hearing and at that court hearing the judge will decide if Mom has done everything according to her case plan. At that court hearing is she has not then we will move to a termination hearing which will be schedule I believe 30 days after that hearing. So we have 3 more months of Divyne in our home. We pray daily that the Lord will allow her to remain in our home for eternity. We hope to keep all of them but for now we have Corbin.

Thank you everyone for your prayers. We hope that things continue to go our way. We will keep you posted.

The Rugrat Update

Here are some fun videos and pictures of our little rugrats. Corbin has almost doubled his birth weight. We call him our little Riley. Oh, the cutest thing...We finally taught Riley to fold his arms when we have prayer. We would always look at Divyne and tell her to fold your arms and she would just smile at us. We caught her doing it the other day. If we show her how to do it she does it. She was also evaluated on December 1 by the Infant and Toddler program through Health & Welfare. Everytime she has been evaluated she is always behind in something. This time she passed with flying colors. She is doing things that she doesn't need to be doing until she is 1 year and she is only 10 months. We are so proud of her. Now that she can crawl she is everywhere. She loves Riley's room. She loves to just hang out with Riley.

Corbin Court Update

Wow what a crazy weekend. We went to court on Friday for Corbin. It went good. We were told by Corbin's Social Worker before we got him that he had some Indian in him but not enough to register with a tribe. It is a requirement from the department that some kind of contact be made with the Fathers Tribe making them aware that this child is going up for adoption. So letters have been sent out to the three Cherokee tribes in the US. We are now just waiting for those tribes to send back some communication saying they have no interest. Corbin has 5 other brother and sisters and the tribes have had no interest in them so we don't for see any problems. Once we get those letters then Corbin's birth father is served with papers to terminate his parental rights and once those have been terminated then we can start the adoption process. We are now just playing the waiting game. We will keep you updated. We return to court for a "Post-Permanency" hearing in June. We could already be in the adoption process by then so at that point we would go before the judge and let him know how the adoption process is going and how the baby is doing health wise.

Thanksgiving Update

WOW! I can't believe it is already December. Sorry it has been a little while since I posted. I am a little worn out. Thanksgiving was great. We had Daniel's family from Washington come. IT was great to have help with the kids. It was REALLY sad to see them leave. We did have a fun time though. Riley spent some of the day with his Dad;s family but we were relieved to have him back safe and sound.

Well just a little about my week so far. Divyne has been waking up at all hours of the night because she is getting her 3rd upper tooth. She is in pure misery so she is at the point where she just wants to be cuddled and held. She is such a sweet, sweet girl. We have her court hearing on December 9 and that is when we find out what her future holds. We would be absolutely ecstatic if we were given the opportunity to adopt her.

There is nothing new about Riley. He is starting to really pronounce his words. He is such a big help to me. I was in a pickle the other day changing Corbin and he was such a great big brother. He is so good with these two young ones. He always wants to kiss them and hug them. It is his routine when he goes to bed. Such a handsome boy. He knows it all too well.

Corbin is really growing. He is almost double his birth weight. He is going to top Divyne in no time. Such a handsome boy. He has had some issues with sleeping. It took me literally 2 hours to get him to sleep and stay that way. I am just glad that Daniel is here when I need that break.

Anyway, that is our update. Other than the worn out mommy, we are having a great time with these kids. Here are some pictures form our Thanksgiving.