Check Up

Today Jack had his 4 week check up. He weighs 9 pounds, 12 ounces. Oh my goodness, is he growing! His first check up was 18 days ago, and he weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces. He has gained almost 2 pounds in under 3 weeks! He is healthy! He is still such a good baby. He is so strong and has discovered he can grab (and hold onto) my hair.

Nikki is still so in love with him. She loves to kiss him, feed him, and talk to him. Jack turns toward her when he hears her voice. She had the stomach bug last week and she was so upset that she couldn't kiss on him. She started crying when we left him in the nursery for the first time at church Sunday. She did not want to leave him there. Nikki has really been great with Jack and she is a wonderful big sister.

I have already heard about someone telling our story to their Sunday school class. They said they hoped we didn't mind that they talked about us. Believe me, I pray daily that Jesus will use our family as a testimony to His love and mighty grace. He brought our family together and I want all the glory to go to Him. As the song goes, "Savior, He can move the mountians. My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Shine your light and let the whole world see. I'm singing for the glory of the risen King, Jesus!" I love that song.

Blessings to all!

FAMILY

What a great day! This morning we met with the judge to file our petition for adoption papers. Robbie, Nikki, Jack, and I met up with our attorney (Lorie Whitby - she is fantastic!) at 9:30. She took us up the the judge's office, where he had been looking over our paperwork. We each raised our right hand (even Nikki) and swore to tell the whole truth. Lorie took us through our testimony, basically our background and how we came to know about Jack. She asked Robbie, then me, if we understood that adoption meant that we are parents to the child for life and if we thought Jack was supposed to be with us. Then she asked Nikki if she wanted to be Jack's big sister. Nikki, of course, said, "YES, YES!" so excited. The judge told us congratulations and we took a picture with him. After we got back downstairs, we took a picture of Lorie, Jack, and Nikki. Lorie told Nikki that she was now Jack's big sister for good. Nikki asked her, "Does that mean Jack can stay with us forever and ever?" Lorie said, "Yes, forever and ever." Nikki shouted with joy and had the biggest smile I have ever seen on her face. It was a moment I will treasure forever and never forget. What a blessed morning!

This afternoon, Nikki and I took Jack to school since the teachers were there without students today. Nikki was so excited to show everyone her new baby brother. She told everyone that we went to adoption today. She also made sure to correct anyone who called him beautiful ("He's a boy; he's handsome.") She told them that we are all the Kaufman family now. I don't know any better way to put it.

Blessings to all!

Our Answered Prayer

Well, what a happy new year it has been!

As I sit here and type this blog, I look at my husband holding our new son. Yes, son. Nikki's daily prayer has been answered. And when Christ answered our prayer, He answered it in a big way. Let me go back . . . . . . .

Our family has come together through adoption. We were blessed to be at the birth of our daughter, Nikki, 5 years ago. She has been the best daughter any parents could ask for. She is loving, smart, kind, beautiful, and has the most amazing spirit I have ever seen in a person. For the past year and a half, she has prayed daily for a little brother or sister, often both, with a brief period of time praying for 10 siblings. Robbie and I have also prayed that our family would grow. We have come close a couple of times, and it was heartbreaking when it didn't work out. We actually thought right before Thanksgiving that we had found our children (twins to be born in December). That didn't work out, and we were devastated. But Jesus has always been faithful in His love, and I learned a little over 5 years ago that His plan is much more wonderful than anything I could dream up for myself. So I knew that I could not go wrong if I put myself and our family in His hands and trust that He would grow our family in His time. Well . . . . .

Just over two weeks ago, on Thursday, January 8th, we got a call from our cousin-in-law. She knew someone who knew someone who was looking for a family that wanted to adopt. We got the information, called the organization, which is a professional counseling and pregnancy care center, and a week later on January 15th, we were meeting the birthmother. She is amazing. So strong, so selfless, so loving. We had a wonderful meeting for almost 2 hours - crying and laughing and crying again. Before we left, she put my hand on her belly and I felt him (yes, him) kick. What a moment!! So we start the process of calling the attorney, social worker, talking to our bosses about time off, and explaining to Nikki what may happen. We got "the call" on Tuesday, January 20, at 10:17 pm. The birthmother was at the hospital having the baby! We called my mom to come watch Nikki (who is a very sound sleeper and could not be woken up no matter how much we tried) and we headed the hospital (1 hour and 15 minutes away). We get to the hospital 10 minutes after our son is born, and we get to stay in the nursery with him while he is cleaned up, assessed, and fed for the first time. Jack weighed 7 and 1/2 pounds and is 19 1/2 inches long. Then they take us to our own room, and we spent the next 36 hours with him there. He is perfect - healthy, beautiful, completely precious. Our family came to welcome the newest member. No one was happier than Big Sister Nikki! She came into the hospital room, took one look at baby Jack, and said, "Is this my baby brother? I love him!" Now we are home and praising God every moment for His magnificent blessings! Technically, the birthmom has 10 days (7 days now) to change her mind. But we have faith and know that God's plan is perfect. I am so grateful for His love and His grace. We are so thankful for our friends and family who have been praying for us for the past couple of weeks. We are truly blessed! I pray that our story can be a testimony to Christ's amazing love and to the power of praying with faith that God's will be done. Blessings to all!

Beauty Shop Morning

So Nikki had an appointment at 8:30 this morning at Ebony Expressions with Terrell, who was recommended to me by my friend Dia. I was a little nervous . . . . I knew I wanted to ask about a relaxer for her hair, but I didn't know if she was ready for one or what we would end up doing. We walked in, and everyone there was so nice!! Ms. Terrell was super nice to us. She answered my questions and explained things to me. She was great working with Nikki. She did put a relaxer on Nikki's hair. It looks great! Nikki absolutely loves it. She keeps tucking it behind her ear. She says she doesn't look like herself. She looks older. Robbie and I just keep looking at her. I think we will definitely have more options in how we fix it now.

I'll add pictures from Christmas soon! God Bless!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!



Nikki and I are so happy that Robbie has today off and can spend the first day of 2009 with us. We have been doing lots of goofing off and playing around together today. We did go to Wal Mart to get a few things, out to lunch, then to Petco to get a new snail. Our previous snail Rainbow Sherbert (which we had for 12 days) started floating in the tank last night. We were pretty sure they aren't supposed to do that. It was already dark and it was cold, so we waited to have the burial today. Now we have Pink the snail (who is actually in a black shell). We also got an algea eater -which Nikki calls the allergy eater - named Al. Robbie and Nikki are getting the newest members of our Kaufman tank all settled in. They join the angel fish (Squirrelly 1) and the blue gourami (sp?) (Squirrelly 2). Let's hope Pink and Al can last longer than 12 days.



I guess it being New Year's Day a lot of people think of resolutions for the year. I learned a long time ago that doesn't work for me. I have really been thinking today of all the blessings Christ has given me and how I can show my gratitude and faith in Him. When I look back at years past, I think of the dreams I would have at the beginning of each year. After Robbie and I got married, I spent the next 2 New Year's praying that this would be the year we would have a baby. When we realized that we wouldn't be getting pregnant, the next 2 New Year's were spent praying that God would lead us to our child or children. I never expected the blessing we received of being at Nikki's birth and knowing her from her first breath. This year, as we pray that we find more of our family out there somewhere, I keep in mind that anything is possible and remind myself that the blessings we already have are much more than we deserve. I know that God's plan for our family is perfect and better than anything we could think of for ourselves.



. . . . .Of course, it wouldn't hurt for me to resolve to lose some weight and get out my sewing machine every once in awhile to work on any one of the many projects I have material for.



I also need to get the pictures from our camera uploaded to the computer and add some visuals to my posts! I'll work on that. In the meantime . . . I hope you all have a blessed and happy 2009!

I found my way back! I even managed to get the links up on the side (as well as a favorite childhood game - PacMan!).

Today Nikki and I are being a little lazy. We have just been playing - she has lots of new toys to explore. Yesterday we had a fun day running around. We went to the theater to see Tale of Despereaux. It was good. It's not a laugh a minute, song-filled movie like the Disney stories I am used to. But it was a good story and we both enjoyed it. It definitely had some points that we talked about after the movie, such as saying "I'm sorry," and making good choices. Nikki is not easily scared by things, so she was fine, but it has some parts that might scare some children.

After the movie we went the park; it was a beautiful day. It is times like that when I can really see how much Nikki has grown. We have been going to this same park for a few years, and each time I watch her do something she wasn't able to do before. If I am honest, I should say that she does things that I didn't let her do before; she would try everything!

Oh, I am being called by Nikki. Evidently the puppy Santa brought her (Puppy Grows and Knows Your Name-not a real puppy) is growing right now! Nikki sounds excited -I must go see . . . . God Bless!

Something New

Well, I thought I would try something new. Just setting up this blog has been quite an accomplishment for me. Not too long ago I thought of the internet as a way to keep in touch with friends through email, get ideas for my Sunday School preschool class, find activities to supplement what I am teaching at school, shop, and find answers to random questions that pop into my mind. And I cannot forget that all of my due process paperwork for school is done through a useful, but frustrating, website.

A few months ago I joined myspace, then the Facebook crowd, and now -tada!- I have my own blog. Let's see if I can keep it up.

I already have a question for experienced bloggers on this site. I have been trying to add links to my page through a tool called "add gadgets." Well, I added them, but they don't show up on my page. Is there a trick to actually getting it to show up there?

Not a very exciting first blog - sorry! Nikki and I are going to see Tale of Despereaux tomorrow. If I can find my way back to this page, I'll let you know what we think. God bless!