Family Day

Yesterday was yet another visitation. We are hopefully getting closer to the end of these. July 22nd is the big court trial date. Until then, every Friday is a visit.
Afterwards, we went to Seaworld, where Thomas loves to play in the play area. He is not afraid of Elmo and thought he looked cool in his Elmo shirt and sunglasses. Love how he's leaning on Elmo's arm.

There is a water area in the play area, but Thomas wasn't sure about it. He just kept looking at the water as it sprayed up. He loves wearing his sunglasses.


We had fun watching the dolphins play with their balls. They swam up so close to us. Thomas was more in to the BA-BA-BA (ball) than the dolphin. He'll learn over time what we are watching.


We found the Shamu viewing area and had a lot of fun watching Shamu swim up close. Thomas would say "Wooow Wooow" then wave good-bye when he'd swim away. They really are large creatures and it's clear why they have no predators of the sea.




Yet another family portrait. We love being a family!!! Thomas has a lot of fun at Seaworld and purchasing season passes was the best thing we've done as parents. It was beautiful weather and didn't get cool until the marine layer moved in around 7:00-ish.

Thomas was awake until the fireworks at 9:50pm. He was asleep in the stroller after the fireworks. What a long day.

So yesterday Thomas got to become part of a tradition in my family. Being the daughter of a fireman, I remember my mom taking us up to a local grocery store parking lot, to watch my Dad go through town "code 3" (with lights and sirens on his firetruck). Well yesterday Jim called me as he was headed to a fire. He was going to cut through Ramona, and wanted me to bring Thomas up to watch him go through town code 3. So Thomas & I loaded up into the car, with my camera and headed up to the same area my mom took us years ago. Sure enough we heard Daddy coming down the road with his siren on, so we ran up to the road (on the sidewalk) and we got to see Daddy in his firetruck. I have posted the video and you have to watch it, with your volume turned up. Listen to what you hear at the end of the clip.

I know Jim was happy to have his son watch him. I had a few flashbacks of my childhood and how excited I got when I heard we were going to watch my dad go through town.

We love you Jan / Grandma

The Huston Family Christmas 2009

Thomas got to meet Grandma & Grandpa Huston

Jan loved Christmas (2008)

Today, Jim's stepmom Jan passed away. We are so thankful that Thomas got to meet Grandma Huston. She loved Thomas so much and she loved that we were able to visit at Christmas. That was her favorite time of the year. She'd sit and admire the christmas lights at night. I remember her saying that gave her such joy.

RECAP FROM OUR TRIP & TRIBUTE TO JAN:

I got it on video....

After all was done and family was getting ready to go, Jim's stepmom asked to hold Thomas as he was getting tired, in her arms in her cushy chair. I gave her his bottle and blanket. He was so willing to go to her and climb up in her lap. She cuddled him in his blanket and grabbed this little bear she has that sings a beautiful song called "Love me forever".
I noticed her holding him and singing with this bear in a soft grandmother voice.

"Love me forever always and ever.

If I ever go away,

will you love me always. In my heart you'll always stay,

forever and always.

Say you'll love, love me forever"

I grabbed the video camera to record this most precious moment in my life. Knowing that this would probably be the last and only time Thomas would know his Grandma, made my tears flow profusely. I couldn't stop crying, just thinking how amazing our God is!! I stopped the camera and walked away toward the table where Jim was with his step-sister and brother-in-law. He noticed me crying and I pointed to his stepmom & Thomas. He just smiled and wrapped his arm around me and asked "are you okay?" I didn't answer in words but just shook my head no and started to cry more. Watching this moment was so special to me and so unforgettable. I went downstairs to our bathroom and closed the door. I couldn't help but wipe tears out of my eyes as the thought of what was happening and how it made me feel. I am happy that our answer to prayers......Thomas, has the chance to meet his Grandma. Looking in the mirror in the bathroom alone, I kept saying to myself "Pull it together, pull it together." I wiped my tears and then walked back up to join the family. Agh, such a special night! After everyone left, and Thomas went to sleep, Jim & I sat next to the fire with his stepmom. The ambiance of the Christmas lights on the decor in the house and just our fellowship was so nice. We talked about everything even God. We sat and talked for 2.5 hours, just basking in the moments. She said "stay with me awhile and talk, and can you heat me a cup of milk?" Jim & I both know that she wanted to be with us, because she knows she won't have much more time with us ever again to sit, as the cancer is progressing quickly.

Even though we knew Jan's cancer had progressed and her time was limited, it is still hard to hear that she has passed away. She had lived longer than expected with her cancer. Thanks Jan for all the happy memories. Thanks for the late night scrabble games and the late night chats. You will be missed.

Asking for updates???

A lot has happened since the last post, a 2-hr visitation & a court hearing. The 2-hour visitation was just like all the other visitations, except it was at a Chuckie-Cheese instead of a park. The SW had to see our house, so she picked Thomas up at our house. A prayer has been answered that he doesn't get as upset when the SW shows up to take him. We want him to know that she is a safe person. He actually reached his arms up to her when she said "let's go." Jim & I were going to meet the SW near the visitation place so we could pick-up Thomas and go to Sea World, again. Suprisingly the 2 hours went by rather quickly.......Praise God!! The SW said that he stays right by her and reaches for her hand, not the BM. He doesn't know her, so he just kind of goes about his business as she follows him. He enjoyed playing on the cars (esp. with steering wheels). The first thing the SW told us when she brought him back to us, was you might want to use anti-bacterial wipes on his hands. Guess that tells you how clean the place was. We were close to Sea World, and since we have season passes, we went there to play for a few hours. Thomas loves the play-area for kids. We spent about 45 minutes there in the play-area. So now we are back to our 1 visitation a week, until parental rights are cut. The other update is the trial to cut her parental rights has now been pushed from July 1st to July 22nd. It has nothing to do with the case, except that the county has laid-off the attorneys for these cases. It's a long and confusing story, so I will spare you the details. Thomas' attorney will stay the same, and our SW and attorney will stay the same. It more or less affects the BM's attorney. We have been assured by the SW that we know the end result, it's just the due process to get there. Thomas' attorney and the SW both agreed that this case needs to move forward, as we know what's going to happen since she's lost 3 other children. So until then, we will continue the weekly visits.

Jim & I will need to be present for the trial as the judge & attorney's may want us to testify and share pictures. The SW said sometimes the judge may ask us how we feel about visitations and how often. If that comes up, we are leaning towards 1 a year. It would be a supervised visit at a county building on his Birthday. Once rights are terminated there is a scheduled supervised "good-bye" visit. This whole process is long and a bit emotionally draining. But we know that God already has everything taken care of, so we don't need to worry. HOWEVER, on July 15th there will be a hearing to verify that all attorneys are on-board. If she decides to just give up there, then we won't go to trial. She has expressed to the SW that she knows how this is going to end. We just pray that her heart will be softened and that she will accept that Thomas is being loved, cared for in all areas and in the best place he can be.

God has convicted my heart (with the help of a friend name Lori) that I need to pray for his BM rather than our needs. God already knows our desires and is already blessing us beyond our own imagination. She is in need of a Savior. Her life is headed in a destructive path, so it's our job to pray for her that one day her heart would be changed and that she'd ask Christ into her life. She is not a bad person, she's just made bad mistakes. It's not our place to judge, just pray and share the truth.

Family time matters.

Jim had been gone on a fire for 2 weeks and got 2 days off. Jim & I feel it's very important to spend quality time as a family those 2 days. Yesterday, we had a nice breakfast together then spent the day playing together and loving on eachother. Jim did his laundry (fire clothes) and Thomas took a long nap. I snuck out for a little Mommy Time and made it back before Thomas woke up. We enjoyed a pasta salad with some yummy spinach-garlic bread. Today we spent a family day at Sea World. Thomas loved Shamu and waved good-bye to him when he'd go under the water. Not quite sure he knew exactly what was happening. We saw some other shows and enjoyed walking around looking at the other aquariums. We definetly put in a long day. Thomas looked sleepy eyed at one point, but didn't nap until 3:00. He only napped a short time, then woke up ready to go have more fun. We found a play area for kids and Thomas had a blast.

So sorry it's been a while since I've posted.

Jim has been on a fire for 2 weeks, so I've been full-time mommy. He's coming home tomorrow and Thomas & I are so excited. I am looking forward to spending Jim's 2 days off as a family.

Today was a visitation with BM. Praise God, Thomas didn't cry when the SW showed up to pick him up. If you recall, he has been pretty upset in the past. Our prayers have been that this wouldn't traumatize him too much. He is becoming friends with the SW, which is good because she is a safe person. He still doesn't show any emotion to BM. Our next court date is July 1st, which will hopefully (and most likely) terminate BM's parental rights. From that point, the visitations will stop....PRAISE GOD!! Please be praying for the judge, the attorneys, the SW and for our family as we face this day.

I'd also like to ask you to continue to lift up his BM. She is deeply in need of Christ. She has many problems, but Jesus still loves her. I pray that she will understand that Thomas is in a great place. He is growing (daily) and thriving in many areas. I pray that she will find peace in knowing that. I also pray that she will find Christ, turn her life around and someday meet Thomas face-to-face (when he's older). Nothing could ever change the fact that she created him, she carried him and she gave birth to him. But, God chose to put Thomas into our lives to love, to care for and to teach him about Jesus. We feel so blessed that God's timing was perfect for us, and Thomas is our son.

I promise I will try to keep you updated more frequently. Without Daddy home, I found myself pretty busy being a mommy during the day, and a housewife in the evening (cleaning up the house, etc.). Some nights I would just crash on the couch as I also felt exhausted. I can't wait for Jim to come home and see how much our son has changed.

See......See (look up in the sky)

So I have carried on a family tradition for our son, from my mom. When we were little, during the summer we'd go get an ice cream cone at McDonald's then go to the airport to watch the airplanes. No, not the San Diego airport, the local airport with the firefighting airplanes. It was fun to watch the airplanes take off and land. So as much as Thomas loves airplanes, I have discovered how much he enjoys riding in the car to the airport to watch the airplanes. So today, we took our water and a snack out to visit some of the people who work out there. We sat on the patio and Thomas was so excited to see the airplanes land and take off. He also noticed a sprinkler that was watering the grass. He'd run over to it, stand there and then run right back. He was loving it. Well there was a fire dispatch and our friends had to leave. So we got in the car and parked outside the airport to watch the firefighting planes take off. Thomas just kept saying "NNNNAAAAAOOOOWWW" (that's what his airplanes say). As they left, so did we. I looked back a few minutes later to see our little boy, sound asleep and snoring. I hope he has good memories of Mommy taking him to the airport, just like I have of my Mom doing that.