Yum, Yum

So after his nap today, I gave him a small bowl of 4 Dibs. Those are little ice cream squares covered in chocolate. The little stinker, brings me the bowl for "mo" (more) and to my surprise his face has "yum yum" all over it. So cute. I gave him a wet wipe and he cleaned his face, then said again with those cute little boy eyes..."mo".

So yes, I spoiled him and gave him a few more.

Prayers could be working

So the BM left a voicemail on Thomas' cell phone. (FYI: he has a pre-paid phone because prior to visitations, she had to have a way to contact him. We didn't want to give any of our phone numbers.) The BM said "Thank you for caring for him." She said some other things, not important to this post. Today I was talking to the SW who was telling me about BM's response to this whole situation. She said "the other children's adopted mom has no contact with me and won't share anything with me, why are these people so generous to me?" My gut feeling told me that it's because we have Christ in our lives. We pray that she will see God through us. This could be part of the prayer being answered. Side note: we aren't planning on having a friendship or open communication with her. She will never know our last name, where we live or what his name will be when the adoption is final. So please keep praying for this situation and pray for her heart.

Reaping the goods....

Pappa & Grandma's garden is so nice. We are enjoying lots of fresh veggies!!! Thomas' favorites are the corn and the watermelon. If we let him, he'd eat watermelon until he turned in to one....LOL!!! The pumpkins will be just perfect come fall and we'll get to share pictures of pumpkin pies and halloween pumpkins, too.

Picking tomatoes with Daddy for our salad.

Fresh corn!!

"I Nana" (Thomas language for I love Nana)

Yesterday, Thomas got to go visit Nana (Jim's mom) and play in her yard. She has a nice green lawn with some cool shade to play under. Jim's sister just had a baby boy last week, so now Nana has two grandsons, close in age to love.

Smelling Nana's pretty flowers

Running and playing at Nana's house

Bust a move

Something you never knew about Thomas...... he knows how to move on the dance floor!! This is his new Elmo dancing DVD. The longer we listen to it, the crazier his dancing gets. When he gets older, he'll be the center of attention at dances in High School. (LOL)

We love this little boy soooooooo much!

One step closer.........PRAISE GOD!!

So I just want to start this post out by sharing a little HAPPY NEWS!! Parental rights were terminated today. We are one step closer to the legal adoption of our son, Thomas. Today is a happy day. A lot of rejoicing in our home.
The BM has 60 days to file an appeal in the court. This wouldn't change the ruling until an appeal trial would take place. At which the SW has assured us (and has been right so far) the judge would more than likely not change her ruling. So here are the two senarios: If the BM files an appeal, we could look at this process ("legal adoption") not being finalized until late spring or early summer 2011. If she doesn't file an appeal, we could be talking about the end of this year to finalize the adoption.

Please continue to pray for the BM as she was understandably very upset and crying. I pray that she will come to know Christ and that she will be able to clean up her life. I pray that she will know in her heart (through her saddness) that Thomas is in the best place he could be in....our family!!

Praise God!! Happy Day.

Termination of Parental Rights Trial

So sorry for the lack of updating.

The trial is set for 1:30-3:30pm this Thursday; for the "termination of parental rights" of the BM. The SW feels very confident that the judge is wanting to move this along and that hopefully all goes as planned. The SW has spoken with the BM and she is aware of what is going to happen. However after being a product of our system herself and losing 3 other children, she knows how to manipulate the system. I won't get you worked up with all the details of how messed up our legal system is. Just know that we need to pray that the judge sees fit to make a ruling to terminate parental rights. This would make the legal adoption process move forward. However, our SW said that her attorney and the BM are going to push for long-term foster care so she can still be in the picture. Our SW explained that most judges don't like that plan unless there is a strong parent-child attachment. Which, in this case is not present at all. The SW said in her documentation she said it's more of an acquaintance or distant relative relationship. He cries when she reaches for him. He always clings to the SW during the visits. So please pray that the BM, the attorneys and the judge will come to an agreement to terminate parental rights on Thursday.

Other than that, let me update you on our cutie pie.
His vocabulary is expanding daily (it seems). He loves to say "Whoa" when ever we turn a corner in the car or he falls off his little toy airplane. He says "I u Momma" and "I u Dadda" which is a reply to us saying "I love Momma. I love Dadda." His personality is changing and he is such a happy little guy. He helps Papa in the garden pick bell peppers (Pepa =as he calls them) and some corn (caa = as he calls it). He likes to play in the "wa-wa" at Gramma & Papa's house, too. He loves watermelon, cantelope, corn on the cob (like a vaccum when he eats it) and ice cream. He's learned a few words in sign language and he's definetly understanding commands like: go get your shoes, get the doggy bowl and is it time for night-night?
He is so cute at night and likes to tell us ni-ni then walks into his bedroom and stands next to his crib until we come in there. He is a good sleeper and doesn't fuss or fight us.