Claire's room

Sorry it's been so long since we've written. It's been a busy last couple of months but I have been keeping track of theposts that I want on my blog so here's the first. Claire's room! We painted it before we even knew what the sex of our baby would be. We figured green could go either way. When we brought Claire home and knew she was ours, that's when we went for the pink flower decor. The room is still not exactly the way I wanted but it does the job and I believe our little angel is fine with it. :)

RIP Baby Drama

Today was one of the saddest days Jen and I have gone through. We put our dog, Drama, to sleep. She was our 3 year old Pekingese. For those of you who did not know, on Wednesday this week, Drama suddenly became paralyzed just below her shoulders leaving her hind legs useless. We still do not know exactly what happened. It could have been an injury or an embolism. Drama was very active and jumped and hopped around like a bunny all over our furniture outside. She also would wrestle with our much larger German Shepherd, Ari. It also could have been a degenerative disc. X-Rays showed no fracture to her spine. The next step was to have an MRI and more than likely a very expensive surgery that may or may not have fixed her. The MRI alone was $1800. With a 4 month old daughter, Jen and I could not see spending that. Our vet had us try a mix of steroids, muscle relaxers and pain relievers in the hope that deep pain would return to her limbs. For those that do not know what deep pain is, the vet will take a metal tool and squeeze on their paws in the hope that the she would react. Drama felt nothing. On Thursday, Jen and I both went to the vet thinking she would not come home with us. We saw her and she had her personality and was excited to see us. We stole a treat from the vet's room and she downed it just like she always does. We couldn't make a decision when we could see she was still there. We took her home to see if things would get better.

I took her Saturday to another vet for a second opinion. He did the same deep pain test and saw the same results. He literally said, "Put her to sleep or see a neurologist." I was pretty upset over this. I took her home and we tried to care for her. Over the course of the next 16 hours, we did 9 loads of laundry, I had to change my clothes 3 times, and we gave Drama 3 baths. If you know her baths are the thing she hates the most. She was frustrated that she could not do what she wanted and Jen and I were exhausted trying to care for her and Claire at the same time. We both knew we could not keep this up. So this morning, we took her in and she was put to sleep.

Jen and I are pretty devastated right now. It would be one thing if she lived a long life and we could see this coming. She in our eyes was still a puppy and was so energetic. Who would think that something like this would happen so early? I thought we had at least 8 years before a decision like this would be necessary. And I always thought Drama would outlast Ari.

I have been feeling guilty thinking that we took our dogs for granted after we got Claire. Jen keeps telling me that while they didn't get as much attention as before, we still did a ton with them.

I am just glad we do not have to tell our niece Delilah that 'Baby Dama', as she called her when she was younger, is no longer here. I am going to leave that to my sister and Chris.

We miss you Drama. Hopefully you are having fun with Daisy now.

Here are a couple pics of our 1st baby before we had Claire:

First pics of Drama at the pet store





Drama in her bed


Drama in Claire's baby bjorne


Drama's last days:
I got to take her to work this Friday




Goodbye Drama!

CONVERSE!!!!!

I just had to post this pic of our little girl in her first pair of Chucks! D and I love Converse and so will little Claire. (We've already decided that for her!) :)

Daddy and Daughter Time!

 It's so amazing to see the wonderful man I married become a father! I've always seen how good he is with our nieces and nephews, but he was born to be a Dad! He loves our little girl so much and our Claire already has Daddy wrapped around her finger! :) I can't wait to see what the future holds and what's going to happen when Claire says, "But Daddy......I NEED a new car!" :) Hahaha! Love you babe!

Claire's dedication

 Claire is now 3 and a half months old! Hard to believe! She has grown so much and is learning new things each day! Today we were able to dedicate her to Christ with our friends and family. Our church believes that baptism should be an individual choice so instead of baby baptisms they have baby dedications where the parents are dedicating their child to Christ and making a commitment to raise their child in a Christian home. Here are some pics of our day!

 (It kind of looks like we are on a game show but it's just the background and lighting that happened to be up at the time!) :)

 We had to point out all of our lovely family and friends that came to support us!

 Our friends and family gathering around us to pray for our little Claire.

 

Us with our little angel.

 

 Auntie Em and Gavin couldn't get enough hugs and kisses.

 Claire and her God parents, Auntie Arielle and Uncle Kirt. They have been on the journey to have a family for quite some time now and have recently started the adoption journey! We were so happy they agreed to be these special people in Claire's life and we can't wait until the day Claire has a new cousin to play with!

Parent Declaration:

1. I will treasure my child as a gift from God on loan to me.

2. I will teach my child of God's love and of His gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus.

3. I will give grace to my child, as grace has been given to me.

4. I will forgive my child, as I have been forgiven.

5. I will accept responsibility for helping my child discover her God given purpose in life.

Stressful Stuff...

So we've had a few stressful moments with our adoption lately and have definitely needed some prayers. Thank you to all who have been praying and who continue to pray for the rest of this adoption to run smoothly. We had a talk with our attorney tonight and it made me feel much better about things but I don't think I will feel totally confident until we have all of our adoption certificates in our hands and Claire is legally ours. After telling my mom all of this, she told me that God has brought us this far and that we need to keep our faith in him. She told me to read chap. 12-15 in Numbers and this story definitely helped me to be less worried about things. My favorite verse was Numbers 14:11 "The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?" And the notes at the bottom of my Bible said, "Often we do the same thing. We trust God to handle the smaller issues but doubt his ability to take care of the big problems, the tough decisions, the frightening situations. Don't stop trusting God just as you are ready to reach your goal. He brought you this far and won't let you down now. We can continue trusting in God by remembering all he has done for us."
This was exactly what I needed to hear and am so glad we have such a wonderful support system around us.
I was also surprised to find out I have a new adoption friend at school! One of my students has a twin sister and 2 brothers. Well her mom came in to help in my classroom and after talking with her for a little bit at recess about our Claire Bear, I found out that all 4 of her children were adopted! I had no idea and told her I really thought that her daughters looked like her. It was fun talking with her and she told me that she almost went through Bethany too but then a situation came up and it was better for her to go another route. I am so thankful for her and her kind words. She told me I could come to her anytime with any questions and even came up to me after school today to tell me she will be praying for us. It's nice to know that I even have that special support at work.
And on another happy note, I'm proud to announce that my cousin Arielle who has been trying as long as we have to have children of her own, attended her first Bethany orientation and is very excited to get the process started with her husband! We are so happy for them and can't wait to help support them during this journey. And one more thing! I spoke with a friend of ours who is also on the waiting list with Bethany and found out that her and her husband's portfolio was shown this week!!!! Soooooooo exciting!!!! Please keep my cousin and our good friends at Bethany on your prayer list. Darryl and I can't wait to celebrate with all of them and hope that it is very soon!!!!
Well that's all for right now. I will keep you updated on our adoption. Please continue to pray that the rest of this process goes smoothly and that all papers will be signed, sealed, and delivered as soon as possible. xoxo

Fussy Claire=Crazy Mommy!

Just a quick post to show how cute Claire is. (And a little to show my wife is strange)