This video was created to celebrate the time Dylan has spent here in our home. We have developed a strong bond with him and with his mother. They both have become part of our family FOREVER!!!

When some people look at Dylan they see a "Down Syndrome Boy". But what I see when I look at Dylan is a Masterpiece, a beautiful work of art, created by God and perfect in his sight. Dylan is covered with God's fingerprints and God is just getting started with this young man. He has so much potential and so much to offer those in his life.

During the past months that Dylan has lived here, we all have seen the physical changes with him. He has gotten taller and lots thinner. No more chubby cheeks that squeeze his eyes closed when he smiles. Dylan has grown in other ways as well. His speech has improved significantly, he is working on appropriate boundaries between himself and other people, (although there is still work to do since several weeks ago he put his Sunday School teacher in a head lock and yelled "WWE" as he tried to wrestle her to the ground), but the thing I am most excited about is that Dylan is learning to love Jesus. He is excited about going to church and Sunday school and thrilled on Wednesday nights when it is time for Cadets. There he gets to spend time with men and boys from our church family doing "guy" stuff as Neesha puts it. Dylan even has a speaking part in the Christmas program put on at our church.

Dylan's enthusiasm for life in his simple way is a strong reminder to me that I too need to get back to the basics and stop focusing on things that in the end really don't matter.

Starting this coming Friday, Dylan will begin spending overnights with his mom. These next weeks and months will be a huge transition time for Dylan and his mom. Please pray for them both. The love that they have for one another is amazing. We want them to be reunited when the time is right and they both are ready. Please pray for Taneesha, Lena Stacy and myself as we begin to prepare Dylan to return home to his mom.

Here are the kids ready to go trick-or-treating. Dylan, our fire-fighter, Paige, our Bumble Bee, Lena, our Snow White Princess, Peyton, our fierce Tiger, and Rebekah, our Tinker Bell. Neesha is missing in action because she went with a friend from school. I also included one of Neesha as she might look in the future. With Neesha is her "witch" friend, Kayla

The Girls!

Here are the girls after church on Sunday. Taneesha is 11, Rebekah is 7 and Lena is 3 years old. If you look closely you can see that Neesha now has braces on her teeth since the last picture of her.

Life has been busy over the past month. We have done some respite foster care for 2 sweet little boys. And my niece, Rebekah, has been here for 2 weekends because my sister has been in the hospital suffering with a stomach ulcer. She had surgery about 2 weeks ago but that was not the answer and is back in the hospital (been there for 9 days now) with no hope of release in the next few days. Rebekah was here to carve pumpkins and went trick-or-treating with my kids which was fun for her. Not so fun for me since I have been sick with a terrible cough and flu-like symptoms. With the weather being so nice the kids have been able to get outside to play in the leaves and on the tramp.Lena's athletic ability continues to amaze us. Here she is doing flips on the tramp at 3 years old.

Our Dress Up Queen

Now that the weather has turned cooler, Lena has found her dress up clothes. Isn't she beautiful?

Paige Linnay

Paige is a very active and rough little girl. (what can we say, Katie is her mother!!!) She loves her pacifier. Paige crawls wherever she wants to go on her hands and knees. Paige will take what she wants from Peyton and he usually just lets her. And if he puts up a fight, she fights harder and gets it anyway. She has decided that she is no longer eatting baby food and swats at you when you try to feed it to her. Paige is taking 10-12 steps at a time when encouraged, but she still thinks crawling is better than walking. Paige is very curious, loves to get into everything and giggles when told NO! If you ever wondered what Katie looked like when she was little, Paige is a mirror image of her mother.

Peyton Mark

Peyton is such a sweet little boy. His favorite thing to do when being held is give kisses. And this happens with his mouth wide open. Peyton looks like his dad. He is very content and happy most of time. He gets where he wants to quickly by doing the military crawl on his belly. Peyton is taking a few steps when coaxed to do so and seems braver about daring to try than his sister although he falls after only 2 or 3 steps because he gets overly excited and lunges forward. It won't be long and he will be running.

Peyton & Paige

I have been promising many of you pictures of my sister's twins, Peyton and Paige. So here they are. The babies turned 1 year old on Sept 6.

6th Grade Picture

Neesha's school pictures have finally arrived. She looks so grown up to me.

Cake Pictures

We celebrated Peyton and Paige's birthday last week Saturday. As you can see in the pictures, they both enjoyed the cake their mom made for them.

The Twins

My sister's babies are 1 year old now. Their birthday was on Sept. 6. This past year has been so much fun watching them grow from 5 lbs. into the fun, happy 20+ lbs. babies that they are now.

Paige is taking 6-8 steps when coaxed or when she wants something bad enough. She is definitely the "stinker" of the 2. She is constantly on the move and loves to get into EVERYTHING. Paige loves her pacifier and being held.

Peyton is much more content to stay in one place and play with whatever is in his reach. He does the military belly crawl and can move quick when HE wants to. He loves tags on things and will seek them out to put them into his mouth whenever possible. Peyton also like a pacifier and he has a "lovey". His lovey is any soft bib that has a tag.

I take care of the babies 2 days a week while my sister works. We are so glad that we live close enough to help out. Plus you all know I love babies and have truly enjoyed bonding with Peyton and Paige.

School's Started!!!

We have successfully completed 2 weeks of school and both Neesha and Dylan seem to have adjusted. Neesha is in 6th grade. I am the mother of a middle school student. I have no idea where the time has gone!!! Getting up at 6:30 is tough but she seems to not mind the sacrifice since she now gets home an hour earlier in the afternoons. In 6th grade students start band so Neesha is now playing the flute along with piano. I am amazed at the progress in only 2 weeks. Yesterday she tried out for a part in the middle school play. This year they are doing Pippi

Longstocking. Right now I think she would like a small part but would also be just as content with working behind the scenes on the stage and costume crew. A good experience for her either way.

Dylan started school before Labor Day and seems to have adjusted to being away from home everyday. He LOVES school and looks forward to going back the next day the minute he sets foot off the bus. He has made great strides since living with us. At his old school, they put him in a restraining harness on the bus but now he rides in a regular seat belt and he puts his belt on himself with no assistance. We are proud of his accomplishments. Dylan and his mom are both making progress and in fact, the judge has given permission for them to start spending time together unsupervised so today they are going away for the afternoon together.

Lena continues at Head Start in West Olive everyday. She has her ups and downs. Lena is our limit tester. She loves to play dress up and baby dolls right now. Her favorite thing though is to be outside riding her bikes, playing on the tramp and in our sandbox. Her adoption is in progress and we hope to have it finalized soon.

Dee

Nails = Girls Only

Taneesha loves to have her nails painted either by me, her friends or herself. And her little sister, Lena, is following in her footsteps with this. Lena absolutely loves it when Neesha spends time with her painting her fingers and her toes. And they are so cute to watch together. Neesha is so patient and understanding when Lena can't sit still and wiggles all over while she is trying so hard to keep the polish on her nails and off the fingers. The relationship that is developing between these girls amazes me everyday.

The other day when Lena was enjoying the attention Neesha was giving her, I overheard Lena tell Dylan, "Boys are not girls! So you can't have your nails painted Dylan b/c you are a boy and only girls have paint on their fingers."

Mohawk Man

We have decided that a trip to the barber once every couple of weeks to keep Dylan's hair as short as I like it is not worth it.

The solution? Well . . .

As many of you know, Stacy wears many different job hats depending on the day and what needs to get done. So . . .

She has added "barber" to her list of hats that she puts on from time to time. She figures that since she used to shave the dog, she is more than qualified to shave the boy!!!

Dylan started school on Wednesday and he needed a haircut. Stacy and the kids thought a mohawk would be a great idea to tease me with. Dylan thought it was hilarious when I freaked out and practically starting screaming, "He can't go to school looking like that. His mom is going to kill us!" Neesha was able to take a few pictures before I made Stacy fix his hair to make him look a bit more presentable.

All the Grandchildren

I know many of you are anxious to see a picture of all of my mom's grandchildren. Earlier this summer, we were able to all be together and took some fun pictures. This is one of the better ones.

From left to right: Lena (3yrs), Rebekah (7), Peyton (10 months), Taneesha (11yrs), Paige (10 months) and Dylan (11yrs).

I will be posting more pictures of Katie's twins in the next few days. They are growing up so quickly and so much fun to have around.

Fashion Diva 2

Yesterday I bought Lena a cute little dress to wear this winter with black leggings underneath. Well . . . Lena loves dresses. And despite the oppressive heat and humidity today, she insisted on wearing it both in the house and outside to play. At least until she decided to play in the pool. She even wore it to sleep in both at her nap and to bed tonight.

Where do my girls get their love for dresses? We all know that I HATE to wear one.

Fun Outside

We have had some very warm and humid weather over the past few days. Yesterday was the first time we have to put our air conditioning on in several weeks. The kid's favorite place to be is in the water: sprinkler, slip-n-slide, wading pool etc. Dylan and Lena can spend hours out there playing together. Today I took some pics of them playing in the pool.

Fashion Diva

Lena is 3 1/2 years old and is our fashion diva. She loves to play dress up. These days she can usually be found with her dress up clothes on and a baby doll in her arms.

Lena is also worried about her every day clothes matching. She loves to change her clothes numerous times a day and will NOT keep clothes on if they are dirty. I think I may be in trouble with this one!!!

Sunny Michigan Morning!!!

Dylan loves to play in our wading pool and today he started begging me to fill it up already at 9:15am. So . . . after numerous distractions and attempts to redirect his attention to other activities, I gave in and filled it up. With freezing cold hose water :) He loves cold water and it never deters him from sitting in it for hours at a time. When I looked out the window to check on him, this is what I found. Dylan - floating in his boat!

Child's Prayer

This video was made to celebrate Lena's life with us so far and I hope to have it played at her baptism after her adoption is finalized. (Or there may need to be an updated with version!!!)

August 17, 2008

Time to try this blog thing. Lots of things I want to document and remember about our kids.