We are adopting!

We have signed up for another BIG adventure!  We have been chosen to adopt TWO precious GIRLS!  We were contacted on March 6th by the birth mother.  The next few weeks have been agony then peaceful and then agony again as we waited to know if we were going to be adopting the girls.  The birth mother is vigilant and didn't take her decision lightly.  Her story is one of tragedy and strength that we will share at another time.  We corresponded via text, email, and phone.  However, in between each message as I would wait I would think.  Thinking is dangerous, especially when all you have to think about are questions.  In her first email to us she told us the twins were identical and that there was a chance they would have cystic fibrosis.  Matt and I are both aware of this terrible disease but didn't feel a hesitation in our response.  We view this adoption path as pregnancy.  If I were pregnant ,and the doctor told me my child had a disease, I would be devastated, but I wouldn't say, "No, thank you."   We are overjoyed that we are going to have daughters but we are pleading for their health every day and night.  Fear is not faith.  We have faith in His plan for our family and for our girls.  We had moments as we waited for the birth mother to decide that we were terrified she would say yes and simultaneously terrified she would say no.  It is human to wonder if we are "enough."  Will we be enough for the twins?  Will we be enough for sick twins?  There was a lot of fasting and prayer and every time we came back with the same answer.  "If this is meant to be then it will, and you will all be enough.  Remember you are all my children.  I will always provide."  

We had another moment of fear and my mother-in-law sent us this quote by Elder Rasband, "Most of all, we need our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ. One of the accounts from scripture that has always spiritually moved me is when Jesus Christ walked out on the water to meet His disciples who were traveling in a ship on the Sea of Galilee. These were leaders newly called, like many of us on the stand today. The account is recorded in Matthew:

“But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with [the] waves: for the wind was contrary.

“And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

“And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, … and they cried out for fear.

“But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”

Peter heard that wonderful call of encouragement from the Lord.

“And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

“And [Jesus] said, Come.”

Pretty bold. Peter was a fisherman, and he knew about the hazards of the sea. However, he was committed to following Jesus—night or day, on a ship or on dry land.

I can imagine that Peter leaped over the side of the boat, not waiting for a second invitation, and began to walk on the water. Indeed, the scripture says, “He walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” As the wind increased in strength and force and as the waves swirled about his feet, Peter became “afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried [out], saying, Lord, save me.

“And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him.”

Such a powerful lesson. The Lord was there for him, just as He is there for you and for me. He reached out His hand and drew Peter to Him and to safety."  I'm sure I will have moments of weakness where like Peter I have fears and doubts.  For now, though we feel strengthened and excited.  We are leaping off the boat and excitedly expanding our family.

Telling the boys was the best!  Joshua smiled the biggest smile ever.  Nathan started dancing around and showing us all of the silly faces he would make if they cried so he could make them happy.  Since then, individually the boys have expressed their gratitude that God answered their prayers.  Joshua said that's probably why he's getting two since he has had to wait for so long.  Nathan said that there are two babies because sharing is hard to do.  They picked a girl movie out for us to watch, which hasn't happened since Joshua decided princesses are for girls only.  Both boys said they wanted to practice for having sisters!    

I shared with the birth mother the excitement from the boys and from our entire family.  I waited for her to respond and it wasn't immediate.  I started thinking, "Oh, no maybe she's have second thoughts.  Maybe she's panicking a little by making this official."  The next day she said, "I thought that after I made it official I would feel sadness over the reality of placing the girls.  However, all I feel is peace and contentment."  Talk about cloud nine for us!  We feel extremely blessed to again be able to expand our family with the miracle of adoption.  The girls are due on August 7th but we anticipate their arrival being early to middle of July.

Prayers for the Tureks and for our strong birth mother and two precious girls are greatly accepted!

March

Oh March has been interesting,  We decided to act on a deal with adoption.com and pay to be on the homepage and get a lot of exposure.  We shared our profile on Facebook and so many of our friends shared our page.  The response was overwhelming and we were overjoyed.  It felt good to feel like the two years of work was now finally being viewed and we at least had a chance of being seen.  We had a joyful week of seeing our profile views go up and up and up.  By March 6th, we had been contacted by 3 birth moms. One was a scammer, one we haven't heard back from except random messages, and the other birth mom we have been very involved with through conversations and prayers.  She hasn't chosen us officially yet so we are just on a roller coaster.  We will update everyone with all of the details once we feel that it is more of a done deal.

So meanwhile we have been living life and trying to not think are we going to be adopting soon or not?

Also, on March 6th Matt and I decided to commit to being back on the food track.  I decided that I was ready to do battle with PCOS again.  Matt wanted to be on board too so we were fired up and ready for action.  We both were tired of being "fat and happy."  That Monday I had a dentist appointment to have cavity fillings replaced.  It was miserable and left me super tense.  I blame that for the next event that happened on Tuesday.  I was carrying in too many groceries and I tried to not drop them by bending over awkwardly.  I hurt my back.  Like, it hurt worse than contractions on pitocin.  I sobbed and sobbed.  I worried as to how I would get Joshua from school.  It was terrible.  I ended up being forced to rest as often as possible flat on my back doing basically nothing!!!!  TORTURE!!!!  Plus, I was on day 2 of my let's be super healthy.  I am pleased to report that I managed to not drown my adoption stress, my back pain, and boredom lead to eating poorly.  Matt and I have been eating healthy and we are feeling great.  I am finally back to exercise and that makes me happy.

Life continues on.....We love arts and crafts and Bear Cub Club.

Family fun.  Scary hands attacking us.

The weather has been so nice that we have been spending every evening outside.  Some days it has been long sleeves and then other days it is shorts.  The weather is crazy this year.  

I was feeling much better and it was my turn to host some kids for our mom swap.  It was just what I needed.  I had been feeling in a bored funk with my back.  These happy kids made me smile.

Joshua had Dr. Seuss week at school.  We were pleased with our last minute Lorax shirt.  However, that afternoon Joshua came home telling me about a kid that has been picking on him at school.  The kid soaked his shirt first thing in the morning so it was wilted and falling apart.  Joshua was sad and I was mad.  Mama Bear time!  The issue is resolved but hearing your kids are having any struggle is not good on the heart but especially one that is being inflicted upon them.  

Contrary to last year, I remembered the leprechaun comes to the house and leaves a treasure hunt.  This was such a hit and made my mom heart smile.  

Aunt Liz sent them a photo prop dress up box and some books.

My boys are just growing up fast and looking good while doing it.  

Understandably, we felt the need to recharge at the temple.  We had a really nice and uplifting time.  We also saw Beauty and the Beast and then spent 4 hours talking to the potential birth mother.  We were simultaneously rejuvenated, uplifted, and exhausted.  

Joshua scored all A honor roll again.  I think the day he scores below a 98 he isn't going to know what to do.  

We also went to a consignment sale.  There were some great deal on baby items but we don't feel like we can buy baby stuff yet.  So, the boys lucked out instead.  Nathan got these awesome building sticks and Joshua got kid cranium which will be a fun addition to game time. 

I know that March isn't over yet but I will update it if anything else really occurs.  I think this is my way of saying let's skip to general conference weekend.  

Feb 15 - Feb 28

I always dreamed I would have my home filled with children.  Hosting "bonus" kids makes me happy and tired. 

February has been very spring like this year.  We had a blast flying kites.

We saw Nani again in February!  She came back for President's Day weekend and she followed through with her promise to take Nathan to a hotel for learning to use the potty.  The boys were thrilled with hanging out in the room, Nathan jammed out to the clock radio, and of course their hotel highlights always include the pool and the "FREE" continental breakfast.   Nani said she slept like a champ in her bed.  Both boys ended up "sleeping" with me.  I had ZERO sleep but managed to smile through Saturday anyways.  It helps when Nani drives and provided Diet Coke. 

Of course aside from visiting Target, hotel staying, and just having fun a trip wouldn't be complete without making rice krispy treats with her oldest grandson.

One afternoon we decided to wash cars.  Nathan of course took it to the party level.

We have been playing games lately.  Nathan loves Sequence and was quite pleased that he set up the game all by himself.  

Operation is way too frustrating for him so he took on the role of cheering for Joshua.  Joshua needed a massage after playing.  That kid was so tense!

Play group goes from good to great when you get to play with baby chicks!

Y'all when I see my two boys together my heart overflows with gratitude.  They love each other.  I hope this bond never goes away.

We bought Nathan a school book.  We made it a game that the colors were lava, slime, etc and he was dying with laughter to keep his tracing in the white.  Gotta make life a game for Nathan to get him interested.  I may not send him to school but keep him at home to learn with me.  

After a crazy afternoon where the lights were all red and there were no obvious rainbows, I decided to stop and just sign Joshua out of school early.  We were planning on leaving for SC that evening when Matt finished with work.  Long story short, there was a Mardi Gras parade that we HAD to attend.  The boys loved it of course.  We finally made it home probably 30 minutes sooner than if he had just finished his normal day. 

We were excited to have a family trip to SC.  We didn't really advertise our trip because we weren't 100% sure it was happening.  We were so glad we did.

Matt and I talked about it beforehand and said we were going to embrace opportunities to be silly, let the boys be free, and just make memories.  This is the face of a rule follower on the wrong side of the rail!

Look who found us?!  We spent the morning in Greenville, SC.  We would be happy if this became our home someday.  The boys loved climbing all over the rocks and Joshua said it was his first waterfall that he remembers ever seeing.  

There were a few moments in the rock climbing that we had to remember our rule to be chill.  

Boys went to swing and Nathan said he wasn't going to do it.  

I think he was happy he decided to change his mind.

Pushing Matt on the swing.

Being wild and letting Joshua pee on the side of my parent's driveway.

Teaching him about the game where you drive off every time the person tries to get in.  Simple things.  :-)  

Nathan found this stick on a hike with Grandpa and we let him keep it.

Trampoline.  Julia decided to join them for a few jumps.  Then she realized these boys need the whole thing to themselves.  

The boys also lived on their bikes.  We may never travel without these again.  Joshua especially loved the freedom of riding without the nuisance of cars or worried grown-ups.  We had a day where all the family was invited to play.  It is nice to have all the extended family around too.

So a highlight for us was playing with our nephew, Collin.  He decided we were the only ones that could take care of him all afternoon. Honestly, he loved me at first and then moved on to Matt.  That actually just made my heart melt even more.

He started crying and Nathan rushed to the scene.  He was determined to do anything to make him smile.

Success.

Joshua had the baby bug too.

Nathan got some stickers from my Aunt Lisa and this was the reaction. She said she would buy that boy a sticker book if this was the thanks!

Aunt Lizzy always plays and plays with these two.

Aunt Julia outdid herself again with cleaning the house, preparing all of our meals, and even had little toys for the kids.  Plus, she made a carrot cake for Matt.  It was her first cake from scratch and it was delicious!

We went to one of our favorites, CFA!  

We followed that up with a private showing of Lego Batman.

Then it was birth family time at the Big E.  This has become a tradition.  The boys love it and love the people that spoil them there.

Nathan and Joshua love every minute.  I am so grateful that they want to see us and be apart of our lives forever.  Kids never complicate things with labels.  They are happy to accept anyone that wants to love them.   Birth family, adopted family, it is FAMILY.  

TV watching with Grandpa.

We went to school with Nani and then she left early for lunch and the park.  The boys performed moderately well.  I think JoAnne's coworkers may believe my kids are cute. ;-)

We ended with a little grocery shopping for treats for our long drive back.  Joshua enjoyed pushing the cart but didn't want it to say customer in training because he was too grown up!

We really felt bad for waking these sleepers up but we did it anyways.  We made it back in record time.  I'm so tough but I love that so far my boys all comply with this view of road trips.  We eat our meals in the car, we fuel up and empty bladders at the same time.  We run in and out with a timer running to see how fast we can do it.  :-)  

It was wonderful to see our family without Joshua missing school.  We love Mardi Gras break!