New year...

Things have changed a bit in the last few weeks.We decided in early December to go back with Michael to California for the rest of his 5 month training. So I had to break it to the foster company that we would not be able to take care of little Michael anymore. It was a hard decision to make but the new foster family is able to handle some of his behaviors better than we could (nice way to put it) and we have decided we want to stick with Teenagers anyway. We don't want the kids to feel competitive with kids close to there age. I also had to tell the lady who I watch her 2 boys, Which was sad cuz we are quite attached to the 2 little guys. We already miss them. I had to tell the friends down the street that we wouldn't be ale to watch Maddy anymore, after school. And I broke it to the bishop that I was leaving so he could find a Nursery leader replacement.

Needless to say, I was excited for the break!!!

We left new years day to California, we found a furnished home and have been loving the family time together and the great weather!Little Michael with the kids..

Logan and Ryder...

Libbie and Maddy...


Another note:
after we had made the decision to go to California and done everything, our Foster placement specialist, Carolyn gave us a heart wrenching call. She told us that she found a possible match for us (I had told her I was not going to take kids for the next few months). She told us about Janie..
I cannot say all that she has been through but I will say that she just finished up a round of Chemo and had been abandoned at a young age. We met her and we all instantly liked her. She has such a strength about her, truly unforgettable. We made it a very prayerful decision and it was very heart wrenching because she came for an over night visit to try us out and she loved our home. It was a few days before Christmas and where she was temporarily staying was NOT a good place to be during Christmas. We made the hard decision that because Michael is leaving to Iraq for a year , that we needed to put our family first (Sounds selfish even writing it) and go to California to be with Michael. (Janie can not leave the state of Arizona for that long) But after we made the decision we felt much peace and know Janie is also in Gods hands.
A cute story about her is.. She and the kids were laughing together about some silly potty humour thing like Poop, and she looks up at us and says " I'm not apart of this, I'm only in it for the laughs" Then later when I asked her about where her birth father was she said so matter of factly " He was either a drug addict or just abandoned me, either way its bad, you choose"
She really made an impact in the short 2 days we spent with her. She reminded me about how even though Mary was in labor people still had no room for her. There are allot of kids who need good homes, we've seen in first hand. I am excited for the time when we can Foster again,but until then, it feels right to be just our family.