Our First Trip Out

Silas' first trip out was to a friend's house.  I had to attend a meeting with some of my coworkers so Silas went with me.

He did great during the meeting and even had his first play date.

He's all bundled up in his carseat.

Suzanne and her son, Luke.

New Pictures, Our Family of Five!

Now that Silas is home, we needed to update our family picture and have his newborn pictures taken. These are some of our favorites from the photo shoot.

Baby Shower

Our family and friends gathered for  Silas' baby shower on December 11th.  We had a great time of fellowship and Silas got to meet a lot of people.  He was awake for most of the shower and he was in a really good mood.  We are thankful to have such a wonderful support system.

Jordan and Erin

Jordan made this, she's so talented!



Silas' First Bath

The same day we brought Silas home, we gave him a bath.  His foster mom already had him in a routine of taking a bath before bed and since he only gets up once during the night, we didn't want to mess that up.

Silas enjoys being in the bathtub but he doesn't like being cold.  We are a little out of practice bathing a little one but I'm sure we will get the hang of it quickly!

Bringing Silas Home

On December 9th, we left for Cornelius to SIlas' foster home. We spent a few hours getting updates from his foster mom, Janet, and going through paperwork with our social worker.

Our social worker had a sweet little speech prepared for us about what we had to be thankful for during this adoption. The birth parents, tribe, adoption agency, ourselves, and God were among some of the things that made the list.

We said a teary-eyed goodbye to Janet and began our trip home. Once home, we enjoyed the company of several visitors and had a little celebration meal. I am so glad to have my whole family at home. Thank you, God, for this wonderful gift!

Silas's foster mom, Janet.

Leaving for home

Silas slept the whole way home.

Gabriel and Eden are going to be a great help. They love Silas so much!

The tribe said YES!!

Today was one of those days where I couldn't keep my hands off my phone.  I kept checking it to make sure I hadn't missed a call or text from our social worker.  Tomorrow is the first day that Silas could actually come home with us and I want it to happen so badly.

Around lunchtime I emailed my social worker to ask if there were any updates and by no surprise, there weren't any.  She reassured me that they are staying in constant contact with the tribe and she promises to let me know the moment they hear something. 

On the way home from work, I was feeling pretty low so I prayed and prayed for God to handle this situation.  I knew God had an ultimate plan that He would reveal to me in His perfect timing so I also prayed for patience.

A few hours later, I had to go back to work because my students were in a Christmas program.  Just a few minutes down the road and I get 3 massive texts from my social worker.  All I could read was "tribe" "placement" and "tomorrow."  I immediately started crying, thanking God, and laughing.  God had answered our prayers.  The tribe said yes!

Just when I began to doubt God, He revealed His plan.  He knew that we couldn't bring Silas home until tomorrow so He made all the details work out to do just that.  Tomorrow, Daryl and I will travel to Charlotte to bring home our baby boy.  Finally, our family of five will be together at last!

The twins meet Silas

Today, Gabe and Eden met Silas for the first time.  Eden was very interested in Silas wanting to hold his passy and blanket.  Gabe didn't want anything to do with him.  He was more interested in playing with toys than looking at his brother.  By the end of our visit, Gabe finally came around and wanted to hold him.  They are going to be great big brothers and sisters.

While introducing the twins to Silas was a big part of our trip, we also met with their birth parents.  Today was the first time we've ever met their birthfather.  We are so glad he came because we want all three of them to know about their birth family.  We had a good visit and made tentative plans to get together soon. 

I can't wait to bring Silas home and although it's hard to wait, we know God is in control!

Silas James Burnette

Together at last!

At birth, Silas weighed 8pounds 4ounces and was 20 and 3/4 inches long.

When discharged from the hospital he was 7 pounds 4 ounces.

At his doctor's visit today he was 8 pounds 2 ounces, and 19 and 1/4 inches long.

He still had his hospital bracelets on so we got to cut them off.

.

We had such a great visit today with Silas and his foster mother, Janet. She is an amazing woman and is taking really good care of Silas. Silas is just as Janet described him. He is so happy, except when getting his clothes changed. He is very handsome and he likes to snuggle. I think he may look a little like Gabe but he is definitely his own little unique self. I am so thankful for our visit today. It was hard to leave him but it was also really good to meet his foster mom and it gives me peace to know he is being take care of. Hopefully, we will get to bring him home soon. God is good!

Silas' Foster Mom

So we didn't get to go see Silas this weekend like we hoped but I talked to his foster mom, Janet, today on the phone.  She describes him as being beautiful, happy, and content.  She says he rarely cries, he eats well, and burps easy.

I asked her if we can come visit him tomorrow and she agrees!  I can't wait to hold my little boy.  I have thought so much about what he must look like and all I can picture is Gabriel as a baby.  I am so excited to see him, kiss him, hold him, and smell him.  Thank you God for the opportunity to see my little boy!

It's A Boy!

Silas James Burnette was born Friday, November 25th in the morning!  All we know is that he is healthy and will be discharged to a foster family on Sunday.  We hope to go see him this weekend!

Thanksgiving

Well, we are still waiting for Baby Burnette to make his or her grand appearance.  The birthmother is 7 days past her due date but the holidays are a good distraction.  We've filled our days visiting with family and we are looking forward to seeing more family tomorrow. 

We have a lot to be thankful for this year.  At the beginning of 2011, Gabe's ear infections intensified which ultimately led to tubes.  Since his surgery, he has been so happy and healthy.  Eden continues to amaze us with all she has learned.  Her language and ability to remember details has really taken off recently.  God blessed Daryl and I with our trip to Ecuador this summer.  We met a lot of people and have learned a lot through this process.  I am so excited to see what God is going to do in 2012!

As if there weren't enough toys out already . . .

Eden has just recently taken an interest in baby dolls.

 

A baby shower at Piney Grove

My wonderful coworkers quickly organized and threw me baby shower. The theme was a diaper drop where the main items on the "list" are diapers and wipes. The twins came to the shower and proudly wore their "Big Brother" and "Big Sis" shirts. It was so much fun to hang-out with everyone and talk. We are blessed with wonderful friends.

It's hard to wait!

Although the birthmother hasn't yet reached her due date, November 17th, I can't believe she's not yet gone into labor.  It's really hard to wait for everything to fall into place but I have to keep reminding myself that God is in control. 

We've still not heard from the tribe but we may not hear anything until after the baby is born.  There's nothing I can do but pray and I do it constantly.  I'm praying for the birthmom, the social workers, the tribe, for my unborn child, and for all of those that come in contact with he or she once they are born.  God is good and I thank Him constantly for putting me on this roller coaster of emotions!

Homestudy!

Our social worker, Angela, came today for our homestudy.  We were amazingly able to complete the paperwork part of the adoption process in just a few days so the next step was to have Angela over to our house. 

The visit went really well except one minor issue; the pool in the backyard.  We live on a family farm outside of the city limits.  There is an in-ground pool in our backyard that does not have a fence around it.  Angela had to make a few phone calls and was told that we can slide by this issue by making a few adjustments.  First, we have to buy alarms for all the doors on the first floor that open up to the outside.  Secondly, we have to install a pool alarm that goes off once something enters the pool.

With the homestudy behind us, we now enter the waiting period . . .
We are waiting for the tribe to give us an answer . . . waiting for the birthmother to go into labor . . . and waiting to see what God has in store for us!

It's all in God's timing

The past few days have been a whirl-wind.  It started with a phone call on October 28th from Angela, our social worker at Bethany Christian Services, who we've not talked to in quite sometime.  She called to tell me that Gabe and Eden's birthmom is pregnant!  Angela told me that the birthmom is pregnant with the twins' biological father and she wants to know if we are interested in adopting this child; a full sibling!
I immediately said YES to which Angela told me to call Daryl.  Daryl agreed but then logically thought that we first need to pray about it.  We've talked about such a scenario before, if she was to get pregnant we would take a child if at all possible.  After praying for about an hour I called Daryl and we both still felt like this was definitely God.

So I in-turn call Angela and told her that we wanted this child. 

Here's all the logistics:
1. She's due November 17th!
2. The adoption paperwork is being sent to us express so we can complete our homestudy asap.
3. Angela needs to come to our house again as part of the homestudy and wants to do it very soon.
4. After our homestudy is complete, the birthmother's tribe will be contacted for permission to let us adopt this child.  This process took a week in a half to two weeks with the twins.
5. She knows she is not having twins, but she doesn't know if it is a boy or girl.

This whole situation is very overwhelming but I'm not worried at all.  God brought this to us and He has made everything work out so far so He will be in control of the rest.
Here is some of what God orchestrated:
1. Bethany's prices have increased but our tax refund is scheduled for direct deposit the same day I got this phone call.
2. Two days before all of this happened, Deena Jackson, told me that for some reason she kept envisioning me pregnant. She was close, very close.
3. Our whole family needs physicals for our homestudy.  Since Daryl and I went to Ecuador we had to have physicals this past spring so those are done.  Gabe and Eden had a physical completed in July at their 18 month check-up.
4. We've filled out this paperwork before so we are very familiar with it.
5. We live with Daryl's grandparents because we are trying to sell our house in order to go to the mission field.  They have another bedroom that isn't being used we can transform into a nursery.

God is amazing!  I can't wait to see how He continues to work in our lives.

Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday; a time for all believers to stop and think about God's command to care for the fatherless.  This Sunday our orphan care group, Miles of Hope, recreated Third Day's music video for Children of God.  We had 13 families participate in the event all in which have some connection to adoption.  The main purpose of this song was to remind our church that we are all orphans until we accept Christ as our Father. 

A Wedding to Remember

Daryl's brother, Jake, and his fiance, Lauren, were married in Cleveland, Tennessee on Saturday, November 5th.  They had a beautiful outside wedding followed by a reception in an old barn.  The ceremony, location, and everything else was perfect. 

We are so thankful to be part of this couple's lives.  They are truly genuine in their quest to love God and one another. 

Congratulations Jake and Lauren!

Halloween

 This Halloween, I wanted to really get into the spirit of it since the twins can actually participate in all the festivities.  I can't believe Daryl went along with it.  It all began by finding a Minnie Mouse costume for a really good price.  Afterwards, Daryl's cousin, Heather offered to make Mickey Mouse shorts for Gabe.  Some friends of my in-laws offered these Daisy and Donald costumes and the rest is history.  Daryl agreed to dress up if we could find yellow baseball socks so he didn't have to wear tights.

Eden was really afraid of all the people and costumes at the trunk or treat!

Gabe was really proud of himself in this costume.  He really thought he was Mickey Mouse.

Levi, Graycie, Leeandra
Gabe, Abram, Lila Ruth, and Eden

Pumpkin Patch

We loaded up the twins and took them on a trip to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out their favorite pumpkin.  The weather was amazing and they were in really good moods.



Every time we put a pumpkin in Gabe's hands he would throw it or try to roll it away.

Eden loved getting on the wagon.

It's Fair Time!

I absolutely LOVE the fair. I've been going to the Dixie Classic Fair ever since I can remember and I've been dying to take the twins. We went last year but they weren't even 1 so there wasn't a lot we could do. This year was different; we had so much fun!

Gabe and Eden did a great job waiting for their turn on the train. I am so glad I snapped these pictures of them watching the train they were about to ride on. They are growing up so fast!

We went to the petting zoo and although they were scared of the animals at first, by the end they were picking up carrots off the ground to feed the goats.

While Gabe and Daddy were waving Bye-Bye, Eden was blowing Bye Kisses to everyone as the train left the station.

One of the last rides we rode was the Wiggle Worm. I don't think Gabe and Eden were actually big enough for it but it was still fun. Gabe squeezed my hand the whole time and timidly tried to hold his hands up in the air like his Daddy.

Our 5th Wedding Anniversary

On October 6th, 2006 Daryl and I were married at Magnolia Manor in Colfax, NC. Pastor Rob Decker officiated a very chilly ceremony at sunset on a Friday evening. I can't believe it has been 5 years since we were married. The blessings God has given are too many to count. I can't wait to see what He has in store for the next 5 years.

She's Got Some Big Shoes To Fill

Eden has always been fascinated with shoes. It began last winter when she began wearing little pink and white tennis shoes. Every time we put her in her carseat she would have her shoes off within minutes. But taking them off wasn't enough; at 18 months old, Eden was able to put her shoes on all by herself and most of the time she put them on the right feet.

So anytime there are shoes laying around the house, Eden has to play with them. This picture captures her latest exploration of daddy's shoes. There's only 1 person in the house who doesn't like Eden to play with their shoes . . . Gabe!

Sibling Jealousy

I pick up the twins on Thursday after work and take them to play in the sandbox. When I took off Eden's shoes, I noticed that her Nana had painted her toes. But when I took off Gabe's shoes I found 1 pink toenail and smiled.

I can picture the whole thing . . . Eden was in her Nana's lap getting her nails painted and Gabe was watching the whole thing happen trying to wait his turn. When Eden finished, there was just no way Nana could stand Gabe's instance that he too should have his toenails painted. So she swooped him up and satisfied him by painting 1 nail. Unfortunately, she forgot to take it off later in the day which gave me quite a laugh that evening.

After being back to work for almost a month, I really needed that laugh.