When is waking up to "_______ is in jail" a good thing?

I am not sure I would call it a good thing but when I heard that "Lizzy's" mom had court yesterday (not pertaining to Lizzy) and that she got thrown in jail for the next 30 days with no bail...I felt kinda happy.

I guess I would say relieved would be the best way to describe it. All I see is 30 days of no visits, a step closer to perhaps Lizzy not having to return to a volatile situation, maybe even permanency.

I don't know, I don't want to sit around reveling in someone else's misfortune but I do want what is best for Lizzy.

Date Night

On Saturday night Ben and I finally had a date night! We got a baby sitter for the kids and went out. We had 5 lovely hours to kill and no real plans. First we ended up at the movies and saw "Grown Ups" - very funny :)

Then we went to dinner at Applebee's. On our way there we started laughing about how long it has been since we went to Applebee's. We used to go there EVERY Friday or Saturday. While we were in the car we realized that we have never even taken S there so that it at least a year since the last time we went. Life sure changes when you have more kids!
After dinner we still had 2 hours before we had to be home. We decided to drive up to the mall and ended up seeing a carnival in their parking lot! I thought that was odd but I love carnivals at night time! It was funny to walk around and not stop at ever kiddy ride, but we did go on the Ferris Wheel. It was so pretty with the dark sky, an almost full moon and all the rides lit up. I didn't expect to end up on a Ferris Wheel that night :)
Anyway, we had such a great time being ALONE and together. We are working on making that a normal thing. :)

A Summer of Crazy Love

Over at http://aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com/ Linny is sharing "Crazy Love" stories. You can read about them on her blog and read about her summer of "Crazy Love" challenge there as well.

She asked people to tell a post a story about some "Crazy Love" they have been giving out this summer so here goes...

Last Thursday I did exactly what I always have wanted to do, but never done. Because I am a woman it is not considered "safe" for me to go around helping homeless guys holding up signs. My dad has always told me it isn't safe as does my husband. Yet, every time I see them I feel the urge to DO something.

Growing up my Dad's generosity was very apparent. I remember several times my dad seeing a homeless person while we were driving around and would literally take us all home and then would either get food and take it to the person OR he would go pick up the person and take them out to eat. That is my dad, he would make sure his family was safe and then he would go take care of others. He had his priorities straight.

I NEVER forgot him doing that. So, every time I see a man holding a sign on the side of the road I feel the need to do something, and I think of my dad.

In the past I never have done anything, I have always had a legitimate excuse or a not so legitimate excuse, but I never did anything. Well, on Thursday I was on my way home from picking up some work stuff, I had all the kids in the car with me and I saw him. This picture is a very good representation of the man I saw, sign and all:
At first I drove past him, but then God said "Feed Him." I looked around and saw that there were lots of fast food places around and ever a parking lot I could park in on the other side of the road from where he was so that I could stay a safe distance away and still give him the food.

So, I went to McDonalds and picked him up a couple burgers and I had a case of water in the back of my car. I went back to the parking lot across the road from where he stood with his sign. I got out of the car, locked the kids in and walked across the grass with the bag of food and 2 bottles of water.
I waved him over, set the food on the ground and walked away before he could even cross the traffic to come get the food. He waved me the sweetest thank you, the look in his eyes really said it all. I got in the car, and then watched. He crossed back over the the street to go his backpack. He knelt down and put the items in his bag along with his sign and then started walking in the opposite direction of where I was headed. I was glad to see that the food was enough and, at least from what I could see, he didn't plan on staying there until he got money for liquor or something.

Then, on the way home Kobe and I talked about what God would want us to do if we saw a person that needed food. It was so sweet to hear Kobe say God would want us to buy them LOTS of food, and he meant it. I hope so badly that Kobe will see what I do and remember it like I remember my dad doing it. Kids learn so much more by our actions then our words.

PS I conveniently forgot to tell Ben until a few days later. I started out by telling how "safe" I made sure it was :)

Phone Calls & Emails

I got an email that said "from K"...

Hi, Leah!

K asked us to send you guys an email. And, he wants to say, "I love you and I'm having fun playing!"

Our phone and internet service just got set up today. Our area lost power the day we were supposed to get it, so we had to reschedule. Hope you all are having a good weekend!!

Also, this morning I got a phone call from K. He was so excited to tell me he was going on a little trip and to a water park! The day he left here permanently he knew we were leaving on a little trip and going to a water park and was sad he wasn't going. I told him I was sure his new family would take him to one too. I was tickled to hear how excited he was that it was true :)

He talked to Ben and Kobe and told everyone that he loved them and chatted about his new house, new grandma's house, her pool and other stuff.

He sounded very happy, not a drop of sadness in his voice.

I am so happy his mom has made such a great effort to say in contact with me. I am very thankful for that.

New post

I want to post something new, interesting, and with pictures.

But I got nothin' right now.

Usually when there is "radio silence" it is because there is stuff I don't want to talk about going on.

This time is no exception.

Everyone is fine - I will just have to take the kids out to do something fun and take some pictures so that I have a distraction :)

The Beach

"but those who hope in the LORD...

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;


they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”It has been a long week, again, and it is only Wednesday. We are trusting God to do what is right for our family. I believe HE is.

As you can tell, when life hands you lemons...the Wentzel's head to the beach. We had such a great time with the kids and a much needed day off from life :) Ben took the day off and we just hung out with our kids and enjoyed the day. It was exactly what we needed.

to see the girls' faces click here

Hard to hear

I got a call letting me know that S will start up her overnight weekend visits again. The reason is "lack of evidence" which I knew was coming.

Also, turns out at the care house S didn't tell them anything. She wouldn't talk to them, so the social worker lied, again.

I did see this coming so I am not surprise, it is just sad to see this is how this works. Be praying that God will keep her safe.

JOY

God has called this boy to be a VERY special big brother...

...and to these little girls he has done it effortlessly.
We are so proud of you, and I have to say, you are JUST like your father.
And that is the highest compliment I could pay you. You dad has been called to be a very special Dad and he also has managed to do it with more grace, love and natural ability than I ever dreamed anyone could possibly possess.

Happy Father's Day, Ben. You do an amazing job doing exactly what you were MEANT to do.

So much going on - no time to post in the summer :)

Well, it is summer time so everyone has abandoned blog land, but not me :)

I have been very busy with the kids, just the day to day stuff fills up the WHOLE day and if you throw in one extra thing the day is REALLY busy. On top of taking care of the 3 kids I still work from home doing video work and apparently there is a lot of work to be done! I have been super busy with that too which is awesome but means I am not getting much sleep.

So, K has been gone for over a week now and I just can't believe, even with a new 18 mo old here, how QUIET this house is. It is so relaxed compared to when K was here, I guess there is just nothing relaxing about him. He was the first one up everyday and the first thing out of his mouth was always asking me for something in a very loud voice. I am not a morning person so that was really hard for me to get used to. The other crazy thing is watching the 3 kids play together minus K. They all get along. No one is crying, whining, screaming, tattling...I mean once in a while they do but NOTHING compared to what it was like when K was here. I never would have dream that he was the stimulus for all of that. I thought Kobe was just being a pain and that S was being a brat...but as soon as K left the picture there has been a lovely harmony that has settled here. It is obvious to me that we did the right thing. Plus, I bet he is having a blast being the baby at his own house and getting tons of attention. I hope this is what is called a win win. :)

I had Lizzy's first visit on Wednesday. It was so sad for a couple different reasons.

1. I don't think she really cares about her bio mom

2. She is in love with her bio dad that has no rights to her

When she saw her dad she was so excited and snuggled right in and just laid on him while he told her how much her loved her over and over and over...

He is the one that has been raising her and I think they are very bonded. I don't see much of a bond to her bio mom. The crazy thing is, because Lizzy's mom was married to someone else when she gave birth to Lizzy her bio dad doesn't have rights to her...at all. The court has made that very clear. He doesn't get to go to visits with her or anything. He got to see her for, like, 5 minutes in the waiting room then had to leave. So sad.

I also spent some time talking to the Aunt Lizzy was living with and she was telling me that Lizzy's bio mom was still failing drug tests and wasn't doing any of what she needed to to get her back. I guess bio mom also has an 11 yr old son that she lost rights to and now lives with a grandparent and she isn't allowed to see him at all. It is funny how when you ask people if they have other kids they will say "Oh yeah" as if they take care of them every day and they really haven't seen them in years. I know they still gave birth to them, but the way they say it would lead you to believe it is so much different than that.

Lizzy's visit was only 1 hr so very quickly it was over. She did really good and was fine going home with me. It went pretty good I would say. It will be interesting to see how her hearings go.

remember

I came across this today on another foster mom's blog on a question and answer post:

If you had to go back and start all over (meaning: with your first placement) would you still adopt from foster care?

You haven't seen pictures of my little boys yet, so I can forgive you for asking this one! :-) The answer is YES. Two and a half years is a small price to pay for the life and love of a child.

Lord, thank you for reminding me someday all this will be worth it!

The boys' homecoming

Click to Play

at the airport

Completely and Totally Overwhelmed - and loving it!

For, like, 5 minutes I was a mom of 4. Going from 1 child who is almost totally independent to 3-4 kids who are NOT totally independent in less that a year is a HUGE change!

Some days I have found myself bearing it at times, or I have found myself counting the minutes until nap time so that I can have a minutes peace.

Last night I read a blog post that got me thinking.

Basically it reminded me to find joy in whatever I was doing. As I was standing at the sink thinking about how to find more joy in my day I looked around. Sink full of dishes, toys on the floor, laundry that was calling my name, work that was calling my name...and 2 little girls. (Kobe was at Basketball with Ben so it was just me and the girls)

S was sitting at the table eating and Lizzy was in her high chair rubbing her entire body with eating chocolate pudding. And there they were, my JOY. I had waited a long time for my little girl, and now I have two. Yes, as foster care goes, I don't know how long I will have them-but that tends to make them all the more precious. It makes even the simple things mean so much more. It makes that little girl sitting in her high chair rubbing chocolate pudding in her hair just a little more beautiful and the other little girl sitting at the table asking me for something else for the 100th time today just that much more irresistible.

I have been spending a little too much time bearing the things that have been making my life "harder" - I am ready to embrace them and feel the joy that comes right along with them.

Finally HOME!

So. Today was a pretty big day. My sister in law and her hubby got home today from Taiwan. They were there picking up their sons, Levi & Landon.

They had to leave their daughter here for a little over a week while they were gone and boy was their little family happy to be back together!!


I thought the boys did really good. They didn't cry, they just looked around, what a whirlwind adventure they have just started!

This picture cracks me up of Brook. She was telling me "He just said Kobe!" :)
This shot of Jason & Landon was my favorite today.


Congratulations to all of you guys! Enjoy your miracles!

Ben's Family Reunion

Well, besides having a sick baby with us and being sick our selves, our weekend away did manage to be fun :) We were so happy to get away from work, even though it could have been easier, it was still nice to not have work pulling at us!

Here is a shot of Grandma Ghent, Ben's Grandma who is turning 100 this year, with her kids in front of her late husband's first car! I guess he used to pick up Grandma in this car to go on dates! How cute is that?!

Here is Ben with Lizzy. Of course the reunion was RIGHT during nap time but our sick baby did pretty well. "The baby whisperer" wrapped her up and she went right to sleep right where she likes to be, in Daddy's arms. He sat with her sleeping during the auction while I took the kids down to the beach.
It was not very warm this year. I think we are doing this reunion too early for the beach but not having a heat stroke is nice too...
This is my niece Brook. Her mom and dad weren't at the reunion because THEY ARE IN TAIWAN PICKING UP THEIR TWO ADOPTED SONS!!! They will be home tomorrow with them, we are all really excited!

The kids did play down at the beach for quite a while. They enjoyed the sand the most. We had an awesome indoor pool, water slide, playground and game room at the hotel we stayed at so they swam every day there.
It was funny how much fog was down by the beach, it was odd but pretty.


S loved the sand and didn't touch the water :)




I love this shot!




She begged me to bury her, so I did.


The only things that were crazy enough to get in the water were the dogs!

Kobe :)
I love this shot of Brook but I am sure her mom will die at the messy hair! Brook is a dive right in to ANYTHING kinda girl, keeping her hair perfect isn't her main concern :)

S told me she was "swimmin' in the sand"

It was fun to sit and watch the kids play. We had a lot of fun outside of the sickness :)