Updating my life...pictures of the whole crew to come soon!

An update on my expanding family...we have physical custody of all of Chris’s kids now. In a very pleasant surprise the first Friday of Spring Break we received a phone call saying that we didn’t have to return Angelica and Matthew to their foster home. Apparently enough abuse had been reported and verified and all 7 of the children living in that foster home were pulled permanently and they are no longer allowed to give foster care in the state of Oregon, there is also the possibility of criminal charges and proceedings. So now living in the house full time we have Christina (14), Megan (12), Angelica (10), Joseph (9), Matthew (8), Kenneth (7) and Liam (5) with Baby M growing rapidly and arriving sometime in July. It is a fun, humbling, frustrating, loving, nurturing, growing, challenging, constantly changing learning experience that I seem to have ventured into. So many different personalities, so many varied issues to be tackled, so many styles of learning and all in different stages of growth and development (not necessarily in order of age either). All of the children have challenges to overcome and every day seems to show a new one, even the adjustment of this new life and family is daunting at best for some of them. Learning about the different psychological diagnosis of all the kiddos as well as the disabilities and how to best work with, cope with and teach according to needs and developmental levels is at times a bit overwhelming. I pray daily that I am up to the challenge and remind myself sometimes multiple times a day that we would not be given more than we could handle. Sometimes I am very aware that God has more faith in me than I do in myself. Patience, understanding, tolerance, grace, and ear plugs seem to be the most often requested in prayer. Although I also need to remember when praying that often you are not given what you are asking for but rather the opportunity to learn and experience what you are asking for...perhaps I prayed to often for love for I am receiving the opportunity and experience to love in spades...I guess all those things previously mentioned go hand in hand with love though.
My lovingly sneaky man had arranged for us to have a date and on the evening before Easter we left the house and all the children in it with my Dad hoping and praying that all would be well for a few hours (lol really I do have faith in my father but it is a lot of kids for one man). He took me to a park that is very special to us. It is a place that individually we both held as a sacred and magical place and together planted the seeds of our love. It is the place where we each realized we were falling in love. There was no one there that evening, or at least no people. The only other company we had was that of two eagles nesting...doing the ’dance of love’, watching over and blessings the proceedings below. That evening Chris asked me to be his wife! He proposed ever so romantically and I was so surprised and excited and overjoyed that I had to sit and rest my shakey legs for a moment. Even though I knew that this was the direction our relationship was headed towards it hit me harder than I expected it to. I ,of course, through a few tears answered with a yes and we are tentatively planning a wedding in that same park for the summer of 2009. Our love bloomed in the summer, our baby will be born in the summer and it seems fitting to say our vows in the summer. My engagement ring is a beautiful setting with one square white opal in the center and two rectangular pink tourmalines on either side. Most of you know how I place much meaning into the stones I wear as well as the meanings behind symbols and numbers. Although I don’t think he had these things specifically in mind when buying this ring, nothing is coincidence. Check this out...
At one time, this stone was considered the gem of love. Known as "The Gem of the Gods," Opal has always had a mystical significance. It is said to aid in psychic vision and to have the power to open the spiritual centers. It enhances your ability to communicate what is in your heart, helps in overcoming those things you do to yourself that are harmful. The opal is said to be many things including the most powerful of healing stones, the stone of hope, and the stone of great achievement.

Pink Tourmaline is a good choice for children recovering from abuse, and healing the inner child. Brings deep comforting love energy. Transforms negative behavior into positive. Love, spirituality, joy, peace, understanding. Emotional and spiritual love, healing emotional loss and emotional pain, fear, instills self-gentleness. Tourmaline helps you to move beyond limited thinking, to an expanded sense of reality, and see past experiences in new ways. It teaches us that we are light beings in physical form, and helps us to experience the physical and spiritual worlds as one.

The square represents building uprightly on a strong secure foundation. It has also been used to symbolize home.

Of course there are also three stones so here for those that don’t already know is some info on the number three. This is just a general over view.

The third dimension - we do things in threes so they will manifest in our physical realm. It’s roots stem from the meaning of multiplicity. Creative power; growth. Three is a moving forward of energy, overcoming duality, expression, manifestation and synthesis. Three is the first number to which the meaning "all" was given. It is The Triad, being the number of the whole as it contains the beginning, a middle and an end. The power of three is universal and is the tripartide nature of the world as heaven, earth, and waters. It is human as body, soul and spirit. Notice the distinction that soul and spirit are not the same. They are not. Three is birth, life, death. It is the beginning, middle and end. Three is a complete cycle unto itself. It is past, present, future.

So there it is, take it or leave it but it means a lot to me. I am so blessed with all of these life changes. Our family will only become stronger as individuals and as a unit. We are at the very begining of a long and beautiful journey and I can’t wait to see it evolve further.