Baptized

It looks like she has been put through the wringer.  Well...I guess, technically she was.

1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit, and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."

A few weeks ago I was concerned about  Catie's conception and birth circumstances.  I was worried that her past might have a negative impact on her future.  I was worried about the evil that may have entered her life through those circumstances.  I was considering how we might be able to bring her to be prayed with.  


Then my brother in law taught be a very important lesson.  Within the Sacrament of Baptism, an actual exorcism is preformed as a part of the ceremony.  Prior to the water washing away all her sins, she is exorcised of any evil spirits. When I learned this I could not wait for April 29th to arrive!!  


Today Catie was baptized into the Catholic Church.  Adopted as a daughter of God.  How cool is that?  Our gotcha day was April 25th.  God's gotcha day was today, April 29th.  :)  I love how He loves us!  \

Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift. . . .We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God's Lordship. St. Gregory Of Nazianzus, Oratio 40,3-4:PG 36,361C.

it's official

and forever!

Adoption Day, 20 hours to go!

Maura Catherine...welcome to our family! 

On April 28th of last year I prayed at St Gianna's shrine, on her feast day and with her relics for our family to grow.  One week to the day later I met  you for the first time and fell madly in love.  It was a bit of a roller coaster, but you were truly meant for us.  You have filled our lives with so much joy and love.  We love you and are counting the minutes until 10am tomorrow when it is finally and forever official.  Wednesday you will become a part of our forever family.  Saturday, St Gianna's feast day (April 28th) we will be giving thanks for you.  Sunday, St Catherine of Siena's feast day, we will be baptizing you (on your name's day) and you will forever become a part of God's family. 

XOXOXO
With all our love,
mama & papa

home improvements

With spring in the air and company arriving soon, comes the motivation for home improving.  My first project was powerwashing and restaining our deck and playsets.  I found this great product at Lowes called Restore that made our icky old deck seem like a Trex deck.  It is not cheap (1 gal covers 50 sq ft, versus 1 gal of stain covering 250 sq ft) but I am so happy with the results.  I also slip-proofed the stairs and bridge on the playset by painting them with this prduct as well.

Next.  The Basement.  Finally.  The Basement! 

Our house is forever a work in progress.  It is nice to finally be making some.  Slow by sure.  While my husband worked on studding the wall and doing the electric, I worked on trimming out our fireplace.  This is officially my second wood working project and it is completely addicting.  So many more pinterest possibilities now that I can cut my own wood! 

Taking inspiration from one of my favorite blogs, this is what I am doing with the fireplace.  I still have a bit of work to do, but it is coming along.  I will try to get some actual finished pics up soon!

My next Pinterst project is this fantastic ruler growth chart. 

dear lillie

And then possibly this mat:

from Martha Stewart

Oh...and the garden. Once we have the adoption and party out of the way...the garden needs some love.

the gift of open adoption

Head on over to Foster2Forever to check out my guest post.

The Gift of Open Adoption - even in foster care

our pic...for now

16 days and counting until adoption day!

keeping vigil by candlelight

While life outside is normal and kids are playing on their spring break, inside our home is different.  It is a place of respite.  It is dark and lit only by candlelight.  It is Holy Thursday, we are making space in our lives for the Lord.  We are fasting from artificial light. 

Parenthood is stressful.  The most stressful period of my life thus far.  For me, adolescence was a time of restlessness and rebellion.  Young adulthood was a sort of quiet waiting with an anxiousness to know the future.  As a young married dealing with five years of infertility was pure anguish.  And  now, here I am.  Blessed parenthood.  And I am stressed.

This opportunity for peace  is a welcome moment in our life.

Today I was hoping to bring our family to the Vigil.  Two sick children plus one husband who needs to study means our life got in the way of our plans.  We watched a bit of the vigil on EWTN and now I am keeping vigil at home by candlelight.

Lord, be with us.  Helps us to enter in.

I am going dark.  Stopping only to share our experience by blog.  We are adopting this (read #2) wonderful suggestion and will be dark until Easter Sunday.

Happy feast day to my wonderful brother in law and all our clergy!

From the Chrism Mass (the bishop addresses the people):
My brothers and sisters, pray for your priests.  Ask the Lord to bless them with the fullness of his love, to help them be faithful ministers of Christ the High Priest, so that they ill be able to lead you to him, the fountain of your salvation.  Lord Jesus Christ, hear us and answer our prayer.

the challenges of open adoption

I was asked to guest post next week on Foster2Forever about the benefits of open adoption.  I am not usually at a loss for words, but it has been a challenging post to compose.  I firmly believe in the benefits of open adoption.  The ironic part is we are in the middle of a challenging situation that will impact Catie's life.

Back in the summer we went through a court battle with bio-aunt and bio-uncle who were fighting for Catie to be theirs.  It was a very unique set of circumstances.  Ultimately, the county did not feel it was in her best interest.  Their lawyer essentially represented us (as county foster parents) to keep her.  I was asked to testify in front of biological parents and relatives about how we love Catie, how she reacts negatively following visits with the aunt and how she is thriving in our routine.  The judge made it very clear how important she felt the family connection was.  She had me stand up in the back of the court room and asked what I saw could work to allow Catie to maintain a relationship with her Aunt and Uncle.  I stated that I had once a month visits in mind.  The judge seemed to accept this and challenged the Aunt to accept this (who was clearly emotionally upset from the decision that Catie would not be theirs).  No visitation was ordered, essentially leaving degree of contact in our hands.

Since that time we have scheduled a once a month visit with the Aunt & Uncle.  I talk to the aunt on the phone.  It is a very brief conversation.  I drop Catie at the door (where the uncle picks her up).  The Uncle returns her to my house three hours later.  In 6 months, I have not physically seen the Aunt.

I asked to set up a breakfast meeting with the Aunt & Uncle.  Primary motivation, we don't know them.  They have not extended themselves to us or attempted to form a relationship with us.  Secondary motivation, to put the ball in their court for scheduling visits.

That breakfast meeting was this morning.

Bottom line, I do not feel comfortable with Catie having unsupervised visits in their home.  There are other members of the household whom I do not trust to be unsupervised with my daughter.  I KNOW that if I offer park visits, offer to come with Catie to supervise, etc etc, it is going to upset the aunt, who specifically wants unsupervised visits in her home.

But.  She is our daughter.  It is our job to protect her and keep her from harm.  I know that this will likely be the last we see or hear from the aunt (who after this morning still believes we are okay with monthly unsupervised visits).

We are taking this to prayer.  Truly seeking God's will.  Please pray with us for this situation.

stuck in the middle

Earlier this month Augie was diagnosed with Williams Syndrome. The diagnosis was based on facial characteristics and speech delays and personality consistent with the Syndrome.  It was an emotional week as I explained to friends and family and tried to wrap my brain around what this diagnosis would mean for Augie and our family.

And then a strange thing happened.  The first blood test came back negative.  My initial response was "praise God".  But this did not rule out WS.  WS is still a possibility.  SO, the problem now lies in how far do we go for a diagnosis.

Typical next step is a test called the microarray.  The genetic counselor is researching a next step of a test called gene sequencing (which my brother explains as trying to understand space travel back in the 50s).  Both tests are $$$. Quick estimate from a friend of the sequencing is >5k. 

So, now....How far do we go to confirm or rule out the diagnosis.  Current surveys (from a WS group on facebook) say do the microarray (CGH) to be sure.  I need to confirm cost and then decide our next step.  
Hypothetically, if we were to stop here...what assumptions do I make.  Does he or doesn't he?  I will keep you posted.