GOD IS GOOD!

visits, with parents, are being decreased to only one hour per week. we are in the process of seeing if visits can be eliminated all together as they are so stressful on capri. we are currently scheduled to head to court in february, but are hoping to get to court sooner to terminate parental rights. please keep her in your prayers as we continue to fight for this precious little girl.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAPRI

my sweet capri, today you turn two! what a precious blessing i love you SO...love, mama

the name game

since we were selected to be cassie's home, we haven't had the fondest feelings toward her name and have always talked about changing it to something that better suits her personality. little did we know that an adoption would take this long and we still have a long way to go before her name can officially be changed.

over the past 18 months, we've called her monkey, dolly, sweetie, pretty much anything and just recently started calling her cassie a little bit more. now, she's learning her name, so we have discussed with her teacher what to do about this since we can't change her name yet. her teacher suggested that we come up with a name for her that sounds similar to hers, but is a name that we love, and that our friends and family can call her as a pet name until it can someday become her real name. if people still call her cassie, it's no big deal, eventually that name will become more like her pet name.

last friday, paul and i went out on a date with the intent to spend time together, but also to come up with a name that we loved and that fit her personality. paul selected her first name, and i selected her middle name. with that being said, we would like to introduce you to...



capri linay

why capri you may ask: paul loves the name capri (as do i), and after some research, we found a myth about capri, italy. the myth says that millions of years ago (i know...it's a myth) the island was connected to a mainland and that through turbulent weather and difficulties, it broke off from the mainland and has been on it's own, working toward italy. cassie is an island, she's gone through much turbulence and we hope to become her secure harbor and that one day we can add sadowski to her name as well.

The Pretty Ballerina

i haven't been much into blogging lately because i am doing something i should have done 18 months ago...i'm scrapping cassie's baby book!!! i've had a really hard time with this, as some of you may know. i didn't know how to go about scrapping the life of a child without my last name...a child, who, for a while there, we thought was only going to be with us for a moment. but the more i thought about it, and prayed about it, the more i realized that however long that moment, i need to embrace it!

so embrace it i am! i have finished three pages so far...and have over 20 in the works...my mom and sisters would be so proud! i've stayed up late, i've looked through scrapbook magazines, and listened to my scrapping c.d.'s (even the one's my husband hates)! i have a ways to go to catch up on where we are today, i feel led to scrap some of the hard times as well, because they make up who she is, with all she's gone through. however, i couldn't wait to share this picture with all of you...it is my favorite picture i've ever had of her...as my mom says, "she oozes with (my) personality."

so thanks to GOD for helping me with this, because, whether a moment or a lifetime...He's helping me scrap...my pretty ballerina!

pickin' a punkin!

yesterday was just one of those wonderful days that you want to remember forever...it wasn't perfect, there were fits thrown, coffee spilled, and lots of dirt involved, but it was still wonderful!

it was supposed to rain all day, so we put going to the pumpkin patch on the back burner, but we awoke to a beautiful cloudy day, perfect for pumpkin hunting and picture taking. so we made our way to "papa's pumpkin patch" and found a wagon and hiked back to the patch, by the grace of GOD i didn't see any snakes!!! we got some great pictures, three beautiful pumpkins and family memories to last a lifetime.

cassie was enamored by all of the orange "balls" in the field, but she was too scared to touch them, but, with some coaxing from her daddy, she eventually felt comfortable enough to hold one in her lap while we snapped away taking any and all photos. after picking out our pumpkins, we headed back to pay for them and found three pigs chowing down on corn on the cob...apparently cassie's never seen a live pig before and couldn't stop saying how "ucky" the "dog dog" was. and laughing at the sounds they made...then she was saying "papa" because well, (sorry dad), it kinda sounded like papa when he sleeps!

we headed off to my favorite place, lincoln perk, for a cup of coffee and a sugar cookie for paul, he let cassie have a few bites at least. and then we ended the day with paul and cassie taking a long nap while i went thrift store shopping.

it is amazing to me how just an "average" day can mean so much...two years ago, a day like this would have been hard for paul and me...watching little kids running around while our arms were empty. now, we are so busy chasing after this little punkin' we hardly see the other children anymore. how wonderful is our GOD that HE brings about days like this, when, perfect or not, can take our breath away!?!

court report

so, we had court this morning and all went exceptionally well! the judge changed cassie's case plan from "reintegration with adoption as back up" to "termination with adoption being the intent."

now we wait. we have court currently scheduled in february to officially terminate parental rights, but can request an earlier court date if all of the parties involved have their information gathered and ready to go sooner. we are, however, hoping that cassie's parents will see this as an opportunity to sign over their rights so that they won't lose additional children...this would eliminate a court date all together, so that would be the best!

we are encouraged that things are going in the right direction, but still request your prayers as things can still change. lift up cassie in prayer as her visits with her parents continue between now and court and they can be very stressful and her.

thanks for all of your encouragement and prayer!

CAFE MICH MAC

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