THIS WEEK

Yep, this week has come and is pretty much gone. What week, you ask? This is the week that Faith and Avery should have been born. If all had gone well, my doctor would have induced labor on Thursday. It was a hard week. We tried often to focus on all of the blessings around us and not focus on what might have been, but that wasn't always easy. It was a sad week.

I honor of the idea of an expanding family, we do have some news. NO, I am not pregnant although it does seem like everyone else in the world around us is. We have decided to begin the process to become foster parents. Fostering has always been something that I have felt a bit of an urging towards. I could never get over the thought of giving a child back once I had made room in my heart for them. So until this point I have only marveled at those who seem to have found a way to get over that idea that I could not. During this process of giving our own daughters back to the God that loved them more than we can even imagine we coped by realizing that in all things God has a greater purpose. A couple of months after the loss of our girls that urge to foster crept back up on me again. I felt like God was telling me, I have prepared you for this and now your heart is ready. Justin will quickly admit that I felt called before he did, but we are praying that if this the direction that God has for our family that he will prepare the hearts of each member (including Grayson). We have filled out the application and now we must wait to see if Wake County feels we are qualified to begin the training classes. Those last 8 weeks and the next session begins in mid-October. I will keep you all posted. Our prayer right now is that God will lead our path and decisions and that if this is not what He would have for our family, then we are asking that He close this door.

Grayson is wonderful, as usual. Since Aunt Meg's departure he has been going with me to the office a lot. He is so good there. He loves to make copies with some of the therapists and he really loves working with Ms. Brenda, our office manager and office mom. He sits at the desk with her clicking away on the mouse she lets him play with, adding up who knows what on the adding machine, and drawing. Oh he is in Heaven! Brenda treats him just like one of her own grandchildren. He isn't spoiled there one bit. I feel so blessed to have a working situation where I can take him there when I need to. It makes life so much easier.

Grayson has finally transitioned to going to bed without the pacifier. He didn't cry at all the last two nights. He has also dropped a nap. Grayson went from taking two, two hour naps to now only taking one (hour to an hour and a half) nap. He goes and goes and goes and now that he is walking he gets there really fast. I don't know where he gets the energy from. He is talking a lot more. His jibberish is adorable and he has a lot of real words now. He is now saying fish, truck, spoon, light, that, yummy, yuck, poop, pool, and no. Everything is HOT these days and he loves to talk about his shoes. He is even putting some two words together like "hi daddy" and "bye fish". He will also try to say people's names if you tell him how to say it. He says Pa-pa (for his grandpa) regularly, Guh (?) for his Aunt Meg, Bee for his aunt B, and he has tried to say Levi, Rin, Peyton, Lisa, Brenda, and Katie.

His two most amazing things this past week both involved talking. After a day at the pool with my friend Cindy and her kids, one who is named Jack, he came home remembering that Jack-Jack. I asked Grayson to tell daddy who he saw that day when Justin got home from work not really expecting a response. He quickly replied, "Jack-Jack". I asked him several more times throughout the evening and the next day. Same answer, Jack-Jack. Guess that little fella made an impression. Grayson also learned the sound a dinosaur makes. Grayson doesn't do a typical roar like most little boys. Oh no, he has a very deep growl of a roar that will make you fall in the floor laughing. I LOVE IT!

Oh, and one last thing for those of you who have not seen them yet. We FINALLY had Grayson's one year and our family pictures done. Remember, right after he turned one I went on bed rest and well the rest since has been chaos. Anyway, they turned out great. You can take a look by going to www.mycreativeclicks.com Click on the baby in the middle of the page. That will take you to the galleries. Grayson's gallery is named Grayson and the password is Caldwell (case sensitive). Let us know what you think.