FINALLY HOME!!!!

WE ARE HOME!!! Hooray, hooray is all I can say, we are home! I finally got the call yesterday afternoon a little before three. I have to give credit to Bill though for me coming home. He had of course came to see us over the weekend and as he was getting ready to head back home yesterday morning I was a little sad and frustrated. When Bill got home he decided to call down to Des Monies and see what was happening. He got a hold of the person who had to sign our papers and just asked if she knew how much longer it may take, we were trying to plan our week. The lady asked Bill for our name and Mikayla's last name. She had not even seen our file!! So she began digging through her stuff, found our file, signed it and called to Wisconsin to say that we could come home. What a great husband!! The bummer was that by the time I got home Bill was gone. He had to go to Omaha for a workshop and he and the guy he was going with left last night. That was a little disappointing but at least I was home. We have had a relaxing day at home, which has been great. It is nice to have Mikayla in her home finally and it is nice to be able to have Jennifer have some normalcy back in her life. Can't write too long I have a baby on my lap who needs attention and a big sister who is also needing some love. Thanks for praying us through these past days, it is great to be home.

together for the weekend

What a long week, that's all I can say. I was really hoping to be home by now but no such luck. After Bill and I both making phone calls and trying to find something out we found nothing out. What a long emotional process that I am ready to be done with. I was sort of at the end of rope yesterday. I was a mess. I had three sweet friends call to chat and see how I was and I ended up crying as I was on the phone with each of them. I just wanted to go home. Bill and Jennifer had some crazy days and it was killing not being able to be home. As I talked to Bill through out the week my eyes would fill with tears, I needed to be home! Some of you may be wondering what we are waiting for. Here's the deal... Mikayla is still technically "property", for a lack of a better work, of the state of Wisconsin. We are waiting for the state of Iowa to sing papers saying that Mikayla is our (Bill and I) property. Once they have signed those papers then we can cross the border and go home. We were under the impression that the process would only take about a week, well of course the process is taking longer than expected. The people at our adoption agency have been sweet to try and figure out what is going on but really it is not up to them and they can't speed things along, as much as they want to speed them up for our sake. So we continue to wait.

Bill and Jennifer got up this morning and traveled to Wisconsin to be with Mikayla and I for the

weekend. We all really needed to see each other. I am very grateful that Bill is able to come be with us for the weekend. My aunt and uncle arrived at the trailer (where I have been staying all week) last night so today we headed to the river with them for a little relaxing time. Jennifer had fun playing and Mikayla got spoiled by all the sweet people. Here are a few pictures of our fun day!

Lot of playing in the sand today. Jennifer's swimming suit was a mess when we left the beach today! Sand, sand everywhere!

Jennifer got to go for a jet-ski ride with aunt Jen! She was a little unsure at first but once they got going she kind of liked it. After the crazy week J just had she is a little unsure of a lot right now, I can't blame her though. It took her a little while today to warm up to everything that was going on.

Mikayla enjoyed her time on the beach as well!! This was the only time she was not being held while we were at the beach. She is a little tired tonight from being outside all day, she is going to sleep well tonight!

This picture is not from today but I had to include it! My mom got Jennifer these sunglasses and of course J was all about them. Before she left for home on Tuesday afternoon I wanted to take the girls' picture together and Jennifer of course thought she needed the glasses on!

packing up

The girls are both sleeping and Bill and I just got done trying to pack up some of our stuff. Having four people in a hotel room for three days can really be messy. I have to admit I am kind of glad that we are leaving the hotel tomorrow. I really wish that we were all headed home but that will be soon enough. We meet in the morning with the social worker, lots of paper work I know, not my favorite thing in the world. After the meeting Bill will drop us girls off and then head home. My aunt and uncle have a place on the river (by place I mean a trailer, for a second you all were picturing this wonderful cabin or something weren't you??!!! Ha- love you Jen!) so we will be staying there until we get to come home, home. I am very thankful that my sweet family is willing to let us stay at their place, a lot nicer than a hotel room and a lot cheaper! My mom is going to meet us there tomorrow afternoon and will stay tomorrow night with me. Then she will take Jennifer home and Mikayla and I will await the phone call to say we can come home. Some of you may be wondering why we have to wait? We have to wait for the paper work to go from Wisconsin to Iowa and then back to Wisconsin. Kind of weird I know but I don't question things I just do what I'm told. We could get to come home as early as Wednesday, I am hoping for sure by Friday, either way we are praying for the paperwork to move quickly. We want to be home, all of us. I can't wait to get home so you all can meet our sweet girl!

Saturday

Today we have had a fairly relaxing day, which was nice. We were all up a little early, that is the down side of being in a hotel, once one person is up, everyone is up. We did a bit of everything today, trying not to stay cooped up in our room all day. Four people in a hotel room can seriously get to be a bit much. Jennifer especially thinks so. So of course we did a little swimming, found a park to play at and walked around a few stores. Now it is time for everyone to get a little sleep. Here are a few pictures of our day together...

Jennifer and Mikayla getting ready for bed tonight. Jennifer does love her sister! One of favorite things today was listening to Jennifer say "Hi sister, hi sister" to Mikayla. Too cute!

Our two sisters! Jennifer thought this afternoon that she should hold Mikayla. Slowly but surely she is getting that she cannot touch her all the time. We are going to have to keep a close eye on Mikayla for a few weeks I'm afraid. Jennifer has some happy hands as we like to them towards Mikayla.

We found a park at an elementary school this afternoon. It was a fun park with some fun stuff. A little different than your average everyday park stuff. Bill and I joked that the school must really focus on strong kids. Some of the stuff was really hard!! Here is how Mikayla enjoyed the park, sleeping in her car seat, in the stroller. It was a little chilly so she is all covered up.

Random picture of Jen, just because I thought it was cute. A rare moment when she smiled while I took her picture.

Tomorrow we are off to find more "stuff" to do...

great day!

Both of the girls are sleeping soundly after a busy day. We were up early to get on the road to Mikayla. The ride went quickly, yet long, sounds weird I know. We wanted to get to Mikayla but of course there was that nervousness in the back of our minds, the what if. Right as we walked in the door of the foster families house the phone began to ring. The social worker gave the word that everything was done and Mikayla was ours!! I think Bill and I both breathed a sigh of relief, what an exciting phone call to get. We spent some time hanging out at in our hotel room, then we went out to eat as a family, ran to the store to grab a few things for both girls and then it was back to the hotel. Jennifer of course wanted to go swimming so she even got to do that today. A sister and swimming in the same day, life is good for J! After an exciting and busy day our girls are sleeping soundly. What a great feeling to have us all together at last, it may be a hotel room but at least we are together, as a family for the first night.

Our first pictures together as a forever family!!

Jennifer enjoying some swim time with dad! She loves swimming, it is very fun to watch her. She of course thought Mikayla should swim as well!

Our first night with Mikayla! She is sleeping so soundly, it is great to finally get to put her to bed!

Hope you all sleep well tonight, even if we don't get much sleep it will be a great night...

family of four!!

We are together as a family of four!!!!! What a great day it is for the McLeland's. We arrived at the foster families house just as the social worker was calling to say that they were done at court. Everything went well and Mikayla was ours!! We were able to load Mikayla up and leave together today, what a great feeling. It is such as joy for us to finally be able to just be together, all four of us. Jennifer is loving to have her baby sister close yet it is going to take some getting use to for her, she is not going to be the center of everything anymore, which may be a little hard for her. We are rejoicing in this day and cherishing the sweet moments as a forever family! I will post of pictures later this evening after we have settled in more for the evening. I just had to share our sweet news with everyone!

excited yet overwhelmed

In forty-eight hours we should be in a hotel, as a family of four. Hard to believe I know. Can you be excited and overwhelmed at the same time? That is what I am feeling right now. I am beyond excited to make the trip to Wisconsin on Friday. I am beyond excited to get to bring Mikayla with us for the first time, to put her in her car seat, to get to feel like she is finally, really ours. But yes I am a little overwhelmed. We were finally able to find a hotel room for three nights, it is amazing how difficult it was. Everything was either full or crazy expensive! My sweet husband to the rescue, he started just calling places and found us a room, hooray! We still have details to work out for next week. I am hoping to be home by Thursday but that is not a grantee and we have a sweet big sister to worry about. To stay with me or come home with Bill that is the question. While chatting with a friend tonight she reminded me not to let the little things consume me. Friday is suppose to be a great day for our family to cherish, she reminded me not to miss that by worrying about all that I think I need to get figured out. As I have been trying to figure out life the the past few days I keep hearing the words "be still" in my head. Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God". I need to remember Who has everything under control!! It's certainly not me, I'm not sure why I keep worrying about things over and over again. I need to take a deep breath and just enjoy these days, everything will work itself out. I just read these verses and had to smile Psalm 89:9 You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them. When life becomes crazy and I think it is out of control there is One who can calm the storm and make things still. As I take one more deep breath I find myself a little less overwhelmed and a lot more excited!!

almost...

We are back after spending some sweet time with Mikayla. Jennifer and I got to visit her four days in a row, it was great! We had a great time with my mom and of course Jennifer was very excited to see her dad Thursday afternoon, along with grammie. Mikayla is growing, which is hard because we see her changing but don't get to be a part of that change everyday yet. As we drove home Friday afternoon all I could think about was when we go back next week we get to take her with us! I am hoping that this week goes by quickly so we can go get our baby for good. Here are a few new pictures from our time with Mikayla.

Jennifer has not seen Mikayla since our first trip to meet her, which was a few weeks ago. She was very excited to see her sister again! It was sweet, when we pulled up the foster families house she jumped out of the car and started jumping up and down in the driveway yelling Mikayla, Mikayla! Jennifer and Mama checking out Mikayla.Giving Mikayla a bath. It fun to be able to give Mikayla a bath. She loved it, which is good because her big sister will be wanting her to play in the water lots!All bundled up after her bath.
Meeting grammie for the first time. Of course grammie thought she was pretty sweet.Having a little quiet time with daddy after a busy morning. Just four more days and Mikayla will get to be with her forever family. We can't wait!!

off to Wisconsin

I need to be packing right now but really have no motivation. In the morning Jennifer and I are going to be traveling to Wisconsin with my mom, hooray! My mom has to go for work so she thought we could ride along and see Mikayla. We will get to see Mikayla tomorrow and Thursday for a little bit, I am very excited to see her. My mom will leave sometime on Thursday and Bill will make the trip on Thursday, with his mom. So Jennifer and I will hang out at the hotel Thursday afternoon and then we will see Mikayla on Friday as well.
This week will be the last time that we have to go and "visit" Mikayla. A week from Friday we will be making the trip to get Mikayla. We are counting down the days and getting ready for her to come home. We are getting clothes out and getting her room ready. We will get to take Mikayla into our care on the 17th, meet with the social worker on the 20th and then I will have to stay in Wisconsin a few days until all the paper work is official. (Bill has a beyond busy week the week of the 20th and I won't be home, it should be interesting for him!)
I will hopefully have some new pictures to post this weekend of the girls!

pictures of the girls

Here are a few pictures of Mikayla and Jennifer just as I promised. Mikayla does looks big in the pictures but she is still little to us. She weighed 7lbs. 5oz. yesterday at her appointment.

Ready for her big day at the doctor. Don't you love the little hat?! She looks sweet in it.

Sleeping soundly on mommy after a bottle and a bath.

Getting a little sponge bath before heading to the doctor. Oh how we love our time with our sweet girl, even if it is for just a little while.

I had to include a few funny pictures of Jen as well. We got a "new" to us washer and dryer and before taking them inside we decided to clean them off a little bit. Jennifer thought it would be great to hop in the dryer, it was kind of funny. She sat in there for the longest time, singing away.
One afternoon last week while Jennifer went to the park with a friend I was in the basement painting doors. I needed to get one more coat on a few of the doors and thought I would get it done before Bill got home from work. Jennifer was back from the park so I thought I would let her paint while I painted. I set up the easel and gave her some paints. I looked over a few minutes later to find this...

Jennifer decided to pretty much paint her entire body!! All I could do was laugh. I did set myself up I guess, leaving her free to do what as she pleased with paint! The paint is washable so it did come off after some time in the pool and a bath!

I look at these pictures and am reminded to cherish each moment, no matter how little.