Dad decided to put Abby in a box against her will. Once in there she wouldn't come out! Our first round of potty training had mixed results. We decided to back off and wait longer. She wants to use it periodically, she just doesn't "use" it.
Abby has been growing fast and you can't tell she was a premie anymore. She's been in a toddler bed now for a few months. We just weened Mom off of staying in the room until she's asleep.
Tashia is going away for the weekend to scrapbook with friends. It's her first time away and dad's 1st time with Abby. He could stay and brave it alone, but instead will head back to enlist the help of the grandparents. It wasn't too hard to talk them into it!
We continue to be amazed at the billing system of heath care. Yesterday we received a two page bill for 20 cents! This was due to paying a bill one day late. They were aware that we had to reprocess the claim (another story). The funny thing is, we know that if we do not pay this that we will eventually have a collection agency after us. This happened when we were not aware that we had an outstanding bill of less than $2 to another heath facility. Thought we would share our amusing experience. We may have someone we know drop by and give them a quarter. They can keep the change. (Don't get us started on HIPAA)
Well, back to our family. Many ask us what's next on our plans for children. We still want more and have decided not to have any more on our own. It's not that we are afraid that we couldn't do it if we had another EB child. We know God would see us through again.
Through time and prayer we are still feeling led to adopt a child. We would really love another infant as we have yet to care for a child between 2 and 7 months old and really like caring for babies.
We are just beginning the process of getting information and deciding which avenue to take. Financially we are getting ourselves ready so we can act when the opportunity presents itself. We know it can take years and would like to fill an immediate need if possible. So, we are also looking into foster care. Again, that is also a process with it's own risks and trials.
Our desire long term would be to adopt and/or foster older children that are unable to get placed. Before that we would like to raise our children for experience and also to be role models for those youth.
All of this is going to require us to be patient and wait on God's timing. It could turn out that this is not where he wants to lead us, but we sure hope so!
Blessings to you all this year,
Stu, Tashia and Abby-in-a-box
