Christmas Letter

Davis Family
2012

 Introducing: Raven, Nadia and Carson

This is our story:

This has been a crazy year full of joy and heartache (but mostly joy). It all began on April 17^th, 2012 when we got a call from Utah State Foster Care asking if we could take three kids (a sibling group) and if so, could we have things ready for them the next morning. We of course said yes!!!

There have been some ups and downs, like most people experience through foster care. There have been many team meetings, court, caseworker visits and visits with bio family. Through most of this journey we were working towards reunification with the kids and their bio family, but in the end it just did not work out. In the end the judge asked us if we would/could adopt these three amazing kids. Again, we said, YES!!!

 ADOPTION DATE:

12/12/12

Raven is our oldest. She is 7 and is in the 2^nd grade. She loves school, riding her bike, reading, making animal noises and anything to do outdoors. She is a great help around here. We love that she is friendly, outgoing and funny.

Nadia is 6 and she is our “Little Miss Sassy Pants”. There is never a day that goes by that she doesn’t make us laugh. She is quick witted. She is in all day Kindergarten and loves it. She is excited to learn, ride her bike, play with her dolls and read.

Carson is 4 and is our “Little Monkey”. He is in preschool and loves it. He loves to climb, anything to do with cars (especially Lightning McQueen), ride his bike and anything that has to do with being a boy.

Joe is still working for Hansen Insulation, yeah that is all about that subject. It pays the bills right? He is starting to get back into karate a little bit and enjoys being a dad.

Brea is about to start her 7^th year at H&R Block and 5^th year as a manager. She loves the tax season and loves to help her clients better understand their financial lives. She has been enjoying being a stay at home mom.

These kids have changed our lives in so many ways. We are thankful for them being a part of our family each and every day.

Love, Joe, Brea, Raven, Nadia and Carson

*************************************************

Here is how the kids made out:

 

I will post more pics later of the craziness.

Adoption: The Greatest Gift

I think adoption is the hardest thing, but the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life.

Parts of it is heartbreaking, but most of is the greatest thing in the world.

There is so much pain that goes with it, but at the same time there is so much joy as well. It is an amazing gift and at this time of year, it is the greatest gift we could have ever hoped for.

It's no secret that Joe and I would have loved to have our own biological children, but that just was not in the cards for us, so we chose the next best thing. We are so blessed to be the proud parents of these three amazing kids. They have brought so much joy and laughter into our home and lives. We will cherish them always.

Little Miss Sassy's 6th Birthday

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl

 

 

This girl is a Sassy little thing!!! But I wouldn't trade it for a minute. She keeps us on our toes, that is for sure.

She will be sharing this birthday with two new cousins who were born today as well. How cool is that?

We sure do love this girl.

ADOPTION!!! 12-12-12

I know that it has been a couple of days since we finalized our adoption, but I have just been so busy with all of the paperwork and getting names changed with doctors/dentists and the school.

So we would like to introduce to you....

Raven, Nadia and Carson

 



Nadia, Carson, Raven and of course Joe and I

Front to back:

Raven, Nadia, Carson, Me, Joe

 

I just love Nadia's face in this picture

 

This is one of my favorite pictures

 

 

This is our story:

 

Back in April we got a phone call from our RFC (caseworker) asking if we would be willing to take in a Sibling group of 3. We of course said yes. The next question was if we could be ready the next morning...again we said yes!

 

When you do foster care, it is in the hopes that they kids will be reunited with the biological family, but in our case, it just wasn't possible. Not that their parents are bad people because they are not, they just made some bad choices in life. In fact the biological mom and I have a pretty good relationship. We have great respect and love for her that most people are not able to create with their kids birth moms. Not that we haven't had our ups and downs in our relationship, because there have been, but for the most part, she respects us and we respect her. When it came down to things, she could have fought and appealed the decision of terminating her rights, but she chose to let her kids move on and not drag them through the turmoil that could have been. We have gained so much more respect for her because of that decision. I have no doubt that she loves these kids with her whole heart and I am sure this decision had to be the hardest decision she will ever have to make.

 

We have had the kids in our home for about 8 months at this point and have grown so completely in love with them. I never thought we would get to the point of being able to adopt them, but here we are.

 

Raven is our oldest. She is 7 and a delight to have in our home. She is loving, caring, friendly and most of the time a pretty happy kid. She is a great student in school as well.

 

Nadia is currently 5, but will be 6 in a few days. She as well is a delight to have as part of our family. She is funny, sassy (which I love), and loves school.

 

Carson is 4 and all boy. He is a big daddy's boy. He is a big tease and loves anything to do with Lightning McQueen. He as well loves school.

 





 

On 12/12/12 we were able to finally seal the deal and call the kids ours and they could call us theirs. They now are able to finally start to feel like they are stable and not going to be taken from another home and family.

 

In court our attorney asks us each (Joe and I) questions like:

 

*You understand that this is forever right?

*You understand that you are financially responsible for these kids right?

*Are you more than 10 years older than the child/ren?

And my emotional breaking question:

*How do you feel about these kids?

 

Lets be honest, Joe was able to spit the words out and if I remember right, his response was this:

 

"I love these kids very much. They have brought joy into our lives and home. They are amazing."

 

And if I was to be honest, I broke down and was not really able to say anything for a few minutes, but when I was able to speak, I said:

 

"These kids have brought so much joy and love not just into our lives, but our families lives. We cannot imagine life without them and I love them so much. I love that they love to do things as a family and be together." If my emotions didn't say it all, I am not sure much else could have.

 

So that is our story!

 

I am going to ask that if you chose to comment on this post, I would ask that you be respectful of everyones feelings. If I find disrespectful comments, they will be removed immediately.

 



Little Turd

So yesterday I had to go to a work Manager's Meeting so my mom (grammy) picked Little Monkey up from school and watched him until I was finished with my meeting. Well, when I got there, I asked him to pick up his toys and put them away so we could go cause we still had to go pick the girls up from school as well. Anyway...he was being silly, so I called him a little turd. My mom was like, "So that's where he learned how to say that". I was like 'um yeah probably, why what happened?" She said that while she was buckling him into his car seat, he called her a "little turd". I busted up laughing cause I thought it was hilarious. Well apparently she didn't and she told him that it was naughty and he shouldn't say those words. While laughing I told her that I would much rather hear him say "turd" than "s**t".

Who needs to pay for a Mani and Pedi?

I love that my girls love to give me a mani and pedi. They just spent the last hour clipping my nails and rubbing lotion into my legs and feet and hands. I have to admit there is a reason that I loved it. About 8 years ago, I had tendons and ligiments repaired and during the winter months, it seriously hurts all of the time and today was a bad day, so it felt good to have it massaged. Thanks girls. I love you so much.

Parent/Teacher Confrence

Yesterday was parent teacher conference for the girls...and let me tell you, they are doing amazing things in school.

Pink Panther's teacher just loves her to pieces. Remember back when I posted about her teacher emailing me and saying that she is struggling with place value? Well I went in and talked to her teacher and we come up with the conclusion that she is wanting more attention from the teacher or she is board. Well the outcome is that it is more likely the attention thing. Her teacher has been giving her more attention and it seems to be working. She is getting anywhere from 85% to 100% on her math tests. She is also a great reader. She loves to read that is for sure. Her teacher said that both of the girls are such happy kids. Every morning they run into the school with great big smiles on their faces and just act like they love to be there and to learn.

Little Miss Sassy played Grammy (my mom) like a fiddle the other night. I had to take Pink Panther to gymnastics so my mom watched the other two and she was helping Little Miss Sassy with her homework. Well, Little Miss decided that she wanted to tell Grammy that she couldn't read the words "it, the, this, they, there, etc." all of the easy sight words, but yet she could read kangaroo and yellow...LOL...so when I got home my mom told me that I needed to work with her more because she is struggling even with the simple words. So I told my mom that I do work with her every day and she is just playing her like a fiddle because I know she knows those words. She has been learning them since the first day of kindergarten. Well I got this brilliant plan to ask Little Miss Sassy why she was acting that way and she said that she just wanted to be a snot (her words, not mine). I then proceeded to tell her that I don't think she was trying to be a snot, she just wanted some attention. She agreed with me.

Well long story short, I went in to talk to her teacher and her teacher says that she is almost on a level A in reading. Her teacher said that Little Miss does amazing things with her brain and she knows how it works for her. The only thing her teacher said that she is struggling with is the vowels, but other than that, she is doing amazing. I knew that when we were making the decision about her going to all day kindergarten or not was going to be a tough one and not easy on her, but I am so glad that we made that decision. The progress that she has made since August is remarkable and it makes the hard days worth it.

These kids are doing amazing things and I am so proud of all 3 of them. We just want to raise them to be healthy productive citizens in this crazy world.

Love and Peace

On Thanksgiving we went to Joe's parents for dinner and somehow the conversation came up about how Joe's dad was a hippy, when all of a sudden Joe says, "Dad, you weren't all about love and peace"...his dads response was "Well, I tried to be!!!"

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from the Davis'

 

This year we are so thankful for our 3 amazing kids. They have been such a blessing in our lives.

I am thankful that we are able to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with our kids. We even decorated our Christmas tree today and honestly, I don't care how it got decorated (which is a big step for me because I am very particular about my tree), I am just thankful that my kids got to decorate it. I loved seeing their smiles. I am also thankful for the amazing husband that I have. He works so hard for our family so I can stay home with our kids.

Joe is thankful for our kids and his wife.

Pink Panther is thankful for...her family and that she is loved.

Little Miss Sassy is thankful for...a safe place to live and that she is safe and loved.

Little Monkey is thankful for...Lightning McQueen

Here are some of our decorations for Christmas so far...

 

Pain in the Butt/Good choices/School

So last night before bed our little monkey went and knocked on the bathroom door and said..."Daddy, you are a pain in the butt because you messed up my movie on mom's phone when you called her at my sister's school."...Best thing I had heard all day...Love that boy

Little Miss Sassy has been working on making better choices and so far she is doing a great job. It has been a process, but we are starting to recognize when she has been over stimulated (example: going to school all day and then to a birthday party) for her that is way too much excitement in a day and the only way she knows how to release the energy is to through a tantrum. So from now on, when we see that she is at her breaking point, we are going to have to make a point to remove her from the situation so she has a chance to calm down in a healthy way.

Pink Panther is doing really well in school. Her teacher emailed me yesterday saying that she was struggling with place value (ex: ones, tens and hundreds), so I went and checked her homework and there was only 2 problems that she needed to fix. She flys through her homework without any problems. So I went in to talk to her teacher today and we have come to the conclusion that either she is looking for attention or she is board because it is too easy for her. The teacher said that she would keep an eye on her and keep me updated on her progress.

These kids are amazing and I am sure there are going to be hard days and that is OK. We will deal with it as it comes. Great job kiddo's...you are doing a great job and we love you so much.

Missing "E" and Phone Call

"E" we really miss and love you so much. We can't wait to see you again. We are hoping to take a trip to California this next summer after school is out.

We got to talk to "E" on the phone today ("E" is the kids older sister who recently moved out of state with her dad). It was so great to hear her voice and the excitment in all of the kids while they were talking on the phone. Even Little Monkey talked to her (usually he doesn't want to). We love when we get to talk to her on the phone.

"E" Joe and I have fallen in love with not just your brother and sister's, but you as well. You are turning into an amazing young lady and we are so proud of you. We love that you love your brother and sister's to the moon and back and would do anything for them. I hope that one day they will understand how much they mean to you. I know that you mean the world to them and they miss you like crazy.

We love you so much "E"!!!

Love,
        Joe, Brea, Pink Panther, Little Miss Sassy and Little Monkey

3 Tornado's = Messes

One of my friends posted this on facebook and I just had to post it here cause it fits our house to the "T"...

 

 

I do have to say that we have some pretty AWESOME kids. But them being tornado's is a true statement. They can turn a room upside down in a matter of seconds.

 

I just read this to the kids and "Little Miss Sassy" says OK, I will be a tornado. I then told her that whatever mess she makes, she has to clean up. To which she replied..."I'm not a tornado that cleans up, I'm only a tornado that makes messes." To which Pink Panther agreed.

 

We don't ask the kids to do much around here except homework, reading, and to clean their room and playroom. I pretty much clean everything else and do the laundry (occasionally asking the girls to put their clothes away, but not often). Most of the time I don't even care if their room or playroom is spotless, I just want the majority of the mess picked up and as long  as they tried to clean it up, that's all that matters.



Crazy Busy Day...

Tuesday's are always crazy at our house, but today was even crazier than normal.

Our day began with Little Miss Sassy waking up at 3:00 AM crying that she had a bad dream. When Joe asked her what it was about, she said, "Daddy, it was scary, I had a dream that mommy was killed." I wasn't sure I had heard her right due to the fact that I was still groggy, so I asked her what she had just said. She again repeated, "I had a dream that you were killed mommy." Joe and I both gave our little girl a hug and said mommy is just fine, go back to bed and try to get some sleep. A couple of minutes later, I got out of bed to go check on her and she was sitting up in her bed so I asked her if she wanted me to hold her and rock her in the rocking chair. She said yes, so that is what we did for the next half hour until she went back to sleep. I then went back to bed, but was not able to fall back to sleep. I should have just got up and got some cleaning done, but didn't.

Joe got up eventually and got ready for work and left. I still laid there begging sleep to come, but it never happened. I finally got up at 7:00, got myself dressed and then went down to wake the girls up so they could get ready for school. I then got Little Monkey up and dressed and his hair combed. The girls got their own hair brushed out and out the door we went at 7:45 to get Little Monkey to school by 8:00. Pink Panther, Little Miss Sassy and I came home, got their hair done and then off to school they went.

After dropping the girls off, I headed off to my training class for work. I love going back to work in January, but I hate the training part of things. I will be starting my 7th year with the BEST company to work for ever.

After class, I went to pick Little Monkey up from my mom's since she had to pick him up from school so I could do my training. He didn't want to leave, so I left him there while I ran to Orem to pick up my wedding ring from the jewelers. I took it in two weeks ago to get re-sized since I have lost so much weight and it didn't fit any more. I was afraid I was going to lose it. On my way home, I picked Little Monkey up and came home for a few minutes until it was time to pick Pink Panther and Little Miss Sassy up from school.

After picking the girls up from school we headed straight to Pink Panther's gymnastics class. Little Miss Sassy has decided that she no longer wants to do gymnastics and I am not going to force her to do it either. Although I did make her finish out the month of October because we had already paid for it. I have to say thank goodness for the invention of smart phones that can stream netflix because Little Miss Sassy and Little Monkey love watching movies on it while their sister does gymnastics and it keeps them entertained.

Then it is home to do homework, showers, dinner and then the normal bedtime routine stuff. And somewhere between dinner and bedtime, I have found the time to make this post....LOL...

See I told you it was a crazy busy day. Thank goodness there was no Dr appointments or therapy sessions today cause I am not sure where I would have found the time to squeeze it in.

Is it BEDTIME yet?