i am still in awe that neiko is ours!!
i feel like a weight has been lifted off of me :)
kinda like after you have a baby- you are in the hospital and all the nurses are monitoring everything.
you have to keep track of feeding and changing, and just generally feeling exposed.
then you get to go HOME.
and for the first time the baby actually feels like YOURS.  with no one else involved.

it is WONDERFUL.

i've already had a few more conversations with neiko's birth mom and it is so freeing to be able to talk about him with her without any kind of reservations or cautiousness. amazing.

we are still hearing from lawyers about bills and such but that surely can't go on too much longer, right??

so-
the house is almost finished.  i think after tonight we will have things finished enough to call for our final inspection.  and if we pass then we can close on our loan.
and the adoption is done.
2 major things to cross off our lists of things we have going on!! :)

i'm thinking our lives will seem quite a bit more manageable after this!!!!

but unfortunately even though we are done, most of my family is not.
i have 2 brothers building in my neighborhood- my parents are building out at the lake- my sister will be starting her house across from our subdivision as soon as she can- and my youngest brother just bought a house right next to hers.
so we are- and will be for quite sometime- spending every saturday and a few weeknights here and there helping everyone else get settled.
wish we had a little time to enjoy a slower pace but i'm SURE it'll come at some point.  i mean pretty sure....

and for those of you who only read this for the pure entertainment of the chaos of life with a big family, this is for you-
this morning i was awakened by the sound of a male voice in the kitchen.  i hurredly threw some clothes on and walked out to find my cousin here looking for a chainsaw.
very typical with brothers building close by.
after i found a chainsaw for him we had 30 minutes until it was time to leave for school.

and then little wren in her little purple night gown and her crazy morning hair informed me that tekoa needed me upstairs.
which meant that tekoa had wet the bed.
sigh.
i got tekoa in the tub and went upstairs to gather up the wet bedding.
which is when neiko found his chance to climb into the tub with her.  in his pj's.  sigh again.
not so cute anymore.

i used up all of our time getting those two taken care of.
and while i was on my knees getting neiko dressed wren came to give me a hug.  she hugged me, and her hands stuck in my hair.  they were covered in syrup.
and now so was my hair. and her nightgown was covered too.

after cleaning wren we were about 5 min past time to leave.
i quickly herded everyone out the door and did a 2 min search for shaeya's missing shoe.  found it.
ran to the van, threw it in reverse, and backed right over shaeya's bike.
double sigh.
don't know what her bike was doing halfway under our van!

i didn't have time to assess the damage, i just pulled out and shut the garage door.
i got out onto the road and noticed the garage door hadn't shut.
i tried and tried and eventually had to run back with the opener and it still wouldn't shut.
there was nothing in the way.
i wiped off the sensors and tried again.  nothing.
i then ran back to the van amidst all the many questions about what was wrong with the garage door and are we gonna just LEAVE with it OPEN???

we did.
and, of course, we were late to school.
i just hope their school understands that i'm doing the best i can! :)

BUT- only two more weeks and we are DONE!!
praise Jesus i am so ready for a break from a hectic schedule!!!!!!!!!!!!

HE'S OURS!!! 

it was a long and beautiful day spent with our family and friends around us as neiko officially became our son. 

a day filled with moments that took my breath away. 

i felt so much love and support from everyone who came, my husband was incredible, our children did great, and little neiko was so preciously oblivious to all that took place. 

he sat in my lap and ate my chapstick while the judge proclaimed the rights of both birth parents to be completely severed, changed his last name to ours, and made him our son. 

we are still trying to wrap our minds around the fact that it is over. 

a year's work of pushing through the adoption process, all the ups and downs, the home visits, the emails and phone calls with lawyers, the uncertainties with birth parents, the physicals and fingerprints, the bills.... 

IT IS DONE. 

and we are so in love with our little boy. 

thank you, Lord, for your gift of adoption. 

thank you for the hardships and the moments of overwhelming joy. 

thank you for the uncertainties that bring us to our knees, and thank you for being a God that we can trust with the big details and the small. 

we don't know what the future will bring, but we know that we are yours. 

our family is yours- and that is all we need for today.

and he did it again!
apparently this is going to be an issue....

along with his roll of garbage sacks for his diapers.....

and the baby powder on the changing table...

and tyden's secret stash of candy.  he found that twice last week- and opened and tasted almost every piece between the two days.... 

poor tyden.  but i don't know why he likes to save his candy instead of just eating it :) 

but i bet he'll start eating it from now on!

so we have 3 days before the adoption and our little adoption party and this is going on....

and OH MY WORD my house is a mess!!!! everything is coated in dust!!! even the kids!! :)

somehow i have to get things back in shape before we have our friends and family here for the post adoption party on friday!  

but who really cares, right?  i'm soooooo glad to have one more thing to cross off our list of unfinished projects, and i'm soooooo excited to celebrate neiko's adoption!

and i'm sure none of our guests will mind wading through a little dust that day.....right? 

i'm sure they will understand if i'm too busy chasing around my sweet, hilarious, mischevious little boy and his 4 siblings to worry about having my house perfectly clean.....

tea party! :)

this is wren's attempt at roasting her own marshmallows.  pretty sure when she deemed them "done!" that they weren't any warmer than when she put them on the stick :)

our bunny is still alive.  he is veeeeeeeeery loved.
he is either the world's most relaxed rabbit or he's given up on life.
he is being held every minute that the kids aren't eating or sleeping.  and he just lays in their arms.

it keeps the kids so entertained! and they help with food, water, and poop duty-  and so, so far it has been completely worth it.
the only downside is sharing 1 bunny between 5 kids plus neighbors and friends.  that gets a little rough at times, but it's good for them to learn to work it out. :)

our tragedy from last week- 

poor tekoa got her bike ran over.  the barbie bike.  the girl LIVED on that bike, and was already doing all kinds of crazy tricks on it.  and had just gotten a new matching barbie basket for it.

i couldn't tell you why she decided to park the bike right behind a truck at the END of our driveway.  but sadly, she did.  and there have been quite a few tears shed over it.  

we totally have a spare bike that we keep for when we have friends over.  so i took the training wheels off of it and put the barbie basket and streamers on it thinking, "problem solved!" but apparently, "it's just not the same...." 

i tried to give her a little speech about how sad things are always gonna happen and how we have to just make the best of them and choose thankfulness and joy, but i'm not sure of how well it was received :)

she's slowly getting over it. 

it helped when her dad pumped the tires up to help it go a little faster- 

now all we need is some pink spray paint and barbie written on the side....:)