Another loss to our family

Today I received a phone call from another foster and adoptive parent. It was not a friendly call. Our first foster son had siblings that had been adopted out and this friend was the adoptive mother to his twin sisters. She called to let me know that Kathem's (our foster son)mother - Brandi - had passed away last night at 11 PM in Jordan. Brandi was very special to us. After Kathem went back to her she was in our lives for more than 3 years. We had her other son with us by her choice -meaning we had both boys - a lot of the time. Many of you know these boys. I loved Brandi with all of my heart and we did all we could to help her with her addictions and problems. Sadly we couldn't save her and it was tough for me to learnt hat I cannot save everyone! But she went to Jordan to be with her husband's family because he thought taking her over there would get her away from drugs and help her get better. But instead she found other addictions, legal pain killers, valium, alcohol. Her furnace blew up and because she was intoxicated she fell into the fire. She suffered burns all over her and lost 4 fingers and was placed into an induced coma. She lost her daughter that she was 8 months pregnant with and then died. We are grieving the loss of her and praying for her fmaily and her 3 children that she still had custody of. Her other 5 children had been taken by social services and adopted. Kourtnee and I had just been saying that we hoped we ran into her or something so we could tell her about Alex getting married and about his little boy and especially about her having a baby girl! But now we realize that we will never run into her and we will never again have the chance to say we love her! It is just a reminder that life is fragile and if you have someone you love tell them! Tell them everyday! Don't hold grudges - let them go! Forgive, forget and love!!! No, I did not have a grudge against her of course not, but I just know that I can never tell her I lovee her again and because of a situation with Social Services that kept us from being there for her and her kids in the end and the relationship had to end the way it did it hurts! I loved her and I can never make sure she knew that! Everyone tells me that she did know and that I did all I could and that some people just do not want help, but it doesn't really help right now! My pain is deep! She was a hurting woman and we wanted so much to see her healed! I hope that she found that peace before she left and made things right with God and is now in THE place of peace!!!! Brandi used to come to our house all the time - stayed with us many nights! But rather she was with us for a night, a few days, or even a few minutes she would always ask us - no make us :) sing a song for you - that song was THE ANCHOR HOLDS! She would cry the whole time and then hug us. We spent time in prayer with her many nights and she would go to church with us and just cry! I know she loved the Lord and I believe she made things right and is with HIM now. I love you Brandi and you will be forever missed!!!!!

Valentine's day

Today was Sydnee Renee's First Valentine's Day! She is so precious!!! She is laying on my lap as I type this! Grand children are such a joy!!! I love her more with each passing day!!!!!!!
Larry and I went to a banquet at church tonight and had a wonderful time! But the our wonderful time begins about 2 tomorrow afternoon!!!! We will be taking a short vacation for our anniversary!!!! Just the 2 of us!!!! Cannot wait!!! There are a lot of things going on right now that I am not free to blog about, but just keep our family in your prayers for great opportunities!!! I hope that each of youa re with someone you love for this special little holiday! I know that since we have children we still try to always go out on this date, but it is also a special day to show the kids an extra special love with little gifts and candy! The kids love it! Every holiday around here is done to the hilt so to say!! I do have news about the 2 little girls - we will not be adoptiong them. We are sad and hurt for them especially so please keep them in your prayers!!!!! They will be here until a forever family is found though! I just pray that we can put all the love that we have into them while they are here and let them see how special and wonderful and completely lovable they truly are. We are going to try to stay a part of their lives if they are adopted locally!!! We feel that maybe God closed this door for us to focus more on our grand kids now and the kdis we have already adopted! I know as I llok into the face of my precious grand daughter right now I am moved to tears with the love I have for her and her mommy!!!! I am truly blessed and I know that God lvoes me and he loves Keara and Brianna and will always have them in His hands no matter who they are calling mommy and daddy! We are sad as I said, but more for them and the hurt they will feel, but we also have a peace that God is still in control!!!
happy Valentine's Day to all! Hae a wonderful weekend - I know I am going to :)!!!!!

Heartbreak has hit our family

Thursday night was a night we will not soon forget but will hate to remember! Dusty died last night! Dusty was the 2 nd horse we acquired, but the first horse that everyone rode! He has been THE FAMILY HORSE!!! Anyone could ride Dusty and the entire family has ridden him with the exception of Sydnee Renee'! I hate that we did not get a picture with her near Dusty! He was the kindest gentlest horse ever! I had finally been able to claim him as my horse because Marlee got another barrel racing horse and we were able to retire him. He had my trust completely! I am not sure if we will find another horse that we will all be able to trust like we have Dusty! He was so awesome! We are very glad that he did not die alone though. Marlee, Larry and I were all with him last night when he went to Heaven! Yes, I believe that is where he is because what would Heaven be like without animals especially horses! He is running in the greenest pastures ever, frolicking and playing like never before! No more pain, no more choking! We will forever remember Dusty and grieve our loss, but we will also know that he loved us and gave us his all and we gave him all we had and even to the very end he knew how much we loved him! Dusty was not just a pet, not JUST a horse, he was FAMILY! He was truly a friend to so many! He will never be forgotten and we will never stop loving him!
Me and Dusty riding with Marlee and Checotah
RIP Dusty - I love you, baby, forever!! Thank you for giving so much to us!!!

Wednesday - what a day!

Well, Larry got a job today Praise the Lord! And it is a good one! Close to home and they are going to give him a gas allowance on top of his pay. They are even going to give him more than what he asked for and a raise in 90 days! God is so good!!! They are also a laid back company and told him family comes first so anytime he needs off they are extremely flexible and he can take the day without pay if he does not have time or he can make it up on a Saturday or work late or however he chooses to do it! What a blessing! We are thrilled! I am a little sad that he will not be home anymore during the day with us, but we do need the insurance and the income! I will miss him though. I thought that I would be sick of him being home and that he would drive me crazy but that has not been the case at all!!!! We are going to spend the weekend together next week for our anniversary and that is so awesome! Cannot wait!!! everything else is going well other than the whole ordeal with the girls. We are meeting with the adoption supervisor on friday morning so keep that in your prayers! That is it for tonight - I am tired! Will try to write more tomorrow!
God bless you all!!!
Go Mike Huckabee!!!

some troubling news

Today we got some troubling news. Our foster license has to be closed due to the number of children allowed in the home going from 7 to 5. We have been praying and hoping to adopt two precious little girls that we have had as a part of our extended family for 2 years now. This puts a wrench in those plans. I am not saying it is over because as the saying goes, anything worth having is worth fighting for and we will continue to fight for the rights of the two precious children! We Love them with all of our hearts and our children love them and they love us and are very bonded!!! Please pray with us that God will change the hearts that told us only a short while ago that we were being considered and then without notice or CONSIDERATION closed our license. That in itself does not keep us from adopting them, as the standard of 5 children in the home now is for FOSTER not ADOPTION, but we do have an uphill battle before us. It is frustrating, but you know we were told by several people to give up when Marlee's biological father came into the picture to take her away from us - what if we had given up then? I cannot begin to think of our lives without Marlee!!!! We fought for 2 years and we won that battle with the Lord's help - actually He won it for us! I am having faith now in Him as well, but do not want to just sit around and do nothing so I have emailed some people in charge, gotten some information from the state about the new standard and we are going forward. We hope to not have to "battle" much at all! But Please keep us in your prayers!

Sunday

After reading this post myself, I must first say it is a lot of just plain babble! lol enjoy! :)

Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend. My weekend was a little busy, but not too bad. Friday night is movie night here at the Reeves' home, but not this weekend - it was sleep night! The boys were tired from school and a long week, Kalee fell asleep in the chair and Marlee and I were not feeling well, Larry had rookie school and had to be up early so we all went to bed early! Doesn't happen often here, but when needed it happens!!!! Saturday morning came early even after early bedtimes. Larry left for rookie school and the kids got up and and got ready to go. Kalee was going to Aunt Stacey's to play for a little while and Marlee and Drae had a Teen Works event. They went Ice Skating! TJ, Kris and I did a little shopping and I printed some pictures and they played until time to pick the other 3 up. Picked the other 3 up and came home and also picked up Brianna and Keara when we got Kalee. Larry got home about 2 hours after we did and he and I went to dinner and then home. Marlee was pretty sick later that night and so was I. We went to bed and slept in because Marlee and I and even Larry still were not feeling well! Larry fixed the kids some pancakes since he had to leave too early to have Pancake Saturday. So the kids said it was a Pancake Sunday! The weather was nice enough for the kids to actually spend a couple hours outside! They loved it. Marlee has been in bed all day - she is still not feeling well. I feel a little better but still in my jammies!!! The kids are all in the house right now playing games and Larry is cooking dinner! So nice to have a man who will do anything to help me! He is a great dad, husband and pappy! He was just tired from rookie school not sick. Thank God!!! Now about him, I cannot believe my man is a fireman. He is volunteer fire fighter! He has dreamed of this forever! So even with my fears I agreed to it. I say I agreed because he does not NEED my approval, but he does want it and if I said I just can't handle it he wouldn't do it! That is how it is in a marriage. But I could not keep him from a lifelong dream just because of fear on my part. I know God gave him the dream so He will protect him. I am proud of him!!! Well I am going to eat dinner with my family and check on my baby girl! I hope everyone stays well and has a great week full of blessings and happiness!!! Here is a picture for you!

Drae is a **star**!!!

Tonight was Drae's Debut on stage! He played "Chad" in High School Musical and did a great job! It was a fun little rendition of the Hit movie from Disney. The kids were in grades 3rd, 4th and 5th. It was very entertaining. We are super proud of Drae and the interests he has found! For so long he just seemed to be "looking" for something to enjoy and be committed to and now he has found 2 highly important passions: Horses and Theatre - acting, singing and dancing. He seems to be a natural at both! We knew he would find his place! We just kept putting him in anything he asked to join and now he has set his mind to these two things and we are so proud of him in both areas! His grades are up as well and he is doing an awesome job! His whole attitude has changed over the almost 5 years he has been with us! He is not even like the same child! I give the glory to God because even anything we have done is because HE has given to us. We believe 100% that you cannot give what you do not have. Most of us if we were completely honest did not receive Total Unconditional Love and Acceptance as children because truly our parents had not received that so how could they give it. Even in the best homes there is some lack in these areas. So the only way to give it is to receive it FIRST and we believe the only place to truly receive TOTAL UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE is through Jesus Christ! Our Heavenly Father gives it and makes it possible for us to ATTEMPT to give to our children. We still are human parents and we make huge mistakes often, but with Him we have the ability to lose our pride and say to our children that we do make mistakes and we are sorry and we talk to our children with respect and love and understanding! I believe that makes such a difference in a child's life, knowing there is someone who will love them and be here for them NO MATTER WHAT!! We often hear, "oh it is such a wonderful thing - what you do for these kids - you are such a blessing to them!" I know people only mean well with that and we know the kids are happy and blessed, too, but our response always is, "no they are such a blessing to us!!!" I was called to be a mommy and when I could not give birth to children of our own, I knew God would work it out for us to have children and now we have 7 and are hoping to adopt two other little girls who are already a part or our family right now! What a Blessing!!!! God is awesome!
Back to Drae: we could not be more proud!!!! Here is a picture of our son on stage and then after the production! He is good looking, sweet, talented and just plain wonderful!!!!!! YOU GO, DRAE!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!! KEEP IT UP!!!!