"I love you"

Last night we had a long night. Sean gave us new experiences in sleepwalking and bedwetting. We had to bathe him at 8:30am because he had created Lake Sean in the bed. After the bath we checked out the clothes he had brought with him and discovered that we had no short sleeve clothes.

We had a simple breakfast and headed out for some shopping. We went by to see Aletheia's friend, Miss Jennifer. Then we headed to Ross to shop clearance racks and to Target to spend the gift card from Stacie. He insisted on getting a 4 pack of Tech Decks (finger skateboards) so he could give one to Camden and one to Nick next door. We also got a baby monitor so we can hear him moving during the lovely sleepwalking episodes. We also found some short sleeve shirts on clearance and bought little things that I never thought about needing: kid toothpaste, shampoo and bubble bath. We could tell he was getting a little tired, but he was a real trooper.

We were a little concerned about the reaction he had after giving him his medication. We gave him his daily medicine along with some Mucinex for the nasty cough he had when he first woke up. It zoned him out for about 45 minutes. He sat staring without saying a word. I am going to have to ask a doctor about that combination.

We had dinner and play time with Rene, David, Camden and Nick again. We had a surprise visit from Mrs. Loftin, our school counselor. She found us at Rene's house with a present for Sean. He got a cool new V-Smile Cyberpocket! Sean is super excited to play with it, but we have to figure it out first!

We had bath time and story time. As we were leaving his room, he said "I love you!" Yes, our hearts are officially melted!

His first day with us.

Today was the big day. Sean came home to live with us.

After missing school yesterday due to a sinus infection, I (Aletheia) returned to work today and had an email from Sean's teacher. She said that she asked him where he was going today. He responded, "To live with the Leavitts..............forever!" She said he was on cloud nine!

He came to my classroom after school today very excited about a book he had borrowed from his teacher for the weekend. He sat down in the middle of the walk way in the office to show it to me. I got him to pack back up and headed to the car. We picked up Michael and Beau and headed to our bi-weekly visit to the chiropractor. While in the driveway, our mailman, Shane, pulled into the driveway to deliver a package to Sean from the Hanna family! Sean was thrilled with his mail! He held the box all the way to the chiropractor and back! (Thanks Stacie and family!) In the car Sean was telling us something that happened in gym class and he mentioned his "leg elbow." Michael and I just looked at each other. After a repeat we realized he was talking about his knee!

After returning home and opening the two light sabers and books (and cool bubble wrap!) Sean insisted on heading next door to show our neighbor Camden his new toys. There we got more books and clothes. (Thanks Rene!) Sean and Camden played so hard their cheeks were red! Even Camden's brother, Nick, got in on the action!

This afternoon we talked to Sean about what he was to call us. We gave him a few options, one of which was Mom and Dad. He smiled from ear to ear and said, "Ok, Mom and Dad." He called us that all night. It's an amazing feeling to hear that for the first time!

About 7pm I headed home to start dinner while Sean and Michael went to his guardian's house to pick up his clothes. We had Camden's family over for dinner and more playing.

At 9pm Michael got Sean started on getting ready for bed. We read "Berenstain Bears and The Truth" and said prayers. By 9:45 Sean was absolutely zonked! We can't keep from checking on him every few minutes. Right now he is asleep in the most uncomfortable looking position: his shoulders are turned sideways while his hips are flat on the bed. He is almost sitting upright! I don't know how in the world he is asleep like that, but he is.

This has been the most surreal day! It's amazing to think that this one little person now depends completely on us for everything. It's even more amazing to think that this person is now one of the most important people in our lives, and we know so little about him. We are just trying to take one day at a time and pray our way through.

We have custody!

This morning we were granted custody of our six year old little boy: Sean! He will be coming to live with us on Friday afternoon.

Court this morning was overwhelming, but painless. After stating our names, nothing else was really required of us. We sat and listened to Sean's guardian testify, and heard a little more about his history. This baby is going to need some intense love and support from everyone in his little world! He has been hurt by almost everyone around him. He needs to know that he is loved and wanted unconditionally. We also saw just how much this guardian cares for Sean. He was emotional on the stand. He just does not feel that he can give Sean the future he deserves.

At the end, the judge looked at us and said, "Congratulations! You just became parents VERY fast!"

We were done with court by 9:30am, but were tied up at the courthouse with our lawyer and paperwork until 10:30. Then we ran by my school to get some paperwork, and ended up seeing Sean. We didn't say anything about court. We are letting his guardian tell him everything tonight. We spent the rest of the day running errands and filling out paperwork to get everything ready for Sean.

Thank you for all of your prayers and kind words. You have pulled us through this experience so far. We will continue to need those prayers as we now learn how to parent this precious gift from God.

We will be pursuing adoption in the very near future.

Court Tomorrow

Please keep us in your prayers tomorrow. We have to be at court around 8am tomorrow. We will find out then exactly how this is all going to play out. We are both extremely nervous. We are comforted by both your prayers and by knowing that our lawyer is going to be there with us. We will post tomorrow to let everyone know how it went.

Second Visit: Child meets Gammie and Popi

We had a second visit with our child today. As many of you know just from reading our blog we have been extremely busy lately and this was the first time we have really had to schedule a visit with him. When we called his guardian, he was very excited for us to come get him. The child had been asking about us quite a bit.

We picked him up about 3:30 or so and drove out to Oxford where my (Michael) parents live. We really wanted the child to meet them and for them to meet this child. We of course took the dog with us as we do every time we go to see them. My parents still had some toys in their house that we all played with when we were growing up. These were the original Little People. Some of you remember these. They looked like thimbles with heads. They had no legs or arms. I had the Fire Station and Airport complete with plane and helicopter. My sister's had the house and the town. It was really neat to watch him play with the same toys that I had played with when I was his age. Something that was really cool to see was when he would find a small plastic chip in the bottom of one of the vehicles or chairs, he would take it to my dad and my dad would actually get up and go into his work room and get it out. He would have to use a drill to get most of those out, but just that he was willing to do that was cool.

We let him play for a while and he really had fun. We then took him to McDonald's for dinner. He devoured his food. Once he finished I let him go play on the playground. He played for quite a while by himself, but eventually another child showed up and played with him. They had alot of fun and when it was time to go his cheeks were extremely red from running and playing so hard.

We went back to Gammie and Popi's house to get Beau and then we headed home. He spent most of the time watching the planes that were circling the airport.

Overall it was a great trip. We really enjoyed being able to pick my parents brains when it came to tips on how to raise a child like this. I am truly blessed that I have such an amazing relationship with my parents now. As many people can attest, that has not always been the case. Now, I know I can go to my parents with anything in the world and they will listen, and offer advice. I warned my mom that we would probably call them alot to get their advice on things, and she said they would always be there, but they would do their best to only give it when it is asked for. I really appreciated that.

My dad always told me that the older he got the more intelligent his parents got. I realize now just what he meant and just how true that statement really is. My parents are a wealth of wisdom and knowledge and will be a HUGE help when it comes to being a parent.

We have.......

a lawyer! A local Douglasville lawyer has given us an AMAZING fee for his services on the adoption. It is such a blessing! He will join us in court on the 25th, and he is calling the guardian's lawyer back for us. This is such a comfort! We are so grateful for his help. His name is Chris Wynn.

Brandon, FL visit

On February 13, Michael, Beau and I headed to Tampa and Brandon, Florida to visit Michael's grandfather. We were able to visit with Grampa and Michael's Uncle Tom and Aunt Carol. I had never met Michael's Grampa before. He is an amazing man with fascinating stories about World War II. I feel so blessed to have been able to talk with him. We hope to be able to see him again soon.

On Valentine's Night we accidentally found a tiny restaurant on the edge of Tampa Bay called That's Amore. We had an amazing evening and some of the best Italian food we have ever had!!! There was live music and we were able to dance.

Sunday night, after visiting with Tom, Carol and Grampa, we headed to the Florida State Fair. It was an interesting opportunity to people watch and eat tons of unhealthy food!

Monday we headed to Winter Haven, where Michael grew up spending summers with his Grampa and Grandma. It was so cool to hear his memories and see the places where he played as a child. I feel I got to know a different side of him. That afternoon we headed to Honeymoon Island near Clearwater. This was my first visit to Florida. I had never seen the Gulf of Mexico. We were almost blown away by the wind, and the Gulf tried to eat one of my sandals, but we had a great time. Beau was not a fan of the water. Too much like bath time. However, he found the sand to be very enjoyable.

While in Florida we received a message from a lawyer for our child's guardian. I have not been able to get in touch with her yet, but we will attempt that again tomorrow. We are also meeting with an adoption lawyer tomorrow afternoon. We are still a go for the 25th.

Second home visit and brag

We had our second home visit on Wednesday night. This one was with a representative from DFCS. They were involved in the situation at some point and just had to come check us out before they could give a recommendation. She was very nice and didn't see any problems. Beau made friends with her, too! She made a few suggestions that we are looking into.

We are headed to Brandon, FL this weekend to visit with Michael's grandfather. Please pray for our travels.

I want to brag on my brilliant husband! He is in his fourth quarter working on his AutoCAD certification. He has finished this quarter early (the second one he has finished early) and is already working on his fifth quarter's work! He is also still carrying a 4.0!!!! I am so proud of him. He is such a natural at this. I don't understand it all, but everyone at the college is very impressed with him! He is on track to graduate in June!

I got to visit with our little boy today at school while fighting our way through homework. He informed me that he has a girlfriend and made her a Valentine. He had made her a little heart cut out of notebook paper and decorated with marker. He had also drawn another picture of the two of them together. It was cute! I asked who she was and his response was "Don't worry, she's my size!" Um, not sure what he thought I was asking. It was hilarious!

A public thank you to Michelle R. for her gifts for us and our boy. He will love playing with the Legos the next time he comes over! I can't wait to put a family photo in the gorgeous frame!

Disappointment

We were supposed to have the little boy on Saturday for another play date. However, on Friday he was out of school sick. I called his guardian and checked on him. He said to call on Saturday and we would see if he was feeling any better.

Saturday we called the phone number a total of six times throughout the day. We kept getting the same phone company recorded message saying the person we were calling did not answer and to try our call again later. So, we didn't get to spend time with him on Saturday. That really stinks because we won't get to see him outside of school again until next week. This week is just too packed.

This morning when I saw the little boy he said that the phone we were calling was lost and had to be replaced. I guess they got a new number, too.

Wednesday is our DFCS home visit. Prayers are requested.

Also, Michael has a job interview at the college he attends for a bookstore assistant on Tuesday at 4:30pm. It would be regular work as opposed to the on call positions he has now. We are looking for God's leading in this matter. The on call positions pay more, but this would be a regular check. Just pray for us to have the courage to follow God's leading.

Another thought

This slipped my mind when I posted late last night. Yesterday when Michael was playing with the child in what will be his room, I had to leave the room for a minute. When I was coming back down the hall, I could hear them laughing together. I just stopped and enjoyed it! That is one of the main things life is all about for me - the laughter of children, especially one I hope to share with the wonderful man I married.

Our first play date

The child came over this afternoon and spent about 4 hours with us. We ran a few errands and then came home to play. He kept calling things "our" and "my". It was "my" room and "our" dog. It was cool. And scary. He seemed very happy. He and Michael had some very deep Lego discussions and they made all kinds of things out of Legos and Lincoln Logs. He was a little hesitant around the animals, but they will get used to each other. We went next door and let him play with our neighbor who is 2 years older than him. We had dinner and then took him back to his guardian's house. Overall it was a VERY nice evening.

More news and play date

Yesterday we received a phone call from a DFCS case worker. She has been involved in the child's case somehow. She has to come do a second home visit on the 11th and 4:30. Yay, fun.

We went up to the courthouse to sign permission forms for the guardian ad litem to run a criminal background check on each of us. We also had to complete a drug screening. We received very high tech looking cups. They were kinda cool! They told you the results within about 2 minutes. I was fascinated! Our court date was confirmed as February 25 at 8:00am.

We received a bit of a financial blow. Please pray as we work though this.

We also confirmed our play date with the child for this afternoon. He will come home from school with us (Michael is substituting at my school today) and spend about 4 hours with us. We are thrilled, but also nervous. It has been a while since either of us spent this amount of time around a 6 year old. Yesterday when talking with the child he asked if he was coming to live with us today. I said no, but he was coming to visit. Then he asked if we had a weiner dog. Um, no idea where that came from. He seems excited. We stopped at Wal Mart last night and picked up a booster seat for my car.

Please continue to pray for us. Satan is working overtime on me right now. I am the worrier in the marriage and he is using that to make me doubt many many things. Also pray for Michael's strength as he tries to walk me through this. Some of you may know, but I came off of an anti-depressant around Thanksgiving that I had been on since 2002. I am having to re-learn how to handle stress and worry. Yesterday gave me a real work out.

Dates are good things

Dates are such wonderful things. They give you days to look forward to. Because someone knows my birthday, they know when to give me presents and they can look forward to giving me gifts. I know what the date is for Christmas so I can plan on what I am going to get my family. The most wonderful thing about when a date is singled out is that it gives you time to prepare for what is coming on that date.

Well, we have finally been given a date. Our custody situation comes before the judge on February 25th. The guardian ad litem says they want the custody to be turned over to us on that day. We are very excited. We are very relieved. We are planning on going to Florida on Valentine's Day weekend. This will make it possible for us to keep our plans to go see my grandfather. This will also give us time to prepare and get more of the things he needs.

We can't thank all you enough that have been praying for us and keeping up with what is going on with us. We are more than grateful. Thank you is very small word, but please know that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your prayers are very appreciated.

The blessing of friends

Today two friends from church gave us a huge blessing. They offered to buy toys for the child's room. With him possibly coming over to visit on Wednesday, our bare room was quite depressing. Christy came and took us to Wal Mart and gave us instructions to buy toys for him. What amazing kindness and generosity!

Christy and Richard, as we said today, "thank you" just seems inadequate. Your gift and your friendship have been such a blessing. We know you didn't do this for recognition, but we wanted to express our gratitude publicly. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for you, I always pray with joy." Phil. 1: 3-4