Day 6

So once again blogger didn't post my pics in the order that I wanted them. Oh well, I am too tired to mess with it. This morning started off pretty rocky as Jerrett woke up at 1230 and at 430. That was fun times. Then we had to be at DHS at 800 for more paperwork. That only took about an hour or so. When we finished with that, we headed up to Keystone which is about 30 minutes from Rapid. That is where Mt Rushmore is located. We loved looking at the mans in the mountain as Jerrett said. We didn't stay very long because it was still cold. But we did stay long enough to take some pictures and visit the gift shop where Jerrett picked some gifts up for his cousins. After that, we headed off for our long drive, As you can see, we all took turns driving including Jerrett. He is almost as bad of a driver as TJ! Today we were on the road for about 7.5 hours. J decided to nap when he wasn't driving. He looks so sweet and innocent in this picture. You wouldn't even recognize the crazy man using TJ as a trampoline and screaming pillow fight as he smacks TJ in the face repeatedly. It is really funny to watch! Anyway, I better get off because it is little man's bed time and we are in for another long day of driving. But we will be home tomorrow! We cannot wait. we love our little monkey so much and can't wait to have him home!

Day 5

Today was a very busy day for the 3 of us. Mr. Jerrett decided that he would wake up around 6 AM (he is not a morning person) and then it was off from there. He has a ton of energy and it is hard to keep up sometimes. Gina and I haven't slept very well at all since we have been gone from home and are just ready to be there. Tonight we went to eat Pizza and play games with Jerrett's foster family and had an amazing time. Thank you so much to the Klassens for taking awesome care of our son until we could come and get him. Tomorrow we have to meet up with the social worker here in SD at 8:00 to sign a few more papers and go through a few of Jerrett's belongings to see what we want to take home with us and then we are out of here. On the way home we plan on stopping by Mt. Rushmore and possibly Crazyhorse Monument. He is such an amazing blessing to our lives and we are super excited to have him as our son. We love you very much Jerrett and look forward to you being with us "forever".

Day 4

So I don't like uploading pics on here. I need Alison to give me a tutorial or something. They never post the way that I want them to! They are all turned the wrong direction and not in the order that i wanted them to be in. Oh well, you get the idea. So today was the day that we got custody. We went and picked Jerrett up at 8:00 and have had him ever since. We went to a stock show and got to show Jerrett all about the cattle adn ranching world that TJ and I love. He got to pet a calf, baby goat, puppies, a mule, and a minature horse for the first time. It was so much fun to see him experience that for the first time. After that, TJ and I had some training that we had to go to. Fun times! But after training is when the fun started! We took Jerrett to the water park. Our little guy is fearless. He was jumping off the side of the pool and doing everything that the big kids were doing. After swimming we ate dinner in our room and it was time for baths, stories and bed time. He was a trouper the whole time. He never really cried or fussed even though he didnt have a nap! Tomorrow is more of the same then we get to leave early Thursday morning! We are a little concerned about the weather back home so we might have to take a detour on the way home.We will see. I think that we are all ready to finally be home. I miss my puppy and I am sure he misses us!

Day 3

Today was the day we got to meet Little Man! He is a handful and totally all boy! We loved getting to spend time with him. The day began with some awesome temps as you can see in the pics. Then we went to the DSS offices. There we spent 5 grueling hours going over his file. Medical records, family history, etc etc. Tons of fun! Then we were dismissed for lunch. When we got to the car, wouldn't you know that we could not even get out of our parking space because of the ice! So TJ had to con a guy inside to come and put some kind of miracle crystals down in front of our tires so that we could get out. After lunch came another hour of legalitys. More fun stuff when all we wanted to do was go see our son. We finally got to do that around 230. What a handsome energetic little guy! Because his family had been working with him, he already knew us as mommy and daddy and called us that right away. Talk about wanting to cry! We spent about 2 hours there and then had to leave but the foster parents are so awesome that they invited us over for dinner so that we could spend time with him and his foster family. What a blessing they are! we got to meet all of his foster siblings and they are the best! Anyway, enjoy the pics!

Day 2

Lets see where to start today... We got up a little earlier than planned. We just couldn't sleep, in the end that we a good thing. So we thought that we knew cold. Nope. It was -5 when we woke up. Yep that is a negative sign in front of the 5! Cold! So we loaded back up and headed west. We got about 30 minutes outside of Rapid City and it started snowing. Big puffy pretty flakes. It was awesome! The good thing here is that they do not get the ice that we do at home so driving is no big deal. Plus they have these huge snow plows that run all day. Imagine that, running the snow plows while it is snowing. getting rid of the snow so that it doesn't pile up and make it even tougher to clean. Rocket science right? Anyway, we got here before we could check into our hotel due to the time change that we did not figure in. So once again, we went to the mall. We have done some awesome shopping the last 2 days! When they have sales here they have monster sales! Anyway, we messed around for about 2 hours and then came to the hotel. Our hotel has an indoor water park which I need to get pics of. So TJ and I went and rode some slides and the lazy river. Now we are in the room and about to nap. Its been a long couple days! Tomorrow we go to the DHS office at 8 and will have hours and hours of paperwork and stuff before we get to see our son for the first time! We will meet at his foster parents house at 2 here so at 3 your time. If you think about us, please send up a prayer as we are super excited but also nervous! On to the pics real quick...

1. This is just a pic of the snow. That was our view for most of the drive

2. This is from when I finally remembered to take a pic of the temp in the car. this was after about 2 hours on the road. I will try to do this every day

3. This is the Missouri River. It is really big and frozen solid! TJ and I had never seen a river this big totally frozen so we thought it was cool.

4. Our home away from home for the week. The first thing we did was empty out the suitcases and try to make it look a little neater but what can you do?

Until Tomorrow friends!

Day 1

So we have made it to our first stop. we are in Sioux Falls, SD. We pulled in around 4:15 checked into the hotel and went to the mall. It was great to be able to get out and walk around in a heated place! We left home today and it was nice here it is freezing! Talking to friends at home, it got to 76 degrees. Yep that beats here by about 50 degrees. Seriously. There is a ton of snow on the ground and its cold. The good news is that they take care of there roads so much better. There was not a bit of snow on the ground. Tomorrows agenda begins bright and early again at 8:00. We have about 5 more hours of driving before we get to Rapid City. Since we are going to have some down time, we are planning on making the drive into Sturgis and messing around for a little while. Other than that, no real plans but turning in early as Monday is going to be a long day! I posted some pics so that you guys can see how the beginning of our trip has gone.

Nesting?

So I have been cleaning and cooking like crazy this week. I just want everything to be ready for LM to get home. I have scrubbed all the bathrooms until they sparkle. The floors have all been swept and mopped and the grout scrubbed. All the linens have been changed and washed. I was talking with my friend the other day and she said I was nesting. I had no idea that even non pregnant expectant moms would nest! I laughed but it totally does sound exactly like what my 8 months pregnant friend is doing right now!
On another note, we have one of our ex youth members house sitting for us while we are gone. He is going to stay here, take care of the cats and just watch the house while we are gone. We don't really have any family in the area to help out so Kory is the next best thing. I think that he is pretty excited that we trust him enough to leave him the whole house for a whole week. He is a good kid though and a freshman in college. We are working on the finishing touches before our trip. I have to finish with the laundry and get things packed up. Tomorrow the plan is to run to town and finish the shopping. I need to get some snacks for in the car and some food for the house so that Kory has something to eat. Get the car washed and detailed, install the car seat, etc etc. I cant believe that we leave Saturday morning! TJ and I have not decided if we are going to post pictures on here and facebook or just here while we are gone. I am sort of thinking just here until we get back so that only those with this address will get to see him first.