I just wanted to share this picture with you. Jeremiah drew this at church today. I have no idea how much he knows about the Bible, but this really touched my heart. I had no idea he was so artistic. He even included the sign above Jesus’ head, and a Roman chariot. That boy has totally stolen our hearts. More on that later. For now, enjoy his picture of true love.
Wow! What a whirlwind of a weekend.
I picked Jeremiah up at the group home after work on Friday. Kaleb had “warned” me that Jeremiah was very eager to be in a family, but I didn’t expect the reaction I got.
“My MOM’s here!” He shouted with a huge smile on his face. He ran up to me and gave me a huge hug. “I love you!” He said in a sweet voice, and I believed him. It wasn’t the RAD “I love you” that I have gotten from kids while I was staff, it was more of a “Thank you. I choose to love you because I want you to love me.”
We got an oil change at a local quick lube, and Jeremiah was asking questions the whole time. So I explained every hose, every move, every tool of the mechanics. It was great fun for me. I love little kid questions.
When we got home, we gave Miah the tour, and he soaked it all in. He claimed this house as his home.
“Where’s MY closet?” He asked when we showed him the room he and Gabe will share.
“Don’t worry.” I reassured, “There is plenty of room for your things. ”
Miah has been calling us Mom and Dad all weekend. At one point, I was referring to something as “Kaleb’s” and Miah turned to me and said
“Who is this Kaleb person anyway?”
“Dad.” I told him.
“Oooh.”
It was so cute.
Kaleb is not totally comfortable with it, just because everything is so new and fragile at this point, but we both agree that we don’t want to make too big of a deal out of it.
The boys and I played “Pirates of the Caribean Life” while we waited for Kaleb to get home from work…which was very late because of a major computer crisis. We got Jeremiah to bed by ten, but he was having a hard time sleeping in his new environment. Kaleb went up and reassured him everything was okay, and he fell right to sleep.
I went to bed early because I knew the little guy would be up at a pretty early hour. Sure enough, 8:30 (Yes, that is early for us on Saturdays) I heard the pitter patter of Jeremiah feet accompanied by his playful “rapping.” As soon as he was done with breakfast he was running in circles around the house with the dogs. I had to quickly remind him that other people were still sleeping, so that needed to wait till later in the day. So, his compromise was spending a good half-hour wrestling with Zoe and Pe, which was absolutley HILLARIOUS to watch. The girls were very gentle. I was proud of them. 
Gabe got up at about 9:30, wonder of wonders, but he said that Jeremiah went upstairs and was singing, and that woke him. The boys spent nearly an hour wrestling together. It was great fun to watch. Gabe is not very big, so they were not terribly unevenly matched, at least to the point where Gabe could easily taper his strength down. Kaleb mentioned to me later that he was glad he wasn’t up, because I recognized it as play, but he may have stopped it in fear that it would go too far. I was elated that it stayed totally appropriate, and Gabe showed extreme care.
The day was filled with chores, a good lunch together as a family, a trip to the school to pick up yummy pasties, and a little bit of playstation time. After a yummy pasty dinner this evening, Kaleb had some Dad time with the boys making no bakes. Neither of the boys have much experience cooking or baking, so I am thankful for such an experienced hubby.
Rachel and I worked on a scrapbook I am attempting to put together. It will chronicle Kaleb’s and my journey together, starting with our courtship, marriage, and now becoming a family. It’s been nice to have Rachel home today, as she has been working till midnight, so I haven’t seen her all week. She has a very warm heart, and I am so thankful she is along with us on our journey.
So now, Miah is tucked safely in bed after good night prayers, hugs, kisses, and I love yous; Gabe is taking an excruciatingly long time getting ready for bed, and Kaleb, Rachel, and myself are watching Lost.
Very tired. It’s been a good day.
Oh, we read the first chapter of first Samuel today after dinner. We are going to try to make that part of the dinner routine. The boys were very good listeners. Jeremiah is excited to go to church tomorrow. I am excited to show him off. )
Lord, I lift up the families that are being hit so hard by all the raging waters in the northern plains right now. Lord, we are asking for STRENGTH as the cities are tired. They need strength physically to continue to fight against the waters, strength emotionally to hold up to the continuing stress and devastation, and strength spiritually to continue to lift their cares to you.
Lord, I ask for PEACE as families watch their homes and possessions and memories being washed away. I ask for PEACE as their sense of safety is stolen by the muddy waters.
Lord, I ask for PATIENCE as the families wait and wait and wait for these record setting waters to reside.
Lord, I ask for WISDOM as families make very difficult choices.
Lord I ask for provision for FINANCES as families are hit with a very large blow. I ask for provision for housing and clothing and food. Lord, help them to remember your faithfulness in the midst of this crazyness.
Lord, I ask for safety for the families that are being evacuated and those that are staying in their homes. I ask for safety for the public servants, emergency personal, and military as they do their jobs to the best of their abilities. I ask, Lord that you give them wisdom in every decision they make.
I pray that the youth will continue to rise up to the challenge of helping those around them.
And finally, Lord, I pray for endurance as the families fight against the water AND the bitter cold. You are God. Even the wind and waves are at your command. Thank you, Father.
Amen…Let it be DONE!
Parent-teacher conferences went well last night. Gabe is attending Kaleb’s old high school, so it was familiar territory for us, but WEIRD being on the other end. We had more than a couple people ask if we were there checking up on Kaleb’s little sister, who is a junior at the school. Nope! We’ve got a kiddo here!
Over all, the past three days Gabe has made a glowing first impression. I had no doubts that he would. He’s a very personable kid. We spoke with one teacher for quite a while about the difficulties she has getting her students motivated and how Gabe had no idea what the class was about or what he was supposed to be doing in it. We got some clarity on the situation, so now we hopefully will be able to better direct Gabe’s energies. His history teacher is AMAZING and let us know that when Gabe comes home saying he never gets any homework in History, he is telling the truth. I am hoping this teachers very active approach brings this struggling subject to the surface in Gabe’s mind. He has a mind for facts and details, so I am hoping this teacher lights a spark somewhere.
We saw a boy who used to be in our youth group when he was in Junior High. He’s a senior now. He came up to us and gave us big hugs. Lots of things have happened since we last spoke. His parents apparently split, which I have no idea how we did not know this, his dad then preceded to get remarried and accept Christ! Yay for Jesus!!!! Booo for divorce, but Yay for Jesus!!! His brother has been in the Navy since he was 17, as was his dream, and I am so excited to hopefully get to see this grown up version of him this summer.
Jeremiah comes home for his first weekend visit tonight. I am psyched!!! The manly folk spent a good hour and a half swaping beds and putting together frames last night. Even our bed ended up off the ground…which hasn’t happened since 2003. This weekend should be very busy and interesting, so I am expecting to have a lot to write on Monday. I just got off the phone with Gabe and instructed him to listen to Rachel and help out with anything she needed. We want the house to be nice and clean for Jeremiah’s first visit! Gabe is excited, and can’t wait to play the big brother role.
Okay, that’s a long update, but that’s what happens when a lot is going on the lives of the Tuimalas.
Tonight, the Kaleb person and I will be heading to our first ever parent-teacher conferences. We are going to try to meet with Gabe’s teachers and get a good idea of how they approach teaching and see if they have any pressing questions that need to be answered. We are hoping to get on the same page from the get-go, so I am glad we get to participate.
Kaleb and Gabe came into town to pick up his bike from the group home along with some other miscelaneous things he had left behind. It turned out that it was community day today, so they got to stay for some activities and catch up with people. Kaleb also got to meet Jeremiah for the first time. YAY! I will have to get more details from him later on how that went. He’s such a cutie, and I really hope Kaleb takes to him. I think he already is.
Now, Kaleb and Gabe are heading to a nearby town to pick up a full size mattress for Rachel to use until we can find a better one. She has been sleeping on her same mattress since she was in Kindergarten…and she is 22 now. Whoops! That’s one high quality mattress, people! So, if all goes according to plan, after parent/teacher conferences tonight we will be rearranging beds. The plan is to have the boys room together for now, but we will see how that continues. I would like to continue to use the guest room next to our bedroom as a guest room…especially for certain…uhm…modesty reasons. But if we need to give each boy their own room, we will. I will just have to learn to be…ummmm….quieter?!?!?! Is that TMI? Probably, but it’s me, so that’s what you expect, right?
Gabe has been doing so incredibly awesome! He’s been getting his homework done after he gets home from school, and then he has been enjoying the non-group home freedom of skateboarding in our driveway and rollerblading up and down the street. YAY!!! I am so excited for him to just be a normal kid.
His first day at school, two silly freshmen girls wrote him a note asking him to be their bff. He had no idea what that meant and was confused by the whole concept when he found out. The note was hilarious. He couldn’t wait to show it to me. I warned him that sometimes girls at this age are VERY silly.
He is having some drama going on between two former romantic interests…and was pretty bummed about it last night. The plus side is it gave me a chance to pray with him AND he came back a few minutes later and asked us what out definition of “Love” was. This was at 11:03 PM mind you, and we both laughed and joked that this was not exactly an 11:03 PM question, but we would be glad to answer it anyway. I whipped out 1 Cor. 13, and Kaleb whipped out his huge concordance. We didn’t have much discussion, but it was starting point. Hopefully we will be able to have more discussion tonight.
We took him to “Soup group” last night. “Soup Group” is our small group Bible study that Kaleb and I have been a part of for 5 years now. They are our extended family, and I couldn’t wait to introduce Gabe to them. Gabe is a pseudo-name…not his real name, and I thought everyone knew that. Apparently not, because I nearly had a laughing attack when a good friend asked
“Gabe” if he was Gabe. He just glared at me with a sigh. NOT HIS REAL NAME PEOPLE!
And just to clue you in, Jeremiah is a pseudo-name too.
I called the consultant at the group home that Jeremiah is at looking to see what the plan was for him to start visits. She wasn’t sure about this weekend and said she would call me back after their team meeting tomorrow. 5 minutes later she called back and asked if we wanted him Friday. I said “Sure.” Soooo we have Jeremiah for the weekend. YAY!
So we are stealing back Rachel’s box spring for the other twin mattress in the boys’ room and getting Rachel a full bed from a friend of mine. It will at least make due until we can get her a better mattress.
Gabe is excited to have Jeremiah come. It will be fun to have a 10 year old around. I’m excited.
Kaleb is falling into the Dad role with flying colors. I am out of this world proud of my man. He has truly gone above and beyond. I LOVE YOU, KALEB!!!!
I am enjoying this whole Mom thing, but it really hasn’t hit home yet, although with every hug goodnight it sinks in a little more.
The great escape! Out of the group home for good!
Gabe laughing at the boys still at the group home…all in good fun of coarse.
Sorting through all of Gabe’s stuff was hard work. That boy has a lot of clothes…90% shirts.
This is Gabe
This is Gabe on his 16th birthday (at 1:30 in the afternoon).
This is Gabe eating a bread stick in Pizza Hut on his 16th birthday.
This is Gabe being loved on by my precious hubby in Pizza Hut on his 16th birthday.
This is the fantastic ice cream cake I made for Gabe on his 16th birthday.
This is Gabe blowing out the candles on the fantastic ice cream cake I made him for his 16th birthday.
This is Gabe putting extra hot fudge on the fantastic ice cream cake I made him for his 16th birthday.
This is Gabe opening birthday presents on his 16th birthday.
This is Gabe wearing all of his birthday presents on his 16th birthday.
This is a boy-child who knows he is loved on his 16th birthday.
BONUS! This is video of the fun we had at Pizza Hut on Gabe’s 16th birthday.
Okay, so Gabe is moving in TOMORROW! That means a weeks worth of preparation needs to be completed TONIGHT! Oooh my. Okay, so I really want Gabe to feel welcome and have everything as ready as possible for him to move in and get settled…so I am trying to figure out what exactly he needs. Here’s what I’ve got so far.
And so much more…but we are waiting for his clothing allowance to get un-lost…since it has been lost since January. And now Gabe has a new caseworker, so she is playing catch-up t’boot.
Oh, I am so excited!!!
One of us will have to go to the school tomorrow to sign some paper work. A lot of stuff we don’t have yet, documentation wise, so we will just have to do our best.
Any tips?
Gabe is moving in on Friday…meaning the day after tomorrow. He doesn’t have any exams for the end of the quarter, and his caseworker and consultant think sooner is better than later.
So tomorrow I call his new school, give them the heads up, and clear all of the excess stuffed animals out of his room.
Jeremiah won’t be coming till next weekend because caseworkers are still figuring things out. I’m so excited to have him here, but am glad that it is not happening the same weekend as Gabe’s move-in.
Kaleb’s been working very diligently on a goals sheet for Gabe as well as rules and consequences…but he is having a hard time coming up with rewards. That’s why God designed two-parent households, right? I guess I always have been more of a rewards person.
This weekend should be interesting.
