Posted by Hannah Rae on Mar 31, 2010 in
Life in the Stubborn house
My precious Jeremiah,
Today was your 11th birthday. What a ride your 11 years have brought you on. 8 different families, 3 different group homes, friends made, friends lost. What a ride.
You are so brave, my Jeremiah. You fight to the end, which is one of your biggest strengths, and one of your biggest barriers to happiness.
My prayer for you, my sweet, sweet boy, is that your next 11 years will be infinitely better than the last 11. I am praying that God will heal your heart in ways we never saw coming. Amazing, incredible ways. He’s created you to be a warrior, my strong boy, and I am believing Him FOR you right now.
I love you, my creative one. You make me laugh everyday, even if it is through my tears. Your creative eye and wit are nothing less than gifts from God. Your red hair and freckles are endearing, and your smile lights up every room you enter.
Get stronger, little man. Daddy and I will help you.
Blessings!
Hannah
Leave a comment | | Tags: Adoption, parenting, RAD
Posted by Hannah Rae on Mar 30, 2010 in
Life in the Stubborn house
Dear State People,
We haven’t heard from you in a while. How are you? Are you alive? My two sons are waiting anxiously to be forever ours, and the paperwork that will make that happen is somewhere in your inbox or outbox or hiding on your messy desk, so if you could PLEASE find it and get it taken care of ASAP. My 11 year old is especially having a hard time waiting, because he believes that it will never happen. That he is not worth it. That we will give up just like everyone else. Please help us prove him wrong. AS. SOON. AS. POSSIBLE!
Blessings!
Hannah
Leave a comment | | Tags: Adoption, behavior challenges, RAD, the hard stuff
Posted by Hannah Rae on Mar 27, 2010 in
Life in the Stubborn house
Which, isn’t much action, but they sure are darn cute.
Here’s Mama Zoe getting some rest. Princess and Pan in a pile.
Pe has been such a good auntie. She loves cuddling with the pups and even helps Mama Zoe out with cleaning duty.
Puppy pile!
Mama Zoe getting some ZZZzzz’s with the pups close by.
This is Tres, the biggest pup. He’s almost 2 lbs already. He’s also a big cuddle bug.
Pan, concentrating very hard on all this growing.
Leave a comment | | Tags: the critters
Posted by Hannah Rae on Mar 26, 2010 in
Life in the Stubborn house
Restoration
is hard.
God is healing in a mighty way,
but it’s the stripping away to get at the root kind of healing,
and it hurts.
It reminds me of Eustace, being stripped of his dragon-ness by Aslan’s claws.
Deep, penetrating, painful,
Euphoric, cleansing, freeing.
God, my Father God, makes and is making all things new,
and we must be ready for the journey.
He’s calling us to come further up and further in,
So here we go.
Here we go.
With Psalm 27 and Psalm 32 in our hearts and on our lips.
Here we go.
Leave a comment | | Tags: Being set apart, faith, prayer, the hard stuff
Posted by Hannah Rae on Mar 22, 2010 in
Life in the Stubborn house
the
puppies!
3 boys, 1 girl. 2 brown (shocked!), 2 black.
All are healthy and extremely FIESTY!
Mama Zoe is AMAZING!
Mama Hannah did not get much sleep last night. 
Blessings!
Hannah
Leave a comment | | Tags: the critters
Posted by Hannah Rae on Mar 18, 2010 in
Life in the Stubborn house
Jeremiah had another good day today.
He accepted “No,” took corrective feedback, and got ready for bed without (too much) complaining while Grandma was still here. Big stuff. I told him how incredibly proud I was of him, cuz I know it was tough. I also had him repeat after me that he did a great job today and made good choices.
Maybe his tantrum streak is broken for a while. Hopefully.
It still bugs me that he cited my anger as one of the reasons for changing his ‘tude. I don’t like that. It’s bad reinforcement.
Tomorrow we have a field trip day for school together. I am excited about getting that time with him and meeting his friends. We are going bowling and then seeing Alice in Wonderland (which is really Through the Looking Glass). We saw it as a family for Gabe’s b-day, and I’m glad we did, cuz there is quite a bit of violence and I would not have wanted him to see it without me. I am bugged that the volunteer who set up this field trip didn’t do more research into the movie before committing to it. These are 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders going to see this. Anywho, it should be interesting.
Thank you for your continued prayers. I believe break through is coming for me son. Your prayers will see us through.
Blessings!
Hannah
Leave a comment | | Tags: behavior challenges, parenting, RAD, The SAHM Adventure
Posted by Hannah Rae on Mar 17, 2010 in
Life in the Stubborn house
Today was better. The first in 3 weeks without a tantrumming child.
I asked him why. He told me that when he saw how angry I was (and unfortunately I was very angry) he realized this was serious and he needed to stop playing games. I don’t like that anger is why today was better. I don’t like that at all. But I will accept the results with thankfulness and thank my Father for the grace to get to tomorrow.
And hopefully today will be the start to better.
Better would be good.
My daddy left a comment that he feels like God may use Zoe’s puppies (which are taking their sweet time to get here) to bring the breakthrough we need for Jeremiah. I can see God doing something like that. I know that puppies make MY heart smile, maybe they will help my boy’s heart to smile too. Maybe he will see what a mother’s love is like and take it in for himself.
Miah gets to hang with me tomorrow, and my bestest friends and God children are coming over, so I am really looking forward to that. Really really really. We are going to eat spinach carrot brownies and love on each other with prayer and support. It’s my favorite part of the week.
Thank you so much to all of you who are lifting our family up. God is using your prayers. Keep ‘em coming.
Blessings!
Hannah
Leave a comment | | Tags: behavior challenges, faith, parenting, RAD, the hard stuff, The SAHM Adventure
Posted by Hannah Rae on Mar 17, 2010 in
Life in the Stubborn house
For break through.
We need a break through for Jeremiah. Desperately.
I am so tired.
He is not happy and does not feel safe.
Ditto for me.
We need a break through.
Please pray for laughter to be brought back into this house. Real true laughter. Joy laughter. God filled JOY laughter.
Blessings!
Hannah
Leave a comment | | Tags: behavior challenges, RAD, the hard stuff
Posted by Hannah Rae on Mar 15, 2010 in
Life in the Stubborn house
but it’s not me.
Sorry for the heart attacks. Don’t bill me.
This is my Zoe May.
Zoe May is 56 days pregnant…with puppies.
We had wanted to breed her, but this was an oopsie. An oopsie that I blame on Nick and Sherry for coming over for dinner and distracting me long enough to allow my dog to escape for 20 minutes and get knocked up by a local roamer.
Darn.
But we are excited. Well, most of us. Hubby wants a kitten. We already have people lined up for a couple of the pups. They will be a great mix, lab/golden retriever. Dad is lab too, he might have something else in him as well, but he is definitely lab.
I need a whelping box, and quick. I am hoping that a teacher friend will come through on the materials, and that my FIL will be able to help with assembly. I’m pretty good with basic power tools due to my theater background, but it helps to have some manly help around, and hubby won’t be home till Thursday…which may be to late.
Anywho, my baby girl, my Zoe May is going to be such a fantastic mommy. She is so gentle and calm, and she babies Pe and the cats already. Not to mention 10 year-old boys.
She helped raise Pe and her sibs when we hand-raised them and did a fantastic job, and we KNOW she’s got enough milk. Hehehe.
And a random pic of Rachel, just because I can.
If anyone is interested in said puppies, please let me know. They will have their first shots, but we aren’t going to worry about the dew claws probably. We will probably be asking $75 for them. Of coarse, we don’t know how many their are yet, but you can be sure I will be keeping you updated.
I love you, my beautiful Zoe Girl.
Blessings!
Hannah
Leave a comment | | Tags: the critters
Posted by Hannah Rae on Mar 14, 2010 in
Life in the Stubborn house
Dear Gabe,
Happy 17.
You are officially old.
Today was tough. It wasn’t as smooth as we would have liked. It wasn’t as polished as last year’s events. You felt. You needed. We tried our best. We’ll keep trying.
You were trying hard today. I could see it, and I want you to know. I. Saw. You. I saw you remember to take the trash out this morning without being asked. I saw you take the dogs out without complaining. Was that even a smile on your face? Oh, yeah! I caught that too. You were trying so hard.
It was tough. I know it was. Your little brother is struggling, and that makes you hurt, because you want Mom and Dad more than what you are getting. I know. It sucks. Especially on YOUR day.
So this week I will remember to tell you your story, and next weekend we will celebrate again, because it’s your coming home day! The day you came to us for good.
And this week I will lay your head in my lap and stroke your hair and tell you your story.
Our story.
Happy 17, my eldest. My precious Yishai. My Gift.
Leave a comment | | Tags: Adoption, Lovin' on the kiddos, parenting
