Christmas 2012

First Christmas as a family of 3!  :)

Pictures of the house decorated:

Angels with our names  :-)   Alyssa's too! (We are having Braeden's made!)

The Hubby's parents came for 9 days over Christmas and New Year's! It was soo much fun and great to see them. They loved their new grandson! Here's some pics of all the family and Christmas gifts  :-)

Hurleys! (w/Gpa & Gma Hurley)

Hurleys and Krohns (w/Gpa & Gma Krohn, Auntie Kristi and Uncle Marcus)

Gift for Daddy from Braeden

Gift for Daddy from Braeden

Braeden with his first Christmas gift: Nathaniel the Storytime Bear from Avon (where else, right?!)  ;-)

I got it firstly because it's his middle name, and secondly because he reads the whole traditional Christmas story: " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas" while moving his mouth to the story and kicking his feet! Braeden loves it and kicks his feet (like the bear does!) 

Braeden and 'Nathaniel the Storytime Bear'

Grandpa Hurley with his first grandson!

Uncle Marcus finally held Braeden  :-)

Grandma Hurley and Braeden (birthday buddies!!)

So his outfit is a little big for him; but he's still cute!  Here he is laying on the arm of Gpa Krohn's Lazyboy  :-)

He's smiling at Gma Hurley!

Cozy with Gma Krohn

4 generations of Hurley boys!

Braeden with Great Gpa Hurley

Great Gpa & Great Gma George with us  :-)

Grandma Hurley makes the boys shirts for Christmas and birthdays. She made Braeden a onesie that matches daddy's Christmas shirt this year! It's a little big for him right now, but soon he will be able to wear it!

Daddy holding Braeden's matching onesie (without Braeden)  Yes, he's a dork  ;-)

Daddy and Braeden :-)

Braeden hugging daddy while he's sleeping!

The whole family! Daddy and Braeden with Kaylee on his lap, Lady next to him and Me with Blaze on my lap!

It was such a great family time!! So glad everyone could be together   :-)
Merry Christmas! God Bless!!!

Braeden Nathaniel

This is the story of our son, Braeden:

Tuesday:
On Tuesday, November 27th about 12:30pm, we got a call that the birthmom was in labor. The hubby got off work about 3pm (as early as he could leave) and we packed up and left for San Diego, CA. We drove all night, taking turns driving and sleeping.

Wednesday:
Arrived in San Diego about 6am on Wednesday and waited for the call from the hospital. We drove around town a bit, seeing the Ocean, eating breakfast and just killing time. Finally got the call from the birthmom's advocate. Our baby boy was born the night before: November 27th, 9:40pm weighing 6lbs, 6oz and 20in long  :-)  
(He has the same birthday as his Grandma Hurley - she got her first grandchild as a bday present this year!)
We went to the hospital that afternoon and met our son for the first time. We didn't get to stay long, but did have an hour-ish with him and it was great!

Thursday:
Stayed overnight about a half mile from the hospital and waited for them to call us again with his hospital release information. Long day, but we went back to the beach and took a walk until they called us. He had developed jaundice so they wanted to make sure he was okay to leave. When we arrived that afternoon, he was ready to go!

Then came the twist: his birthmom was apprehensive about signing papers at that point. She has a traumatic brain injury, so she isn't able to comprehend a lot of things quickly and once she makes up her mind and you throw her a lot of information (like: are you sure you want to sign these papers? etc), she freaks out and doesn't know what to do. Which is what happened. She then got into her mind that if she got a house and a job she could keep him and his brothers and sister (who are all in foster care). However, Braeden does have Down Syndrome, so she isn't able to keep him at all...ever. He would be relinquished now - to us, or relinquished in 6 months after being in foster care and have to stay in the system. We decided to take him for the weekend as foster parents until she would be asked again and hopefully sign on Monday. We prayed and prayed all weekend long. We believed that God wouldn't allow her to change her mind about us parenting him, but it was hard to wait for the final answer.

Also, he had slight jaundice, but was healthy enough to leave, so we made an appointment with the doctor the next day: Friday, and went home (back to the hotel).

Friday:
We went to the doctor for a well-baby check-up in the morning. They did another blood test and found that his Jaundice was improving and his platelet count is near normal now. His reflexes are wonderful and all vitals look great. Even his heart sounds good still  :-)
We decided to head further into San Diego and find things to do. We went to the beach and then got stuck in that lovely rush-hour Friday night traffic. So much fun. ha
Headed back to the outskirts of town to get a hotel for the night.

Saturday:
Starting Braeden out right: we went to the Automobile Museum in San Diego and even went to see the USS Midway that was at Pearl Harbor:

Automobile Museum (in his new carrier made by Gma Hurley)

USS Midway

USS Midway (it was cold, so Braeden is bundled up)

We had a full day and it was great being able to spend time with Braeden out and about too  :-)

Sunday:
We went to IKEA to waste a few hours. Braeden liked walking around (he was sleeping in his car seat in the cart anyway, haha). Went back to the beach for awhile and just watched the waves roll in from the car. That was nice. I love the ocean  :-)
Got a call from the birthmom's advocate who told us she had a hard talk with the birthmom on Saturday about making the right decision with Braeden's well-being. She told us when she spoke with her Sunday that the birthmom was better and pretty much ready to sign. They had an appointment with the agency to get the relinquishment papers signed Monday morning. That night was a long night, as you can imagine.

Monday:
We waited for the call about how the birthmom's appointment went and if the papers were signed. At last we got the news: she had signed and all they needed was our signatures! We went to the agency that afternoon and signed our papers. Then, we left town and headed north. We had to stay in CA until the paperwork went through and NM said we could leave, but we wanted to get out of So Cal, and we have family farther north in CA.

Tuesday:
Headed to San Francisco. We went across the Golden Gate bridge which was beautiful (as usual!)  :)
Met with my cousin, Deborah, who was the first family member to get to meet Braeden  :)

Braeden and cousin Deborah

Then we headed to the hubby's Aunt Carmen's house. It is so beautiful up here!! Braeden is being loved on and Mommy is getting more sleep  ;)

We just got a call this afternoon saying that we have been cleared to head home as well! One day turn-around is AMAZING and pretty unheard of, but we are very thankful  :)

Thanks everyone for all your prayers! God is amazing and we are having so much fun with our little boy  :)

Alright, enough of that, here's some pictures of our sweet son:

God Bless!!

God's Miracles

God constantly amazes me with his miracles all around us and his answers to prayers.

One major example:

We said "God, we have mice in the house. What do we do?" God said, "Here's a cat".

Hahaha. True story:

So, a couple weeks ago, we started noticing mouse droppings. Figured, well we will keep all food covered and not worry about them until we see more. Few days later, the hubby leaves one of his breakfast muffins in a baggie on the counter and the next day we see mice nibbles on bag and in muffin. So we started thinking about how we could get rid of this problem. You see, we live outside of town, on 2 acres of land, so: "we are surrounded by this thing called nature and mice happen" - Lorelai Gilmore, Gilmore Girls  :)

We prayed about it and decided to buy a couple mouse traps. Fast forward to a couple days ago. Our friend was over and we were just hanging out and talking. All of a sudden, he stops and says "do you have a cat?", hubby says "no". We giggle, but become quiet and hear this tiny meowing. Hubby and friend go outside and see a kitty on the porch acting like it belongs here. We gave it a piece of deli ham and put a water bowl outside for her. She hasn't left. The dogs were in the house one night and we opened the door to go outside, trying to block them... well, kitty meows, and out goes 2 dogs pushing me into the door. Kitty goes up into our pecan tree. We bring the dogs back inside and talk to kitty as she learns to climb out of the tree. We were excited when she got down by herself! Now we don't have to worry about her getting stuck up there. I've found her in the tree playing with leaves a couple times too  :)

Hubby made her a small house in the carport with a milk crate and towels. She likes it. We thought, well, we will keep her as a outside cat and see if she learns to kill mice for us. The next day (yesterday morning), we notice one of our traps has caught a mouse  :)  Hubby figures, let's see if she will learn to eat mice. He drags the trap around teasing her a little and she grabs the mouse out of it and immediately started eating it. We left her alone, went back outside a couple minutes later and it was all gone. Good kitty!

Last night, I see a little thing moving near my bookshelf of kids books, and so do the dogs, but of course it was too fast for them. So, I put the dogs outside and bring in our little kitty. She looks around, because she hasn't been inside before, but then picks up on a mouse trail. She heads into our office (which is where we've noticed them mostly), and lies down and waits. A mouse comes running near her, and pow! She caught it in her mouth and ate it  :)  I was so proud of her! Although it was quite disgusting to watch. haha
I left her in there for a few more minutes and she got another one, then comes trotting out like "ok, now what?!" We both saw another one on the kitchen floor as I was taking her back outside and she runs and catches that one too! Though she decided to play with that one until it died and then ate it. Happy kitty tummy tonite  ;)

We are thrilled at how fast she is learning to fend for herself. She likes her little house, drinks her water, plays around on the wood pile, in the tree and teases the dogs from the outside of the fence, and she loves us. She lets us pet her and plays with us a lot now. She even kisses my toes when I'm barefoot standing outside with her  :)

We have named her Tiger:

Meet Tiger

She loves playing (yes those scratches on my hand are from her - she's getting better at not scratching though)  haha

She's so sweet

"What are you doing? I wanna see!"

Isn't she so cute?!  :)   Yes, God is so amazing. He definitely helps His children when they ask for His help! He continually amazes me with all He knows and how He protects us.


In other news... Our adoption is moving along great as well. Our baby boy is due in one month!! I'm having a baby shower next weekend and I'm soooo excited!  :)

Thanks for all your support! Bye for now  :)

First Pictures

We received wonderful news about our baby boy this week. The birthmom had a sonogram on Wednesday and her advocate called us to tell us about her appointment.

Our son is at 5.5 lbs right now, so he's right on track! His heart is still looking great and his kidneys and GI tract have no obstructions!!! They originally saw the skin on the back of his neck that was thicker than normal a few months ago; but now it looks healthy and perfectly normal.   :-)

They believe that he will be very high functioning and since he's growing normally now, he should continue to do so! They also think his due date will be a week earlier, so he is due now November 30-December 1ish  :-P

We got our first pictures of our son too! Here they are:

 Isn't he perfect and so beautiful?!  :-)  ok, maybe I'm biased  ;-)

He was moving around so much they could hardly get pics. He kept sticking his thumb and fingers in his mouth too! He's so cute!!

So, we are very excited about this good news and are anxiously awaiting his arrival!  :-)

We are almost to our goal of $8,000 for the adoption. We know that's how much the whole adoption expenses will be. Thanks for all your help!
We are still looking for helpers for our Both Hands project as we will be working on our friend, Judy Valentich's house; cleaning and weeding her yard. If you can help or would like to sponsor us working (100% of proceeds go to our adoption), please let me know. Thanks so much!!  God Bless  :-)

Both Hands project

Hi friends!

Well, we have been busy preparing for the addition of our little boy to our family! He is due December 8th and we are so excited.

We have one fundraiser going on now as well as a Rescue Mission we are doing soon:

1) Pampered Chef online party (30% of proceeds are going to our adoption) - Through October 14th!

If you'd like to purchase anything to support our adoption in this way, please go to: www.pamperedchef.biz/marthacalmes   Click on 'Shop Online' and Enter in "Hurley" for the host name

2) Both Hands project (details below) - 100% of proceeds are going to our Adoption!

Project will be November 24th and we will have more information to you soon if you'd like to help!

      

Helping a Widow… 

Helping an Orphan

Dear Friends and Family,

As you all know, we've been going through the process of adopting a wonderful child from here in the United States. We started the adoption process in March, completed our Home Study in May. We have just been matched with a baby boy from California! He is due December 8^th and has Down Syndrome, but as of now, he has no heart problems! We have raised a bit of money, but are in need of more help. We will need to pay for the agency services, an attorney to finalize the adoption, and for Early Intervention for our son when we bring him home.

Right now, that’s the hard part because it’s all expensive. However, we are very confident that God is going to provide a way; and a very interesting fundraising idea has made us believe that all the more.

If you can use a tool, clean a window, paint a wall, stuff envelopes, make phone calls, arrange food, or simply pray… then we need you! With your help, we have a chance, not only to raise the funds necessary to bring our baby boy home, but to also serve a widow, just like it talks about in James 1:27. Here’s how it works:

Caleb and I find a widow in need (we have selected a friend and sister in Christ, Judy Valentich, from our church who is wheel-chair bound, on oxygen and isn’t able to get around much). We then assemble a team of our friends to complete a Both Hands Project. Then the team (including us) would send out letters to family and friends asking people to sponsor us for the day, as we work on this widow’s house.  All the funds raised go toward our adoption.  It’s just like asking someone to sponsor you for a 5K Run for the Cure.

This idea has been done over 100 times around the country already! Attached is a link to a video that might help give you a good idea of what the Both Hands Project is all about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98PD-O97N3I

Here is my request. Would you consider being on our team? You may be jumping up and down like I was and saying “pick me, pick me” or you might have several questions. Please give me a text/call or email me if you're interested in praying, sponsoring workers, and/or volunteering to work on the house (landscaping and minor cleaning).

Thanks for even considering it.

Caleb & Caitie

i www.BothHandsFoundation.orgi

i One for the Widow – One for the Orphan i

You can join the Project on Facebook at:

 https://www.facebook.com/events/100240366802882/?ref=ts&fref=ts 

You can donate to the Project online through Lifesong for Orphans (100% of the proceeds go to our adoption) at:
http://bothhandsfoundation.org/caleb-and-caitlin-hurley



If you'd like to help us get ready to bring our son home, we have a couple registries open:
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/registry/baby/3DAT7DWCQZP86
Target - http://www.target.com/baby/registry/VPWYlThZboaNhJhwdDvkFg


More soon to come about our son!  :-)

Thanks for all your help and God Bless!!

Expecting!

We found out this evening that we are "expecting" a baby boy! He is due in December and is in CA. We are trying to figure out our next steps from here and starting to plan for a new baby. We will need some help with baby items like bottles, clothes, a stroller, as well as some more money for the actual adoption. We are continuing with our fundraisers and if you'd like to help with any of them but aren't sure how to or what we have going on, go to our Adoption Fundraisers page, and/or please write to us at: hurley_adoption@gmx.com  

Our mailing address is: PO Box 1538   Las Cruces, NM   88004

We do have a couple of baby registries open. One at Amazon: here
And one at Target: here

I do need to update both (as there's still newborn girl clothes instead of boy clothes on there)  haha  :-)


Thanks so much for all your help, prayers and love!

Love,
Caitie, Caleb and baby boy Hurley