Catching Up!

I'm so sorry I haven't written in this most important time in our "process", things have been crazy busy!
It is one week till Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for! We are so, so blessed!
We have had 2 more visits with Marvel, yes I shared his name! It's pronounced Mar-velle, not like the comics. Two weeks ago we had an evening visit, we went to Game Time in Centro Ybor and played games and ate dinner. Of course we had a blast and on the way home he asked if he could come to our house for the next visit, which we were planning for Friday, since there was no school/work for Veteran's Day. So that's what we did. That Friday, Kevin went to pick him up, and we gave him a tour of the house, starting with "the room he could stay in if he ever wanted to stay with us". We had lunch, played on the Wii, on the computer, played basketball, I made his favorite dinner, lasagna, and we had a bon fire and made smores. About mid-day he asked if he could stay the night, we said that was fine, even though he didn't bring extra clothes. We were very surprised , but excited! When we were in "his room" making sure he would fit in the bed (lol), he just said out of the blue...." I probably won't move in till after basketball season, in February", I said "Ok, that's fine" very calmly-but I was freaking out inside! He obviously had been thinking about this. He also asked what high school he would go to when we were eating dinner. We finished the evening by watching the latest Harry Potter movie, at his request (which was really good). The next day we all just hung around, like any other Saturday, and we brought him home mid-afternoon. The kids had so much fun with him, he plays with them and is so nurturing, just like a great big brother. Kevin and I really missed him that next day, I was sort of sad that we had to take him "home".

But we asked him what he wanted to do for Thanksgiving, and told him that we normally go to my aunt's house with all of my side of the family, but if that seemed like too much, we could do something small at home and that would be fine. He said that he wanted to go to my aunt's house, that he was fine with that. I will double check with him this weekend, just to be sure, though. Can you even believe this kid? He is Marvel-ous! Now, we do realize that in the beginning the kids that have been in foster care are trying to impress families and make them like them, but he is so open and honest with us, and gets along with the kids so well-we feel so blessed that the Lord has brought us together. He is just so precious, and so much "like" us-in his demeanor and attitudes. We have another visit planned for this weekend, probably another sleepover, and he had mentioned that he wanted to stay over Thanksgiving break as well, but he has basketball practice the first part of the week, so we'll see. I feel so bad for his foster mom, almost like we're taking him away from her-she did want to adopt him at one point, but he chose not to. She is a great lady, and has 3 teenage foster boys with her right now, God bless her! But she did say she thought we were a good fit for him, I just feel sad for her, he's been there almost 2 years! We are having so much fun and really enjoy getting to know him.
Other news....Kevin and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary yesterday! We can hardly believe it's been that long! We are so crazy about each other, and we get closer each year. We are best friends, and I am so blessed to have him leading our family, and it is so rewarding to be his help-meet through good and bad. He is an excellent father and husband, and always puts the kids and me first-I could not have dreamed up a more perfect man to be married to! He is my number one blessing, other than my Savior, Jesus Christ!
We will also officially have a teenager in December and my "baby" will be 5, so bittersweet! This will be a very emotional end of the year for me! But it is still the most wonderful time of the year (can you tell I've been listening to Christmas music)! Love it! Count your blessings!