It's 2011 :)

Dear friends,

Whew. It has been a whirlwind of the past 7 months since I posted last. Let me update you on some things going on within the Hernandez clan :).


In July we acquired a new addition to our family- a puppy named Chessa but sadly she passed away a couple of weeks later. This was a sad moment :( but we still have our two mutts- Charlie will be three in May and Chico will be two.

We also added two more wonderful additions and our family has doubled! We are proud pre-adoptive parents of N- 4, he will be 5 in May, and D who is 18 months. We started visits with them in July which I believe I had written about previously. We did visits back and forth with the foster home they were in at the time, who also happened to be some of our best friends as well which made the whole situation so much easier. It was a fun and busy summer with weekends out and about and weeks working and getting ready for the big move, as well as for little D's 1st bday!

The boys offically moved in on August 13th, 2010. The first night we took them for ice cream and we got family pictures done. The next day we had a bday party with some of our closest family and friends. This was the first time many of them had the chance to meet the boys and it was joyous celebration. I remember Shawn thanking everyone for coming and asking them to keep us in their prayers for the future of our family. That seems like so long ago.

At this point we were still conducting visit between the boys and their mother, and it was unsure which direction the case was going to go. I still cannot share too much as it is still ongoing; however the next four months brought a lot of turmoil and hardship for us emotionally, as well as for our boys, but God is faithful and since November things have been so much more peaceful for us. The courts decided to move for Termination of Parental Rights. During this time we were also able to see my in-laws, although through very sad circumstances, it was wonderful for Shawn's parents and siblings to be able to meet the boys for the first time and for us to see all of our nieces and nephews.

In December we celebrated Christmas with the boys, and then we went to my parent's house. Christmas morning was such a joy! I am sensitive to those who are not married or do not have children, as I have been there. It was different than years past when it was just Shawn and I. While those are memories I will treasure, I feel like Mary when the Bible says she "stored and treasured these thing in her heart." It is a different time period of our life and I store these things in my heart- N's face when he opened his dump trucks, D playing with the wrapping paper, my parent's as their first Christmas as grandparents. These are special moments.

Backing up a little bit, in August Shawn lost his job where he had been since we moved to Northwest Indiana. It was a hard time. We were able to secure unemployment though and the Lord was so faithful and we were able to make it through.

In December I got an e-mail in regards to a position at Purdue University teaching Spanish. I started in January after the holidays. It was back to the grind. I love it! I teach three different courses two days a week. Shawn stays at home with the boys and cares for them. He is such an awesome husband and father. I come home to a clean house, happy children, and dinner! He is such a blessing to me from God.

We had our review hearing in January and they decided to move forward with the termination hearing. We were happy to hear this. It is obviously a sad occasion to see a mother losing her children and the agony of a family who is being broken up no matter the choices that led to this moment. However, I believe God has brought these boys to us for a purpose. I believe at the end of the day they need us and we need them. It is such a testament to the title of my blog....God Bless the Broken Road. It has been a very difficult four years of dealing with infertility, and the heartbreaking news of not being able to have biological children. When the boy's first came to us it was not an instantaneous moment in time where I knew I was their mother, but if you ask me now, I can't imagine life without them. It is perfectly normal that they are our children, blood and skin color do not even play a factor in our relationship with them. We love them, care for them, wipe their tears, sing with them, cheer on N at this soccer games, discipline when needed, clap when D took his first steps, and show them who their Father is- Jesus.

This is such a picture of how God took us and adopted us in to his family through his son. How he loved us.

This past weekend my mom came and we went to N's last soccer game on Sunday and then we took the boys to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. It was such a fun family day. Then yesterday morning we had our first Termination Hearing. It was short and we will have the actualy trial part in April. Things are moving forward. We are just loving on the boys and trusting in God to work us through this.

Shawn recently got a phone call to work for another State Farm agent for the next 6 months. The best part is he can work from home for the next two months while I finish up teaching at Purdue and tutoring. I took the LSAT exam in December and applied at Valparaiso University for law school. This has always been a dream of mine and my husband is my biggest supporter. I am still waiting to hear if I got in or not. Once I find out, and we have court in April, we will be able to make more permanent plans for our future.

This is an update on us. We are just living each day and enjoying each moments as a normal family :).

Thanks for reading.