December 25- Recap

Christmas....

We were to dock at 8 am and we were scheduled to disembark at 9:25, so we should have made it to my moms house by noon for Christmas lunch. However, that DID NOT happen.

Around 7 they announced that we could not enter the Mobile Bay due to heavy fog. They also announced that we were waiting for our guide boat to join us, and that once the guide joined us it would take 4.5 hours to reach the dock. However, 2 hours later our guide boat was still not there and the fog was still very thick.

We made the most of things and Caleb and David played a game of chess and then we found some cards and played cards. Time went by so slowly. I was not able to place calls but was able to update family with text messages. We told them not to wait dinner for us.

Around 12:30 our guide boat showed up, we docked around 4:30. Those who kept their luggage got to disembark first. We had no clue we would be delayed so we had them take our luggage the night before, so we were last to leave the ship. We got off the ship around 6 pm. Security went very quickly and we were in our car around 6:45 and made it to my moms around 8:00 pm.

It really sucked not being with Madilyn for her first Christmas Day. She was very excited to see us when we walked into the house. She had not opened her presents so we got to do that with her. We ate leftovers and filled everyone in on our trip and gave the kids gifts we had purchased for them in Mexico. Over all it was a good Christmas and a wonderful cruise.

Wednesday- December 24 (recap)

Christmas Eve at sea....

Another lazy day at sea just hanging around on deck and relaxing. Of course Caleb spent a lot of time playing video games. But that was fine, it was what he wanted to do.

I took in a game show called the "Marriage Game." It was funny. After that I stayed for the Christmas show. It was good, and made me get a little more in the Christmas mood. It is hard to think about Christmas when it is 80 degrees outside.

While I was watching shows David was hanging on deck.

We hit the ship gift shop and got some good buys. I got a necklace and 2 bracelets, Caleb and David got a bracelet. I got Madilyn a Mermaid doll and we picked up a few other items.

Tonight at dinner the waiters sang a goodbye song. It was funny. We had 2 really good waiters named David and Gusti. They provided good service and many laughs during the week.

Tuesday- December 23 (recap)

Today we docked in Cozumel Mexico. Thankfully my seasickness had passed and I felt back at 100%. I did wake in the night to some rough waters, but was glad to be feeling well enough to take our planned trip into Cozumel.

Once we came on deck we noticed that we could not see the shore (lol). The Disney Magic was docked next to us, that ship made ours look like a tug boat. The Disney Ship was massive and beautiful. Maybe in a few years we will take Maddie on a Disney cruise.

We had planned a 4.5 hour trip but it actually lasted about 6 hours. We went with a group of about 40 people and 10 dune buggies. David drove the dune buggy through the city and then out to ECO park. At the park we saw some Mayan Ruins, a croc preserve, a 200 year old light house and we went snorkeling.

The dune buggy ride was fun. We got to see a lot of the city and beach front. Eco Park only had 1 major ruin but it was interesting to hear how the structure would warn the Mayans of a coming hurricane.

Snorkeling was fun, but not nearly as pretty as when David and I went to the Bahamas. It was Caleb's first time and he had a blast. We had to swim pretty far out to get to the reef. To say we were all beat once returning to the ship would be an understatement.

We had hoped to have some time to do some shopping in Cozumel, but our trip lasted too long and we barely made it back to the ship in time.

The waters were once again a little choppy but no one got sea sick.

Monday- December 22 (recap)

Today we docked in Progresso Mexico. We had a planned trip to see the Mayan Ruins and relax at the beach.

We took a bus to Dzibilchaltun (the ruins we visited). The bus ride took about 45 minutes. Along the way we received a history lesson on Progresso and the Mayans. The ruins were more that we expected. We expected to only see two or three structure however, we saw 20 or more ruins. We took a ton of pictures. Caleb seemed to really enjoy himself. Our guide Manuel was very informative and made the trip interesting. We spent about 2 hours visiting the ruins.

Upon leaving the ruins we headed to the beach for our "beach break" which included free drinks. I must say we were disappointed with the beach. It was not as clean as the beaches in Pensacola and the sand was dirty. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand, but no one really ventured into the water, because it had a lot of jelly fish in it.

We got back to the ship around 4:00 and got cleaned up and showered before dinner. Our dinners were long usually ending around 8:30.

The weather was perfect, around 78 degrees and a nice breeze. The day was perfect....

But the night is another story....

We hit some rough waters about an hour prior to dinner. At first we were all feeling fine. On our way to the dinning room we thought it was funny to see vomit bags hanging up everywhere, we also thought it was strange that no one was out and about. The dinning room was not even half full when we arrived. We ordered our dinner and one by one our table for 8 became smaller, another couple left and then I barely made it out of the dinning room before I was throwing up. Thankfully I had picked up a vomit bag earlier (just in case). I made it back to the cabin and went to bed. David and Caleb were able to eat and did not suffer with seasickness. Caleb did feel a little ill so he spent the night in his room resting and watching a movie.

December 21 (recap)

FUN DAY AT SEA

Missed the sunrise, it was great to actually sleep through the night. Missed Madilyn but enjoyed the sleep.

Caleb spent some time swimming, playing video games and hanging with the circle C kids. David and I were just plain lazy and spent a lot of time lounging on deck. I took a book to read, but was even too lazy to read. Our view for the entire day was blue water, it was so peaceful.

We went to the top deck and played a game of mini golf. David won, but I think the wind was on his side. The game was fun but difficult because of the high winds.

We went to the Captains reception prior to dinner. It was interesting to meet the crew. They had a band playing dance music, it was very entertaining to watch the older couples dance, they were really good.

Dinner was wonderful, we got spoiled on good food and good service.

Saturday- December 20 (recap)

We left my moms house around 10 am and headed toward Mobile. Madilyn went with Aunt Mary to spend the night at her house.

Upon arriving in Mobile we learned that the previous cruise arrived late, so we would be a little delayed in our departure. We were to board around noon, but did not board until about 2:00. It was all good, we just hung around and talked with other passengers.

Upon boarding we were treated to a large lunch buffet. After eating lunch we hung out on deck waiting for the ship to depart. However, our departure was delayed due to the late arrival. We went to the dining room for our 6:00 pm dinner. About half way through dinner they announced that we were finally departing and that our delay would not affect our trip or our arrivals to other destinations. After dinner we explored the ship and spent sometime on deck looking at the sky.

We had no problems with our luggage, and found our rooms to be about what we expected. Small but not too small. The beds were comfortable and we all slept well the first night on board.

Christmas Vacation 2008

We had an awesome trip! Caleb, David and I took a Carnival Cruise to Progresso and Cozumel Mexico. We had a great time and got to see a a lot of neat things. I will post updates on our trip in separate post so that the post do not become too long.

Madilyn stayed with my family in FL. They really enjoyed getting to know her. We missed her but really needed to spend some time reconnecting with Caleb.

I will post a link to our Flickr account once we have uploaded all of the pictures from our trip.

RevoluntianaryLove.TV- The Sequel Week 2

I was glad to see the amount of items collected for the women's shelter. Five truck loads of needed items were given to the shelter. The children of the church also collected 50 bags of items for MUST Ministries. The children were so excited to bring there bags to give to others who are in need.

WEEK 2: The topic today was Unselfish Serving. Another topic I needed to hear. Not that I am selfish with my serving, but sometimes I wonder when others will get up and step up to the plate. But you know that is between them and God and I don't need to worry about what others do I only need to worry about myself.

So Gary presented the 4 A's of Unselfish Serving. I hope that I remember them correclty.
Assessment- Assessing the need for service
Action- Taking action and serving where needed
Attitude- Having a positive loving attitude while serving
Awesomeness- Knowing it is awesome to serve others and to be a blessing to others.

At the end of the service they passed the offering baskets again. This week the cards contained Random Acts of Kindness. Can't wait to hear what people do with these cards and the reaction that they have.

Next week they will be collecting the annual Christmas offering. I hate to miss the service next week, but we will be having some time as a family relaxing and playing in the sun. However, we will mail our Christmas Offering to the church prior to leaving.

RevolutionaryLove.TV- The Sequel

"RevolutionaryLove.TV- The Sequel." Last year Revolution Church did a series called Revolutionary Love. It was great and I am glad that we are revisiting the series.

Week 1: The message today was about Sacrificial Giving. Boy did I need to hear this. David and I had discussed and prayed about what gift we should give to the church for the Christmas offering. After making a decision we felt good about we were dealt a financial blow in the amount of $6000 in attorney fees for Madilyn's bmom. We had $1700 left in our adoption escrow account, and our attorney sent this to the other attorney prior to Thanksgiving. Once we returned home from our Thanksgiving Break we had a message from the attorney wanting to know when the remaining $4300 would be paid. She wanted her money now. We bit the bullet and sent the rest of the money not really knowing how our fiances would play out for the rest of the year.

After hearing the message on sacrificial giving we decided that the amount of money we had decided to give the church was STILL the amount we need to give. Well we like most people do not just have this kind of money sitting around (especially after spending so much on the adoption). We will be giving sacrificially... meaning we are going to cut out other stuff to make this gift to the church happen. We are going to sacrifice and give to God what we know we need to give. We know God will take our gift and do a great work with it, and we will be blessed by giving.

At the end of the service the offering plates were passed and we each drew a card that contained needs of a local women's shelter. We drew diapers, toothbrushes and aspirin. I told Caleb that since he had drawn the card out of the offering plate that he should use his own money to help meet the need. He is such a stand up kid. He gets $20 a month, pays $2.00 in tithes leaving him $18 for the month. He decided that he would give $10.00 to help purchase items for the women's shelter. He could have been selfish and offered less but he gave 1/2 of his monthly allowance to this cause.

Caleb and I went shopping and purchased 2 bags of diapers, 20 adult toothbrushes, 8 children's toothbrushes and 8 bottles of aspirin. At the checkout the cashier smiled a toothless smile and said, "you must have some headache." I told her our church was collecting items for the women's shelter." She looked like she was about to cry and said, "Thank you, they helped me when no one else would." WOW.....

http://revolutionarylove.tv/

Christmas Photo Shoot

For the past several years it has become our tradition to create our family Christmas card with a picture of Caleb and Piglet. This year tradition changes, since we could not get Madilyn, Caleb and Piglet to all cooperate at the same time. David took around 75 photos and only got 4 that turned out decent. We had fun taking the pictures.

Thanksgiving Vacation

This year David and I decided to stay close to home and spend the holiday with just the four of us. We rented a cabin from Mountian View Cabins, which is located on Fort Mountian. It only took about an hour and ten minutes to get there. It has been a long time since we had not traveled for hours to go and spend time with immediate family.

The cabin had a pool table, hot tub and steam room and a great view of the mountians from the back deck. We enjoyed just spending time doing nothing. Prior to the trip I pre-cooked all of our meals and froze them so that I would not have to spend so much time in the kitchen. All of the pre-cooked meals were good. Thanksgiving was the only meal I actually cooked while we were gone. It turned out pretty good.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the top of Fort Mountian and went to the overlook, the ancient wall and a rock tower. It was a beatiful day for a hike, we got some good pictures of the view.

It was nice to relax and be disconnected. By disconnected I mean no phone and no internet. We just spent time playing games, watching movies, reading and spending time with each other.

Now we are home and back to reality.

Frustration--

Seems like every time we start moving on in life, we get a letter or email from the attorney with not so great news. Today we got our bill and the bill for the bmom's attorney. I am still puzzled as to why we have to pay this bill for her. She is the one who sued us. So now we owe around $7000 to attorneys, we have already paid around 3000 in attorney fees. Our attorney said we can work on a payment plan, hers pretty much wants to be paid sooner rather than later. Guess we will not have any extra money for a while, since everything will be going to pay these bills.

I am trying to be positive but I am so tired of being jerked around by these people. I just want this to be over and finalized. Pray that this happens in January as planned and that we do not have to pay anymore attorney fees.

Ready for Thanksgiving

I am so ready for Thanksgiving. I am tired of getting up and going to work everyday. I just want to spend some time with David, Caleb and Madilyn without the worries of work and graduate school.

I am looking forward to going to the mountians and getting away from it all. This will be the first holiday in a very long time that we are not traveling to see family. It will be quiet and I will miss seeing other family members, but we need time to connect and have fun with just the four of us.

I keep wondering when our life will slow down. It just seems that we always have something going on.

Rolling Over

Madilyn has started rolling over. However, she is very sneaky about doing so. She waits until we leave the room to roll over. We have finally caught her at it, but it took us a few days catch her.

She also appears to be teething. She has been a big drool bucket the past few days, and has been a bit grouchy. Hopefull this ends soon.

Just Rollilng Along

Well we are just grooving along here in the Lloyd household. We do not have any new information to report concerning the adoption or finalization. However, we have been blindsided with the bill from the bmom's attorney, which is around $6000.00. Not too happy about this, she sued us and was trying to get us to buy her baby, now we have to pay her attorney. These laws need to be rewritten, we had our own legal fees to pay and were not prepared to pay even more. Pray for about this funding... we do not want to put it on credit, and we don't have it all in the bank. Hopefully her attorney will accept a payment plan.

Church Haters

Recently our church started a new location in an industrial park. Prior to starting the church the pastor made sure that noise level would not be an issue with the county. We have been meeting in our new location for 7 weeks. For the past several weeks the neighbors that have property that border the church have called the cops. Tonight they called the cops twice on our youth service. Not real sure what we are going to do. We were told that we would not be in violation of the law because the church is in an industrial park. I guess my problem with this is that if we were a business the neighbors would have the noise everyday of the week and would not complain. Right now the noise is only for a few hours about 3 days a week.

4 Month Check Up

It is hard to believe that Madilyn is already four months old. Today she had her 4 month check up. She is 12 pounds and about 24 inches long. She is only in the 17% percentile on weight and height. She is a small girl. However, she is very healthy and doing very well, so the doctor is not concerned with her weight or length at this time.

Adoption Update

The darkness at the end of the tunnel has now grown to a light at the end of the tunnel. We talked with our attorney yesterday. Our 180 days started on July 1 not October 1, which is when the TPR (termination of parent rights) was signed. We should receive our court date for finalization sometime toward the end of November or early December. Our court date should be during the 2 week of January.

We were told by the adoption agency that we would not have to go to Iowa for finalization, however, we are now being told that the agency was incorrect and that we do have to attend the finalization hearing in Iowa. So that means another long trip to Iowa. At least this time we will not be stuck there not knowing what is going on like we were in July. That was the longest 17 days of our lives. I guess we can take pictures with the judge and make a big deal out of it. It would be great if additional family members could attend, but that is such a long trip, so I doubt that anyone else will be able to attend.

At the time of finalization paperwork will be filed for a new birth certificate. This birth certificate will be issued with the name we have choosen Madilyn Rachel. We will then be able to apply for a social security number once we receive the reissued birth certificate.

I feel like this process is taking forever, but Madilyn is only 4 months old, so I guess it has not been forever. I just want to see her Birth Certificate with our name on it. I want my insurance card to have her name on it, not the name she was given in the hospital. It will happen, it will just take time.

Over-Whelmed

Have you ever been so over-whelmed that you felt like you had no control of your own life? That is exactly how I feel right now. Actually I have felt this way for the past several months now.

I am so busy with work, school, church and other life issues that I feel like I never get a break. I find myself wondering how I am ever going to get everything done that I need to get done. I have finally come to the realization that some things just are not going to happen. The kitchen is not going to be spotless every night after dinner. The laundry is not going to be neatly folded and put away in a timely manner and the floors are not going to be clean all of the time. I am just going to have to live with the fact that the house will not be as clean as I would like. Of all of the things that keep me busy in life the house is really the only thing that I can slack on right now. I can not slack at church, school, work or with the kids.

I know that this will be shocking to those of you who know me, but my sanity is just not worth having a spotless house.

Thanksgiving Plans

We are breaking from family tradition this year for Thanksgiving. We have decided that we need to spend time with just the four of us in a relaxing, low travel environment. So we are going to head for the North Georgia Mountains, Fort Mountain to be specific for 5 days and 4 nights to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. We have so much to be thankful for: Madilyn, my new job, David's continued success with his business, the list could go on and on.

We plan on just enjoying nature and our family. The cabin is on 6 Acres of land, so it should be very quiet and relaxing. The views posted online from the deck look beautiful. We really can hardly wait for Thanksgiving so that we can unplug and relax. Click the link below to see the cabin we will be staying in.

Raccoon Lodge

2 Nights

Madilyn has slept through the night for 2 nights in a row. We are hoping and praying that this will be her new norm. David and I are so exhausted since we have not slept a full night since the 1st of July.

Yahoo Farm, Jasper GA

This past Saturday Night we went to Yahoo Farm. While at the farm we found the perfect pumpkins to make into Jack-O-Lanterns. I will post pictures next weekend after we have carved them. We also went on a haunted hay ride and got lost in the corn maze. It was a fun night and was nice to spend time with the family. The weather was perfect for a night time outting.

3 credits closer

As of last night I am 3 credits closer to receiving my Masters Degree. I start another class next Thursday. I am so thankful that I have a job that allows for me to work on homework during the day, when I do not have any other task to do.

Graduate School

So many people have asked, "why are you going to Grad school." The answer is I don't know. I started grad school because once I complete the process I will get a big pay raise. I have not really thought about going into a leadership position, but I might. Just have not decided yet.

The program I am in is a 5 semester program. It is set for a teachers schedule, to earn 6 credits per semester by attending class 1 night a week for 8 weeks from 5 until 10. It was very easy during the first two semester. I earned 12 credits and made A's in the four classes I completed.

Then I go my new job and had to attend trianing for two weeks this summer and could not attend the two summer sessions. I guess it is good that I did not start the sessions, becuase I would have had to drop out when we had to go to Iowa this summer for almost 3 weeks.

So now I am in make-up mode which means in addition to attending classes on Thursday I have to attend classes on Saturday from 8-4. I had my first Saturday class last weekend, it was a LONGGGGGG day. I will finish the first Saturday class the week prior to Thanksgiving, but will have to pick up another one next semester starting in either Jan or Mar.

I had no problem handling the work load for the Thurday classes, but adding Saturday is another thing. I already feel overwhelmed. But I will be done in May.

The bad thing is if I can not handle taking 9 credit hours next semester and the rest of this semester I will not graduate in May. That will be bad because then I will have to follow the new graduation rules, which will mean that I have to take 3 more classes and take the new state test, because the test I have already passed will no longer be accepted. So I feel the pressure to finish on time.

This too shall pass, and hopefully May 2009 will come quickly.

Ground Hog Day

Have you ever seen the movie Ground Hog Day? If so I feel like I am living the movie. Everyday is the same.

Up at 5:30
Shower/dressed by 6:00
Start Load of Laundry
Unload Dishwasher
Get Caleb up
Pack Lunches
Make Bottles
Get Madilyn up
Leave house at 6:50
Drop Caleb off at Bus Stop
Drop Madilyn at Day Care
Go to Work (mostly at work I am bored, not a lot to do with this new job)
Pick Madilyn up at 3:30
Feed Madilyn
Put Madilyn down for a nap
Cook Dinner
Clean the Kitchen
Watch Tv for 1-2 hours
Go to bed
Start Over Again

*Thursday night I go to KSU from 5-10, so that day is a little different. And of course Saturday and Sunday's are differnt.

I need a vacation, and a shake up to my routine. Today I am so tired I almost fell asleep in our morning meeting. There is no reason I should be this tired.

Teens

Why are teens so STUPID??? My office is in a computer lab, the lab is used for course recovery. Meaning the kids have failed the class and are now making the classup on thier own. Most of them spend over half the classtime on games, and surfing the internet. Don't they care that they are going to fail again. Even when the teacher tells them to get back on task they do so only for a few minutes then they go right back to surfing the web. I just don't get why kids don't take the help that they are being given. We do not have to offer them the chance to make up the classes they missed. I just don't get it.

Revolution Church

For the past 4 weeks the men of the church got beat up with our series called "Ultimate Fighter, the temptations men face.... Sex, Money and Power." The series was really good and was a challenge to men to step up and be the men God created them to be.

Today we start "Beautiful" a series aimed at women.

Adoption Update

As many of you know we have had a stressful time with our adoption. I have not posted all of the details of the problems for the protection of Madilyn and our family. I do not wish to post everything about her bmom, because its really painful to think about everything that she has said and done during the past few months.

As of Wednesday, Oct. 1 all of Madilyn's biological parents rights have been terminated. Basically the BMom wanted more money so she contested the adoption. Long story short, we ended up paying another 1500 for birthmother expenses, and now she has no rights. We are now waiting for a court date for finalization. This probably will not happen until January. Georgia law requires that an adoption can not be finalized until the child has lived in the house for 180 days. So we are waiting. Hopefully our court date will come quickly after the 180 days passes.

Busy

To say we have been busy would be an understatement. Things around the Lloyd house have been entirely too busy.

Mostly it is me who is busy. As you all know I am in a graduate program. I graduate in May, can't wait. Thursday I am in class fro 5:00 pm until 10:00 pm, which means I get home around 10:30. I had to drop out of school this summer for 2 reasons. First I got a new job (which I love) and I had to attend training for 2 weeks. Which meant missing 4 classes. I was going to go to summer school for the second session, and we got the call about Madilyn. So I did not earn my six credits this summer. Yesterday I started a Saturday class which will earn 3 of my six missing credits. The class starts at 8 and ends at 4. This means David has the kids all day by himself on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Saturday is our only day to shop, clean, and catch up on laundry. Needless to say none of that stuff got done yesterday. So we need to look at our schedules and see what we can change, so that David and I don't have to stay up late in the night to take care of the house.

To top my busy schedule off, I have been assigned Home Game Football Club Duty. That means I have to sit with the FBLA club as they do face painting. Basically I have to watch the money box. I really do not want to be out both Thursday and Friday nights, but for now it can not be helped.

Keep us in your prays. My Saturday class ends the week before Thanksgiving so maybe for the holidays we will have a more normal schedule. Of course, in Jan. I will have to take another extra class to make up for the second class I missed this summer. I really can not wait until May.

Back Home

Madilyn and I went to FL so that she could meet her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We had a good trip, but it is good to be home. Everyone enjoyed Madilyn and she was in a very playful happy mood during the entire trip.

Playful Madilyn

Maddie loves to sit in her bouncy chair and play. She has the best smile and is overall a very happy baby.

Since I have fall break next week we are going to Milton, FL so that she can meet her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. The trip is just for the girls since Caleb has school next week.

One Church 2 Locations

Well as you all know we attend a very different kind of church. The music is rocking and the preacher may not be the type of person you would think of as a preacher. Lets just say that he is one of a kind. He is very Bible based in his teaching. His goal and the goal of the church is to meet the unchurched people. Well he and our church "Revolution" have a passion for meeting the needs of people all over the area, not just those in the city of Canton, GA. So this Sunday we launch location #2 in Holly Springs, GA.

David, Caleb and I are on the launch team. David will be working in the services running sound. Caleb will be running sound and video in Planet Shakers (our version of Sunday school), and I will be a lead teacher in Planet Shakers.

The Canton location is portable and meets in the movie theater. This means that every week, states, projectors, sound systems and everything else must be set up and then packed up. Our children's area also has props, baby beds, play pens etc... that have to be set up and then packed back up. Not an ideal situation, but when there is no money for land and a permanent building it works. The meeting place is also comfortable for those who are not used to coming to church.

The Holly Springs location will have its own building, so no setup or tear down will be needed. We are meeting in a warehouse that has been renovated to meet the needs of the church. Most of the work on the renovations was completed by members of the church. We will have a live band each week, just like the Canton Campus, but will receive our messages via, video. However, from time to time Gary (the pastor) will come an speak live to the Holly Springs location. Video teaching will be different but it will work. This is not a new idea, hundreds of churches are doing this across the nation.

We do not know weather to expect 10, 50, 100 or even more people on Sunday. But we are excited about branching out to reach the people in our surrounding areas.

Pictures

Last weekend we had professional pictures taken of Caleb and Madilyn. They are due to arrive on Sept. 22. I will post some photos, or a link to where they can be veiwed soon. Both kids smiled and look good. We plan on having a family photo made toward the end of October for the Christmas season.

So check back soon, to see updated pictures.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been very busy around here lately. Home life, work, school and church keep us tied up.

Home: We are doing great. We are all adjusting to having a baby in the house, and she is adjusting to us. It has been much easier than I thought it would be. Our problem is that we have no time to keep the house as clean as I would like it to be. But playing with the kids is more important than a sparkling clean house.

We started working on Madilyn's room a few weeks ago. We should have it finished this weekend or early next week. I will post pictures when it has been completed. All of the furniture is black. We have used pink, red and hot pink as accent colors. It is a room that she will be able to grow into and have until she is old enough to choose her own decor.

Caleb has been busy with scouts. He has a camp out next weekend along with a service project at one of the local lakes. He recevied several awards at the awards banquet last week. So he is keeping busy.

Work: David is very busy with his current contact. They have renewed him for another year which is good news. He has two employees working with him. His scheudle is still flexible enough that he is able to take Madilyn and Caleb to doctor appointments and other events.

I love my new job. This year has been pretty much stress free. I do have a lot of down time at work, but I have been told to enjoy it now, because next year it will not be like this. I just like the environment so much better than my last school.

School: Middle school is killing us. Caleb is now in 7th grade. He is still a Cherokee Christian. He enjoys most of his classes. However, he lacks the skills to keep himself organized. I just keep in mind that one month is down only 9 more to go. This too shall pass.

Church: I will post this in a seperate post, since it may be a little longer.

Happy Maddie

Maddie is a happy baby. She is starting to smile and laugh. She lights up when "Bubbie" talks to her.

Boys--- when do they get it???

Caleb started 7th grade two weeks ago. At his school 6th grade is still elementary so, this is his first year of Middle School. He has to change classes, and has 7 different teachers through out the day. He has ZERO organizational skills. David and I have spent the last 7 years trying to teach him how to be organized in school. But he just does not get it. His book bag, locker and school folders are an absolute mess. He has already missed several assignments and just does not seem to get it.

Now we have to call the "get my homework" line every night so we can make sure he has all of his assignments. He does not like that we are being so "over bearing" (his words), but when we let up he does not complete all of his assignments, or he does not study for test and his grades suffer.

So when do boys get it and start being organized when it comes to school???

Alive

Our church has been doing a great series called "ALIVE." It has been really getting me to think about life and am I just going through the motions or am I living like I am alive. The question that started the series was, "If you knew you only had 30 days to live what would you do differently."

Last week focused on regrets and how to live a life with no regret. How to fix and repairs the regrets that you may already have. It was a very powerful sermon. I am trying to live life as an ALIVE person, and focusing more on what really matters, and less on the things of this life that don't matter.

Laundry

I had forgotten how much laundry one little baby goes through. My laundry room also now has a new hamper. The new hamper was needed because in addition to towels, whites, light colors and dark colors, we now have PINKS. I must do 2-3 loads of PINKS each week. Everything Madilyn has is some shade of pink.

Madilyn is now seven weeks old. She is sleeping most of the night. We pray that that continues. She weighed just over 9 lbs at her last doctors appointment. She is growing as expected and doing quite well.

We are trying to take pictures and post, but with a new baby in the house, Caleb starting school and Donna having a new job it is hard to keep up the blog.

We will try to do better in the coming weeks.

Katies Wedding 08/02/08

Family Wedding Photo




Katie and her brothers




Donna and Madilyn

David and Madilyn

Insurance Red Tape

We have been trying to get Madilyn on our insurance, but the company is being slow and not liking that we do not have a SS# for her yet. So we had to pay for her well visit today. Hopefully we can get reimbursed, she should be added by the next visit that we have at the end of August.

She is now just over 9 lbs. and 20 inches. She is a little short. The doctors say she appears to be doing well. We had no medical information to pass on to them so they do not know how much she has grown since birth. The medical records should be here in a few days.

Lack of Sleep

I have forgotten what it is like to try to live with a lack of sleep. Madilyn wakes up about every 3-4 hours during the night. It has been a while since any of us have had a good night's sleep. Somehow we are making it through without being to grouchy with each other.

We can not wait for her to start sleeping longer during the night.

First week of New Job

So I started my new job in Cherokee County as the Career Pathways Coordinator. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I attended a conference in Marietta. Most of the information at the conference was information that I had already seen during the two week class I had to take earlier in the summer. I did get to meet a lot of my new co-workers.

On Thursday, all of the administrators in the building were out at a meeting. I spent the day unloading my car and unpacking things for my office. I had Caleb come and help me unload so that it would not take all day. I only worked until noon, because I had to take Caleb to the doctor for a check up. I did not want David to have to take him, because then he would have to also take Madilyn and we do not want her getting exposed to anything right now.

Friday I spent most of the day wondering what to do. My office phone was messed up and it took half the morning to make an outside call. I have no computer and no login so I pretty much could just sit and stare at the walls. I really felt like that most of the day was wasted.

Next week all the teachers will be back for preplanning. Most of the week will be spent in meetings. I am taking Thursday and Friday off so that we can go to South FL to Katie's wedding. Not really looking forward to the trip, but it will be good to see the family and let them see Madilyn.

Home

We received clearance last night to go home. We packed and left within 30 minutes of being cleared. We were planning on stopping after about driving 5 hours, but we just kept driving. We arrived home around 12:30 this afternoon. After 17 days of being away home has never looked so good.

We are so happy to be home with Madilyn. We will post new pictures in a few days.

ICPC Paperwork Recieved by GA

GA has received our ICPC paperwork from IOWA. However, the packet is incomplete. This Iowa adoption agency is driving me nuts.

Our Adoption Consultants in GA prepared a packet for us to give to any adoption agency across the nation. The packet is about 100 pages long and is apparently required by the state of GA to process any adoption. Well the adoption agency here refused to take the packet to add to their information. They said it was not needed and that they had everything we would need to clear ICPC in both Iowa and Georgia. Well Georgia requires much more than Iowa, so the packet can not be cleared by GA since it is incomplete.

Right now our consultants in GA are faxing the GA ICPC the missing pages. Maybe we will get a verbal that we can leave tonight or in the morning.

Lies of the Adoption Agency

On July 7, we were told a lie by our Adoption Agency here in Iowa. So the last 1o days have been full of frustration . One big lie they told us was that they sent our ICPC packet to GA. There have been other lies, but this post will focus on the big lie that has kept us here in IOWA for 17 days.

It has been a long 17 days.... and it just got longer last night. We are very frustrated but hoping for some good news today or tomorrow. Please keep us in your prayers.

Here's what happened:

Yesterday after waiting for 16 days we called our adoption consultants in GA to see if they could contact the GA ICPC to find out the status of our paper work. After going back and forth with them on the phone for hours we were told our paperwork has not arrived in GA. The GA ICPC contact was able to check the computer and found that a packet is coming from IOWA today. However, the GA ICPC were unable to determine if the packet was ours.

We were told by the adoption agency here in Iowa that the paperwork was sent on July 7. I called the adoption agency and questioned them about when the packet was sent. During the first call I got an "I am not sure when it was sent but you have been approved in Iowa, we are just waiting on GA." I called our contacts in GA again and they said they were still working on it from there end. I then placed a second phone call to the agency here in Iowa and told them that our packet had not arrived and I needed to know when it was sent. I was very upset to find that it had just been sent out over night a few hours prior to my phone call. We just do not understand why they choose to lie to us about the approval process of the packet.

I did not want to get into a fight with them at this point. I asked why it had taken 16 days to process paperwork that normally takes 3 days. I finally got some answers, I just wish the agency had been honest with us 2 weeks ago. It would have saved us a lot of stress and frustration.

Since the baby had been placed with another agency there was another ICPC packet floating around on her. When our agency sent our packet in the situation was red flagged for an investigation to make sure the baby was not being sold to the highest bidder. The BMom switched agencies because the agency she was first working with did not let her help choose a family, they did not keep any promises that they made to her, so she pulled out of the contract. Well they did not pull the paperwork from the ICPC offices, which led to an investigation, because there were two packets waiting approval for the same baby.

Our adoption consultants in GA are working with the ICPC in GA to get us cleared today or tomorrow. IF THE PACKET IN ROUTE TO THEM FROM IOWA IS OURS.

Please pray that our packet arrives in GA today and that we can be given clearance today or tomorrow. If we are not cleared tomorrow that puts us being out of town for another weekend. I am not sure how much longer we can survive being in such close quarters.

I guess we live in Iowa

Still no word as of today as to when we can leave this place. So I think we should just leave the hotel and find an apartment. This is killing me. I just want to go home. I called the adoption agency and they said probably Thursday or Friday, well what do they know. Last week they said Monday or Tuesday. I really just wish that we could get a date that we can leave.

The kicker is I am to start my new job on Monday. Right now I doubt that we will be home by Monday. I am not sure how understanding my new employer will be, I left a job due to too much stress, now I am going to start a new job with just as much or more stress, all because the states of GA and Iowa can not get our paperwork processed in a timely manner.

I hate this hotel. I hate eating out. I just want to go home. But for now it looks like home is this stupid hotel room.

Disappointment

I am disappointed that we did not receive clearance to go home today. I have been told that it will be Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

David is planning on returning with Caleb on Sunday afternoon. Instead of flying he and Caleb will make a 14 hour drive. They will leave tomorrow afternoon after Caleb returns from Scout Camp.

We will return the rental car and just drive home once we are given the okay to do so.

Tired of Hotels

It will be a long time before I want to stay in a hotel again. Time seems to be passing by so slowly. There is really not much to do around here. So I have spent a lot of time napping, and just playing with Madilyn. The staff here have been wonderful, making sure that everything I need is in place. One of the employees bought Madilyn a cute outfit. She said she could not resist because she is so cute. Today, the dryer in the hotel laundry room broke, they took my wet laundry down to house keeping to have it dried, folded and then delivered to my room. I thought that was nice.

Paperwork has reached the ICPC offices in Georgia. Now all we have to do is wait for them to look at everything and sign off on the packet. I am hoping to be able to travel home this weekend.

Making Headway

Madliyn has some big feet. She is always curling and flexing her toes.

As of today at 11:00 am all birth parent rights have been revoked. Neither parent can ask for Madilyn back. That is one big stress that is gone. Now all we can do is wait for the paper work to clear all of the red tape obstacles that the government has in place.

Sunday-July 6

I am really bummed that I am not home so that I can go to Revolution. Our pastor has not preached for about 4 weeks because we were participating in the 1 Prayer series with churches around the world. I am sure that Gary will come out like a race horse out of the gate.

Early this week our children's storage trailer was stolen. So for the past few days all of the children's workers have been working together to get stuff for today. It is hard to have church in a movie theatre with kids. We manage due to the creative team and hard work. I wish I was there to help. But I know that they will pull it off.

All that being said, I would not trade spending this bonding time with Madilyn for anything in the world.

I am really hoping that the ICPC paperwork get finished soon.

4th of July Weekend

David and Caleb left around 4 am to go home. Madilyn and I are just hanging in the hotel. Our paperwork will take a little longer to process due to the 4th of July weekend. I am ready to go home. I am tired of eating out, and I just want to take Madilyn home where she belongs.

Paperwok

So now we wait.... and wait, and wait.

We have Madilyn but are unable to leave the state with her until paperwork is approved by both states. We are told this could be anywhere from 3 days to 14 days. Paperwork was filed with the Iowa ICPC yesterday, however, with the holiday weekend and government offices being closed we have a feeling our paperwork will be slowed.

David and Caleb are returning home in the morning. Caleb will leave for Scout camp on Sunday afternoon. David may come back here, if the paperwork is going to take a while, or he may just stay home and get the nursery ready. We will just play it by ear.

Keep us in your prayers.

Madilyn Rachel Lloyd

We have decided on the name Madilyn Rachel Lloyd. We should hear from the attorneys office anytime now. However, it could take as long as 14 days before we can leave the state. Pray it is not that long.

Caleb has already taken on the role of big brother and wants to hold and feed her all the time. Madilyn is a great sleeper and can handle the noise that happens in a cramped hotel room.

Baby Girl Lloyd

On July 1st at 11:45 pm our baby girl was delivered to our hotel room. She is a week old, born on her aunt Katie's b-day. She has a head full of hair and weighed in at 7 lbs 6oz and is about 21 inches long. She looks so tiny.

We will post pictures later today. Believe it or not Caleb fell in love with her, wanting to hold her, feed her. However, he did get as far away as possible at changing time. She slept very well last night (only waking 2 times), but went back to sleep very quickly.

Keep praying this is not a done deal until all the paperwork is signed.

Pictures coming!!!!

Not Really DONE

A few weeks ago I posted that we were done with the adoption process. Well we were. We forgot all about it, and now we sit in a hotel room waiting to meet our new daughter.

Last night we got a call asking if we were interested. We hesitated, but made the decision to talk with the adoption agency about this case. It seems perfect. We spent a long night packing and making travel arrangements, got NO sleep and boarded a plane around 6:30 am. We have been going non-stop since we got the phone call last night.

We are hoping that all will go well with the final paper work as we move forward with this adoption. We hope to post pictures tomorrow.

Keep us in your prayers during the next few days.

Blah-----

Have you ever been in one of those moods that just make it impossible for you to enjoy anyone or anything? I have felt so blah lately that I am sure that David and Caleb both want to strangle me. I don't even really know why I am in this funk. Maybe all I need is the vacation that we have coming up to get me back to my normal self.

Vacation Week Coming SOON!!!!

The coming week will be busy. While I do not have to work or attend any training sessions I have a ton to do prior to vacation week. Caleb is going to Scout Camp for a week and David and I are going to Tybee Island. I have been looking forward to this trip for some time. We just need some time to do nothing but relax. I really do not know how we did it all when we had foster children. How did we ever relax or have a minute to ourselves?

Caleb loved camp last year, hopefully he will enjoy it as much this year. He has started getting his things together, but we will need to double check and then go shopping for a few new items that he will need this year.

Caleb is 12

Yesterday Caleb turned 12. Boy do I feel old. David took Caleb to a Braves game, while I was at my training sessions. The Braves won. Which is good. Caleb takes it personally when he goes to a game and they don't win. We went out for a family dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. All in all Caleb had a good B-day.

Earlier in the week he had a party with other family members while he was in FL. He enjoyed being able to share his b-day with his cousins.

I just wish that Caleb did not have the attitude of a 12 year old. Gotta love the middle school aged child.

Long Week

David is finally home from London. He had a good trip. He had a lot of work to do but did have a chance to see the city and many points of interest. He was even in town on the queen's b-day, and got a few photos of her in her annual b-day parade. We will post pictures in a few days when we get a chance.

I have completed 1 week of training and have another week to go. I have learned a lot and am feeling more comfortable about my new job. I just wish I did not have to spend so much time in a hot media center sitting on a hard chair. One would think that they could make these training sessions a little more comfortable.

David left just a few minutes ago to go to FL to pick Caleb up from his grandparents. He has been there for two weeks and is starting to get a little homesick, however, he will not admit that he is homesick. He is having his 12th b-day party with family this afternoon. On his actual b-day which is Thursday, David and I will do something special for him. I just wonder where has the time gone, my baby is now 12.

Tomorrow night when I get home from class we will no longer be scattered. We will once again be all together, as it should be.

Scattered

It has been a busy week for us. The family is scattered, I am home in GA, Caleb is in FL and David is still in London. I really do not like this arrangement. I like it much better when we are all together as a family.

I have been busy this week, attending training sessions for my new job. Caleb has been having fun with his grandparents, aunts uncles and cousins. David has had some time to see the sights of London but has been worked more than he would have liked too.

The house is lonely when I am here by myself, I am sure that David feels the same why when he gets to his hotel at night. I am looking forward to Friday- that is when David returns. We are not sure when we will go to FL to pick Caleb up, we are going to play that by ear, since I have training everyday next week.

Being scattered is not fun.

Vacation- Sort of....

Caleb and I are in Milton/Pensacola FL. visiting with family. David is in London working and playing.

We went to the beach the other night and everyone got stung by Jellyfish so we are going to try to go again today, maybe it will be a better trip.

On Saturday, I will travel home, Caleb and Piglet will stay here. I need to attend training for my new job so Caleb will be staying with his Grandparents.

Vacation Plans

We have decided to go on a cruise around Christmas time. We have a found a cruise leaving from Mobile, AL. The trip includes stops at Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico. We will still get to spend time with other family members since the ship returns to port early Christmas morning.

David and I got our passports a few years ago, when we went on an anniversary trip. Today I took Caleb to the passport office and applied for his passport. It should arrive in about 4 weeks. He is very excited about going on this trip.

Long two weeks!!!

I just arrived home from dropping David off at the airport. He will be gone for two weeks. This will be the longest amount of time that we have been apart since we have been married. I miss him already.

London

David is all packed and ready to leave for London for two weeks. He is not real excited about the trip because it will be mostly work with very little time for leisure. I will be taking him to the airport tonight. He will fly out around 10:30 and fly non-stop. It is a long flight and I am sure it will be trying and uncomfortable.

I wish I could go, it would be great to see the sights while he is busy working, but I have to attend some training for my new job. The training starts next week.

Hopefully when David returns we will have a few photos to post of some of the fun time he was able to squeeze into the trip.

Disappointment

On Wednesday we received a phone call about a baby that was born on Sunday in AZ. We were asked if we would take this baby since the adoptive parents that were chosen walked away. We were surprised and even excited about this prospect. We had given up hope of adopting and thought this was a miracle. We agreed to adopt this baby girl.

In the meantime the BMom left the baby at the hospital. The hospital had to call CPS, since there were no named parents. The case went to family court on Friday to determine who should get custody, CPS or the Adoption Agency. The court decided that CPS should get custody. So now this baby can not be placed for adoption until all family resources are exhausted, once placed for adoption, it will most likely go to a family living in AZ.


It is just so hard to move on, but our time in Baby Wish Land is over. Yes, we have said that before, we just can not deal with the hurt, heartache and disappointmentshopes up only to have them dashed again. So now we once again are DONE for good. The past few days our stress level went through the roof. The disappointment when we were told of the courts decision was unbearable. All we want to do is love another child, but that seems impossible.

Waiting

Why is it so hard to wait. For the past couple of days it seems like all I do is wait. I had to wait for my car to get repaired. I had to wait for David's clients to finalize his trip plans so I could make my own plans, and now I am waiting for a phone call. Why is it so hard for people to wait. I find myself consumed with trying to get information that I just have to wait for. Maybe one day I will learn how to wait without becoming stressed out.

Why won't the phone ring????

Busy Days

What ever happened to the lazy days of summer? I have been on the run since summer break started. Too much to do. David is going to London for 2 weeks, Caleb is going to FL. for 2 weeks and I have 2 weeks of training for my new job. Trying to get everything ready for all us is wearing us all out.

The good thing, my training location has changed so I will not have to stay in motels and eat out for 2 weeks. Our trips are also staggered, so we will not all be gone for two full weeks at the same time, so at least we will get to see each other a little during the month of June. Maybe we will get a few days to rest at the end of June and in July. Guess we will see.

Tithing

So I missed church on Sunday due to illness. During Davids recap of the service I really felt like I needed to write or email about our experience with tithing. So here goes. Close friends and family may find parts of this hard to believe.

I am so glad that tithing will NEVER be an issue in our house. During the past year the only thing that has changed is that we now tithe and we did not do so before. We have seen first hand the benefits of obeying God in this area of our lives.

In 2006 we basically stopped going to church (hard to believe). It was too hard with all of the foster kids. Once we stopped going to church we also stopped tithing. Thats when things began to get a little rough. Paying the bills became a nightmare. There was never enough money and stuff always got paid late. There was never money for extras and our budget needed a budget. I would get sick just thinking about paying the bills.

Then in July of 2007- our house was empty (no foster kids). We saw a sign for a church in a movie theatre and we decided to attend. Needless to say we really liked it, so we continued to go. We wrote a tithe check during our second visit to the church.

Since then we have been faithful with not only paying our tithes but giving extra. God has blessed us in many ways since we became faithful with tithing. I believe that I am a giver, but I never had anything to give until now. Through our faithfulness God has allowed us to bless others and he has blessed us. Look what GOD has done through us obeying him in giving of tithes: (I am only listing a few).

1. Revoluntary Love Christmas: We were blessed and were able to give more than I thought we could give. It felt wonderful to put the gift cards in the basket and know we were making a difference. This was a large gift and we look forward to doing it again next Christmas.
   
2. Must Thanksgiving: We were able to provide dinner for more than 1 family.
3. Single Mom : We were able to provide her first and last months rent to move into a better place.
   
4. We were able to give a "wad" of cash to some very deserving people we were told by God to do so and we did even though it seemed strange to us.

Prior to our tithing we would not have been able to give anything to any of these people.

Were we tested? YES. In Jan. of 2007, my pay got cut by $1000.00 per month. But we still were faithful and paid our tithes. A few weeks later David needed to hire another contractor, which increased his pay, almost the exact amount that mine got cut.

Has God blessed us? YES. Not only can we give to others but this past year we have been able to give to ourselves. Tithing has made our lives better. Through our tithes we bless our church, and the church is able to bless others. Through tithing we have been blessed and have been able to bless others. We will continue to be faithful in tithing and know that God will continue to bless us.

Adoption

Most of you know that for the past three years we have been trying to adopt a child. We dealt with DFACS for about two years, and are coming up on the 1 year anniversary of working with a private agency. I am writing this to let everyone know that we have officially given up on adopting a child. We have spent countless hours in training, completing paperwork and in meetings and are still at square 1. We have also spent a ton of money on home studies and agency fees. Our paperwork expires at the start of July and we have no prospects of any children and in order to continue the adoption process we will have to redo our home study and pay more fees.

During the past year we have only been presented to 5 birth mothers. Two of these women, went MIA, 1 decided to use a agency that would give her more money, one really did not want to put the child up for adoption and with the most recent case the adoption agency never called us back, so we can only assume that the BMom choose another set of parents.

We both feel that if this was really meant to be we would not still be at step one. We have had all that we can take emotionally and need to move on with our lives. We have been stuck in "baby wish land" for far too long and need to figure out what the real plan for our life is.

Revolution Church

Check out the link to Revolution Church. We do not have a building so we meet in the local movie theatre. The seats are comfortable, but it takes hours to set everything up each and every week. We have been attending Revolution since last July. David and Caleb both work on the sound crew and the setup and tear down crew. Caleb hates to miss church, so much that we have to make him go on scout camping trips. I love that he loves church, but I want him to know that it is alright to miss a service once in a while.

I work in Planet Shakers, which is our Sunday School and with the tear down crew. I normally work with the second graders. It is fun, but loud and busy. Our Sunday's are long and we usually end up napping the afternoon away.

Time to enter the 21st Century

OK-- So I am going to blog, I guess it is time for me to make it into the 21st Century.

Most of you will find the Lloyd Life Uneventful. But we will post often to keep friends and family in the loop of what is going on in our lives.