I wanted to share a friend's blog about the photo session we did with her and her husband for our family portraits.  She (and I) told our story and I want to share it with others.

http://frayededgeconcepts.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/h-family-portrait-session-greenville-nc-photographer/

Christmas With the Harringtons

Here it is December 26th, a windy/rainy day here that kept us all inside and in pajamas all day and I sit thinking about the many blessings we have received this past year.  The best gift we received this year was to officially become a family.  On December 11th we all went to the courthouse in Pitt County and had a small, private ceremony in which the Clerk of Court made the adoption of the boys official!  We were surrounded by Rob's immediate family, Morgan Pearce, Caty Gray Urquhart, our pastor Diane Christianson, and our two social workers Jennifer Stroud and Nikki Mears.  It was a very touching ceremony because the Clerk had adopted a child 26 years ago and she got choked up as she talked to us about the joys and responsibility of adoption.  Had I known how special it would be I would've probably thought to video it.  She also allowed the boys to seal and stamp their papers.  

We celebrate with a few small gifts - books about adoption, official Harrington sweatshirts for the boys, and a special plate Rob's mom had made for us.  Then we were off to a celebratory dinner at McDonald's (don't think the boys noticed that it wasn't the special dinner we would have liked to have had) before rushing off to Alex's school Christmas program.  

At the program he made us so proud!  I think this boy has a future on the stage.  

We also enjoyed a party this season thrown by Century Link for foster kids, the Bethel Christmas parade, and dinner at church with Santa.  Although we would've liked to do some other fun Christmas things there just didn't seem to be time to fit it all in.  Again, the boys didn't seem to mind or notice and enjoyed every moment of the things we did do.  

 

After all of those fun things we finished up school and headed off to Maryland to visit my family before  Christmas.  Mom hosted several fun things at her new house with Curt - tea with the Aunts which my roomate, Carolyn, came to also so that we could catch up as well, our family dinner and gift exchange on Friday evening, baking cookies with Aunt Susan and Grammy at Susan's house Saturday morning, Cousins gift exchange Saturday evening - with munchies and fantastic soup by Levi and Hope, and then a quick breakfast Sunday morning after church before we headed back to NC so we wouldn't miss Santa!  (Sorry, no pictures from this trip since I packed everyone else's stuff and then forgot my camera!)

We made it back to NC in time for Christmas Eve so we could make sure that Santa could find us.  And find us he did!  Plenty of new toys and lots of fun for mommy and daddy watching our faces light up with excitement.  But, the best gifts our these three, special boys that have come to steal our hearts and the hearts of everyone that meets them.  We are so thankful for them and all of the love and support of our families and community in welcoming them.  

Sitting back...feeling blessed!  

Can’t seem to stop reflecting back to a year ago and how hard I battled depressive feelings trying so hard on a daily basis to trust in God’s plan.  Despite my best efforts it really was a constant battle and I felt myself falling deeper and deeper into despair.  In order to fight against it I knew I had to turn to God.  David Crowder’s song “Shine” came out about the same time and I identified with the words of that song.… “Shine your light so I can see you.  Pull me up, I need to be near you.  Hold me, I need to feel love.  Can you overcome this heart that’s overcome”.  It’s so hard to face the feeling of being overcome or overwhelmed by your circumstances.  As a Christian, you have to just trust in the Lord and his plan for your life but despite all of that the natural, human tendency to rely on yourself is hard to fight. 

A year later it seems like a whirlwind…wish I had been keep a daily journal to track it all because it happened so fast.  I looked to facebook for a record of what I might have been feeling or facing but seems even facebook did not hold the answers.    But it was mid September before we even found out our license to be foster parents had finally been approved. And relying on my memory is proving to lead to inaccuracy.  I somehow got October 17^th confused and started believing the 19^th was the anniversary of the boys arrival.  Nonetheless, it has been a crazy year.

When we tell people that it has been a year most say they can't believe it and ask us if it feels like a year.  It really doesn't.  We've done so much and been through all the major milestones...first holidays/birthdays, etc. but time has just flown by.  Looking back at the pictures and seeing all of their chubby little faces and thinking about how they reacted those first days and all we've gone through since then.  Noe could walk and feed himself but he was so still and mostly stood and stared.  Now he is running (usually with some sort of ball), jumping, and talking up a storm.  We had been so worried about his speech delays and now he can say anything and amazes us every day.  Junior and Alex both had their share of behaviors initially and the path wasn't always easy but things appear to have smoothed out.  Despite those the good times have far outweighed the bad and the boys have brought more joy to our lives then I ever knew was possible.

So as we celebrate a year and wait for the adoption to be finalized I have to realize that we are now in whatever "groove" there is when you have three boys under the age of 5 so it is time to reflect about God's amazing gifts.  It is totally true that if you are just faithful God will give you the desires of your heart!  

The Ramblin' Pizza Man

So I don't know why its taken me so long to post about Alex.  He is a man of so many stories!  Alex is definitely the most precocious of all of the kids. He is constantly in motion and hears and sees EVERYTHING.  Alex is a terrific big brother (mostly) and can be the sweetest, most nurturing big brother to both Junior and Noe.  He definitely looks out for them even though he's terribly jealous and wants to ensure he gets everything they get (every crumb, every bit of attention, etc.)

Alex knows no stranger!  He is so outgoing and runs to hug nearly everyone he meets.  Although sometimes his lack of boundaries can be a bit awkward - like when he was hugging on the people looking at the house next door (it helped us keep our current neighbors in place a little longer though!) I think most people generally love his hugs and sweetness.  And Alex will talk to anyone and ask anything as well.  Hence, part of his nickname...The Ramblin' Pizza Man.  

This nickname was given to Alex by Rob's father.  And Ramblin' is partially his constant talking but also his always being in motion (ramblin' about the house).  And then Alex's favorite food in the world...that I believe he'd eat for every meal is Pizza!  And because the nickname is unique and something he does not have to share he is quite found of it.  Back in the Spring when Alex was spending every afternoon with Rob's parents   if you would ask him to stop talking for a moment he'd respond by saying "But, Mom, I can't...I'm the Ramblin' Pizza Man"!  And who can argue with that logic?  

  Alex is smart enough to apply this kind of logic to any situation because of his incredible memory.  This boy remembers EVERYTHING!  And lately his skill for memorizing the things we say to him seems to come back to haunt us.  I will hear him repeating my words while pretending with Junior and Noe or he will quote the back to us with such innocence that is hard to do anything but laugh.  

I sure hope he carries this skill with him to school which he starts in just a few weeks.  Kindergarten/Big School!  WOW!!! I've spent the last half of preschool worrying about the transition but this Summer has been good and, although I know there will be bumps along the way, I am feeling more and more confident that he will have a good year.  I just hope his curious nature will pay off.  Lately, he's been asking how to spell things and seems to express a general interest in learning.  So if he can just focus long enough I know he's a sponge and will soak it all in.

Speaking of transitions...just last night he rode his bike without training wheels for the first time.  We've been encouraging him for months and felt he was ready.  Fortunately, his wheel fell off during a ride around Bethel and so Rob followed him back home on foot and he's pretty darn amazing!

So, as I am so new to this whole blogging world I wonder...is it okay to post something about me on this blog? Or is this for the kids and recording the special events and moments in their lives and I need a separate one for posting about myself or what inspires me?  Who knows...and frankly I don't have time to start another blog so here goes.....

 I went on a run tonight.  Nothing special....3 miles (hopefully) at my typical, slow pace - which is so slow I won't post the time because most of you are way more impressed by me saying I ran 3 miles.  Instead of plugging in the ear buds or running with a friend I ran solo.  I also decided to take a quiet, country road instead of my typical, also quiet run through our small Southern town and neighborhood.  It was so amazing to run without the noise of my Itunes in my head.  I thought that I probably need to do this more often on my typical three mile runs and leave the ear buds for long runs (if I ever get back to running enough to manage some of those).  Because right now more than running for fitness, weight loss, or my pure love/hate relationship with running I run to have some time away from the busyness of my life and finding a few moments of solitude and peace.  It also gave me time to talk to, and more importantly, listen to God.  And maybe I was just looking for something to tell myself that God was talking to me but I swear I felt his presence in the peace of the run.  His touch in the gentle breeze, his presence in the deer watching me from the edge of the woods, and best of all his voice!  Telling me that I run from him but that if I'd just seek him I'd see he was there.

I felt so good about choosing to run, choosing to do it without music, and on another path and I was feeling so good that I even PUSHED myself to finish with what runners call a negative split.  This is when you take less time to run the second half of your run (or something like that).  Yes, it was by mere seconds but just the fact that I was PUSHING myself at the end of a run was inspirational to me as a runner.

I was so excited about this run and in such a happy mood because of it I went into the house feeling super recharged and with intentions of capturing the run through a simple facebook post.  But then, I walked in the house and just when I thought this run couldn't get any better I was greeted by Junior who asked if I ran fast.  Feeling good about the effort for the negative split I said "Yes", but then in my more typical, self-deprecating way I added "well, fast for me".  Then he clapped his hands and said "Good Job Mommy" and so, just when I thought this run could not have been any better he made it fantastic!  Add to that the fact that he was super concerned about how I was covered in bugs and super sweaty (the down side of an evening run on a country road in Eastern North Carolina in July!)

The Boys First Trip to the Beach

June 30, 2012


Yesterday we took the boys to the beach for the first time.  Alex and Junior had been asking to go to the beach since some time this Winter when we were doing a yoga video and they got all excited seeing the beach.  Of course, I was all into this..took a little longer to get Rob to commit (plus to find time to squeeze it into our schedules).  Thankfully, we thought ahead and called Rob's Aunt Jean who has a place at the beach and luckily she was there.  Not sure how we would have dealt with nap time without her.  Plus it was the first time she was able to meet the boys and we had a blast!

Of course, Alex clung to Aunt Jean (anyone new!)

Alex was a little unsure of the water but would venture in with Aunt Jean.  Rob made a good point when he said "I can't imagine going to the beach the first time as a 5 year old".  By the end of the day he allowed Rob to carry him into the water pretty deep and even took a slap in the face from a wave..and still wanted to go back in one more time!  


Junior and Noe went back and forth from water to sand.  They loved sitting down at the edge of the waves and letting the water (and sand!) wash over them.  But they also both entertained themselves in the sand - digging, finding shells, making little castles, and eventually Junior burying himself in the sand!

But Noe definitely enjoyed the water the most.  By the afternoon he was holding onto my finger and almost laying back in the water.  I think he would have walked in over his head if he could've made it out there.  He let Rob carry him way out and wanted to go back out time and time again!  As you can see from the pictures he LOVED it!  

We Can't Wait for Our Trip to Emerald Isle In August!

Noe - 2 years old and growing so much everyday!

We celebrated Noe's 2nd birthday on June 6th.  Just our typical, family birthday party.  He has really started to develop into quite the "Little Man".  In February he had a speech evaluation done and at the time was speaking only about seven words.  Rob and I said then that soon we'd probably be wishing he couldn't talk so much.  I think that is starting to come true (not really, I have enjoyed hearing him talk so much).  Right now his favorite words seem to be "Mine", "I do it!",  "I got it", and "don't touch".  He and Rob like to play the 'my mommy' game and compete for who can get to me first and try to hug me and not let the other one get me.  About a month ago he strung together his first two word sentence - it was "Help Me" and he said it about 100 times that night at his brother's T-ball game while he'd lay in the grass and ask for Alli or I to help him up.  Now "all gone" and "all done" and all of the independent statements above are part of his daily communication.  He also finally is able to call Junior's name - which he says as "Ju-Ju".  Before this he seemed to refer to both of his brothers as Alex.  


Noe also is now running almost everywhere he goes.  And when he does its so cute because he always has one arm tucked up and pumps it like crazy!  He loves to follow his brothers around the house and tries to do everything that they do - climb, jump, etc.  Last Sunday, on Father's Day, all three of the boys came marching through the house in a line - while in their underwear only.  It was more precious than any gift we could've given Rob.  Yesterday at the pool he went from "jumping" off the side into our arms to just leaping right from the side and plunging into the water.  This is great but now I have to keep my eyes on him constantly because he will jump right in!

With a cool present from my Aunt Dawn!

As much as I always wanted a baby Noe has filled this role in my life.  He is a cuddly, precious little guy at times and then can be a big bully and take right up for himself with two older brothers.  As a result he will most likely end up the most rotten (Rob tells me this all of the time).  But I sure am enjoying watching every moment of his development.

Decided this morning that I need a way of keeping track of all of the wonderful things the boys are doing so that one day I can look back and remember all of their funny stories and milestones.  In eight months they've all gone through so many changes and I feel like I will never be able to remember them all.  I find myself wanting to record our daily lives (well, some parts of it) in order to store up all of these memories.

The hold up is thinking whether I really have the time to do this..but if I don't at least try another eight months will go by and I will still only have photos to help jog the memory.  So...here it goes.

June 2012...The boys came to live with us eight months ago.  That obviously was a HUGE change for Rob and I both.  Its been filled with many ups and downs (but mostly ups!).  Going from no children to three was quite a schedule adjustment and the learning curve for figuring it all out has been quite large.  When they arrived Alex was 4 1/2, Junior was 2 (33 months), and Noe was 1 (16 months).

Right from the start they called us Mommy and Daddy.  They ate everything in sight and slept like angels.  At first Noe, who was walking and could already feed himself, would basically stand in whatever spot you placed him in and just watch his two brothers in whatever they were doing.  He is probably the biggest reason I want to start this blog.  Because of his age he is the one whose changed the most.  He's gone from basically no vocabulary to in the last few weeks repeating everything he hears and stringing together words.  Matter of fact I think I will do a separate post on him.  (Stay Tuned).

So in eight months there sure are a lot of stories that I may choose to go back and document but basically our life has been a whirlwind and I am just now finding a few brief moments to breathe, reflect, and jot some of the stories down.