Greetings From The Circus

This year has been one crazy ride. It started out with the celebration of our third "gotcha" day and Cheyenne's sixth birthday, her fourth in foster care. It was on her actual birthday that the judge made the decision to teminate her parent's rights to her (and all the others). I'm sure this was terribly painful to her mother. I feel her pain but it was not a surprise to any of us. We celebrated and grieved the loss at the same time. Of course this wouldn't be the end...there were two appeals. At about the same time we realized her brother would have to be placed where he could get constant attention. He never slept and was growing more and more threatening to all the girls. This process took several months. It was a loss for us all. The positive was this house calmed down so much I can't even describe it and the girls just opened up like flowers. We got busy making their room a fun place to live and pressed on toward adoption.
In July, Micah and Blake moved home, into my mother's house right next door. This was a wonderful event but our dear friends Jason and Lisa (who had lived in Mama's house) moved into their new home and we missed them. M and B literally dropped their things and we all headed to the beach for a nine day vacation at my cousin's condo. I loved being with all my family but a nagging pain in my right hip made me alot slower than I like. When we got home Micah and Blake told us they were expecting a baby in March!! We were thrilled!
Michael got a job with the Opelika school system and we were so thankful. He still owns his business but the cost of insurance was killing us...he was born to teach anyway so we just felt like this was more of God's call on his life. School started and he discovered what he was truly made of. I don't think he's ever been so tired in his life but I appreciate what he does more than he knows.
I realized my hip pain was really a disc or "something" and no amount of prescription pain meds touched it...I was scheduled for surgery. My kids planned a wonderful birthday party for me with my friend Kelly and I turned 50 just the way I wanted to, with friends and family laughing and eating.
Hannah and her family came home for Thanksgiving and announced they were expecting their second child, another time of rejoicing.
We were told all the appeals were over and the girls were ours to adopt. Halleluyah.
My surgery went fine and in a few days...okay a few weeks I was back to almost normal. We waited for an adoption date but the wheels were moving slowly...finally our friend Margaret Mayfield lit a fire under someone at DHR and we got the consent to adopt. On Dec 21, 2009 Ariel, Cheyenne and Felicity became Browns. We had a big party! So many people came we couldn't talk to everybody...the girls loved it! They felt like rock stars.
Last Wednesday the whole circus was together again. We celebrated Christmas and had a blast! One of the major gifts to the kids was a trip to Chattanooga, we left the day after the day after Christmas.It was a wonderful time, our first trip as a "real" family.
So here we are at the end of 2009. We have so much to be thankful for! We also have so much to look forward to. God is good.