My Love

Our anniversary was on the 29th.  It is also David's birthday and each year I try really hard to separate the two.  This year, I was really unsuccessful.  I have been sick on and off for months now.  It has been quite frustrating.  I had things in mind to make his birthday different from our anniversary and it just didn't happen.

 

I am truly grateful that I am married to a man who loves me anyways.  He has been extremely patient with me through all these sicknesses.  He took care of me on his birthday just like he would any other day.  We went out to dinner on the 29th (which is a big deal for us.  Seriously, it is.  When we have our date nights on Fridays we always do the same thing.  Get some drive through food some where and eat it in bed while watching a show.  So actually going out somewhere is a big deal) and I felt like crap.  I was so cold and my nose wouldn't stop running and well, I could go on and on but what I remember the most was how comfortable I felt with him.  How grateful I was that I could be as sick as I was and know that he still loved me and wanted to be with me.

 

I love this man so very much.

Gifts From Oklahoma

I am so grateful that I have family that involves my children, even if it is from a distance. 

 Poppy gave Levi his first taste of pop when he turned one year old and so it was just a given that from then on, he would give the rest of the kids their first taste of pop.  So when Nanny and Poppy sent Ruger his birthday presents, there was this can of Pepsi in there for him.

 We waited until Christmas dinner to give it to him.  I'm not sure he liked that fizzy stuff all that much and it certainly wasn't healthy but it was like having Poppy there with us.  And it was certainly fun to watch the funny faces Ruger was making while trying this new drink.

 For Christmas, Levi got the game "Pie Face" from Nanny and Poppy.

 You put whipped cream on the purple hand...

 spin to see how many clicks you give the hand...

 and find out randomly if you get smacked in the face with whipped cream!

As you can see from the first picture, it didn't matter if the boys got smacked in the face with whipped cream or not.  They were going to eat some even if it meant slurping off the remains on the table.  My boys are gross.  Cute...but gross.

My Favorite Gift

Steve and Barbara sent us this statue of Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.  This picture does not do justice of just how absolutely beautiful this statue really is. 



 

I almost immediately thought of this moment in mine and David's life.  My Mom took this picture right after Levi was born.  It was not staged.  This picture has always been so precious to me.



Merry Christmas Eve!

Just as I can remember it being hard to wait all day on Christmas Eve until the unopening of gifts, the boys struggled as well.  But I used there anticipation to my advantage (yes, I'm a mean mom) and kept saying things like, "We aren't opening gifts until the dishes are done."  "We are not opening gifts until your rooms are cleaned."  There were a few grumbles but its not like they are not used to doing all those things every day anyways...but David may have added a few things like cleaning the bathrooms.  Aw, yeah!

But they made it and unwrapping finally began.

 This was my favorite gift that Ruger got.  My Dad has always gotten the boys their first football.  I had totally forgotten about that until Ruger opened this gift.  After all, it has been almost 8 years since we got our last football.  I am so grateful for our family's love for our children and keeping traditions.

 All 3 boys got drones for Christmas from my side of the family.

 I had all of us open one of our presents earlier that day.  It was the pajamas that my mom always sends every year.  I thought we would take showers and put them on before opening presents.

  Hyrum's favorite gift was probably a close tie between a stuffed enderdragon that he got from Poppy and Nanny and a new Minecraft game from Uncle Chuck.

And THIS was the best gift of the night!  My mom has always gotten David Snickers throughout the years but nothing like this!  Snickers are David's favorite candy bar.  Not that "favorite" is like a "favorite" to a Beck though.  We LOVE our chocolate.  Chocolate is ok in David's eyes.  But there is a story behind David and Mom and these Snickers. 

Mom bought David a Snickers once (I think it was when she came up for Levi's birth).  He kept it in his pocket for DAYS!  That is insane to think that a Beck could ever have that kind of self control with having chocolate around for that long without eating it.  He'll probably have all this "Yard Snickers" till next Christmas, knowing him.  Oh wait, he is married to me....

We have a TEENAGER!

So, we have a teenager in our mist now.  Weird.  Not weird in the, "I'm not old enough to have a teenager" kind of thing.  Just where has the time gone?  And why doesn't he act like a teenager?  Why doesn't he have more attitude?  Why do David and I deserve such a good teenager?

 

We sure do love this boy.  He is such a good example to his both his parents and brothers.  He wants to be good.  He is patient.  He is kind.  We couldn't ask for a better child to bring us into the teenage years.

 

This year, his birthday was on a Sunday so it made it kind of odd for celebrating.  And a few years ago we started doing this "odd" year thing.  On the odd years, they don't have birthday parties with their friends.  On those years, they get to choose something fun to do with their parents.  He chose to watch the new Star Wars movie.  I begged him not to choose me!  If you know me, I really don't like watching movies/shows that can't be real.  If I'm gonna watch TV its needs to be either funny, romantic, or spiritual.  The thought of watching Star Wars makes me want to poke my eyes out.  In fact, lets push that finger farther up my eyes and into my brain and swirl it around.

 

 

Yeah, he chose his Daddy to go with him on Saturday.

 

Then on Sunday he opened presents (the picture above is of him and his favorite gift from all the adults from Oklahoma. 3DS XL) and had homemade cake.  He is old enough now that he doesn't want the store bought themed cakes.  It's all about taste now :)

Adoption Day!

Throughout our journey of fostering/adopting Ruger, a lot of neat things have happened along the way.  One of them was meeting the lady who took our pictures the day of Ruger's adoption.  Her name is Sherri and she taught me patience as our family was in limbo as to what would happen with Ruger.  I met Sherri through Hyrum.  Last school year, Hyrum quickly became friends with Sherri's son, Brooklyn.  He soon wanted to set up a play date, which is when I met Sherri.  We met at a park and as Sherri and I got to know one another, I found out that Brooklyn used to be a foster child.  It is a long story, and theirs is a little different than ours because it is kinship (Kinship is a form of Foster Care.  It is through family.  So Brooklyn was related to Sherri's husband, which made them Kinship.  Most of the rules are the same but there is a little more leeway if the fostering is through Kinship) but it was such a blessing to get to know her side of the Foster Care process. 

 

At this point of fostering Ruger, there was this fear that he would be taken away if someone came forward that would be considered Kinship.  Kinship almost always will get the child in a case like ours; as long as that kinship is in good standing with the law and such.  So we were constantly afraid someone would come forward.  Foster Care is all about keeping families together and I know that.  And I believe in that.  But having that knowledge is still very hard to accept when you have fallen absolutely in love with a child.  A child you know fits in your family as if you had given birth to that child. 

 

I was so grateful for her insight, however.  It humanized the situation for me.  A possible Kinship situation seemed more of an understanding than a, "you are taking my baby away from me and he doesn't know you" kind of a thing.  It made me realize some things.  What if 10 years down the road someone from DCFS comes to me and tells me that one of my sons had fathered a child that he never knew about and that that child was in Foster Care.  But that child was in someone else's home.  He was in a foster home and that they loved him very much.  Would I fight for that child?  I have no idea where I will be in my life 10 years from now but I know that if it were to happen today, I have no doubt I would fight for that child!  Sherri helped me to see the other side and to have more compassion.  To be more understanding.  It was a realization that I didn't want to have, honestly, but it was something I needed to recognize.  I am truly grateful that we were never faced with a Kinship situation, however, because November 17th came along and "Baby R" is now Baby Joseph David Ruger Adams!

 Sherri met us at the Ogden Utah temple and began taking our pictures there about an hour before the adoption took place.  I wanted to get pictures taken there because the following Saturday we would be sealed there.

 I keep hearing people say over and over how Ruger physically just fits in our family and I think these pictures prove it.

 After the pictures we left for the 2nd District Juvenile Court and were blessed with many friends to support us there.

 This is Dani and Necha outside of the courthouse.  Necha (the one holding Ruger) was Ruger's social worker for the first half of it before she moved.  Just as her smile suggests, she was so sweet through the beginning when I doubted some things.  She comforted me when I literally came crying to her about my fears of him being taken away but she was honest with me enough to let me know that there were no guarantees until the very end.  Dani handled things differently than Necha.  She has been doing this for a lot longer and didn't coddle Ruger's birth mom at all.  At times, I'm sure, it seemed hard but I also think it was a wake up call to her.  I think that with Necha, Ruger's birth mom was given every chance possible with extras.  Then it came time to switch things up with Dani and Ruger's birth mom got to see the hard reality of it all.  Looking back at it all, I think both were necessary.  She truly had every chance possible given to her through DCFS and then she was given the reality of it all in a different way.  A way that would show her that without people doing things for her, well, that this is the way it truly would be.

 After the courthouse, Sherri followed us to our home to document his adoption/1st birthday party!

 A friend from our Ward (church) made this cake.  On the side it said, "Superman was adopted too!"

 And there was a yummy surprise in the middle!

 This picture tells me, "Too much cake....I'm gonna puke!"

 This is one of my favorites because he is clapping.  Every time Ruger claps we say, "Yeah baby!"  He just eats it up every time!

 "Pick Your Superpowers"

 "Kryptonite Krispies"

Our sweet Superman