Where did March go?

A few weeks ago Grant and I got a rare opportunity to spend the night alone.  In a hotel.  Sans kids.  Whaaa???  Grant’s folks went to Tulsa to spend time with their best friends (who are more like family than they are just friends) and we were invited to join them for some time to visit, and then shooed off to enjoy time just to ourselves.  It was so nice!  We spent Friday night being fed and hugged and watching the kids light up bit by bit as they were doted on by four uber loving adults, and then spent the day Saturday shopping, eating, drinking coffee, watching TV…it was so weird.  But so, so awesome!  Thank you Steve and Barbara for blessing us as you did!  I know they think they got the better end of the deal getting to snuggle the babes, but I dunno…getting to smooch my man without feeling the need to hurry because the pot might boil over and someone needs their tush wiped and…you get the picture.  It was a GREAT twenty-four hours!

 

 

 

 

 This last weekend we were spoiled again with a visit from our besties.  Nathan and Marianne drove up from Texas to spend Easter weekend with us.  It was the first time they’d met the boys in person, but they weren’t unfamiliar with their faces.  Buddy frequently asks to look at my phone so he can see, “Uncle Hammer and Aunt Mern” (because we try to Facetime regularly).  I love that the boys will grow up thinking that those two really are their aunt and uncle.  They are more family to us than they aren’t.  I had several moments over the weekend during which photos of my parents at campsites and theme parks with their best friends flashed through my head- and I realized that I’m there- I am almost thirty with small children and I’m doing just what they did for fun when they were my age.  Such a strange realization- I’m getting so old!  Ha!  We spent our time cooking and eating and walking and taking pictures and playing and giggling and worshiping and dying eggs…it was so perfect.  The time spent with them always fills me up so fully. 

 

Getting dressed and ready for church on Easter

Oh- and Aunt Mern didn’t come empty handed, of course.  She brought handmade gifts for the boys, of course- including two capes for Buddy and blocks for Bug.  How awesome is she?!

 

One of my favorite activities we did this past weekend was the making of “Resurrection Rolls” – which is an idea I got from my sister who did this with her kids a few Easters ago.  We took marshmallows (which represented our sin-free Savior) and dipped them in butter (which represented burial oils) and then in cinnamon-sugar (burial spices) and then wrapped them in crescent rolls (burial cloths).  We put them into the oven (the tomb) and when they finished and we removed the burial cloths, Jesus wasn’t there!  The marshmallows had melted, but to my sweet four year old the explanation was simple:

 “Jesus not there because the angel say, He risen!”

 

We’ve recently become “Mommy” and “Daddy” at all times now.  We didn’t prompt this- it just happened naturally.  It began with Buddy slipping up and accidentally saying "Momma" instead of “Momma V” or "Daddy: instead of “Daddy Grant”- but one weekend it was as if he decided he was ready.  And now we are Mommy and Daddy-fulltime.  I get butterflies when he hollers at me and I hear his four year old voice say my new name.  What an honor I have- to be “Mommy” to two little men!  I’m so humbled by this- I can’t believe the Lord sees me fit to aid in raising two young men for His service.  What a flattering, humbling, ridiculous compliment from the Creator of the cosmos!!!

 

 

May 21^st is a bit of a big day for our household.  For our family.  It is the scheduled date for the termination hearing of the rights of the boys’ parents.  When well-meaning friends ask about how things are progressing and hear that there is a termination hearing, I usually get asked if I’m, “SOOO excited?” – but that isn’t really the most accurate word.  As the day nears, it becomes more and more real to me that a woman will be losing her sons legally and permanently.  Regardless of what she has done to arrive at such a place, I’m certain there are few appointments for a woman that would be more humiliating or devastating.  So no, I’m not excited for this event because of what it will likely mean for my sons’ mother.  I am grateful that the system is moving the boys’ case in a direction towards a home where they can have stability and permanency.  And I would be lying if I were to say that I didn’t dream about seeing their names in print with the same last name as mine would be a lie- and it would also be false to say that I long to post a photo of them on social media, just because once they are legally Mankins we’ll be allowed to.  But I’m not at all excited about the termination hearing.  No siree.

 

 

Oh, and if it seems like there are no pictures of Bug in this entry, that's because there aren't.  He's busy.  He's tied up right now either being uncomfortable because his two year molars are coming in, or he is being super rational about the fact that I won't let him put his goldfish into his water cup and  is no doubt throwing himself onto the floor, lying out flat and wailing like a banchee.  He's two now, so he's officially earned his Masters in refusing to act civilized.  It's adorable.