It Was the Best of Days........It was the worst of Days......

Wow!!! I know I say that a lot on here, but it is the best word to describe so many moments we are experiencing. This morning was awesome! Lilly and Alex worked at our church Bash for the younger kids, while Aana, Noelle, Andrew, Brianna, and Briasia all attended. This gave me a few hours alone with the boys. We had a blast at Bass Pro Shop and then at Costco for lunch. When I picked all the kids up it was obvious they had enjoyed the Bash. I pray it is helping the girls know more about Jesus.

I am consistently amazed at how God works out so many details for this entire adoption. When I picked the kids up from Bash a lady standing off to the side was watching the boys run around a tree. I was a little tiny bothered at how intently she was watching them. Then when she heard me call Brian she asked if it was Brian with 3 siblings and with his current last name. I was dumb founded as after I said yes she revealed that she will be our new case worker starting this Monday. She is a daughter of a dear friend at church of mine. We knew our caseworker was moving and done last Friday and have felt a little apprehensive about who we would have next, and Bam! God worked it all out!

After Bash we hung out at home and then went on a bike ride. The girls ride much slower than the boys. I was riding in the back with Brianna and she fell off her bike. I thought, no harm done as she landed in the grass. She sat there for a moment and then started screaming. I jumped off my bike thinking she was hurt and ran to her and pick up the bike to move it and she was already up stomping and jumping around. I was totally puzzled for a moment until the sting started hitting me! She had crashed into an ant hill and she was getting ant bites and I now had hundreds of them all over my arms and legs. My right foot is Very bit up but it seems she only ended up with a few bites. Needless to say it was a long ride home! Briasia crashed by our house and Lilly carried her in and Brian sprung into helping action getting the bikes out of the street and was so precious and concerned for his sisters! We got everyone bandaged up and off we went to watch the bigger kids' dance recital.

They all did great at dance in their routines. The little ones had a hard time sitting still to watch but overall they did well. We then went to McDonalds, and what a mistake!!! Brian threw one major fit after another the entire time. They all fought over fries and were just not doing well. It was a long ride home as Brian screamed the entire way and they all fought over toys. I must admit, I was ready to yell Calgon Take me Away (Only funny to those old enough to remember)! We made it though!

I got the boys to bed and then the girls completely melted down. In the end it was because Briasia's loft bed was under a smoke detector and she was scared to death of it and her twin was crying with sympathy pains:-) Bob came and helped me move the bed and........ahhhhhhh all is well in the Hahn house tonight.

I love every one of these children so much. Some moments are so frustrating to me and reminds me of how much I must frustrate my Lord when I throw a fit. It is so hard to think through the adoption of these children without truly being humbled at how I have been adopted into His family and he has been sooooooo patient with me! Praying for God to give me ideas and wisdom on how to train Brian to handle his frustration. I am also giving a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone of our other children. This is a family ministry and all the kids have risen to the calling and been a HUGE HELP!

Soooooo Blessed!

Gotcha Day Celebration......All 4 are Moved In

This was a great day in the Hahn house! We picked up Brianna and Briasia at 12:30pm today along with all their belongings. I would ask for all to pray for Evette, their foster mother, as she is having a hard time. The girls have seemed a little confused. They have asked how many nights they get to stay and the boys too have asked if they will be separated again and dropped off at an old house or a new family. I have given many hugs today and explained many times that this is their forever family and home.

It just makes me think of how lost and orphaned I once was and how my Lord adopted me in and washed me clean and now I am a daughter of the king! It is amazing how tired I can be and feel like I can't muster any more patience and then, God, tugs at my heart and reminds me of where I once was and what he did for me.

This evening we had cake and ice cream with all the kids (even Amber and Josh came over). We sang Happy Gotcha Day to You, and enjoyed some fun laughter together.

The girls love their new bedroom and beds. They went to bed quite easily tonight.

It really is amazing to me how smooth this process has gone and how God has ordered our steps. I am glad the girls came today and not last Saturday as we wouldn't have had their room ready yet.

At this point the kids don't have middle name so we are helping each of them pick new middle names for their legal birth certificates we will get at the adoption finalization. So far we have Javon Joshua Hahn (his nickname is JJ so this makes great sense), Brian Robert Hahn (when we asked him what name he wanted he asked what is daddy's name? And then said I want that one just like my daddy), the girls are still thinking. Some suggestions they gave at bedtime between giggles were Spot, Dahdah, and a few other silly names. We will be working on those.

Now comes the tough stuff. You know, the daily grind. The day in, day out care, teaching, discipline and love. I know though that He who began a good work in me will complete it. My God amazes me in his grace, love, and how he gives me energy when needed.

Truly, I am a blessed women, wife, and mother!

Javon Moved in, Wedding, Next move bedrooms for girls moving in this Saturday

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We have continued with visits with the girls each weekend and Javon moved in last Friday. Amber's wedding was on Saturday and it was amazing and sooooooo busy! I am so thankful for the amazing support God has had around us! Our neighbors kept the boys over night for the wedding, which was such a blessing! The boys were able to be close to home and know they were loved and coming back in the morning.

We have had company in from Ohio and have so enjoyed the visit. It has been very busy though. The next couple days will be about cleaning Amber's old room, moving Logan into her old room, cleaning Logan's old room and going to Akia to purchase beds for the girls which move in on Saturday. So exciting!

Brian is doing amazingly well learning the rules and he talks about how much he loves his new forever family and how he is glad he doesn't live in the foster home where no one was nice or loved each other. Amazing how articulate a 4 yo can be. Javon, which we call Jay jay, is struggling with the rules and visiting time out a lot. He just has no tools to cope with frustration other than to hit, punch, kick, spit, cuss, and call names. He is amazingly cute and I'm sure he will catch on with things calming down a bit now.

The girls move in this Saturday and I am so excited! Going to enjoy doing their room!

Today was my birthday and we went to Sanibel Island for the day. I loved being with all the kids and with my friend Becky and her family. The boys loved playing in the sand and water!

I must say, it is tiring working with the kids, but it is an amazing blessing! I love the life I get to live!

Brian's First Full Week Living in the Hahn Home

Ok, first because so many have asked, here are the pics of the girls hair last week. I loved it!

This week with Brian has been AMAZING! We have had some rough spots to work through. It is obvious he has never had loving discipline. We have spent all week talking about choices. We have talked about how when we make good choices we receive blessings and when we make bad choices we don't receive all those blessings. He has required much help in understanding that he is not a bad boy we are going to get rid of and send away when he makes bad choices. He can be very stubborn especially when he operates in fear! We have talked a lot about God and Jesus as he doesn't understand this God thing at all. He is soooo very smart! We pray with him every night, I say a line and he repeats it and tonight we just remembered what we have prayed about each night and said it by himself. It is a step in the right direction. He will be 5 in July and recognizes no letters or his name. But he is picking it up very quickly.

I took him to Sarasota with myself, Lilly, and a homeschool class of 8th graders to watch them participate in Mock Trial completion and he was amazingly well behaved and I was so proud of him!

He wants to be a pilot when he grows up after meeting Grandpa Airplane and he is amazed now watching the sky looking for planes. He also wants to be a soldier one day and get married and have 4 to 6 kids:-) So sweet!

He has loved the attention not only from our family but from all the neighbors and my CC students, and from church. God has blessed us with such an amazing support system!

All our bio kids and Noelle are adjusting well too. Andrew gets a little irritated with Brian at times, but he also loves being a big brother, as long as Brian stays out of his things:-)

Our attention is now ready to be focused on Amber's wedding quite intently. It is all falling together and is a wonderful blessing to watch them prepare to start their life together. They moved their things into their new apartment yesterday, but neither will be staying there until after the wedding.

Then the day after the wedding, Javon moves in! Yaaaaaaaaa! I am telling you, God has had his hand in the timing of everything and every detail! It is such a wonderful time for the Hahn family.

Here are some pics of dad and Brian playing with little dirt bike toys as they watch dirt bike racing on tv together. Toooo cute!

More Firsts in this day!

Wow! Wow! Wow! Every day right now is so full of so much that it feels like it is longer than just a day. Thursday evening we picked up Brian first. When I knocked on the door a man inside yelled, "Who is it?" I told him it was me and then I could hear Brian yelling, "It's her, it's her, I told you they was coming back for me!" When the door open Brian ran out, jumped in my arms and said I wanna go get in my car seat in the van. I took him to the van and then loaded his bike, 2 toys, and some clothes. He wasn't even interested in saying good bye! It made me think. So few belongings in this world, no one wanting him, and foster parents that talk very badly about him in front of him, and having no idea idea about God, how could this boy ever even have a chance? Lord, thank you! By the grace of God, that could be any one of us. How can we leave kids in these situations?. My heart aches!

Brian was a chatter box wanting the update on anything he missed while he was away. He was most interested in if his bed was still just for him and how long is he allowed to stay. I love this boy!

We then picked up Javon and headed home. It was a great evening with the boys. The next day, Friday, was a flurry of activity with hosting the SWFL Christian Prom with Shawn. In the middle of the afternoon I went to pick up the girls. Oh, it just felt so good to have them all under 1 roof again, I mean all, as all 13 of us were home at the same time at one point:-)

Today was beautiful! We played outside and Bob and I just laughed at all the activity watching them play. We also spent a good share of the day (actually last couple days) helping them all understand the rules of the land and it is going to take some adjusting for them to say the least.

We went and watched Anna's softball game and the kids loved yelling her name cheering for her. It is so cute as they have learned all the kids names already and now they all call us Mom and Dad.

I made life books for each of them with pictures of us and them and different pictures of us with them. I wrote to them how thrilled we are to adopt them and have them as part of our family. They have been asking many questions and they are somewhat confused. Who could blame them. Brian lives here now, and Javon, who is 3, will be moving in in a couple weeks and the girls, who are 5, will be moving in the last week of May. BUT, explaining this to kids that have been bounced around and don't seem to understand a forever family is quite the task. They are all bonding well to each other and to each of us.

This afternoon we went to the beach and it was a blast. It was very windy and the waves were quite big. They giggled and squeezed in delight and it warmed my heart beyond words! I don't think they have been to the beech much.

When we got in the van and I looked at how much sand they all had in their hair I realized I must tackle the task of the girls hair. Now, I must admit this was a little scary but also so fun to do with them. I stopped and bought what I thought we needed and headed home to give it a shot. I must admit I failed I taking pictures of this event but I must say, IT WAS SOOOOO FUN! Amber came home from work and Lilly was with us and all 4 kids and we all laughed and comes each others hair and it was just so fun! As Brian was combing Amber's hair he let her know it would be just right if she'd put some grease in it;-) So sweet! I ended up putting the girls hair in pig tails that are like puff balls. I luv it and they both luv it and I am just tickled how well it went.

Being a mom is soooo amazing! I am so blessed, even if I am so tired I could fall over. It is a sweet tired.

Brian Moves In Tomorrow!!!

I am so excited to report that we had a meeting with the case workers and the GAL today and went fantastic! We get to pick up our son Brian tomorrow and move him into our home! Words can't even express how I feel. This is a total God thing! God has moved this entire thing along very swiftly and smoothly so far. Brian is such a sweet boy, though he surely has his issues. Please join me in praying he feels welcome and transitions into our family and home quickly. God is so faithful to bless us in such beautiful ways. Thank you all for your support and love, it means the world to us!