It has been one year today. One year since we stepped out of "our plan' for our family and into the plan that God had for our family. One year! One year since we said "Yes!" to three of the most life changing little boys.

One year of Marcus

One year of Morris

One year of Manuel

One year of "MOMMY!"

One year of "DADDY!"

One year of the Thomason's!

One year of smiles

One year of laughs

One year of tears

One year of fear

One year of questions

One year of "why"

One year of "how"

One year of "when"

One year of potty training

One year of "Tuh," "Tuh," "Tuh"

One year of "It's MAN-U WELL"

One year of school

One year of "Yes Ma'am?"

One year of "Yes Sir?"

One year of "Did he just say that!?"

One year of "Did he just DO that!?"

One year of "Where's the Morris?"

One year of parks

One year of McDonald's

One year of change

One year of "Leave Truffles alone"

One year of "No Hitting!"

One year of "No Spitting!"

One year of firsts- for everyone

One year of "Where are we supposed to use the bathroom at?"

One year of embarrasment at playgrounds (long story)

One year of skypes to grandparents

One year of "When will Daddy get home?'

One year of "I need to write that down!"

One year of "You adopted how many?"

One year of stares

One year of stress

One year of waiting

One year of wondering

One year of hurt

One year of pain

One year of "The attorney called..."

One year of "Where did that come from?"

One year of "Are they yours?"

One year of "Can I ..."

One year of "You must share!"

One year of "Go clean your room"

One year of baths x 3

One year of "We're out of lotion?"

One year of "That's mine!"

One year of "Mommy, when will I get married?"

One year of little league

One year of time-outs

One year of fingerprints

One year of "MOMMY!" (Did I already say that?)

One year of "What's for Dinner?"

One year of work

One year of ""How do we...?"

One year of satisfaction

One year of screams

One year of "Do we go to church today!?"

One year of "Mommy NEEDS some church today!"

One year of Spongebob

One year of Spiderman

One year of Iron Man (insert sounds)

One year of Backyardigan's

One year of Friday Movie Nights

One year of GROCERY TIME, AGAIN!

One year of "Where would they be if we hadn't..."

One year of struggles

One year of "MOMMY!" (again)

One year of dentists offices

One year of ER visits

One year of routine

One year of wrestling

One year of sword fights

One year of "Can I sleep with you?"

One year of kisses

One year of hugs

One year of "Are they triplets?"

One year of "He is 2!?!"

One year of "Can I draw?"

One year of "MOMMY!" (again)

One year of "I'm DONE!"

One year of "I'm telling Mommy!"

One year of "Go ask Daddy!"

One year of "He is going to be a football player!"

One year of  "What time is it?"

One year of "Are we there yet?"

One year of 'Where are your teeth?"

One year of super hero bandaids

One year of  "Let me call my Mom and see what she thinks!"

One year of dedication

One year of peace

One year of joy

One year of faithfulness

One year of happiness

One year of family

One year of prayers

One year of God's faithfulness

One year of our faithfulness to God

One year of fighting

One year of "We will NOT give up."

One year of LOVE!

One year of "I Love You!"

One year of "Thank you God!"

It has been the BEST year of our lives- ALL 5 OF US! None of us have ever been filled with so much joy. None of us have ever felt so loved. None of us have ever had to rely on each other so much. None of us have ever experienced such amazing things from God himself. He has been our fortress throughout this year and will continue to be throughout our parenting.

Psalm 113:2

May the Lord's name be praised now and forevermore!

It seems like so long since I have blogged. I actually had to read my last post to see where I left off. Sorry. We have just been extremely preoccupied... as you can imagine.

We had the boys' post adoption physicals as well as Marcus' Kindergarten Health Assessment for the fall school year. WOW! This was an experience. Shots and physicals for all 3 and me the only adult there to "contain" them and console them. This is very difficult when you have 3 screaming children who are in pain and only one person to try and calm them. I felt terrible and honestly didn't know what to do. I had tried to make an action "plan" if Marcus had to have shots, but in NO way prepared myself for what happened. Each one of them had to have blood drawn to do a complete blood work up on them AND each one had to have a shot. We have some really STRONG boys- both physically and emotionally! I pray I never have to hold my children down like that again...

We got our report back from our first post adoption social worker visit. When I read it- it was quite eye opening for me... They made us out to be super hero parents. lol. Guess this is good for our case! :) It was so amazing to see our story on paper and to ba able to sit down and read where we have been and where we are now. Put a smile on my face!

My mom came to NC for the 4th of July and let me just say- I LOVED IT! I got to relax and just enjoy her being here. Not sure how much relaxing she got in, the boys just love her! She played all day long-everyday with them! It was great to see them put a smile on her face! I love to see my children impact others in a way that they have impacted us. To see them play with someone who prayed for them LONG before they were placed with us- or even born for that matter! Also, it was amazing to see my mom interacting with the boys as she had done in my life. If she makes half the impact on them that she made to me, they will be so blessed!! I have  the world's GREATEST mom!

We are headed to the doctor again today... this time for Manuel. I am afraid he may have asthma and I am going to just to check it out. One would have thought that the goomba doctor who did their physical would have checked this, but NO! And I was so worked up over shots that I forgot to ask or mention anything about it. We are going to a DIFFERENT physician today! :D----> Happy Mommy!

Morris has an abscessed tooth- one of the ones that is going to have to be extracted anyways. He is the next on the list for the procedure to be worked in- since the doctor doesn't want to wait until September to do the procedure considering the pain he is in.

I am so thankful for all of the love and support everyone has shown to us! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! This week may be tough for the boys, because Colby is in the field until Friday. Please keep us in your prayers!

I often find myself looking at our precious gifts from God and asking Him: "What do You have planned for them?" , "Why did you choose us?" , "What are you preparing all of us for?" , "What kind of men will they be?" - God often leaves me perplexed. This is one great thing about our God! He has a plan and teaches us to trust in Him and allow Him to lead the way.

God is really dealing with our family in a strong way. My prayer is that He continues to do so and that we, as a family, would continue to listen and act obediently. OBEDIENTLY is the key here. I, in the flesh, like to have things my way. Those of you who really know me- this does not come to you as a surprise. I am a planner and like to have everything organized and in its place... God is working with me on this. I pray that my stubbornness would not hinder His work in our family. Many times I will have a "plan" and think that we can only do things a certain way, when all along God is trying to teach me to go with His plan and listen to His voice.
Just being completely open and honest.
This is NOT where we thought God would lead us or was leading us when we signed those adoption papers. But looking back and seeing how far we have come and what we have gone through- He had a perfect plan the whole time. Did we doubt what God was doing- YES! There were days that Colby would come home and I would be in tears saying- "This is never going to happen." And look at us now. A happy family and may have saved the lives of 3 amazing children. I turn to God and ask Him what His purpose for choosing us was... Haven't heard from Him on that question yet, but I know He has a reason. We may never know...

On Sunday, June 19, all 3 boys were dedicated back to our God who sent them to us. If you haven't seen the video of their dedication here is the link: 

http://gallery.me.com/dkfranks#100344
(just copy and paste to your browser)
I hope you are able to watch this amazing moment for our family. God's presence was truly in this place!

Colby has been gone on a 3 day "mission" since Sunday... This is the first time that he has been gone for an "extended" amount of time since the adoption. I have been worried about how they would do, but so far they have seemed ok. Marcus has had the hardest time out of all of them. Today on our way home from town, he turned to me and said "Mama, I miss Daddy." This broke my heart. They have never had that father figure that Colby provides for them. Being a mother is a special job, but I cannot do the "fathering" like Colby does. Men just have that special ability- and Colby is exceptional at it. I had to explain that Daddy was at work for a few days, but that he missed Marcus very much and would be coming home very soon. He said ok and I thought he understood... We pulled in the neighborhood and he asked again, "Is Daddy at home waiting for us?" I know they don't understand and have so many questions. Shoot! I don't always understand the Army and often have WAY too many questions!

In the back of my mind I am thinking- "how is he going to deal with a deployment?" Wow. I am not going to borrow that trouble today! I am going to focus on Colby coming home from this "mission" and dealing with what is a definite. Him deploying is not set yet and we have no orders in hand. So I will not worry about that until the time comes.

Manuel is doing WONDERFUL on his potty training!! He is now sitting on the "big boy potty" and is immediately doing his business. He still hasn't fully grasped the fact that he should tell me when he needs to go, or to poo-poo in the "big boy potty," but he will learn (or that is what I keep promising myself). : ) I feel like we have finally accomplished something! Now if I can just get Marcus ready for kindergarten we will be good!

 We are going to the DR tomorrow for each of them to have their "check-ups" for the adoption, as well as for Marcus to have his Kindergarten Health Assessment. I know this will include shots for Marcus- hopefully no one else! Yes, I am going to try and attempt this on my own and come up with some sort of treat for afterwards! This is when my patience gets low with them. When I am left to do these sort of things alone and with 3 children... I am praying to stay calm so that hopefully my actions will help their reactions. Not my strength. But I am working on it. When I see them cry- I want to cry. When I see them scream- sometimes I want to scream with them! haha.

Please continue to be in prayer for our family! Especially tomorrow. We appreciate all of your love and support for our family and can't wait to see what God has in store for us!!

Sorry it has been so long (one week) since I have posted. Things have been quite busy at our house lately. Imagine that?!!

The visit with the social worker went very well in my opinion. I was so nervous... Pretty much for nothing. Ha She was very interested in our "story." However, the only down side was that all 3 boys were right up under us and had to hear everything all over again. Not that they were really paying attention to us, but I hated them to hear it again. She said the boys were adjusting WAY better than expected, and we were doing a great job! I kinda liked to hear that from a "no-biased professional." Ha. We hear that quite often from friends and family, but I like to think they HAVE to say that... lol.

Marcus is so hilarious! He has such a great sense of humor- but very dry. He reminds us so much of  a mixture between "Little Bill" and "Fat Albert" (but the skinny version). One day I asked them to get their shoes on so that we could go to the grocery store. Of course, Marcus wanted to know which one- he is FULL of questions! :) I proceeded to tell him the "Food Lion" just up the road. When we got there he asked again- "What is this?" Again- I told him the "Food Lion." Once we got inside, he wanted to know where the lions were that we were going to feed. Hahaha. Explaining to a 5 year old that we weren't going to feed lions was quite the task. Now everytime I come home with a gracery bag, he wants to know did I get lion food. He just doesn't get it!

Today has been a rainy yucky day, so we all stayed in our pajamas (not a rare thing) and played inside. I have not been as great on my "putting things in their place." The boys found my shoes (in the living room) and began to try them on. I thought this was only fun for girls- but apparently not! I let them in my closet to play- maybe I should have let them in Colby's because this is what I found: Daddy would be embarrassed if he knew I had taken pictures much less shared them with everyone... But here you go.

Manuel in his new kicks. Gotta love that smile!

 Morris and his thigh high boots... lol. Maybe we can just say that these are his "soldier boots"?

Then... We have Marcus... What should I say? At least he is throwing up some sort of gangster sign in those heels. : /  I can just hear Colby now... haha.

Please continue to pray for our family. Our next visit with the social worker will be on July 13th at a local park-so thankful there will be no more home visits. Although it might keep me motivated to clean a little more... Just makes me nervous having such "important" guests.
As far as we know, the final hearing is set for July 20th. I will keep you guys posted if anything changes. Please pray for our family, the judge, our attorney, the birthfather, and anyone else involved.

Today is our first post placement visit from our social worker. She is coming to our house to check on the boys and see how everyone is adjusting and make sure we are "safe and fit parents." We are required one visit a month for 3 months before anything can be final with the courts. Our visit will be at 1:00p.m. eastern time. Please be in prayer for us and the boys during this time. I will update later on how things go. :)

For now, I will answer the questions that have been emailed to me about our adoption.

"How are the boys adjusting?"

The boys are doing great! We have been mommy and daddy from day one. They do not ask for their birthmother- in fact they haven't asked anything. What a blessing! They have answered to their "new names" from the beginning.
I am sure that they have a few uncertainties, but they haven't voiced them. We have made it a point to let them know that we love them for them and they will always be loved by us- no matter what. A few times when telling Marcus that we love him, he will say "You love me?" It is an awesome experience to be able to show true love to them. Something that I don't think they have ever seen. Everytime we pull into our driveway from going into town, one of them asks if we are at "their" house. : ) I try not to call things "mine" or "yours," everything is "ours." They LOVE having "their room" and "their bed"! They still don't quite get the concept that the toys and such in their rooms are all theirs.
They are doing great, but all of us are still adjusting. I am sure the adjustment will continue for a while, but we are enjoying it!!

-"Have you always wanted to adopt or could you guys just not have children?"

I told you guys from the beginning that no question was too personal. : )
We have always loved children and had a heart for the mother and fatherless. It is just something that God has placed in our hearts from the beginning. A heart for others. I have always wanted to adopt. When I was younger I always wanted to adopt from China- a-typical huh? Colby always wanted us to have our "own" child first and then try to adopt later.
Six weeks before Colby and I got married, I had to have a hysterectomy. I was in severe pain and was having serious female problems. I was told by the doctor in Atlanta that either I wouldn't be able to conceive or that my body would automatically abort the child. Knowing the pain that I was in and the possibilities of me being able to conceive and carry to term, Colby and I chose that me being out of misery would be best and we told the doctor that a hysterectomy would be our answer. Yes, it was a big decision for an 18 and 19 year old, but we made it and haven't regretted it one bit.
The doctors were concerned that we would later regret it and one even denied performing the surgery. I am not going to say that this was an easy decision, but we knew that God had a plan. If His plan was for us to have children, He would provide a way.
Yes, I struggled seeing pregnant women and often wondered how it must feel to have a child growing and being formed in your womb. But again, I continued to pray for God's will and for the child that He would eventually place in our arms.
Now look at us. : ) Three children later. I NEVER in a million year thought this would happen or be us. But God did!!


Please pray for us throughout today if you get a chance. This is possibly one of the most stressful moments for me. Having someone come in and judge the way we parent. Not always the easiest to deal with.

If anyone has anymore questions for us, email them to marylthomason@ymail.com or message me on Facebook. Your questions will be totally anonymous.

I figured I needed to say something a bit lighter today, since my last few posts have been so "serious."

Remember how I told you that we were working on potty training Morris? HE GOT IT!!! Finally! He is peeing and pooping in the big boy potty and is not even asking for a sticker or sucker anymore!! I love it! Now if we can just get Manuel to that point, life at the Thomason's house will be much less smelly!!

Last week I took all 3 boys to the dentist. What an experience. NONE of them had ever been and their teeth aren't the greatest. Me, being naive, thought that Tricare (Military insurance) would cover all of the expenses and we wouldn't have anything to worry about. I was very wrong!!
You see, Morris has major decay on his teeth from being able to drink whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted... included bottles/sippy cups at night... The birthmother knew this was not good for him, but allowed it anyways (whole different post, but you can imagine my frustration). This being said, having his teeth brushed  hurts him- very bad. His front two teeth are terrible. I knew that the experience would not be pleasant and tried to warn the dentist before we walked in the door. He was upset from the beginning. Wouldn't even let them take his picture for their file.. ha ha. And we had just walked in- no tools in sight. You can imagine the fiasco in the actual office with the dental hygienist. Both of us holding him just to get his teeth cleaned makes for a very stressful mommy! He didn't understand what was happening and was terrified. The dentist came in (African American male) and Morris was great! He does so much better with men than the others do, it's like he connects with them (not sure why since his birthfather was never around). Maybe he is just confused by the men in his life now being so different than those in his life before. Morris was so calm with the dentist and even let the dentist count his teeth! BIG DEAL!! I was so proud of him... However, we were not able to get x-rays and those are needed desperately!
We are going to have to go in to the OR for a dental procedure!! Have you ever heard of such? Since he is so terrified, he will get "calming" medication before we leave the house and get anesthesia for the procedure. They will be pulling 2-3 teeth and filling/ capping several. I feel terrible for him. I cried when I found out that my baby was going to have to go to school and through the next 5 years of his life without his 2 front teeth! Go ahead and laugh, but I did.
After we find out about the OR procedure, we are taken to the forbidden counter where you find out how much this is going to cost. I, not knowing what was ahead, walk calmly to the counter and my mouth drops to the floor. I am so confused as to why our insurance is only paying half and leaving us to pay $1500.00 worth of dental procedures. INSANE!
The amazing insurance lady at the dental office picks me up off of the floor and proceeds to ask if they have any other insurance. My first response was no... All we have is Tricare- THEN I REMEMBER!! They had Medicaid in FL and I might, just might can get them Medicaid in NC! This would save us $1500.00 and alot of heartache for them to have both insurances and be completely covered!
I checked this out at the Medicaid office on Monday and we just got a letter in the mail stating that we were APPROVED!!!!!! Praise the Lord!!! An answered prayer!

I tell you this, because I want you to know that no, not everything is going insane in our lives with the boys- God IS working and He STILL works!! Sometimes, we, in the flesh, get so caught up in what seems to not be going our way or the way we think things should go that we miss the places where God IS working. You know the saying: "If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans." He is the One who has our best interest in mind. I definitely want Him to be the One leading this family and not Colby and me!

Thank you for your prayers for our family and keep them coming! This is going to be a long journey, but we are "In it to win it!" (little randy Jackson for you) : )

I am starting this post not really sure what to tell you. I feel many emotions right now. yesterday I was telling Colby that I needed to learn more patience but that I was afraid to ask God for it... He knows and is sending me through a LONG journey of what I need but did not directly ask for. I have prayed for Him to give us what we need and to provide for us... Didn't realize that one of those things would be patience.

As I have posted before, today was the day that our attorney was going to speak to the birthfather- or "sperm donor" if you will. She was going to give him one last chance to sign the adoption papers and cooperate without his parental rights being terminated... She called... And he was IRATE with her. He said there was no way that he would sign the papers. He felt like his rights were already taken away and that he would in no way agree for the adoption... Along with many other choice words. The attorney tried to explain that if he would sign and be cooperative, that he would be able to have privileges such as pictures and such of the children. Still no cooperation.

Next Step?

Final Court hearing on July 20th. This is NOT the end of this and this is going to be a VERY LONG process. Our attorney stated to me that of course a lawyer could not guarantee anything, but that there was NO way the birthfather could have rights to our children. He is a very violent and irrational man who is incapable of taking care of our children.

There will be a "final court" date... eventually set... for the legalities to be finalized. We will have to appear in court for this- in FL. This is not a big deal- as long as Colby doesn't get deployed before then.

I am at a loss. I have prayed for God's will, and that is truly what I want for us and our children. However, God has given us a vision for our children... we must stay focused and carry out that vision.

Staying focused is the key word... I feel like we are being hit by many different obstacles. We have fallen down, but we have also gotten back up. While we are down, it is easy to stay down and wallow in our pity... We know this is NOT of God and NOT what He would have us to do. He is calling us to stand back up and keep our sights on Him... This is easier said than done, but we are striving.

I don't want this post to sound like "poor pitiful us." I just don't know how to get across my feelings without being completely honest with you. This hurts. I look at our children and can't imagine our life without them. They are what is pushing us! But we want this to be final and for us to all be Thomason's. Legally. Not just in our minds.

Again, I am reminded that God never told us this would be easy. We are fighters and we WILL FIGHT for our children. NO MATTER WHAT!
I am learning patience and learning God's timing. His timing is not our timing. What we think should just happen, doesn't for a reason. His reason may not be known right now, but we choose to trust in Him and what He sees in and for our family. He has BIG plans for us. And in the mean time we will wait for that.