My Dreams For You, Arabella

Dear Arabella, Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday and I was at home all day with you from school. When you grow up you will hear about his important speech which is entitled "I Have a Dream." It made me think of my dreams for your future. I look at you everyday and am amazed that I am lucky enough to be your momma. I loved you from the first minute I knew you existed. No, you didn't grow inside my womb, but my love for you has grown everyday in my heart and soul. God knew you and loved you even before you were born. Your birthparents were part of God's plan, too. They gave you life and gave you many special characteristics that make you unique and beautiful. I am forever grateful to them for that. God knew that we would be your forever family, and I am eternally thankful for that. I pray that as you grow up you will be happy and will always feel loved. I hope you have fun and make wonderful friends. I hope you fall in love with the Lord and will let him guide your future. I pray that you will fall in love with a man who will treat you like a princess and will serve the Lord with you. I pray that the Lord will bless you with children, so you can find the joy I have found in motherhood. I pray that you will find something you are passionate about doing and that you will give it your all. My dreams for you include all these things and so much more, Bella. One day when you read this, I hope you will realize how important you are to me and how I pray that all your dreams come true. Love you forever, Momma

Christmas, A New Year, and Catch Up ...........

This is sweet Bella in between her 2 illnesses when she was actually feeling well. She was looking really cute and was getting ready to go to her Grandpa Larry's retirement party.

This is Bella on Christmas Eve with my sister, my niece, and my cousin before we had to change her clothes. As you can see, she isn't her usual smiley self. This is Bella with her new baby doll and carrier in the first set of pajamas we had her in that night. She tried to play and have some fun, but she was just having a rough night.

This is what Bella looked like right after we opened presents on Christmas Day. She loved her new Elmo and she fell asleep right on him laying on the couch. Poor thing!

We have had a busy couple few weeks. Since my last post, Bella has been sick 2 different times. First she had a fever, was lethargic, and had a rash a didn't feel well for several days. That turned out to be rosiola (not sure of the spelling). That was the week before Christmas. She got over that and the week of Christmas she started running a fever and not being her energetic self again. You can see from the few Christmas pictures we got that she wasn't her smiley self. On Christmas Eve she was running a fever, then she got diarrhea, so we changed her out of her fancy dress. Then we put on her new Christmas Eve pajamas and the same thing happened again. Finally we put on another set of new pajamas and she threw up curdled milk all over them about 11:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve night. Sorry for the yucky details. She slept until about 10 a.m. on Christmas morning, then we opened presents and tried to video her first Christmas with us, but she just didn't feel well and wasn't into it. Santa brought her a new red wagon and a big teddy bear and she got lots of clothes, toys, and books from Momma and Daddy as well.

For the next few days, she kept having diarrhea and didn't have an appetite. I called the doctor and he said it sounded like rotovirus and that if she wasn't running a fever anymore and keeping her food down that she would be OK. He told me to keep giving her liquids and to call and come in if she got worse. Oh, what fun! For the next few days after Christmas we didn't do much, just mainly stuck around here and forced liquids down her as often as possible so she wouldn't get dehydrated. Then I got it and felt awful for a few days. Bella lost some weight and I was getting worried, but finally after about 5 days or so she got her appetite back and started having more energy. She is doing much better now except that now she has a cold and has a runny nose. I guess our poor girl is going to get everything coming and going this winter until her immune system gets built up.

Do you know when you are old? When you can hardly stay awake to watch the ball drop at Times Square on t.v. on New Year's Eve. We decided to just stay home and we watched some movies and snuggled on the couch. About 11:00 I kept falling asleep and Bella was already asleep in my lap. Bobby had to wake me up to kiss me and wish me a Happy New Year. It was a happy new year, though. Especially for us all 3 to be together to celebrate, even if we couldn't stay awake. Ha! Ha!

I have enjoyed my 2 weeks off with Arabella although she has been sick for a lot of it. I will miss her alot when I go back to work in the morning. She has been extra clingy to me since she has been sick, so it will be hard on her to transition back to not being with me during the day on weekdays again. I am thankful for my time off, but I wish I could stay home with her. It is not possible right now, but that where is where my heart is.

I hope that you and your family are blessed and find joy and strength in the Lord Jesus Christ in 2009!

Take care,

The Boster family