A quick update

Hey everyone... Not much new news at this point, but wanted to fill you in on the little stuff. :) Tali was 7 weeks old yesterday and is doing great.... Constipation issues still....but even that is getting a little better with some help from Miralax. (Only once every 3-4 days, per dr.'s orders.) Otherwise, she's a completely normal, happy, easy going baby.... smiling up a storm now, which is soooo much fun for us!! I love watching her and Stan interact...he does such a great job with her, engaging her, making her smile, even laugh (sort of). :) She is such a blast. Her nicknames have developed and taken on a life of their own.... Tali-girl, Tali-bug, little bug, Tali-bugaboo...Bugabooyah...oh wow....we are kinda nuts. :) We pretty much adore her and are loving every minute with her.

In other news: I have heard from my court services officer friend that she thinks that Tali's birth mom could have her placed with her as soon as the end of February (?!?!)....while her case worker doesn't understand how on Earth that could happen because her birth mom is not showing much motivation at all to get her stuff together (i.e. get a job, get into parenting classes, get her legal issues resolved, etc...) in order to get Tali back. Her caseworker also says that usually in cases where the parent's rights have already been terminated on one or more kids, the judge doesn't often give them as long the 2nd and 3rd (and 7th!) time around to get their "act" together. So we kind of have 2 conflicting opinions that have been presented to us on what could happen in the coming weeks and months.... which is kind of a tough spot for us to be in - not even knowing which direction to lean in what we think will happen.

HOWEVER... We are hanging onto the Lord....Pressing into Him in the moments when it feels like our hearts are being tossed to and fro by the craziness of all of this, and really finding ourselves being sustained by Him. When we look logically at how totally AT RISK our hearts are in this, and then we step back and look at how much peace we have had, and continue to have, through it all, we can only give glory to Jesus for keeping us at rest in His perfect love that casts out all fear. We are so thankful for His grace that is carrying us through.

On Jan. 30, Tali and her mom have a court date, which I will attend. Not sure what all will be decided, but I will, I'm sure, post an update that afternoon to fill you all in on what happens.

OH! I almost forgot: here's a quick, specific prayer request:
**PRAY THAT GOD WILL REMIND THE JUDGE ON TALI'S CASE OF HER IN THESE NEXT COUPLE WEEKS. PRAY THAT HE WON'T DECIDE TO JUST CLOSE TALI'S CASE BECAUSE "IT SHOULD HAVE GONE TO MISSOURI...SO I'M NOT GONNA DEAL WITH THIS ANY LONGER THAN I HAVE TO." PRAY THAT HIS HEART WILL BE BURDENED FOR HER LONG TERM SAFETY AND WELL-BEING AND THAT HE WILL FIGHT FOR WHAT IS REALLY IN HER BEST INTREST, AND NOT JUST QUICKLY DISMISS HER CASE.**

Thanks so much for your continued love and support and prayers (and prayers, and prayers, and prayers.... :) )

Oh, if you wanna see pics of our beautiful girl, drop me an email. :)

Love to all!