If I could think of a title, it would go here.

Sorry for the disappearing act. But I'm back for good now. I promise! Not only were we having a hard time with our internet connection, but with all that has been going on around here, it was just plain impossible to sit down and write a blog. All that has been fixed and everything has sorta settled down some what (or as much as it can with 6 kids in the house). And now for one of the longest updates you have ever read.........

First off, let me just give a big THANK YOU for all of the comments and emails I have gotten about Chandler and my sister. We appreciate your prayers so much and need them daily.

We went to court on Aug. 21 and Jamee told the judge it would be best to let Chandler stay with us until she got the help she needed. It went a lot easier than I expected and I'm very thankful Jamee was so cooperative. Jamee has to meet all of the requirement set forth my DHS and we go back in 6 months for another hearing. The following few weeks consisted of talking back and forth with DHS, answering a million questions,bringing Chandler to some dr. appointments, having a home study done and jumping thru a few more hoops. But now we are official foster parents! Not only can we keep Chandler, but we can also keep other foster kids if the need/desire should arise. But I'm not sure we're ready for that just yet. Six kids is enough for us right now.


We had a very close call with Shelby. It involved a tree branch, her eye and a trip to the E.R. Doesn't sound very good does it? Well, it wasn't. I have pictures to prove it but I will spare you all the gore and just tell you what happened. Here is the condensed version. She was outside picking berries from a tree and walked into a broken off tree branch. It poked her in the eye. Fortunately she closed her eye just in time and it only ripped her eyelid but not the inside of her eye. They called in a plastic surgeon and he stitched her eyelid up. Just like that. Well, not just like that but this is the condensed version so I'm not going into all the details. That girl was so BRAVE! She never shed a tear. Not a single tear. She was more worried about missing soccer practice than she was about what the dr. was doing to her eye. She got 5 stitches and a pink teddy bear out of the whole deal. The stitches are now out and she looks great. You can hardly tell what had happened.

This last picture of her eye was taken about 4 days after the accident.







We also celebrated a few birthdays in September. Blake turned 11 and Brooks turned 9. This is the first year ever that the boys had separate birthday parties. Blake had a spend the night party with about 5 other boys and Brooks chose the have his birthday party at the skating rink. (I'm going to post pictures as soon as I get them loaded onto the computer.) I think the boys had good birthdays. Among other things (like a ton of money), they both got a pair of Heely's. I tried Blake's on just to see what all the hoop-la was all about. I didn't get it. I couldn't figure out how to make myself go.
Anyway, mom came down for a visit around the 16th (Sept.), stayed a few days and then headed back to IN. She took Blake and Micah back with her. They will be staying with her until I go up there to run the Louisville Marathon which isn't until October 21st. Yep, they will be gone almost 4 weeks. It's been nice only having 4 kids but I still feel like somethings missing. Well, Duh. That would be my kids. I'm ready for them to come home. I miss them so much I'm going to cry if I don't stop talking about them. Moving along....

Did I mention that I have 4 kids playing soccer this year? Yep. JM is coaching Brooks and Chandler's U10 team, Shelby is playing on the girls U8 team and this is Tyler's first year playing. That is why Blake and Micah are the ones that went back to IN with mom-they were the only ones who didn't have soccer games for the next 2 months. So we are out at the soccer fields every Mon, Tues, and Thurs. night for games and sometimes we even have practices on Weds. and Sunday afternoons. Can anyone say "we love soccer!" ? I say that to myself several times a day while gritting my teeth, looking for lost soccer socks, lacing up cleats, strapping on shin guards, and just generally trying to get everyone to where they need to be at the right time, with the right uniform on. Fun, fun, fun. No seriously. We do love it and I do look forward to watching their games. If it's wasn't fun, I seriously would not put myself thru that much stress. So far it's been good, but once the weather starts getting colder, I might change my tone.

That's about all I got on us. That just about brings you up to date on everything that's gone on here. I think I left out a few other minor details out. For example: our trip to the Space and Rocket Center, getting different living room furniture (notice I didn't say "new"), having a garage sale with a friend of mine, my husband joining the church again-without telling me until later (the same one we left b/c there were some issues), the power streering going out and locking up while I'm driving the Suburban, the transmission going out on the Suburban (not at the same time as the power steering but again, while I was driving), and me getting an earache so bad that I went to the doctor and she told me I had a bulging ear drum and fluid in both my middle and inner ear. But I'm fine now and so is the Suburban, in case you were wondering.

By the way, I would like to ask that you all pray for my niece Rachael and her family. Rachael has been diagnosed with a rare brain disorder called Chiari Malformation. She is having brain surgery tomorrow morning. They flew all the way to North Carolina to have the surgery done. You can read about her story here.






*Edited to add a few random pictures that were already on my computer.......

The Hatfield Crew (along with MawMaw Hatfield) at the Space and Rocket Center:




This one cracks me up. My mom is wearing Micah's size 3t Spiderman shirt! She somehow squeezed into it when Micah asked her if she wanted to be twins with him:


Chandler and his sister Hannah spending some time together:


Speak no Evil, See no Evil and Hear no Evil (a.k.a. Blake, Brooks and Chandler):


And last of all, me doing what I love to do, but never seem to have enough time to do it: