Where does the time go?

I promise I have been meaning to write and post more pictures, but as I talked about before, I knew I would not have as much time as I did before.

Here are the latest updates: Elliott is doing great and is doing amazing on his schedule. The nights have been pretty easy so far. He started out eating every three hours during the night and he is already stretching it out to three and a half, sometime even four hours, so we are blessed with that! Thank you NICU nurses for getting him started on a schedule!

We've had a busy week with scheduling appointments and seeing doctors, and next week will be the same. He goes to the eye doctor on Friday, has his circumcision on the following Monday and then back to the pediatrician on Tuesday. Whew! It wears us both out, but he does so good. I could not ask for a better natured baby!! Thank you God for all of your blessings.

I have to mention how wonderful it has been to have so many people bring us food. Not having to cook has made life right now a lot easier. I now more fully understand the importance of lending a hand when someone has a baby! Thank you all very much for all the meals! They have been awesome!

Here are the latest pictures I have taken. Elliott is not awake much these days, so I have to take every chance I can to get pictures with his eyes open. He is definitely a sleeper!

I have spoken to our attorney here and he is working on getting the father's rights terminated, and then after that we will have three visits from a social worker during the next six months. Then we will go to court to finalize the adoption and get a new birth certificate with Menke as Elliott's last name. I can't wait for that day! My heart will not officially rest until that happens. Please continue to pray that there are no snags with terminating the father's rights and that the finalization process will go smooth.

We are so thankful to God each day as we get to know our baby more and more. He is a precious gift and we hope to never take him for granted. Our desire is to train him up in the Lord and we seek your prayers in that as well. We look back at so many mistakes we made with Brett's boys and don't want to do the same thing this time around. We pray we keep our focus on teaching Elliott about God and His ways. I think about that a lot and get afraid sometimes that I am not equipped to do it, but I know those thoughts are not from the Lord!

Enjoy the new pictures.