News From Chelsea Spade

From: Chelsea Spade [mailto:chelseaspade@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2010 4:09 PM
Subject: Trevante's being adopted!

Hello all.  Had to email you again with more great news.  Today Trevante left Casa to join his forever family!!!!  I drove him to the airport this morning - his family lives outside of Dallas, TX.

I got to enjoy Trevante for about 9 months.  He's come a long way since last September.  He wasn't very healthy then and a little behind developmentally.  Kayla and I got to see him learn to roll over and crawl.  On June 1st Rachel and I got to see him take some of his first steps and learn to walk across our living room over the past few weeks :)

I could go way more into all the great times with my little man, but that might just make me miss him more, so I'll stop.  I'm doing well and very glad about the family chosen for him.  Mark and Miracle seem to be great people and parents and their daughter Marie who's 5 is adorable.  They've fostered several children in the past in hopes of adopting, but those children went home.  Trevante was the first child they were offered to adopt.  All is well, the only downside is he will probably grow up a fan of the Dallas Cowboys.  Yuck haha!

Prayers for Trevante's family.  Praise God it is a great one!

Greetings from Houston!  It's a hot day today (heat index at 106 right now!) and it's just going to get hotter in July and August!  Yikes!  Anyway, as for the Casa news...

And it's big news!  I've been waiting to email you all with this for months now.  Actually, I thought it would happen months ago.  It's good news too.  Crissiahna has finally went to her (biological) parents.  They have finished what they needed to do - things like acquire stable housing, complete parenting classes, and have work - and were able to bring her home a few days ago.  Rachel and I are excited.  We'll miss her cuteness of course, but she's always been a tough baby and not the best sleeper at night, so we are looking forward to a calmer house and quieter house.  So yay Crissiahna!!!!  And yay for her parents, Jennifer and Mike.  And as a reminder to you all, Crissiahna has been in our house since December, so I cared for her over 6 months.  She's now 9 1/2 months.  And she's a crawling, babbling, and pulling herself up to stand cuteness of a child :)

More good news from Casa is that Marcos, the boy we had for about 2 months, is now living with his grandmother.  We're excited that he's able to live with family and will also get to see his mom more often then when he lived at Casa.  Both mom and his grandmother are very invested in him and were never a part of the reason why he had to enter foster care. 

With Crissiahana and Marcos gone, Rachel and I now just have two kiddos in the house, Trevante and Trayvon.  It's a welcome break and we plan on enjoying some extra out of the house activities with the boys.  Trevante is now 13 months and walking!  He started walking June 1st, soon after he turned 13 months.  He's really getting good at it too and so proud.  He can cross our living room floor pretty well.  Trayvon will celebrate his 2nd birthday in less than two weeks.  He loves being the center of attention and can't stand when you focus on something else.  Reading books is one of his favorite things and his vocab continues to improve and become clearer. 

So that's the kid wrap up.  As for us big people (Rachel and myself), we got some time off this past weekend and were able to explore a new part of Texas and go camping.  We tent camped, swam in a lake, got to canoe and go horseback riding :)  I'm looking forward to vacation at home in mid-July.  Kayla and Faith will meet me in Maryland and we will all be going to Shepherd's Spring.  Faith will attend Jr. Wild camp and Kayla and I will be helping out with activities.  We will all attend church on July 18th, so be there if you're a Grossnickle CoB person to meet Kayla and Faith!). 

Hope you all are well.  Thanks for reading.  I easily get carried away typing, but just know that I could have written a lot more :)  Anyway, keep praying for us.  Peace and joy to all of you.

With love,

Chelsea

Greetings from Maryland!  Yes, Maryland!  I came home today in what was a surprise visit to my parents :)  I am spending a few days here and flying to Minnesota on Good Friday to spend time with Kayla and her family over Easter.  This weekend Faith will have her baptism, first communion, and confirmation and I'm so excited I'll get to be a part of the celebration.

The Casa life is good (though I am so glad to be enjoying a break from it right now).  Rachel and I welcomed a new boy into the home this month, bringing our kiddo total to four.  The new guy is named Marcos and is three and a half years old.  He speaks about half Spanish, half English so we have been practicing some forgotten Spanish vocab and phrases.  Marcos had a rough start and has been a challenge due to his lack of social and life skills, however, he has a good sense of humor and is very fun to be around, especially one on one. 

The rest of the kiddos are doing well.  Travyon's vocabulary is exploding and is doing a great job learning words.  He loves to be outside and our weather has allowed lots of playtime outdoors in t-shirts already!  (By the way I'm not looking forward to the Houston summer).  Trevante is now 11 months and is pulling up to stand everywhere.  He also discovered we have stairs in our house and that he can climb them, so we are watching him closely.  Crissiahna is 7 months and getting so big and becoming a much happier baby.  The best news about her is she's sleeping better at night with fewer wake-ups :)

I hope you all are well.  As always, thanks for keeping up with me and thinking of the Casa children.  Pray a special prayer for Faith and her family as she becomes a part of the Church and continues to grow in the love of Christ.  Blessings for a great week!

Peace and love,

Chelsea

HE IS RISEN!

Currently there are 3 kiddos at my house - all under two years of age :-)  Our newest addtion, Trayvon, is 20 months old and super sweet.  For his age he is an incredible listener and helper!  He's a happy little guy and entertains Rachel and I quite a bit. 

Trevante and Crissiahna are doing well.  Trevante is now 10 months and is all over the place.  He's pulling himself up to stand using anything he can get his hands on.  He is the happiest baby!  Crissiahna is 6 months and is getting so long.  We call her princess because she rules the house and makes sure we give her lots of attention.  We expect that she will go back to her parents sometime this month. 

February was a great month.  Sarah, Kate, and Lauren visited for a long weekend and enjoyed playing with the babies.  Emily LaPrade also came and got to know my Houston family, although she caught the flu from my kids while she was here :(  February also brought me to my year anniversary of living in Houston!  And one year ago today Kayla and I met Faith (Ayesha)!  I've experienced so many blessings here since that day.  Thanks for reading and for keeping my kiddos in your prayers.  Blessings to you for a wonderful month.

Peace and joy,

Chelsea

January was a month of many changes in my home in Houston.  One of the big changes - Javion and Jahara moved out on the 26th because they were adopted :-)  I'm convinced that each of them went to the right family. 

The other big change, sad for me to say, was Kayla headed back home to Minnesota.  It was a great year with her and together we loved and cared for eight children.  Though I want her here, I really am so happy for Kayla and her next step.  She is currently preparing for grad school to begin this fall.

My new more co-parent, Rachel, is already moved in and working hard.  She's a recent Notre Dame grad and from Houston's suburbs.  (She lived with Kayla and I this summer during her volunteer intership with Casa). 

As far as what's happening now, the remaining kiddos are doing well.  Trevante is moving fast and will be moving even faster when he learns to crawl on his knees :-)  Crissiahna is growing fast, getting cuter, and hopefully will learn to sleep better at night soon.  We expect to get two more children in the house anyday.

January was a fun month too.  Kayla and I got to take Javion and two neighbor boys to Monster Jam.  I had a good time watching those monster trucks :-)  Also, for Kayla's last weekend we were able to do something we'd been planning to do for awhile - go camping in the Texas hill country.  They definitely are just hills compared to the Appalachian Mts. I'm used to, but we still did get to do a little hiking.  Just relaxing outside away from the city was the best part of the trip.

So that's the January wrap up.  Thanks for reading and hope you all are well.  Please pray for Rachel and I as we establish a house together, the children of Casa, and for Kayla's transition.  Thanks so much for your support.

Love and peace,

Chelsea