No TPR YET

James snuggles with his blankie and thumb while Nathanael encourages Taylor to stand up.
He did it! He is so precious!
Even though he can't pedal yet, Nathanael loves to 'ride' his 'motorcycle'. Doesn't he have a great smile?

Well, today was court. We were really hoping the TPR was going to be signed today. It wasn't, but actually, things are working in our favor anyway. The TPR was not completed by the legal department at social services in time for court because of staff illnesses. However, the parents did NOT show up for court today. They had been living with the mom's grandmother (not the Granny the boys visit) for the past few months, but on Friday, there was a 'blow out' and the grandmother kicked them out, so they are homeless again. The dad has not gone to substance abuse counseling, nor has he taken a drug test. The mom has taken some parenting classes, and has passed 2 drug screens. She is in fact pregnant, but our sw feels she will not go to the hospital in Cumberland County, which means she'll probably go to Harnett County, so social servies may not even get involved. If the baby is drug negative, the hospital won't even call social services. If the baby is born in Cumberland County, then social services has them in the hospital 'system' and will then decide about taking her. Back to today...so the TPR was not signed, but our sw feels it will be completed in about 3 weeks. At that point, the judge will sign it. She feels absolutley certain that he will sign it. She said that at court today, he spelled out everything that has happened (the parents wanting to relinguish rights a few months ago, the drugs, the non-compliance, etc) and had the paralegal record all of it so that when the TPR came to him, there would be no question about it becasue it's all on record. Now, the problem is that the signed TPR has to be delivered to the parents, and now no one knows where they are as of this past Friday. If they can't be found, they have to post a legal ad in the paper for 60 days to give them a chance to appeal. Even with the appeal, our sw said that even though it would slow down the process, Jesus Himself would have to return to Earth and touch the parents for the judge to reverse the decision. So, she said that essentially we are the boys' parents, it's just a matter of time for the legality. So, not exactly what we were hoping for, but God has had his hand in all of this, and His timing is always perfect, so we'll just ride it out. As reassuring as she is, until we sign on the dotted line, we still have that little fear in the back of our minds. Oh, and the judge did stop ALL visitation with ANY biological family members (including Granny), so that is GREAT to not have to worry about that. THANK YOU to everyone who is praying for us!!