Cloverleaf Farm

It is not fun to be sick, and it is worse when you are sick on your birthday!
To make matters worse, we were suppose to be guests of Jack Williams at his ski race at Waterville Valley, NH. I wound up with a sinus infection and bronchitis. Unfortunately, we had to cancel out on the weekend with Jack. Sam was looking forward to seeing Jack again and was a little disappointed but we told her that we would see him again another time. We too  were looking forward to meeting him. He does so much for the children in foster care in Massachusetts, and we had wanted to thank him personally for all his help with Sam. She was featured on his Wednesday’s Child last summer.
We look forward to meeting Jack someday soon when visiting down in Massachusetts.

We now know the seating capacity for our living room is 20. That is how many people we had show up at Sam’s birthday party today. She had a ball. Old friends, new friends, and family were here to share in her becoming a young lady.
She received many nice gifts, and couldn’t stop smiling. A bit overwhelmed by all the attention, she made it through quite nicely. She was on cloud 9, and it was so nice to see her beautiful smile…all day.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Today, is Sam’s 13th birthday. She is having a slumber party tonight we a few of her friends, and she couldn’t be more excited. It has all she has talked about for weeks. Even before she came to live with us, we had planned on her having this party.
Now, that she moved in forever, it is even more special. For her, and for us.
Being that we had boys, this slumber party thing is a new adventure for us. I remember going to them as a girl, but never had the chance to throw one while the boys were growing up. Sure, they had friends sleep over, but it was not the same as a slumber party. Of course, we do know that the term slumber party is a misnomer, because there won’t be much sleeping going on. The most important thing is for Sam to be happy.

Today we picked up Sam to live with us forever. She was all packed and ready to go on Wednesday. She was so excited, as were we. We are looking forward to giving her a wonderful life here on the farm.

Today at 1:20 p.m., Autumn Christina Ferreira was born after only about 10 hours of labor. She was 8 pounds, 15 ounces and 22 inches.
The whole family was there awaiting her arrival.
A short while after her arrival in the world, the nurse brought her out all bundled up. Other than my own children being born, this must have been the most exciting day of my life. She is so beautiful.
I can’t believe my baby is now a Daddy.

MARE Inc, (Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange)   is holding a Walk for Adoption -A Walk Home on Saturday May 16.
Mare helps find homes for children waiting to be adopted. There are now about 1200 children in need of a loving home.
They helped us with Samantha. Now, we are helping them help other children find a home.

Please sponsor our team Samantha’s Smiles by visiting our Sponsor Page.

The children Thank You.

Today, we got to drive down to spend the afternoon with Samantha. She showed us around the house, and her bedroom. We then got to visit the barn where she spends Tuesday after school. She introduced us to Lickity the horse. I am not sure what kind of horse she is, but to me she looked like chocolate chip ice cream. Sam thought that was funny. Now, normally, I am totally afraid of horses, but I didn’t really mind Lickity all that much. She was shorter than most other horses I have seen. I even brushed her a bit.

It was a nice visit. We get to go back on Saturday for most of the day.

We are at the disclosure stage for Samantha. This means we got to go sit in a meeting and find out all they know about her. If we are still interested, we go forward.
We felt like we drove 5 hours round trip for nothing. We really didn’t learn anything that we didn’t already know. The case worker forgot the ‘rest ‘ of the documents, and will send them to us next week.

The system is messed up.

We realized this morning that our dear old friend was not doing well. Over the weekend his back hind legs just stopped working. He was hardly able to walk. We had to carry him to where he wanted to be.  He whined in pain. The decision was hard to make, but we knew it was time. He was almost 15, and had lived a long, wonderful life.

Chakra had been having troubles coughing and breathing for months due to an enlarged heart. We had been agonizing over letting him go to doggie heaven for weeks. We had actually made an appointment once, and canceled. He just seemed so happy. Then he started having seizures or strokes. It scared him, and it scared us. We knew we had to do it for him, so that he would not be in any pain any more.

They both went to doggie heaven together this morning.
Rest in peace my furry friends.

She awoke at 5 a.m. It was early. She thought while the house was still quiet she could get some stuff done. She then realized it was actually 4 a.m.
She hated the fact that they played with time. Why can’t we just keep it at one time year round.
Daylight saving is a pain for so many. The time change is rather bothersome. She knew she would need a nap.
No matter why they do it, it is a pain and bothersome.