We are finally getting Kyle up and running in Chiropractic.

Revalesco Chiropractic has is own blog right now at http://revalesco.blogspot.com/

We are fixing up a picture framing shop and turning the beautiful 1920's craftsman into our clinic. We will have our grand opening in January of 2009 with a soft open in December!
Revalesco (Latin) --become well again.

The Wests

Kyle, Laura, Livia, Asher and Avidan

3018 W Circle Place

Spokane WA 99205

(509)324-2431 *back up and running :)

All Hallows Eve

As if you need a description... Mr T- "I pity the fool" a line that Asher repeated often as he realized how much candy it brought in. Livia- a good witch that could bestow wishes with her wand, but was screaming deathly afraid of her cousins masks. Avi- a clown that didn't like his wig and kept on trading the candy in his hand for a new piece at each door.

Fun Fall Kids

It's getting cold, caps are on but smiles are still abundant. Liv is 6 now and in love with her kindergarten teacher, as long as she can do some form of art each day she's content and fulfilled. Asher is 3 (he will tell you he's 5) getting tall and oh so thin as he is in constant movement, he asks everyday when Gonzaga is going to be playing the Cougars (WSU) in basketball, then he does a pretend layup and is on his way. Avidan is pushing every button that he can (literally and emotionally) as he tests the waters like any normal almost 2 year old does. He sure can melt your heart within seconds. Kyle and I thank God every day for blessing us with these 3 beautiful kids (this is especially easy to do at about 9pm when they all are sleeping).

Wow is our summer flying by! I feel so blessed to be a mom of three beautiful kids. We are just enjoying life to it's fullest taking time each week to do a little something special before the regularity of Fall. The kids find so much joy in bike riding, basketball playing, hiking and being chased (not in that order). Kyle is officially Dr. West and we are awaiting his licence to practice any day now. We are so excited to see what his next step in life will be. Avi's adoption finalization is pending, and will prayerfully be wrapped up in August. We had a wonderful time in Vancouver in July catching up with wonderful friends that are like family! We were outpoured with love and we were so excited to share Avi with those who had worked so hard to get him 'home'. I just finished a large community fundraiser for Avi this weekend, a car wash put on by all my adorable co-workers at my coffee shop that I work at. Customers poured out their love and financial support and we are honored to be the recipients. As for now a coffee and a wonderful spouse's company awaits me while kids are resting for a few more minutes...

Silver Mountain

Here's the kids lovin the water park at Silver Mountain. We got to enjoy a luxurious night at a resort with a fun water park in it... Livia is a fish and would stay in the water all day long, Asher gets cold and would stay in the hot tub as long as he could, and Avi goes with the flow and enjoys it all!

Hiawatha Trail

We took a fabulous 18mile bike ride through 10 tunnels and very high railroad bridges along the Hiawatha trail on the Montana/Idaho border. The kids had a wonderful adventurous time, Avidan was on my bike and Livia and Asher sailed behind Kyle. Avi kept on saying "Ahhhh" in a high voice, like we were showing him the world! (which we were) Liv and Ash loved how fast Kyle rode them Livia kept on shouting "KaZamm" (her word for the month of July)

West Kids

Hiking Lovers!

I finally have a shot of the three West kids together! We had a wonderful mother's day in beautiful Riverside state park on a hike. Avi is loving life and his new siblings. He is bonding with with devine speed. He adores "dada" and he loves snugging tight with "mamamama" If you are in the Spokane area we are having an adoption celebration day on May 25th from 3-6pm, open house style. Come meet Avi and celebrate his life with us. I have been adjusting to being a mother of 3 and computer time is few and far between these days... but I will make a point to keep you all updated. I'm shooting for bi-weekly updates :) I'm a blessed mama these days!

We're coming Home!!!

Just a little over a year ago I barely made it to the Airport on an icy cold morning to fly out of Tulsa without this baby that God gave me a heart for. I cryed out to God... WHY! Why did I learn to love him! I know we all searched for answers, maybe I just needed to be a prayer warrior in his life, maybe we just needed to say yes to the adoption so his birth mom would bring him safely into the world, we all wanted an answer to our Why. I was so broken but just like in the beginning of this adoption I had to give his life to God. Karen Kingsbury helped me get through this stage in my life with her books and she writes a dedication to her kids in the front of each book, after these dedications she writes "And to God Almighty, the Author of life, who has --for now--blessed me with these." I embraced this prayer and thanked God for my role in Avi's life, no matter how heart-breaking it was. Another factor that was a blessing and a curse was that I had a constant reminder of Avi in Asher. Every time Asher would run into Kyles arms, or get to play basketball or wrestle with him, or sit on his lap for a book with amazing animal sounds arms I would think about Avi and how he needed this amazing man to be his Daddy. After a year I lost hope. I closed to door for good. Kyle's been ready to adopt again for a little while, so semi-grudgingly I ordered our home-study paperwork again and cryed and prayed that God would help me open my heart again. We have one member of our family that never lost hope though...sweet Liv. She drew me a picture just about a month ago that had the 4 of us and Finlay in front of our house and off in a cloud was a little Baby and a cat. There was a heart in-between us and the cloud. I said who are they and she said "Baby Avi and our cat that we are going to have." There you go, solid as a rock faith (I don't know about the cat though:) So little did I know that as I was opening up my heart to adopt again that I would be preparing myself for a little boy that never left my heart. And now we all get to be a part of his life. May he all bring you just an incling of the Joy that he's brought me-- You'll be the better for knowing him. My heart has been so full as of late and a song came bursting out last night that I'm going to share with you. The same thing happened as I anguishly waited for Livia, many of you have heard her song, she loves it and requests me to play it for her often as she sits next to me on the piano. Poor Asher doesn't have one yet, I'd love to tell him that I wrote the basket ball song from High school Musical, but alas our Mississippi boy will have to wait. Here's Avi's song (minus the music obviously)

"Little Boy"
Avidan Cruz, we got the call to save your life and we said yes.
And then you came, sweet baby boy, I only held you for a moment and then you were gone--
I cryed--God I give this boy to you
I don't know what to do,
Why I learned to love him
I cryed--God I trust you with his life
Heal my broken heart
Help me stop cryin'
You said cry for tonight
but Joy comes in the morning
Avidan Cruz, here you are in my arms smiling at me.
You've filled my days with so much Joy
I can't contain my love, my smile, my tears, my excitement little boy.
I cry--God I give this boy to you,
I now know what to do
and why I learned to love him
I cry--God I trust you with his life
You healed my broken heart
Anguished tears changed to Joy
with a little Boy.

So all glory to God. Thanks for your prayers and support, especially Karen Kingsbury who made our trip for the 4 of us to Oklahoma financially possible. Thankyou Grant and Charis for your generous hearts. Thanks also to Windy and Ahmik for the Target cards, to mom and Dad for the starbucks card (Dad: "Are there starbucks in Oklahoma?"-- yes there is and thanks!) To the Farmers, Clays, and Rosemary and Jim for your secret deposits. Thanks Grandpa Charlie for believing that this would happen and bringing over a check the day after we got the call. Thank you Cassie for checking our mail everyday to look for those fingerprints. And thank you Michelle for worrying about us all week, we know we're always in your heart :)

We love you all and appreciate your support and prayers. I'll update things with 'family reunion shots' hopefully on Wednesday.

With a grateful (and sappy) heart, Love Laura
We fly in at 8:12pm on Delta flight 4018... sorry guys, you'll have to make the decision to come see us or watch Idol. (Just record it and come see this little boy)

Beautiful Baby from the outside in!

Here's Avidan going green. When he saw this big grassy field he went running towards it and then just plowed head first into it rolling around like he was in love for the first time. He could play outside forever! He called me mama again today and when I started tearing up he got so concerned and started patting my cheeks until I smiled back at him. We left the park when he started eating the grass and chasing a man who had a hot dog :) This little man has an appetite! I could eat him up though. Pray Pray Pray for FBI clearance in the mail tomorrow!

Avi and I got to spend a beautiful day together. He's pure Joy and I know he's going to be a blessing in all of our lives. He hammed it up with people, he chased squirls, smelled (and tasted) flowers, he called me 'mama' today and gave me huge hugs wrapped in the sling. We went and got pictures taken today (I know... cause I not taking enough:) and Avi knew he was the star of the show. We had a special dinner date at Panera tonight and we sat in the same spot that I sat in a little over a year ago. On that last visit I was trying to get a cup of soup down and praying that God would get me thorough whatever was going to happen. Today I opened my bible to a verse that I read last year at that same table,"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths." I wrote in my bible next to this verse last year :Lord I trust you as I might fly home without Avi: What a way to celebrate now! It's like were replacing sad memories with new special memories.

Avi loving the bath!

Here's sweet Avi loving the bath. I got some great pictures of all of the kids in the bath but there would need to be some 'editing' done to them before they were posted. :) Avi and I said goodbye to Kyle, Liv and Ash at 3:30 am Spokane time. So the blog might get a little boring... but I'll still keep ya'll posted on what we're doing here in Tulsa!

We're praying for a Tuesday evening arrival if we get our Fingerprint clearance today or Monday.

This is me with Terria, Asher and Avi's birth mom. We spent the morning together Friday. She wanted to see Asher and see how things were going with Avi. Kyle took Avi for a little Daddy date so he wasn't involved. It was nice to see her. She was really surprised to see how fast Asher could move:)

Here we are having a little fun today. It was pouring and cold and very windy so me made it to the mall to the play area, and then to explore every game we could play back in the hotel. A little sad news, most likely Kyle and the kids are going home on Sat (our scheduled departure) and Avi and I are staying here until we have clearance to leave when our FBI fingerprint reports come in. I'm a little upset because, of coarse, wanting to be together as a new family and changing schedules around..., but I had to remind myself that a year ago I was wandering around this city waiting to visit Avi, and now I get to spend special mommy time with him in my arms. I will hopefully be returning next week-- we'll keep you posted. Sorry for the boring update, we're wiped to night.

Peace out from the hood (literally the hood of Tulsa) :)

Kid #1,2and 3 down for the night getting in touch with their angelic sides.

Wednesday evening

We had a fun day and things are amazingly going great, besides the fact that Kyle and I have to get used to having 3 kids! We attempted a dinner out at "The Cracker Barrel" which we highly recommend, even cold (which is what it was when we finally got to eat it) We had two trips to the bathroom,(the second one longer than the first), a walk to distract the kids, a fake poopy diaper (all the stuff was in the car), and a little spill (actually my fault). But I'm sure many of you can relate. :) Avi ate half of my large brinner (breakfast for dinner) we couldn't feed him fast enough. All of the kids are doing great-- it's wonderful entertainment to watch these siblings interactions. There's not a lot to do in the hotel (converted motel) so we've had lots of tickling and wrestling matches. We did have a blast at a great aquarium this morning, having sharks swim right over us in a glass tunnel, holding starfish and petting sting rays and baby sharks (which Liv thought was a big fish, you should have seen her face when the attendant said 'good job on petting that shark') We even had snacks surrounded by a coral reef of funny tropical fish. The best part of the day for me was following Avi as he was wandering, he was looking up at the kneecaps of all of these people and then he spotted Kyle and Liv and Ash and went running towards them. Ahhh...in the words of our beloved Annie and Daddy Warbucks, "together at last, together forever, La La La La...."
Fingerprint clearance from the FBI has to come in tomorrow for a smooth ride home to Spokane on Sat.
Buenas Noches from Oklahoma!

We've had a happy day. Things are going smoothly so far. Avi is doing great and we are all lovin on him. Ash told Kyle that Daddy now has "2 boys" and Liv asked when we are going to get a little girl.... She was also a little upset that she didn't get to 'hold' him. I told her that he wasn't barely still enough for mommy to hold him. Tomorrow we are still working on a few legal things and hanging out as a new family of 5!

Mom can I climb on the Buffalo?

New mom and dad!

One tired Boy!

Avi and I had a little bonding time of our own down by the muddy Arkansas river. He's a beautiful happy baby.

Avi has taken to Kyle like he's know he had Daddy forever. This is so special for me to watch this relationship develop. Sweet Avi is now safely in the loving arms of his Daddy.

Here's these two silly boys sitting and making each other laugh, and they've just met!