Yesterday was our official 6 month anniversary of having H live with us. We were required to have her live with us for 6 months before the courts would allow us to adopt her. We're ready to adopt, and so is she. H is always asking when she'll be adopted, but we cannot tell her a date yet. The last we've heard, the court still has not finished up the appeal process started 9 months ago by H's birth mother's attorney. Our SW comes tomorrow evening for her monthly visit. Hopefully she'll have good news for us on this front.
We have had a very busy beginning of school. H has been doing very well in school. She is such a smart girl! I love her little brain! When we talk to her about something new to her I can see in her face how she's really thinking about what we've said. Academically she has no issues, other than racing through her work ocassionally. She struggles a little more with social skills and appropriate behaviors such as using an inside voice, treating others with respect, and following directions. H's teacher gives H a conduct grade each day for school. Every evening we check her conduct grade together and talk about how her day went. I think this has been a tremendous help. Each week we set a goal for H's conduct grades. For instance if she earns 2 S+ or E (excellent) in one week she earns an outing. If she earns 3 S+ or E's, she earns the outing and gets to bring a friend along with for the outing. This has also been a great motivator for her to improve her social skills.
So much of life that we take for granted is all new for her. When H first came to us she had never ridden a bike, she had never built a snow man, never jumped in a leaf pile. She's never been Trick-or-Treating. When we first brought her to our home from the city, she would get very excited, point out the window and yell, MOMMY, MOMMY, LOOK AT THAT ANIMAL! We'd be passing a farm with cows. I'd tell her, that's a cow. Another time we passed a horse farm. She pointed out the window and yelled, MOMMY, MOMMY LOOK AT THAT COW! I explained to her the difference between a cow and a horse. A couple of weekends ago my Dad took all of the grandkids, and parents to an Indian Summer celebration. There were horses there we could pet and even ride on. I've never seen H's eyes so big as she took in this massive horse, up close and personal. At first she was quite afraid to get close, but by the end of our day she actually got to ride one of the horses. It was great!
Today I took off of work to go along on a field trip with H to a pumpkin patch/farm. It was awesome! H got to ride a pony, catch and hold a chicken, pet a hedgehog, rabbit, and a guinea pig. We went for a hay ride through the woods and a corn field. We ate lunch in a barn and even picked out a cute little pumpkin to bring home. H did great as well. She stayed with her class, listened to the rules, and treated all of her friends nicely. She's come so far, I'm so proud of her and all of her growth.
Through all of this process, I have to say again that we are surrounded by amazing friends and family who love and support us. Everyone has accepted H and our situation with open hearts. From the kids in her class to our parents and grandparents, we are all truely blessed!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Pink Heart Marshmallows
H first came into our lives in December of 2010. At least that's when our SW sent us a 1 paragraph email about a 5 year old little girl from Milwaukee. H was not our first referal for a child, but she was the first one we felt would be a good fit with our family. With 4 sons at home we had to make sure we were not puting them at exceptional risk. I also was not interested in a baby, been there, done that. We're a working family always on the run with church, school, family, and athletic activities. Any child joining our family needed to be able to keep up with us. H seemed like a perfect match. Steve and I asked for a few days to talk to the boys and to pray about H. It was not an easy decision, afterall, who gets to "pick out" their children? We only knew such a limited amount of information about her, her history and any "issues" she may have. We decided to put our trust in God and to give the decision to him. That's when we just knew she was the one for us. We contacted the SW and started visitations. The children's court system is quite backed up and takes what seems like forever to make any progress. We had to wait to meet H until the courts had completed the TPR process. They had a date set for early January. Then mid January, then Late January. Finally, the SW decided we couuld start visitations on the weekends. We met H in person on the 5th of February, 2011. We were at her therapist's office talking about how to proceed once we met when all of a sudden we heard quick little footsteps coming down the hall. We looked up to see the most beautiful little girl standing in the doorway nervously looking back at us. I remember that she had a baggie with pink heart marshmallows in it in her hand. She smiled at us and slowly raised the baggie asking if we wanted to try one. Of course we did. That was the beginning... That's how a simple pink marshmallow ended up being the most effective ice breaker ever! After that day, we saw H every weekend until she finally came to stay with us on April 17th. We found out later that the delay in the TPR process was due to H's birth mother not showing up for scheduled hearings. The TPR was rescheduled for this reason 4 times, then the judge granted TPR without her present. H's birth mother's appointed attorney filed an appeal on her behalf. We heard at our last SW visit that it is now a "no merrit appeal". I guess it's just a matter of time. Since her arrival, we have had fun learning all about AA hair and skin care. We've come a long ways in our learning as we often sit by the computer watching and re-watching You Tube videos on how to do different hair styles. We've also been to Orlando to visit Mickey and Minnie Mouse. (It was a trip already planned before we knew H would be with us by that time.) It was a fun, but challenging trip as we were still in the building relationship stage. Since then we've survived a long hot summer. H went from being afraid of the water in the shower, to swimming like a little fish! She was still in Kindergarden when she moved in and was able to finish out the school year with her new class. That was a great opportunity for her and her classmates to get to know each other. Now she's in first grade and seeming to be more cmfortable each day. It's been an amazing journey so far, but it's only the beginning. We're hoping to complete the adoption by the end of 2011. This blog is my way of recording as much of her story as I can for our friends and family, but mostly for H as she grows. We are so very blessed to have H in our family.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
One Year Later
9/7/2011
Almost exactly one year since I started blogging, life continues to change and move forward. Let me fill you in.
Steve (aka Dad)
My husband graduated from college and started a new job working at an airport as an electrician. He really likes what he does, but is still getting used to the much slower pace from his previous job. The best part of this career change is his schedule. Where he used to work 20 - 70 hours per week for 8 months of the year, now he works 7am - 3:30pm, Monday through Friday, year round. This schedule has allowed him to be much more involved with the kids. He's now helping to coach Jaden's football team and he makes it to every game of both Jaden and Kameron. What a tremendous blessing for us all!
Me (aka Mom)
I'm still working as a Social Worker. I still love my job, after almost 3 years, which is very good for me! I'm still a crazy busy mom, and loving it too!
Dylan
Dylan joined the US Airforce in April of this year. He completed Basic Training at Lackland AirForce Base in San Antonio Texas. He then went on for schooling at another base in Texas. He's home right now for a week long visit, then he's off to the next base somewhere in New Mexico. We are so proud of the young man he has become. This is a dream of his he's had since he was very small. I can't believe he's all grown up and living his dream! We continue to pray for him to be safe, and we appreciate any prayers you wish to send up for him as well!
Kameron
Kameron is a Sophomore this year. He's playing JV Football right now, in fact, he's the team captain, because of his positive team focused attitude. Way to go Kam! He has always been humble and thoughtful of others. All glory to God!
Jaden
Jaden is in 7th grade. He's also playing tackle football and doing well. He's quite a bulldog on the field. It's fun to watch him. He's growing so fast, I can hardly keep him in pants or shoes.
Dominic (aka Doc)
Doc is in 5th grade, middle school! He was excited an nervous for the first day of school this year. So much so that he got sick, at least that's what I thought untill I ended up taking him to the ER where he had an emergency appendectomy! That's one way to get out of the first day of school, I guess! Needless to say, he's back to school now and doing fine. He's quite the trooper.
H
Yes, we have a beautiful little girl living with us. We are still in the adoption process so I cannot post her name or picture. It's awesome and exhausting. I'll tell you all about how this came to me in my next post, and I'll try to get a few pictures posted also.
Sorry to cut it short, it's getting late and kids need to get to bed.
Almost exactly one year since I started blogging, life continues to change and move forward. Let me fill you in.
Steve (aka Dad)
My husband graduated from college and started a new job working at an airport as an electrician. He really likes what he does, but is still getting used to the much slower pace from his previous job. The best part of this career change is his schedule. Where he used to work 20 - 70 hours per week for 8 months of the year, now he works 7am - 3:30pm, Monday through Friday, year round. This schedule has allowed him to be much more involved with the kids. He's now helping to coach Jaden's football team and he makes it to every game of both Jaden and Kameron. What a tremendous blessing for us all!
Me (aka Mom)
I'm still working as a Social Worker. I still love my job, after almost 3 years, which is very good for me! I'm still a crazy busy mom, and loving it too!
Dylan
Dylan joined the US Airforce in April of this year. He completed Basic Training at Lackland AirForce Base in San Antonio Texas. He then went on for schooling at another base in Texas. He's home right now for a week long visit, then he's off to the next base somewhere in New Mexico. We are so proud of the young man he has become. This is a dream of his he's had since he was very small. I can't believe he's all grown up and living his dream! We continue to pray for him to be safe, and we appreciate any prayers you wish to send up for him as well!
Kameron
Kameron is a Sophomore this year. He's playing JV Football right now, in fact, he's the team captain, because of his positive team focused attitude. Way to go Kam! He has always been humble and thoughtful of others. All glory to God!
Jaden
Jaden is in 7th grade. He's also playing tackle football and doing well. He's quite a bulldog on the field. It's fun to watch him. He's growing so fast, I can hardly keep him in pants or shoes.
Dominic (aka Doc)
Doc is in 5th grade, middle school! He was excited an nervous for the first day of school this year. So much so that he got sick, at least that's what I thought untill I ended up taking him to the ER where he had an emergency appendectomy! That's one way to get out of the first day of school, I guess! Needless to say, he's back to school now and doing fine. He's quite the trooper.
H
Yes, we have a beautiful little girl living with us. We are still in the adoption process so I cannot post her name or picture. It's awesome and exhausting. I'll tell you all about how this came to me in my next post, and I'll try to get a few pictures posted also.
Sorry to cut it short, it's getting late and kids need to get to bed.
Last Home Visit and Race Discussion
9/9/2010
Tuesday our Home Study SW came over to comlete our Home Study interviews and our home inspection. She was here for over 3 hours! It was a great interview. We talked a lot about issues surrounding race and adoption. We're open to any race, we thought it wouldn't really matter if our child was of a different race from us. We talked about the importance of instilling a sense of pride in our child for her race. This sounds simple enough, we tell her how beautiful we think she is, but actually there's so much more to it. We talked about role models and mentors, cultural things such as music, food, books, movies, festivals, and cultural traditions. We even talked about white privilege and what that means for us and for her. I guess when your emeshed in something, you become blind to it. We were talking to Dylan (18) about culture after our meeting and he said, "well, that's easy cuz we don't have a culture". Just because we're not always aware of it, doesn't mean we don't have it. Of course we have a culture, and so will our little girl. It's not fair to expect her to completly accept our culture and reject her own. We need to celebrate, explore and embrace her culture just as we do our own. I'm feeling like this is a pretty big responsibility, and honestly, I'm not exactly sure how we're going to do this. A few of the questions our SW asked had to do with how we would handle it if our daughter came to us saying that someone said something mean to her about her race. This is hard. We both said that even the question made us feel protective of her and as though we wanted to shelter her from anything like this, but the truth is, in our society there is more of a chance that this will happen than not. How do we teach her about such ugly things as racism, and ignorance and teach her to love herself and to be proud of who she is at the same time? More to research, think about and pray about.
Anyways, our SW said that now she'll write up our Home Study, then send it to us for approval, then it gets submitted to the State for approval. She said that we should be licensed (for foster to adopt) by next month some time. Once we get that, she'll send out HOme Study out to other agencies and to the counties. Then it's a matter of waiting until we're matched. We have a challenging journey ahead of us, but one we can't wait to begin!
Tuesday our Home Study SW came over to comlete our Home Study interviews and our home inspection. She was here for over 3 hours! It was a great interview. We talked a lot about issues surrounding race and adoption. We're open to any race, we thought it wouldn't really matter if our child was of a different race from us. We talked about the importance of instilling a sense of pride in our child for her race. This sounds simple enough, we tell her how beautiful we think she is, but actually there's so much more to it. We talked about role models and mentors, cultural things such as music, food, books, movies, festivals, and cultural traditions. We even talked about white privilege and what that means for us and for her. I guess when your emeshed in something, you become blind to it. We were talking to Dylan (18) about culture after our meeting and he said, "well, that's easy cuz we don't have a culture". Just because we're not always aware of it, doesn't mean we don't have it. Of course we have a culture, and so will our little girl. It's not fair to expect her to completly accept our culture and reject her own. We need to celebrate, explore and embrace her culture just as we do our own. I'm feeling like this is a pretty big responsibility, and honestly, I'm not exactly sure how we're going to do this. A few of the questions our SW asked had to do with how we would handle it if our daughter came to us saying that someone said something mean to her about her race. This is hard. We both said that even the question made us feel protective of her and as though we wanted to shelter her from anything like this, but the truth is, in our society there is more of a chance that this will happen than not. How do we teach her about such ugly things as racism, and ignorance and teach her to love herself and to be proud of who she is at the same time? More to research, think about and pray about.
Anyways, our SW said that now she'll write up our Home Study, then send it to us for approval, then it gets submitted to the State for approval. She said that we should be licensed (for foster to adopt) by next month some time. Once we get that, she'll send out HOme Study out to other agencies and to the counties. Then it's a matter of waiting until we're matched. We have a challenging journey ahead of us, but one we can't wait to begin!
Labor Day Weekend
9/7/2010
I'm pretty new to blogging, as I'm sure you can tell, so I'm darn proud of myself for figuring out how to post those pictures last time! They were from one of our albums a friend of ours put on the computer a while ago. I have more recent photos on my camera, but I cannot figure out how to get them here. I have an old digital camera with none of the original cords and an even older computer, the big old clunky ones. These are two of the items on my wish list before our little girl(s) come to stay. Now that I'm blogging I want to be able to enhance my writting with pics. This is a great way to keep a history for us to look back on over time, pictures help.
Anyways, this past Labor Day weekend my two older boys helped my little sister move. She's 10 years my junior and very special to me. She's had her share of struggles already in her young life. Two years ago she moved back home to our parent's home from Kentucky after seperating from her husband. She has 3 children (1 boy and 2 girls). We helped her move from our parents house to her own apartment in town. This was a big step for her and she was quite nervous about being out on her own with the kids, but she's strong and I know she'll be fine. She has a good job, her kids are going to great schools, and she has family that loves and supports her near by. While the big strong boys were helping Dad, Shelby (my sister), Grandma and Grandpa with the furniture and boxes, I got to play auntie!! I love those kids!! Jaden and Nathanial are two peas in a pod. They like to hang out and play video games. Doc and the girls (Karissa and Caitlyn) are inseperable. He's so funny with them. He plays whatever they want, dress up, house, school, you name it. We went out for pizza for lunch and the kids were great!! The girls even ate a whole piece of pizza each! Then we went to this awesome candle shop to pick out a house warming gift for Shelby. They picked out a candle warmer that said HOME and FAMILY, "Angel" melts, and Island Pear foaming hand wash for the bathroom. (They can pick out my house warming gifts any time!) Shelby loved them and did a great job setting up her apartment. The kids all loved their rooms, it's a good thing.
Sunday we were off to the Speedway for the races and demolition derby. We go with a big group of friends and family. It's always a great time, loud, smelly, crazy fun. The boys love it! I'm sure we will bring our girl to this annual even as well! Hopefully she'll learn to love it too I wonder if the boys will go to girly events such as the ballet when we have a little girl in the family. That could be interesting!!
I'm pretty new to blogging, as I'm sure you can tell, so I'm darn proud of myself for figuring out how to post those pictures last time! They were from one of our albums a friend of ours put on the computer a while ago. I have more recent photos on my camera, but I cannot figure out how to get them here. I have an old digital camera with none of the original cords and an even older computer, the big old clunky ones. These are two of the items on my wish list before our little girl(s) come to stay. Now that I'm blogging I want to be able to enhance my writting with pics. This is a great way to keep a history for us to look back on over time, pictures help.
Anyways, this past Labor Day weekend my two older boys helped my little sister move. She's 10 years my junior and very special to me. She's had her share of struggles already in her young life. Two years ago she moved back home to our parent's home from Kentucky after seperating from her husband. She has 3 children (1 boy and 2 girls). We helped her move from our parents house to her own apartment in town. This was a big step for her and she was quite nervous about being out on her own with the kids, but she's strong and I know she'll be fine. She has a good job, her kids are going to great schools, and she has family that loves and supports her near by. While the big strong boys were helping Dad, Shelby (my sister), Grandma and Grandpa with the furniture and boxes, I got to play auntie!! I love those kids!! Jaden and Nathanial are two peas in a pod. They like to hang out and play video games. Doc and the girls (Karissa and Caitlyn) are inseperable. He's so funny with them. He plays whatever they want, dress up, house, school, you name it. We went out for pizza for lunch and the kids were great!! The girls even ate a whole piece of pizza each! Then we went to this awesome candle shop to pick out a house warming gift for Shelby. They picked out a candle warmer that said HOME and FAMILY, "Angel" melts, and Island Pear foaming hand wash for the bathroom. (They can pick out my house warming gifts any time!) Shelby loved them and did a great job setting up her apartment. The kids all loved their rooms, it's a good thing.
Sunday we were off to the Speedway for the races and demolition derby. We go with a big group of friends and family. It's always a great time, loud, smelly, crazy fun. The boys love it! I'm sure we will bring our girl to this annual even as well! Hopefully she'll learn to love it too I wonder if the boys will go to girly events such as the ballet when we have a little girl in the family. That could be interesting!!
Back to School
9/1/2010
A little out of order, but I don't want to lose any of my previous posts. It's all part of our story.
Well, all the boys are officially back to school. Kam started High School a couple of weeks ago. Jay and Doc started 6th and 4th grades yesterday. I have to say, it was probable the least hectic, chaotic, stressful back to school season we've had so far. We had all of our supplies, the boys are all getting up and getting ready in reasonable time, I'm actually getting up before them so that I can get dressed, and tidy up around the house before they greet the morning! Am I dreaming??? If so, let me sleep! I'm sure we're honemooning, a little, and we will face challenges in the near future with our morning routine, but for now I'm going to enjoy this...dream, or honeymoon, or whatever it is.
In our family, three of us (Dad, Kam, & Doc) are very much so morning people. They're up before the sun, full of energy...(annoying!) and three of us (me, Dylan and Jay) are definitely NOT morning people! We do not like getting up out of bed, we don't like moving quickly before 9am, and we need coffee, or food , and time to enjoy it, before we function very well at all. My dear husband has a job that fit's his morning personality perfectly and he leaves the house at an insane hour of the morning; long before any of the rest of us are moving around. This is great for him, the morning person, but that leaves me, not a morning person, as the only parent to get myself and all of the kids up, ready and out of the house by 7:30am. I am determined to get up and ready before I have to get the kids up this school year. This just makes the morning go so much smoother for all of us! I've done great the past 2 days! I hope I can keep this up!
Anyone have any secrets to making school day mornings go well??
A little out of order, but I don't want to lose any of my previous posts. It's all part of our story.
Well, all the boys are officially back to school. Kam started High School a couple of weeks ago. Jay and Doc started 6th and 4th grades yesterday. I have to say, it was probable the least hectic, chaotic, stressful back to school season we've had so far. We had all of our supplies, the boys are all getting up and getting ready in reasonable time, I'm actually getting up before them so that I can get dressed, and tidy up around the house before they greet the morning! Am I dreaming??? If so, let me sleep! I'm sure we're honemooning, a little, and we will face challenges in the near future with our morning routine, but for now I'm going to enjoy this...dream, or honeymoon, or whatever it is.
In our family, three of us (Dad, Kam, & Doc) are very much so morning people. They're up before the sun, full of energy...(annoying!) and three of us (me, Dylan and Jay) are definitely NOT morning people! We do not like getting up out of bed, we don't like moving quickly before 9am, and we need coffee, or food , and time to enjoy it, before we function very well at all. My dear husband has a job that fit's his morning personality perfectly and he leaves the house at an insane hour of the morning; long before any of the rest of us are moving around. This is great for him, the morning person, but that leaves me, not a morning person, as the only parent to get myself and all of the kids up, ready and out of the house by 7:30am. I am determined to get up and ready before I have to get the kids up this school year. This just makes the morning go so much smoother for all of us! I've done great the past 2 days! I hope I can keep this up!
Anyone have any secrets to making school day mornings go well??
Everything is Shinning and New
9/29/2010
CHANGE
As you can tell, our blog site has been upgradded. Things look a little different, but I think the changes are good. It has taken me quite a while to figure out how to log in, since, that too has changed. Now that I'm here I'm liking what I see! One of the features I found allows me to receive comments from "everyone" vs. just from members. I think this means that our friends and family can comment on our posts without having to sign up or log in, at least I hope this is what this means. I would really really appreciate it if some of you who are not members of thoughts.com would try leaving a comment, just "hey there" is great to test my theory on this feature... Please...Don't be shy......Thanks!!!!
AND MORE CHANGE
Monday we received a letter from our social worker, Damaris, stating that she was leaving employment with the adoption agency we're working through and her last day was last Friday. This was a little upsetting. We had no idea she was leaving, and where does that leave our home study process? I called the agency yesterday and our case has been transferred to a different social worker, Sarah. I called Sarah who assured me that the home study would proceed as planned. She said that she did need to set up a time to come visit us at home since she has not met us and she is now responsible for our home study. We're going to meet with her on Wednesday evening. So now I know that God is teaching me both patience and flexibility.
SW Sarah informed us that the boys' references from their schools have not come in yet, so I'm off to call a few teachers...
CHANGE
As you can tell, our blog site has been upgradded. Things look a little different, but I think the changes are good. It has taken me quite a while to figure out how to log in, since, that too has changed. Now that I'm here I'm liking what I see! One of the features I found allows me to receive comments from "everyone" vs. just from members. I think this means that our friends and family can comment on our posts without having to sign up or log in, at least I hope this is what this means. I would really really appreciate it if some of you who are not members of thoughts.com would try leaving a comment, just "hey there" is great to test my theory on this feature... Please...Don't be shy......Thanks!!!!
AND MORE CHANGE
Monday we received a letter from our social worker, Damaris, stating that she was leaving employment with the adoption agency we're working through and her last day was last Friday. This was a little upsetting. We had no idea she was leaving, and where does that leave our home study process? I called the agency yesterday and our case has been transferred to a different social worker, Sarah. I called Sarah who assured me that the home study would proceed as planned. She said that she did need to set up a time to come visit us at home since she has not met us and she is now responsible for our home study. We're going to meet with her on Wednesday evening. So now I know that God is teaching me both patience and flexibility.
SW Sarah informed us that the boys' references from their schools have not come in yet, so I'm off to call a few teachers...
Humble and Blessed
9/17/2010
We're starting to hear from our refrences that they've gotten their letter from our SW, finally. We gave her our list of references months ago. We don't know if everyone has received their letter, but a few have. One of our friends told us that they had a deadline of Sept 26th to return them. I wonder if they all had that timeline. That helps me get perspective on where the process is at.
We had to have several references, Steve & I both had to have a reference from our employer, each one of our kids had to have a seperate professional reference from someone in their schools, and we had to have 3 personal references not related. For our family that was 9 references, none of which were our family! We were thinking..do we even know 9 people, not related to us, who would be willing to give us a reference for adoption???? (then we started really looking around us).
This part of the process has me feeling very humble and very blessed; humble because these people are giving their opinion of us as parents, and our ability to offer a loving, safe home to another child. These opinions are based on many years of experiences with us, we are not perfect by any means. The people we asked to be our references know us...very well...the good, the bad, and the ugly. The fact that, even knowing what they know, they happily accepted our request to give us a reference to parent another child..makes me feel very humble. The fact that we are surrounded by so many amazing, supportive, Christian, people makes me feel blessed beyond words! I am so incredibly thankful for each and every person in our lives! We've all heard the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child", It's not just us who will be raising this little girl(s), it's our whole "village" of friends and family who will pray for, guide and influence, love, support and encourage her throughout her life. This makes me feel more confident in my ability to parent this little angel God is sending us, knowing that we are a part of such a wonderful "village".
We're starting to hear from our refrences that they've gotten their letter from our SW, finally. We gave her our list of references months ago. We don't know if everyone has received their letter, but a few have. One of our friends told us that they had a deadline of Sept 26th to return them. I wonder if they all had that timeline. That helps me get perspective on where the process is at.
We had to have several references, Steve & I both had to have a reference from our employer, each one of our kids had to have a seperate professional reference from someone in their schools, and we had to have 3 personal references not related. For our family that was 9 references, none of which were our family! We were thinking..do we even know 9 people, not related to us, who would be willing to give us a reference for adoption???? (then we started really looking around us).
This part of the process has me feeling very humble and very blessed; humble because these people are giving their opinion of us as parents, and our ability to offer a loving, safe home to another child. These opinions are based on many years of experiences with us, we are not perfect by any means. The people we asked to be our references know us...very well...the good, the bad, and the ugly. The fact that, even knowing what they know, they happily accepted our request to give us a reference to parent another child..makes me feel very humble. The fact that we are surrounded by so many amazing, supportive, Christian, people makes me feel blessed beyond words! I am so incredibly thankful for each and every person in our lives! We've all heard the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child", It's not just us who will be raising this little girl(s), it's our whole "village" of friends and family who will pray for, guide and influence, love, support and encourage her throughout her life. This makes me feel more confident in my ability to parent this little angel God is sending us, knowing that we are a part of such a wonderful "village".
A Prayer For You
9/11/2010
This poem is beautiful and nicely sums up my prayers for our soon to be little girl:
KISSES IN THE WIND (The Waiting Child's Lullabye)
I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.
I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.
Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.
Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.
This poem is beautiful and nicely sums up my prayers for our soon to be little girl:
KISSES IN THE WIND (The Waiting Child's Lullabye)
I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.
I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.
Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.
Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.
Longing to Nest
8/29/2010
We've been officially working on our adoption for just over 6 months. So, as I figure, I'm entering my 3rd trimester. Yes, I know it's likely it will take more than 9 months to have a little girl in my arms. It's just that I've done the pregnancy thing 4 times before and that's what I relate my experience to, at least emotinally. When we decided to actually dive into the process we were excited, scared, unsure of all of the unknowns. Then we had to tell our families, and friends. Really, it's amazing how we're going through all the same emotions as pregnancy. Now we've been at this for 6 months. I'm getting very anxious! It feels like we've been working on this for a long time, and I'm ready to move onto the next phase. I want to nest!!!!
We have bedrooms all planned out. We have 5 bedrooms in our house, so right now each of the kids have their own rooms. The plan is, when Dylan goes off to the Airforce Kameron will move down to his old bedroom and Kam's bedroom will become the girl's room. When Dylan comes home on leave, he'll have to shack up with Kam. They are both in agreement with this plan. Of course, Dylan is not leaving for the Airforce for the next couple of months (there is a waiting list right now and he has to wait until an opening comes available in the careers he's interested in). This means that Kam cannot move, I cannot paint his blue room pink and I have no where to put prettly little girl things. All I have is a bed (we still need to buy a new mattress and boxspring), bedding (it's a pretty little cherry blossom designed quilt set...so cute!!!), a soft little teddy bear wearing a little pink dress with "little princess" on it, a pink "special blanket" (all the boys had one when they were little and they all still have them, it's tradition). That's it. We don't have any girl toys or any girl clothes, or little pink shoes, or hair ribbons, or sparkley nail polish, or dolls or girly bikes or anything. (Can you tell I'm longing to nest!!!) The problem is...we don't now what we're having besides a girl or maybe 2. See, we're open to siblings, so we don't know how many, we're open to any race, so I'd like to have pictures, dolls, etc. that celebrate her (or their) culture. And we are open with age up to 7 years old, so I don't know what size. Every time I walk through a store I gravitate to the girls section and longingly browse through all the pink things. I'd love to start buying clothes, or shoes, or something. But, alas, I must be patient, as any expecting mother.
I guess I need to remind myself, that it's not things and stuff that she'll need when she arrives, rather it's love, acceptance, patience, and faith. We already have everything she'll need. Just as with pregnancy, this little girl is growing in my heart. I already love her as if she were mine, I pray for her and her family every day. I know God has made her a part of our family even now when we don't know anything about her. I may not feel her growing in my belly, but I definitely feel her growing in my heart.
We've been officially working on our adoption for just over 6 months. So, as I figure, I'm entering my 3rd trimester. Yes, I know it's likely it will take more than 9 months to have a little girl in my arms. It's just that I've done the pregnancy thing 4 times before and that's what I relate my experience to, at least emotinally. When we decided to actually dive into the process we were excited, scared, unsure of all of the unknowns. Then we had to tell our families, and friends. Really, it's amazing how we're going through all the same emotions as pregnancy. Now we've been at this for 6 months. I'm getting very anxious! It feels like we've been working on this for a long time, and I'm ready to move onto the next phase. I want to nest!!!!
We have bedrooms all planned out. We have 5 bedrooms in our house, so right now each of the kids have their own rooms. The plan is, when Dylan goes off to the Airforce Kameron will move down to his old bedroom and Kam's bedroom will become the girl's room. When Dylan comes home on leave, he'll have to shack up with Kam. They are both in agreement with this plan. Of course, Dylan is not leaving for the Airforce for the next couple of months (there is a waiting list right now and he has to wait until an opening comes available in the careers he's interested in). This means that Kam cannot move, I cannot paint his blue room pink and I have no where to put prettly little girl things. All I have is a bed (we still need to buy a new mattress and boxspring), bedding (it's a pretty little cherry blossom designed quilt set...so cute!!!), a soft little teddy bear wearing a little pink dress with "little princess" on it, a pink "special blanket" (all the boys had one when they were little and they all still have them, it's tradition). That's it. We don't have any girl toys or any girl clothes, or little pink shoes, or hair ribbons, or sparkley nail polish, or dolls or girly bikes or anything. (Can you tell I'm longing to nest!!!) The problem is...we don't now what we're having besides a girl or maybe 2. See, we're open to siblings, so we don't know how many, we're open to any race, so I'd like to have pictures, dolls, etc. that celebrate her (or their) culture. And we are open with age up to 7 years old, so I don't know what size. Every time I walk through a store I gravitate to the girls section and longingly browse through all the pink things. I'd love to start buying clothes, or shoes, or something. But, alas, I must be patient, as any expecting mother.
I guess I need to remind myself, that it's not things and stuff that she'll need when she arrives, rather it's love, acceptance, patience, and faith. We already have everything she'll need. Just as with pregnancy, this little girl is growing in my heart. I already love her as if she were mine, I pray for her and her family every day. I know God has made her a part of our family even now when we don't know anything about her. I may not feel her growing in my belly, but I definitely feel her growing in my heart.
Time Line
8/24/2010
Since this blog is all about our family's journey through adoption I'd like to give you all a time line of our progress thus far:
February 16, 2010 - Attended "Special Needs Adoption Orientation" (we are adopting through the foster care system, all of the kids in the foster care system are considered "special needs" regardless of specific physical, educational, emotional, behavioral needs)
* Took home paperwork, completed big pile of paperwork, mailed in paperwork
March 26, 2010 - Our first meeting with our State social worker, meeting was going great until the house next door (we own it and rent it out) started on fire! Again, the Good Lord was with us, we were home, and the renter was not. Noone was hurt, we had insurance, and our Social Worker said that we handel a crisis very well! (Just so you know, the house is repaired, the renter is back, and we all are doing great!)
April 2010 - We all had full physicals
May 2010 - Kameron's Confirmation, 8th grade graduation, 14th birthday; Dylan's high school graduation; mother's day; Jaden has tumor ( not cancerous - another blessing) removed from arm bone.
June 2010 - We all visit the dentist and have work done
July 2010 - Home Study social worker 1st visit with all of us, Steve's individual interview; all 4 boys have individual interviews; all pets (1 dog & 2 cats) go to vet for checkup and shots
August 2010 - 16 hours of training completed; ReBecca has individual interview; install required smoke detectors and door locks; family emergency plan, more paperwork.
September 2010 - School starts :) Our next meeting with home study social worker is set for the 1st. I'll let you know how it goes.
Since this blog is all about our family's journey through adoption I'd like to give you all a time line of our progress thus far:
February 16, 2010 - Attended "Special Needs Adoption Orientation" (we are adopting through the foster care system, all of the kids in the foster care system are considered "special needs" regardless of specific physical, educational, emotional, behavioral needs)
* Took home paperwork, completed big pile of paperwork, mailed in paperwork
March 26, 2010 - Our first meeting with our State social worker, meeting was going great until the house next door (we own it and rent it out) started on fire! Again, the Good Lord was with us, we were home, and the renter was not. Noone was hurt, we had insurance, and our Social Worker said that we handel a crisis very well! (Just so you know, the house is repaired, the renter is back, and we all are doing great!)
April 2010 - We all had full physicals
May 2010 - Kameron's Confirmation, 8th grade graduation, 14th birthday; Dylan's high school graduation; mother's day; Jaden has tumor ( not cancerous - another blessing) removed from arm bone.
June 2010 - We all visit the dentist and have work done
July 2010 - Home Study social worker 1st visit with all of us, Steve's individual interview; all 4 boys have individual interviews; all pets (1 dog & 2 cats) go to vet for checkup and shots
August 2010 - 16 hours of training completed; ReBecca has individual interview; install required smoke detectors and door locks; family emergency plan, more paperwork.
September 2010 - School starts :) Our next meeting with home study social worker is set for the 1st. I'll let you know how it goes.
Here we go...
08/24/2010
Well, here I go... I've been reading all sorts of blogs for years, I just never thought about writing my own until recently.
Let me begin by telling you a little about myself and why I've decided now is the time for me to try my hand at blogging. I'm a thirty-something year old christian woman married to a wonderful man. We just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary! My husband and I both have established careers, I'm a social worker and he's an electrician. We have been very blessed with 4 amazing sons, yes...4. They are currently 18, 14, almost 12 and 10. Our boys have brought tremendous joy to our lives! We have a an awesome network of family and friends who encourage, strengthen and support us. We are so thankful God has blessed us in countless ways; now, there is another calling we have felt for many, many years, but were not able to act upon until this year. In february (the 16th to be exact) we started a journey of faith and love. We are adopting a little girl from the foster care system.
There are people who think we're crazy! Why would we want another child in our family? Our youngest is finally at an age of relative independence. He goes to school full time, dresses himself, feeds himself, and is safe to play outside without constant supervision. Our oldest is off to the Airforce in the next couple of months. Life is good! We agree, life is good, and this is why we feel called to share our good and blessed life with someone else.
Of course, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I've always wanted a little girl! We think this is why God gave us 4 boys. If we'd have had a girl by birth, we may not have been quite so motivated to persue the adoption process. However we got here, here we are.
Well, here I go... I've been reading all sorts of blogs for years, I just never thought about writing my own until recently.
Let me begin by telling you a little about myself and why I've decided now is the time for me to try my hand at blogging. I'm a thirty-something year old christian woman married to a wonderful man. We just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary! My husband and I both have established careers, I'm a social worker and he's an electrician. We have been very blessed with 4 amazing sons, yes...4. They are currently 18, 14, almost 12 and 10. Our boys have brought tremendous joy to our lives! We have a an awesome network of family and friends who encourage, strengthen and support us. We are so thankful God has blessed us in countless ways; now, there is another calling we have felt for many, many years, but were not able to act upon until this year. In february (the 16th to be exact) we started a journey of faith and love. We are adopting a little girl from the foster care system.
There are people who think we're crazy! Why would we want another child in our family? Our youngest is finally at an age of relative independence. He goes to school full time, dresses himself, feeds himself, and is safe to play outside without constant supervision. Our oldest is off to the Airforce in the next couple of months. Life is good! We agree, life is good, and this is why we feel called to share our good and blessed life with someone else.
Of course, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I've always wanted a little girl! We think this is why God gave us 4 boys. If we'd have had a girl by birth, we may not have been quite so motivated to persue the adoption process. However we got here, here we are.
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