Adoption Archives - Page 14 of 16

11:25 am by admin

THE ZOO AND OPEN ADOPTION

NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH
Can you believe the month is half over? This weekend is National Adoption Day! I’m so excited! We have a number of foster children in our area who will be adopted into their forever families this weekend – just in time for Thanksgiving! What a blessing!

Foster2Forever now has nearly 100 adoption stories in our Adoption Blog Hop! Is yours listed? Can you help us get over 200 adoption stories by the end of the month? Won’t you help spread the word or host the blog hop on your site?

I HEART THE ZOO
This weekend, I took Stinkpot to the zoo. He was so excited that he screamed, yes, screamed, for the first 5 minutes! (Think Home Alone) He had an amazing adventure! He saw lions, tigers and bears, oh my! The lion was right behind the glass roaring at him. He touched a snake (okay, fake snake). I had to literally bribe him to leave.

I was able to get some amazing shots with my Canon Rebel XS shooting on manual mode! Thanks I Heart Faces for the great class!

I entered this photo of Stinkpot exploring the aquarium in this week’s IHeartFaces Silhouette challenge.

Come back tomorrow to see more zoo shots and link up your Wordless Wednesday post (and enter another giveaway)!

GIVEAWAY WINNER
Congratulations to The R House! The winner of the photobook and Christmas cards from Shutterfly!

OPEN ADOPTION
Katrina from Making Many Memories wrote the following story about their open adoption with their daughter’s birth family. Is this story familiar to you?

“I’ve heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason. Bringing something we must learn and we are lead to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return. Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true. But I know I’m who I am today because I knew you…. (For Good – from the musical Wicked)”

When we first started on our journey of adopting we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We had 3 healthy biological boys and I had lost a 4th son when I was 6 months pregnant. We knew we didn’t want to do private adoption because we were capable of having another child and didn’t feel right about adding to the already long list of people who were waiting for a domestic baby. We also did not have the money to do an international adoption and had heard some really heart-wrenching stories about those as well.

That brought us to looking into foster/adoption. Little did we know when we first started the process that foster/adoption is a lot different than foster care. Looking back, we wouldn’t change how we got our angel Nevaeh and it is probably a good thing we were ill-informed.

Since this blog is suppose to be about open adoption in a foster/adopt situation, I will try and keep our story relatively short. We got our little angel when she was 2-1/2 months old. She was taken from her birth mother and father and both of them were given services. For 18 months she lived in our home and we loved her like she was our own daughter but knew that the chances of being able to adopt her were very slim. I was also the one who took her and supervised her weekly visits.

During this time I developed a love/hate relationship for her parents. Here were 2 people who loved their daughter very much but just couldn’t seem to keep it together. They made choices that infuriated me and at the same time gave me hope that somehow I would be get to be her forever mother.

So after 18 months of them slowly progressing (if you want to call it that), it was decided that Nevaeh could start doing overnight visits with them. “Oh my aching heart” does not even begin to describe the pain I felt the first time I dropped her off to stay the night. Yet I knew that I had provided the best possible start for her and was still silently hoping (and to my friends not so silently hoping) that they would find out just how hard taking care of a toddler was.

As the weeks passed, things did change, and events happened that made the social worker want the case to go to trial. But a miracle happened, and Nevaeh’s birth parents decided that she would be better off with us and asked us if we would adopt her. I will never forget that day. What do you say to someone who just gave you the best gift you could ever hope for? How do you thank them when you know their heart is breaking in two?

On this day, Steve and I made it clear that we still wanted Nevaeh’s birth family in her life. Of course, on the day of the trial, the lawyers tried to talk her parents out of it and told them they would have no legal rights to her what-so-ever after their rights were terminated. They told them we could promise them the moon and then leave the country and never even tell them once the adoption was final. And they were right. But that was never our plan. With all of their faults and weaknesses we still wanted them to be a part of her life.
Why? Is a questions we get all the time. Aren’t you afraid that they will come and take her back? Do you really want to expose her to them?

First, a child that has been legally adopted can not be taken back. Her birth parents do not know where we live and they can barely get themselves to the local grocery store because they have no transportation and no money for bus fare. The only time we see them is by where they live which is an hour away from where we live.

Next,the best way I can answer why is by having you look at the photo at the top. This is one of the very first photos taken of Nevaeh. She came to us at 2 1/2 months old and although our lives with her started on that day in December, her life started in September. We are one of the fortunate families to get her at such a young age but she still had a life before us.

I have 2 sisters who were adopted from birth. We can tell them what we were told as to why they were given up for adoption but that’s about all we can do. They have questions that we can’t answer. There is a part of their lives that is a huge question mark and something that they want to know. Not because they don’t consider us their family, but because it is part of who they are. They are not looking to replace us. They just want to find out more.

I don’t want Nevaeh to grow up wondering. The arrangements I have with her birth family right now is that they see her about 4 times a year around birthdays and holidays. They do not know where we live and have never been to our house. We meet in a public location (partly because they are homeless again) and I buy us all lunch. We stay for about 2 hours and they laugh and play with her.

Is it hard on me? Yes. It is an hour drive there and back and trying to fit it into our busy schedules is frustrating to me sometimes. Nevaeh is a very strong willed 3-year-old (alright, she’s spoiled). I always feel as if I am being judged as to why she throws the fits she does or why she isn’t potty trained yet. Plus I hate the awkward moments, like the time her birth mom thought I was inviting her to live with us or the time they called and asked me to co-sign on their apartment.

I have had to lay down the rules!

Her birth dad called and was yelling at me because he was in a fight with birth mom and he wanted to know when he was going to get to see Nevaeh for Mother’s Day since he was not going to see her with the birth mom around. To which I kindly replied (you’re not her mother). He then yelled that he wanted his mother to see her as a Mother’s Day gift. I had to remind him that I was under no obligation to visit with him and that if he didn’t treat me with respect he need not bother to call at all for a visit.

I have also had to inform them that I do not consider Valentines Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving holidays that I need to bring Nevaeh for a visit. I was not clear on this when we made our arrangements. My idea was to visit for Easter/Mother’s Day, Father’s Day/Birth dad’s birthday, birth mom’s birthday/Nevaeh’s birthday, and Christmas. Anything extra is if I happen to be in the area.

I am not sure how long it will last, but I will do my best to make it work for as long as I can. Is it hard? Yes!

I know it is harder on my husband than it is on me. Nevaeh never bonded well with her birth mother and could take her or leave her when it comes to visits. But her little face lights up and she goes running into the arms of her birth father every time we get to see him and still calls him Daddy. (Last time he wasn’t at the visit because he got thrown in jail the night before for beating mom up). It would probably be a lot harder for me if Nevaeh stilled called her birth mom, Mom.

I think it will also get harder as she gets older. Especially if she gets to a point where she doesn’t want to visit them. At the last visit with birth dad not there she didn’t want birth mom to hold her at all. She did finally warm up to her but it took almost an hour for her to do so. I don’t want to force her to do something that she doesn’t want but I don’t want her to regret later on not having a relationship with them.

So why open adoption when I don’t have to? Why expose her to these people with sorted past who hurt her when she was a newborn? Why deal with all this frustration and awkwardness?

Because they are her first family and they love her.
Because they can give her a past that I can’t.
Because they can tell her about how she came into this world the day she was born.

And because on April 22, 2010 we legally adopted her as shown in the picture above, I will always be her mom and Steve will always be her dad, but we will never be her first.

Steve, Katrina, Joshua, Jared, Jacob and Nevaeh live in Southern California. If you would like to read more about their foster care adventure, you can visit them at http://makingmanymemories.blogspot.com/

9:03 am by admin

Helping Orphans and International Adoption

Thank you so much for visiting this site during National Adoption Month!

PLEASE HELP THIS ORPHAN!

Today, we donated to a matching grant fund for the Shubin family through Lifesong for Orphans to help them bring their daughter home from Ethiopia. They still need over $1,000 to meet their full grant match and the deadline is TODAY! Won’t you please donate just $10, $20, $100 for this orphan child to come home to her forever family??? Just write Shubin #1512 on your donation. Also check out all the cool things they have for sale!

Be sure and join in our Shutterfly photo book giveaway. We have only 28 entries so far!

THE JOURNEY TO KATELYN

Today, Foster2Forever welcomes Kelly from The Six of Us as a guest to share her family’s story of international adoption from Korea!

Hi! I am Kelly, a 37-year-old mom of four and the wife of a hard-core career soldier! We live our life! We travel and move and are constantly looking for new adventures! We became parents to Katelyn Rose Ga-rin in November 2009. Here is our adoption story:

We have always wanted to adopt, even before we had bio kids, we knew we would have a child through adoption. When we made the decision to go forward, we did so with the approval of our three children, Josh, Jason and Lu. We made a big fuss about whether we should take a trip to Disney, or if we should start the adoption process. We fully expected to hear a resounding “Disney” and were shocked and profoundly moved when our children, without hesitation, voted for adoption.

I remember crying because I was so awed in their ability to be so selfless. Brian and I included them in each step of the way, as well. As a family, we decided that we didn’t care about the sex of the child, but preferred a healthy, younger one from Korea, as this would best fit with our circumstances at the time. We contacted an agency and the ball started rolling. Quickly!

God has a sense of humor because nothing we considered reasonable for our family seemed to happen! While pouring over pictures of the waiting children (just to look) and calculating costs and researching grants, we stumbled upon this picture and we knew.

We knew this was our daughter and sister. It did not matter that she was born premature at 28 weeks. Or that she weighed 2.6 lbs. and had been hospitalized for 2 months at birth.

We didn’t blink when we were told that she may have some unknown medical issues or that she could be deaf in one ear. She was ours, it was as simple as that. And it was meant to be. Amen, let it be so.

Fast forward nine months (we call it our paper pregnancy) and Brian and I found ourselves dropping off the monkeys at my Moms’ in NY and boarding a plane for a nearly 17 hour trip to meet our newest family member. At 16 months, our daughter had lived with her foster parents for over a year and was extremely attached to her foster mother. At our 1st visit, Katelyn would not even look at me. She tolerated Brian playing with her and a water bottle, but in no way would let him touch her. We understood, but were becoming uneasy that this was not what we had imagined.

We, of course had been through the classes and knew about attachment issues and expected the trauma of leaving the only family she knew, but WOW! The social workers had told me to be prepared that she may prefer Brian because he looks more like the faces she is used to seeing (he is half Korean) and I was ok with that, but she wouldn’t even acknowledge me. We decided to meet at the fosters moms’ house the next day, which is somewhat unusual I am told, but we (and the agency) really needed to see some form of assurance that we could handle what was to come.

Once there, surrounded by her “things” Kate came alive! She was skittish, but allowed me to feed and hold her and played with Brian, smiled for pictures and was generally pretty happy!We felt so encouraged after the visit and couldn’t wait until the next day – it was “gotcha” day! I could hardly control myself until 2 pm when she would be ours, all ours!

I was shaking when we got to the agency. Like big time, could hardly breathe shaking. I just knew I was going to lose it, having to take her from her foster “umma” and watching her heart break. I cannot even imagine what it must be like for adoptive parents that meet the birth parents. GUT WRENCHING is all I can say. In the very same moment in time, you are filled with ultimate joy and utter despair.

Things did not go smoothly and ended with our social worker telling me to take the baby and LEAVE, NOW and Brian trying to console the foster mom whom he could not understand and was literally wailing!

We had a short walk back to the hotel and Kate cried (no, screamed) the entire way. I felt as though I was kidnapping her. When we got into our room, we offered her a bottle and she mostly calmed down enough to fall asleep. She was doing those little shuddery sighs from crying, you know, the “I’m so tuckered out that I can’t cry anymore” sighs?

When she woke a few hours later, she was fine. Seriously, just fine. No tears. Calling out “abba” for daddy in Brian’s direction. Clinging like a koala bear to me. And it was like that all the way home to NY and then traveling from my Mom’s back to KY. Nuts, right?

But this is how it was. Where was the crying? The not sleeping? The refusal to bond? We had NOTHING! It was just happening. Don’t get me wrong, she cried and clung to me for months, but looking back it wasn’t that bad. She just seems to fit with us.

After a year of being home, she has begun to test us and defy rules, but nothing out of the ordinary for a developing two-year-old. We have daily struggles, and I admit that MY attachment to Kate is a bit different from that of my natural born children, but in all it is good. Sometimes I feel cheated out of her babyhood and not having that time to really understand her and grow with her. But I am working on it.

We are immensely blessed. I would just like to point out that each adoption experience will be different, even within the same family. It may be hard and then smooth out, it may start easy and get bumpy – the key is to try and have very few expectations. I would urge each family considering adoption to research, pray and communicate your feelings before you bring your new child home. With that said, please consider supporting adoptive families and the children that continue to wait.

Many blessings, Kelly

3:00 pm by admin

I HEART…. Trans-Racial Adoption!

Today – we have a special guest blogger, Melody, from I Heart…small kitchen appliances talking openly about TRANS-RACIAL ADOPTION in the South!

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When my husband and I decided to adopt one of the first discussions we had was about race. We grew up in a very traditional part of the South where the lines between neighborhoods were not so ‘imaginary.’ We asked ourselves all the questions you would expect.

“Will our families accept a child that isn’t Caucasian?”

“Are we prepared to raise a child from a different culture?”

“Will we love a child that doesn’t look like us?”

“Will that child love us, when he/she realizes we aren’t the same?”

We also had a great list reasons why we could adopt outside of our race:

We now live in a major city with EVERY culture imaginable. So, no matter what race we ended up adopting, we would be able to expose them to their culture.
We have so many friends of different cultures – Hispanic, Indian, African-American.
No matter what kind of hair we ended up with…someone could help us fix it! haha!
Most important we just wanted to be able to say YES!

“Yes, we will make it work even if it means we might be uncomfortable at first.”

“Yes, we will pursue whatever means necessary to raise a healthy, contributing member of society.”

“Yes, we are willing to make a lifetime commitment to a child that has no other option.”

So, here we are, in the middle of our first placement with a GORGEOUS Hispanic girl. We were so blessed to be able to meet her at just 4 days old and she will be turning 1 year old next week. It has been an AMAZING year that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Reflecting back, here is how our lives have been affected by having a a child of a different race in our family.

1. Awareness
We have become SO aware of every Hispanic child that crosses our paths. Height, weight, skin color, eye shape, hair color. I must admit, before having a Hispanic child, in my naivety, they all looked similar to me. Now, I notice every difference and how unique and amazing each child is. And, wow, they wear more jewelry than me!

2. Language
We haven’t had a language barrier with our daughter simply because she has only known us from birth. However, due to an open adoption, she comes with an Aunt, Uncle, 5 cousins and a sister – few of whom we can communicate with. Our visits with them are frustrating. I often feel like I’m not getting the whole story or things are being said about our family in a negative light. But, I can not confirm or deny this! Which is even worse! The reality is that while our daughter will be able to live a whole, healthy life speaking English, she needs to know Spanish. I want her to be able to communicate with her entire family one day. This is definitely still a work in progress.

3. The Peanut Gallery
You know, all the people that have something to say, but at the end of the day their opinion doesn’t matter a hill of beans! There aren’t as many as you would think. Remember, we live in a very large city, one of the 4 largest in the country. So, it’s not odd at all to see parents with children that don’t look exactly like them. When we visit ‘home,’ though, we do get quite a bit of attention. Mostly because most of them have never seen a Hispanic baby, and she is so darn cute!

4. Love really is blind
One year later, we can not imagine our lives without our daughter. She’s an amazing little bundle of energy that makes me smile all the time! I don’t see her differences – I see her similarities. She smiles like me, she’s brave like her papa and she adores music…like both of us.

Trust me, this is just the beginning. It will not always be this easy. I wonder (worry) about how she will process our differences when she is older.

Who will she identify with at school?
Will she feel closer to her biological family, than us?
Will I really be able to raise her to appreciate her culture?

I don’t have any of the answers. So much will depend on her personality and our pro-activity. But, our answer to her will always be YES. When it’s easy and when it’s hard.

3:04 pm by admin

MAMA FOSTER: Adopting Through Foster Care

Hello Everyone!

My name is Mama Foster, I choose to hide who I am so I can share the REAL stories of fostering my wonderful kids.

I want to thank Penny for letting me guest post! I love her blog (I check it up to twice a day!) – I am a total blog stalker!

I thought I would share with you guys a little of what I have learned about adopting through foster care because, trust me, it is nothing like I thought it would be!

My husband and I have an 8 year old son that we made the old fashion way. After my annoyingly eventful pregnancy I really didn’t have any desire to get pregnant again. He was born healthy and beautiful and I was thankful for that, and that it was over with!! So, we went almost 5 years without being too worried about adding more kids to our family-plus we were young, we had time.

So, after my son’s 6th birthday I FINALLY was feeling baby crazy, but not pregnancy crazy. My husband and I had always thought about adoption but it never became quite as real as it did when my husband finally said “We should just adopt!” after I had asked God to show me if we should adopt by having my husband finally be the one to bring it up!

So, long story short, we settled on foster to adopt. Sounds easy right? -all you foster moms can stop laugh now –

We got licensed and our first call was for a 2 year old little girl we were only supposed to have for 3 months.

We had her for 16 wonderful months.
We were head over heels in love with her.

We had walked through fire for her and with her.
We had hoped to adopt her.

And then the judge sent her back to her ill prepared mom.

That was only 3 weeks ago, if that.

Our wounds are still fresh, and though I have not mentioned them, we have had 2 other foster children as well. One went on to be adopted by someone else and one is still with us but will probably be returned to her mother as well.

What I have learned through ALL of this is that these children desperately need someone who is willing to risk everything to love them during this time of total upheaval in their lives. As I mentioned on my own blog a few days ago, I was very scared that we would not be able to handle a child we loved leaving. Little did I know what it would really do. My daughter, yes-MY daughter, leaving has lit a fire inside of me.

I saw the sadness in her eyes of going in between our two homes.

I saw the confusion of having 2 mommies.

I was there when she told me her uncle was molesting her – repeatedly.

I took her to the ER.

I did everything within my legal power to help her.

When I say that we walked through fire for her, it was truly WITH her. These children have to do this with OR without us. They can either live with a family that gives them 100% or one who isn’t worried about what is going on in their little hearts. I went into this to adopt, to get my kids and get out-but that wasn’t God’s plan.

He has called us to do more than what we planned. He has called us to give up some of our comfort for a little one that has all of theirs stripped away.

Oh, and in the mean time God had been working behind the scenes to bring our family hope after such a devastating loss.

The week after our daughter left we finally met a little boy that we have been asked to adopt.

He is almost 2 years old, and has blonde hair and greenish eyes just like our biological son.

God does not miss a thing. He has a plan and I truly mean it when I say, we are just blessed to be asked to be part of it.

Mama Foster is a 20 something mom and wife who has been married to her awesome hubby for 9 years. She has fostered 3 kids so far since she and her husband were licensed to foster 2 years ago. She and her husband are currently working to get their first official adoptable son home as soon as possible, the adoption is via the United States Foster Care System. She enjoys spoiling all her kids rotten and taking pictures of them while she does it. She blogs her heart out at http://mamafoster.blogspot.com

Be sure to add your adoption story to our blog hop!!!

12:37 pm by admin

ADOPTION CELEBRATION!!! {Giveaways and Blog Hop}

NOVEMBER IS NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH!!!
Here at Foster2Forever, we are celebrating theadoptionof our Stinkpot and future adoption of our Lil Bit through our state’s foster care system. You can join in the celebration in a number of ways.

ADOPTION BLOG HOP
For the entire month of November, you can join our Adoption Blog Hop with your adoption story. Whether it’s through foster care, a private agency or internationally – and join us even if your adoption journey isn’t complete.
Go to our ADOPTION BLOG HOP page to join in the fun!

Foster2Forever will also have our regular 2FUNNYFRIDAY meme for you to link up your cute stories, photos, or other things that make us smile.

This month we will also have a WORDLESS WEDNESDAY linky, too! For this Wordless Wednesday, November 3rd, we will have a Halloween Costume Contest with prizes! So be sure and add your Halloween photos to our linky on Wednesday!

SPECIAL GUEST WRITERS
Foster2Forever is excited to have other adoptive families share in our celebration this month by sharing their stories. Join us on Tuesdays and Thursdays during November to hear their views on a number of adoption topics.

BASIC BITS FOR BEGINNING BLOGGERS
A few weeks ago, I attended Bloggy Boot Camp in Austin, Texas. I was completely overwhelmed by the plethora of information to absorb and implement. The most emphasized topic was to move to WordPress and have self-hosted dot com. In other words, to be really successful and efficient, I need to implement a www.foster2forever.com using WordPress! No more dot blogspot.com or dot wordpress.com!

I have a full-time career, manage a home, and have 3-year-old and 1-year-old boys – I can’t do all this at once! SO, next month, I will begin this project SLOWLY week-by-week with a goal to move Foster2Forever.blogspot.com to WordPress and become Foster2Forever.com in January.
Please join me through this journey on Tuesdays beginning December 7th???

GIVEAWAYS
For National Adoption Month, Foster2Forever will have great giveaways throughout the month.

Our first giveaway is a hard cover 8×8 photobook from Shutterfly! A $29.99 value!

In order to enter, complete any of the following below and leave a separate comment below for each entry. Current subscribers and friends, don’t forget to enter!!!

Blog about National Adoption Month and this giveaway (3 entries) – leave the perma-link to your post!
Subscribe to the Foster2Forever newsletter (2 entries)
Like Foster2Forever on Facebook (2 entries)
Add the Foster2Forever button to your website (2 entries) – leave your web address
Add Foster2Forever to your blogroll (2 entries) – leave your web address
Join in our Blog Hops and Memes – Adoption, Wordless Wednesday, 2FunnyFriday (1 entry per hop)
Follow Foster2Forever through Google Friend Connect (1 entry)
Follow @Foster2Forever on Twitter (1 entry) – leave your Twitter handle
Tweet this: Celebrate Adoption by entering to win a FREE photobook from @Shutterfly and @Foster2Forever #giveaway http://ow.ly/326sz (1 entry per tweet – once daily)
Follow @Shutterfly on Twitter (1 entry) – leave your Twitter handle

Enter by midnight on Saturday, November 13th. Winner will be announced on Monday, November 15th!
Wishing y’all good luck!

10:12 am by Penelope

GUEST BLOGGERS NEEDED! {TOP 10 TOPICS}

In celebration of National Adoption Month in November, Foster2Forever is searching for guest bloggers on a variety of topics regarding adoption through foster care. Today we are linked up with Oh, Amanda‘s Top 10 and listing our Top 10 adoption topics for National Adoption Month.

Becoming a Licensed Foster Home
Cost of Foster Care Adoption
When We Knew This Was Our Child
Becoming One Family
Overcoming the Past
Coping with Infertility Through Adoption
Adopting Siblings
Trans-Racial Adoption
Adopting Older Children
Adopting as a Single Parent

If you would like to write a post about one of the above topics (or another topic on adoption) this month, you may contact us at:
foster2forever (at) gmail (dot) com

This site is focused on adopting through foster care, so preference will be given to adoptive foster parents.

We will also be hosting an adoption story blog hop during the month of November. Any adoption story can link up (foster, private, international) beginning November 1st.

Son adopted through foster care and foster girl

Thanks for visiting and take a look around!
(Be sure to check out the Bloggy Boot Camp linky)

5 MINUTES FOR MOM

Have a blessed day!

12:55 pm by Penelope

MISCELLANY MONDAY – Orphan, Mood Swings and Halloween

OUR LIL ORPHAN
Last Tuesday was a court hearing for Lil Bit, our 13-month-old foster boy. I was out-of-town and so my hubby was there when the judge terminated the birthmother’s parental rights. Our foster baby is now officially half an orphan! I say that since the birthfather has not been located. The State is working with the Mexican consulate to make a good faith effort to locate him. Until then…

MOOD SWINGS
If you follow my blog, our 3-year-old Stinkpot’s strong will has been an incredible challenge for us. Last week was horrible! Again! Temper tantrums, mood swings, and general meanness has made us worry about him. Stinkpot’s birthfamily has a history of mental instability, and we have been seriously discussing taking him to a child psychologist for counseling, not just for him, but for us, in order to deal with him.

However, on Friday, when I went for my annual physical exam, my doctor asked me if I was having any depression or mood swings from Singulair. (“I’m too busy with kids to even think of being depressed” was my reply.)

Since Stinkpot has been taking Singular for his asthma for nearly 2 years now – maybe Singulair could be his issue???

I have a call into his doctor to discuss it!!!

HALLOWEEN
Can you believe it’s less than 4 weeks away? Have you already begun the quest for the perfect Halloween costume for you and your kids? Isn’t this just the cutest costume for less than $10?

Have a great week!

11:02 am by admin

MISCELLANY MONDAY –

ADOPTION NEWS!
We are going to court tomorrow! Yeah! We are moving, albeit, slowly, toward adoption of our 1-year-old foster boy, Lil Bit.

The birthmother has signed the paperwork for relinquishment of her parental rights. Everyone except her and the district attorney has signed the agreement for birthmother contact. [With advice from our attorney, we will send pictures and an update every May, and she is allowed a 3 hour visit in August with 30 days written notice. If she defaults the first year, there will be no subsequent visits.]

Hoping that the judge will order the termination of parental rights so Lil Bit’s case will be transferred to the adoption unit.

REUNITED (and it feels so good)
This weekend, I ~~crashed~~ attended the Class of 1980 reunion from my high school. The organizers had opened the reunion to classes of 1978-1982, but I did get a personal invitation from a couple of the organizers. Thanks Brenda and David!

Here’s a picture of us that attended the same school all 12 years – can you find me?

STINKPOT SMIRKS!

Stinkpot’s typical smirk – entered in this week’s IHeart Faces challenge

If you’ve been following a while, you know that my hubby, Steve, and I are extremely frustrated with potty training our 3-year-old Stinkpot! {he believes potties are for sissies} Just this week, I asked him if he needed to use the potty. He looks at me with his typical smirk and says, {get this} –

“No, I poop in my pants. Ha! Ha!”

This is going to be some journey….

YOU have a great week!

Come back later this week for a great giveaway!

9:55 am by admin

Stinkiness, Boot Camp, and Friday Night Lights – and some Adoption News

I HEART OUR STRONG-WILLED PRESCHOOLER, STINKPOT…

Stinkpot concentrates on riding his tricycle – see that tongue!

Strong-willed is an understatement!
At 3 years old, thinks using the potty is for sissies
Hopeless fan of Houston Astros and Texas Rangers
Addicted to baseball, football, basketball, softball, tennis, soccer, hockey, wrestling, etc.
Loves attending church
Way too charming for his own good and juggles too many girlfriends to count
Likes to act silly
Independent – demanding to do things by himself
Future first round draft pick for the Houston Astros in 2025

He is such a blessing in our lives, but, wow!, what a challenge!

I HEART THE EVENTUAL ADOPTION OF OUR FOSTER BABY…
He is OURS!!! Not officially, of course, but we are now, over the largest hurdle of adopting our 1-year-old baby boy, Lil Bit — the birthmother has voluntarily signed relinquishment papers to terminate her parental rights!

A few weeks ago, we met with CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocate) and Lil Bit’s case worker to discuss continued contact with the birthfamily (mainly the great-aunt from my understanding). We just had to decide how much contact we would allow.

Last Monday, I received a desperate call from the case worker to meet with our attorney to draw up our agreement with the birthfamily. The next morning, I met with our attorney and discussed terms of the agreement. He had some really great suggestions, and we decided the normal exchange of photos and updates would cause the least confusion to Lil Bit as he got older.

However, we kept coming back to the question: With whom would the contact be?
The birthmother – whose termination order the agreement would attach???
Or the great-aunt – who CASA is heavily promoting so that Lil Bit can keep his Mexican culture???

After discussing this in our meeting, we had no clue! Over $300 in attorney fees!

A week later, we still have no answer and we’re waiting on either the case worker or birthmother’s attorney to discuss with our attorney….

I DON’T HEART BEING BOOT CAMP DRILL SARGEANT….

Stinkpot was really a challenge last week! Hitting his teachers, his classmates, and toys. I had to perform some boot camp strategy that is totally “not me”. At one point, he had struck my last nerve and was being so stubborn while I was trying to care for a sick baby. I finally had enough that I ~~yelled~~ raised my voice to him to do it, NOWWWW!!!! Oy! — so NOT ME!
(He has since been mocking me by telling Daddy that he wants something NOWWWW!!! – with his signature smirk, no less) But he did straighten up after that…

I HEART FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS…
Additionally, I used a football game as motivation to get him in line. It worked (mostly)!

For being a mostly good boy this week, we went to a high school football game together.

Giving Stinkpot a kiss under the Friday night lights

We wanted to see my niece perform on the dance team for the first time; however, she performed to the other side…

My beautiful niece before her performance

Maybe next time…

I HEART FACES…
Here’s a photo that my father-in-law took of my hubby as he was learning to ride a tricycle.
I love the story this picture tells! You can see my mother-in-law, always the enthusiastic cheerleader, is so proud of her little boy as he concentrates so intently on completing this milestone.
(I am amazed at how much our adopted Stinkpot resembles his dad!)