“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord. ‘They are for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.’” Jeremiah 29:11
Jan 31st 2007Cindy14 & 18 & 23
I think we’re going to do things a little bit differently. Instead of having the party on Saturday, I’m hoping we’ll be able to have it on Sunday instead.
We’re having them both baptized on Sunday morning, which in our church is really a “baby dedication” where we, as parents, promise to model the Christian life for our kids. After church would be a great time to celebrate it all! Don’t ya think?
Jan 30th 2007Cindy14 & 20 & 23
We got it.
A date for finalization of our adoption. The date it will all be over and it will all be just beginning. The date we will be legally declared a family.
February 27, 2007. What a beautiful day.
The party will probably be March 3, the following Saturday. Consider yourself invited. 
I can’t believe it is finally here.We told Speedy about signing papers and I think he really got it. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Speedy, mommy and daddy signed some very important papers today. They said that we wanted to be your mommy and daddy forever and ever and ever.
Speedy: HUGE grin
Me: the papers said we want you and Princess to live with us forever and ever and ever
Speedy: even BIGGER grin
Me: Do you want to live with mommy and daddy forever?
Speedy: YAY! YES! for-eva and eva eva
Me: Do you remember living with mommy___ and daddy___?
Speedy: Yes
Me: Do you remember when someone came and took you to live somewhere else?
Speedy: Ya
Me: Well, these papers said that can never happen now. You will always live with mommy and daddy and sissy.
Speedy: jumping up and down, YAYYYY! all the while having the biggest smile on his face!
Me: Go tell daddy!
Speedy: Daddy! i gunna liv mommy daddy for-eva eva eva!!! Yay!!!
Me: In a few weeks, we’ll go talk to the judge and tell him we all want to be together and then he’ll say, “you’re a family”
Speedy: YAAAAy! le’s go see da judge
You had to be there. it was really sweet.
It was really cute. I think he was really able to understand that he would not be going anywhere else.
February 27, 2007.
Come on, you know you want to leave me some love in the comments.
It was very painless. Placement papers are signed and we should find out this week what our court date is for finalization. Can’t wait!
Tomorrow (today for most of you reading) is the official signing of the adoption placement papers.
Exactly one week from Monday, it will have been one year since Speedy moved in with us. What a year it has been.
I’m excited to sign the papers but what I’m really waiting for is that piece of paper that says we are their parents. We already are their parents, but I want the paper that proves it. I’m not sure how I should feel about it all - it’s so close now.
I wonder if I’ll feel any different once we’ve finalized the adoption. Is there some secret place in my heart that will finally open? I honestly don’t know. I think there is definitely a secret place in my gut that will relax.
Placement papers. The next to last step in the whole process. They are almost legally ours.
….random thoughts/memories/lyrics/phrases/proverbs/bible verses/you know, WHATEVER!
Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” I don’t think this is intended to promise we’ll have everything we want, but that we can be full with what God gives us. He is enough.
I think people who need to be directed to the “start” button in Windows in order to find the program they are learning about should NOT sign up for online classes.
Teaching an online class when you have diarrhea isn’t pleasant. When you have to say, “okay, class, give me a few minutes here I’m having some technical difficulties” too many times, they are going to figure out something is up. I know I shouldn’t lie, but I really don’t think they want to hear, “okay, class, my butt needs to vomit again but I’ll be back shortly.”
When one has intestinal issues, one should not eat spicy food the night before teaching an online class.
You know you’re getting old when friends your own age tell you they need to have a hemorrhoid surgically removed. 
Love ya, friend. And don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.
“Everyone I meet brings me joy; some when they come into my life, others when they leave it.”
Guess i’m in a bit of mood tonight, aren’t I?
I went to the first in a series of Beth Moore bibles studies last night. This is one of her live events where she is basically doing a sermon series on the book of Proverbs. It’s called, “Wising Up” and the focus is learning how to get wisdom. Duh.
If you’ve never had the chance to do any of her studies, I encourage you to find one and get involved. Her writing is very easy to follow and it’s impossible to listen to her speak about the word of God and walk away unaffected. This woman glows with God’s love.
As I said, you can’t leave one of her “sermons” or listen to one of her DVDs without being affected - and if you can, you weren’t paying attention. There are several things that came out of last night’s session that really caught my attention:
“In any situation, if God doesn’t give you skills to succeed, then He wants to give you skills to leave!”
“God can give you insight to make decisions based on things you don’t even know.” This point is not something I didn’t know already, but it just phrased it in a way that made it easier to explain, I guess. When we had to choose whether or not to accept the placement with Speedy and Princess (which was a “maybe you’ll get to keep them” thing) or pass on the placement and wait for “Sonny and Cher” (which was a “for sure” thing). We knew we would likely be chosen for “sonny and cher” but in our hearts we knew we would accept Speedy and Princess’s placement. Our caseworker was floored by our decision, we didn’t understand it all ourselves, we just knew it was right. I believe God gave us, in that moment, His wisdom which allowed us to “make a decision based on something we did not know” - that Speedy and Princess were already chosen to be ours.
There are lots and lots and lots of debates and issues floating around in the world of adoption these days. I could link to them but I don’t want to because I’m likely just to tick someone off and get a million comments about how insensitive I am.
And that’s not news to anyone. Right? :DÂ But that’s not what this post is about. To sum it all up, there are lots of birthmothers out there who feel they were manipulated into the “choice” of adoption; they rally for more rights for birthmothers with regard to open adoptions and the window of time they have to change their minds. (And when I say “they feel they were manipulated” I don’t mean to insinuate that they weren’t really manipulated……I’m sure some were)
Anyway, if I haven’t lost you or made you mad yet, stick with me here I have a point. Adoptive mothers have a tendancy (and I’m making a huge generalization here) to want to more or less ignore the birthmother. Adoptees seem to be split 50-50; some feel angry at the loss of the birth family and some don’t.
I don’t fit into any of those categories so I don’t say much about it. And maybe that makes me part of the problem, I don’t know. What I do know is that when it comes to adoption I don’t think the focus should be on either the birthparents or the adoptive parents. I think decisions should be made based on what is best for the child.
And for the record, I do believe it is best for the child to know as much as possible about his/her birthfamily. If possible, I think it is very important for the child to maintain some type of relationship with the birthfamily. Is that easy on the parents? Probably not.
I can’t imagine how hard that must be for parents from a typical domestic adoption. I know that I sometimes feel threatened by the role their birthmother may have in my children’s lives - and that role will most likely be a vague memory or simply an idea. It’s the “idea” that scares me most. I may someday have to compete with the “idea” of what could have been even though I know the reality of what was. That must be so much harder for other parents who adopt outside of foster care.
My point is, just because it’s hard doesn’t make it impossible. And just because it’s hard doesn’t make it any less important. We’re so very fortunate to have the birthgrandparents in our lives. We have adopted them as much as we are adopting the kids and I hope it will be that way forever. Sometimes it is uncomfortable and awkward but we’ll work through it. Because I believe that my sweet babies will cherish that link to their past. They’ll have someone to go to when they want to know more about their birthparents. When they are adults, they’ll have the option of meeting them if they choose to do so.
Have you been watching ‘Deal, or No Deal’? In case you have missed out on this tv phenomenon, here’s the basic premise: A contestant chooses one out of 26 (i think) numbered briefcases. In that briefcase is a dollar amount between $.01 and $1,000,000. All 26 cases have a different dollar amount the only way to determine what is in your case is to open all of the others. After each series of opening the other cases, a “banker” makes the contestant an offer based on the risk factors of that person leaving a large amount of money. The contestant can take the offer “deal” or choose to keep opening cases in hopes of getting more money “no deal”.
This game has been named inappropriately. It should be called, “how smart are you”? Night after night I watch greed take over as people pass up hundreds of thousands of dollars, all in hopes of getting more.
Which is better? $200,000 in your pocket or a 1 in 8 chance at $1,000,000. If you chose the latter, I’m sorry, but you would not rate very high on my “how smart are you” scale. The people who appear on these shows are not millionaires and have NO BUSINESS passing up even $100,000. I mean, seriously. You are a SCHOOL TEACHER for crying out loud. Take the dern deal and run with the money. They are offering you what it would normally take you two years to earn…..TAKE THE FRIGGIN’ DEAL!
I watched a lady who talked about how much a large sum of money would change her family’s life walk away from $142,000 because she had a 1 in 7 chance of winning the million. Excuse me, IDIOT, but don’t you realize that means you also have a 6 in 7 chance of NOT winning the million?
Seriously, how smart are you?
My sweet baby girl,
I can not even believe you are a year old today. The time has flown by and you have grown and changed so much.
One year ago today, daddy and I had no idea that you and Speedy would be coming into our lives in two short weeks. We didn’t know you were being born, we didn’t know anything about you. But we already loved you. You were growing in our hearts from the moment we decided to adopt; maybe even before then. God was preparing us for you and that’s why it took a little longer for us to find each other.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord. ‘They are for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.’” Your life is a beautiful picture of this verse. Just by being born, I believe you saved your brother’s life. It was your untimely (or perfectly timed) arrival that brought attention to the situation Speedy was living in. It was your birth that gave him a chance at life.
I can’t even imagine what God has in store for you. What an amazing start at life you’ve had. You started at only 4 pounds and here you are, 12 months later, weighing in at almost 20!
You are the happiest baby I’ve ever been around and you are almost always smiling and laughing. Everywhere we go, people comment on how beautiful you are - but your real beauty is in your sweet little spirit. I hope you will always know how beautiful you are, inside and out.
If I had to choose one thing you love more than anything else, it would have to be mommy. Speedy is a very close second and daddy a closer third! But sshhhh! We won’t tell him he’s third! ha ha ha
When people learn that we are adopting you through foster care, they often say that we are rescueing you…..but the truth is that you and Speedy have rescued us. We love you more than words could ever say and we are so grateful to have you as our daughter.
Watching you crawl around and pull up on everything you can get your hands on is definitely entertainment! You are very curious and have learned to let us know when you want more food and when you’ve had enough. Though we rarely see the “i’ve had enough” sign. You give hugs now and sometimes kisses, though they are usually reserved for your teddy bear. Today, you did something new and I didn’t even see it! Granny told me you put the little play phone up to your ear and started babbling! Hmmm… I wonder where you learned that?
I could go on forever telling stories of things you do that make me smile, but there would never be enough words to paint a picture of our love for you. I’m smiling just thinking of you.
Happy Birthday, baby girl!
