And For Baby Z Number Three - We're Waiting For You!
Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute, you didn't grow under my heart, But in it!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Quotes For My Children
Among the world's most treasured gifts, among its most precious pearls, God smiles upon the earth, and gives us little girls.
And For Baby Z Number Three - We're Waiting For You!
Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute, you didn't grow under my heart, But in it!
And For Baby Z Number Three - We're Waiting For You!
Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute, you didn't grow under my heart, But in it!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Prayers Please
My sweet Grandpa is 88 years old, and last night my family got a call that he had gone missing with my cousins ten year old daughter, Breanna. They left for church last night at 6:30 pm, but never arrived. The church is only two miles from Grandpa's house, and no accidents were reported, so our family had no idea where they were. An APB was put out, but it wasn't until this morning (twelve hours later) that they were found about thirty minutes from Grandpa's home. They were safe and unharmed, thank goodness! However, Grandpa had no idea where he was or how he got there. So scary! He had been driving for 12 hours straight and had basically gone nowhere. Breanna was frightened to see this change in Grandpa. While we are thankful that everything is okay, please pray for my family as we enter this new stage with Grandpa. Some decisions will have to be made, and we live so far away (Grandpa lives in Texas). Thank you for your prayers.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
A Bump in the Adoption Road
I knew the road to adoption would be a long and bumpy journey, but I never expected to encounter a bump during the very first month. Much less the first week! The bump came when I began to get things in place for a home study. The agency we are looking at using to facilitate our adoption is not in our state, so I was told that I needed to find a licensed agency in the state of Ohio to conduct our home study. After the home study was complete, the results could then be mailed to our adoption agency. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong!
I started with calling some county caseworkers that I work with for my job, and was told that the county was required to do my home study if I wanted one, but that if I was not interested in adopting a child from that same county, then I would be at the bottom of the list (meaning that it could take months to get to me). There is so much waiting that happens during the adoption process, and I didn't want to have to wait to get the paperwork going, too Next, I begged my boss to allow Mid Western's adoption caseworker to do my home study, but was told that was a conflict of interest. I understand, but you can't blame me for trying. As a last option, I began calling private agencies here in Ohio to see if one of them would do our home study. The problem with a private agency, was that nobody could understand what we do for a living and nobody liked to hear that we had teenagers with behavior problems in our home. They all told me to mail in the application (and fee!,) and then they would see if they could complete the home study for our family. However, I didn't want to send in the money if it did not even sound promising on the phone. I was beginning to worry that the road to this adoption was closed before we even got started.
Then, last Thursday, the road smoothed out a bit. The counselor who sees the teens in my care came to campus for her weekly sessions. It turns out she is an adoptive mom four times over! She gave me the name of the agency who did all four of her home studies, and she even made a personal call to tell the caseworker she worked with about our living situation, and she verified with that agency that the girls in my care would not pose a threat to an infant being brought into our home. Insert huge sigh of relief and answered prayer.
I am now waiting for the caseworker of that agency to call me back and tell me exactly what would be involved with a home study like ours, and she should get back to me this week. They will have to interview the girls in my care (which might be scary!), and I will have to pay a home study addendum fee for every girl that comes and goes during this entire process (which could add up!), but at least she is willing to work with us. She said that even though our case is more complicated, it is definitely doable! So, hopefully we can get started with the process next week. I finally feel as though we are getting somewhere. I didn't realize that getting everything organized in the beginning can be a full time job! But it is so worth it. We know there is a baby out there that is meant to be a part of our family.
We have not decided fully on whether we will choose domestic or international adoption, but to be honest, right now my heart is drawn to domestic. I don't know why, but it just is. However, I am open to wherever God leads us! We are hanging in there. This is just the beginning. I can already tell that this whole process is going to grow my patience in a mighty way! While I could talk about adoption every single day, I plan on doing a couple of posts each month to let you know how things are progressing. I am still hopeful that we could be holding our tiny bundle by the end of the year!
I started with calling some county caseworkers that I work with for my job, and was told that the county was required to do my home study if I wanted one, but that if I was not interested in adopting a child from that same county, then I would be at the bottom of the list (meaning that it could take months to get to me). There is so much waiting that happens during the adoption process, and I didn't want to have to wait to get the paperwork going, too Next, I begged my boss to allow Mid Western's adoption caseworker to do my home study, but was told that was a conflict of interest. I understand, but you can't blame me for trying. As a last option, I began calling private agencies here in Ohio to see if one of them would do our home study. The problem with a private agency, was that nobody could understand what we do for a living and nobody liked to hear that we had teenagers with behavior problems in our home. They all told me to mail in the application (and fee!,) and then they would see if they could complete the home study for our family. However, I didn't want to send in the money if it did not even sound promising on the phone. I was beginning to worry that the road to this adoption was closed before we even got started.
Then, last Thursday, the road smoothed out a bit. The counselor who sees the teens in my care came to campus for her weekly sessions. It turns out she is an adoptive mom four times over! She gave me the name of the agency who did all four of her home studies, and she even made a personal call to tell the caseworker she worked with about our living situation, and she verified with that agency that the girls in my care would not pose a threat to an infant being brought into our home. Insert huge sigh of relief and answered prayer.
I am now waiting for the caseworker of that agency to call me back and tell me exactly what would be involved with a home study like ours, and she should get back to me this week. They will have to interview the girls in my care (which might be scary!), and I will have to pay a home study addendum fee for every girl that comes and goes during this entire process (which could add up!), but at least she is willing to work with us. She said that even though our case is more complicated, it is definitely doable! So, hopefully we can get started with the process next week. I finally feel as though we are getting somewhere. I didn't realize that getting everything organized in the beginning can be a full time job! But it is so worth it. We know there is a baby out there that is meant to be a part of our family.
We have not decided fully on whether we will choose domestic or international adoption, but to be honest, right now my heart is drawn to domestic. I don't know why, but it just is. However, I am open to wherever God leads us! We are hanging in there. This is just the beginning. I can already tell that this whole process is going to grow my patience in a mighty way! While I could talk about adoption every single day, I plan on doing a couple of posts each month to let you know how things are progressing. I am still hopeful that we could be holding our tiny bundle by the end of the year!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
What We Do and Why We Do It
I don't believe I have ever done an actual post on this subject, so here goes! If you have known me for any amount of time, or have been reading my blog for even a month, then you must have noticed some random pictures of teenagers thrown into posts here and there. (For privacy reasons, those pictures have been removed.) And you must have been thinking, she is too young to be their mother! Who are those kids? The simple answer is that those kids are a pain in my neck and a piece of my heart. But let me start with how those kids became a part of my life.
When I was in college, for a short while I was part of a campus ministry called Aggies For Christ. Over school breaks, groups of Aggies would head out to children's homes to do week long mission trips. I loved going on those trips! They remain some of my favorite college memories. On one particular trip to Tipton Children's Home in Oklahoma, I got to know the houseparents that I was staying with, and the idea to houseparent started growing in my heart.
Fast forward three years. Boss and I had only been married for two years, we had already moved two different times, and Boss was working on his second career. He was in retail when we married, and after a year of never seeing one another and our first baby on the way, Boss decided to get his emergency teachers certification and jump into the more family friendly world of education. Boss was an excellent teacher, but he was unhappy in the particular work environment he currently found himself in, so we were once more searching for our calling in this life. I timidly broached the subject of houseparenting, and surprisingly Boss jumped on board. We prayed about the idea, and eventually wound up applying at a children's home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We served there for a year and a half.
There were many great things about our time in Albuquerque. Boss did not work outside of the home, so for eighteen months, our little family spent a lot of time together! That was the very best part. We made wonderful friendships with the other houseparents we served with, and we able to grow as a family during that time. While there, we had a total of 15 children walk through our doors. Some of them were there because their parents were ill. Others were there because their parents were in prison. And sadly, some kids were there because their parents were simply too busy with their own lives and relationships to take care of them. I am not sure we truly changed the lives of any of the kids we served during that time, but we did clothe them, feed them, show them what a healthy family was supposed to look like, and most importantly, we were able to introduce them to the love of Jesus. Seeds were planted, and I am trusting that the Father will continue to work in their lives. It was a wonderful time in our lives, however, things started to change in the staffing at ACCH, and for many reasons we decided it was time to move on.
This picture is of Boss and another house dad with some of the brothers that were in our care.
In February of 2007, we moved our family to Ohio, so that we could be close to family. I knew that my parents would follow, and I wanted my children to grow up with their cousins, and seasons, and all that Ohio had to offer. I love living here, and I am so glad that we made this choice. For our first six months here, Boss was back in retail, and his frustrations of working for the world came back stronger than ever. I, too, was struggling. I loved raising my daughters, but I missed my days of working at the children's home. However, our family was tired of moving, and we wanted to find a place to belong. We began praying earnestly that God would lead us home. In August of 2007, a friend from church told us about a children's home 45 minutes from where we were currently living, so we decided to interview. On the day that we interviewed, the Christian school on campus also offered Boss the position of Athletic Director at the school there. His dream job. I have only seen my husband cry five times in almost five years of marriage. The fifth time he cried was the day we accepted the position at Mid Western Children's Home. It seemed that every choice we had made in our marriage had led up to this opportunity. We felt so blessed, and we knew that God was answeing our prayers.
So, here we are. We live in a seven bedroom, four bathroom home on one hundred plus acres. My girls love growing up in the country, and my husband loves his role as Athletic Director. As for me, I am loving being a mama. My family is just like any other family, only at this time we have four teenage girls who are living with us. It is not always easy, and there are often times that my tiny daughters hear things I wish they did not have to hear. However, my daughters also have compassion and understanding that is beyond their years, because of the girls that live with us. My daughters think that all families are made up of different races, and they are learning daily about making good choices. I am so proud of who my children are becoming.
The girls I work with are very special young ladies. I learn something from each one of them, and I hope that they learn something from me. As I stated earlier, they are often a pain in my neck, but they also each hold a piece of my heart. In less than five years of marriage, Boss and I have had exactly 20 kids walk through our doors (not counting our own two), and we are forever changed because of each one. I am not sure how long we will continue to do this work, but I hope it is for a very long time.
When I was in college, for a short while I was part of a campus ministry called Aggies For Christ. Over school breaks, groups of Aggies would head out to children's homes to do week long mission trips. I loved going on those trips! They remain some of my favorite college memories. On one particular trip to Tipton Children's Home in Oklahoma, I got to know the houseparents that I was staying with, and the idea to houseparent started growing in my heart.
Fast forward three years. Boss and I had only been married for two years, we had already moved two different times, and Boss was working on his second career. He was in retail when we married, and after a year of never seeing one another and our first baby on the way, Boss decided to get his emergency teachers certification and jump into the more family friendly world of education. Boss was an excellent teacher, but he was unhappy in the particular work environment he currently found himself in, so we were once more searching for our calling in this life. I timidly broached the subject of houseparenting, and surprisingly Boss jumped on board. We prayed about the idea, and eventually wound up applying at a children's home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We served there for a year and a half.
There were many great things about our time in Albuquerque. Boss did not work outside of the home, so for eighteen months, our little family spent a lot of time together! That was the very best part. We made wonderful friendships with the other houseparents we served with, and we able to grow as a family during that time. While there, we had a total of 15 children walk through our doors. Some of them were there because their parents were ill. Others were there because their parents were in prison. And sadly, some kids were there because their parents were simply too busy with their own lives and relationships to take care of them. I am not sure we truly changed the lives of any of the kids we served during that time, but we did clothe them, feed them, show them what a healthy family was supposed to look like, and most importantly, we were able to introduce them to the love of Jesus. Seeds were planted, and I am trusting that the Father will continue to work in their lives. It was a wonderful time in our lives, however, things started to change in the staffing at ACCH, and for many reasons we decided it was time to move on.
This picture is of Boss and another house dad with some of the brothers that were in our care.
In February of 2007, we moved our family to Ohio, so that we could be close to family. I knew that my parents would follow, and I wanted my children to grow up with their cousins, and seasons, and all that Ohio had to offer. I love living here, and I am so glad that we made this choice. For our first six months here, Boss was back in retail, and his frustrations of working for the world came back stronger than ever. I, too, was struggling. I loved raising my daughters, but I missed my days of working at the children's home. However, our family was tired of moving, and we wanted to find a place to belong. We began praying earnestly that God would lead us home. In August of 2007, a friend from church told us about a children's home 45 minutes from where we were currently living, so we decided to interview. On the day that we interviewed, the Christian school on campus also offered Boss the position of Athletic Director at the school there. His dream job. I have only seen my husband cry five times in almost five years of marriage. The fifth time he cried was the day we accepted the position at Mid Western Children's Home. It seemed that every choice we had made in our marriage had led up to this opportunity. We felt so blessed, and we knew that God was answeing our prayers.
So, here we are. We live in a seven bedroom, four bathroom home on one hundred plus acres. My girls love growing up in the country, and my husband loves his role as Athletic Director. As for me, I am loving being a mama. My family is just like any other family, only at this time we have four teenage girls who are living with us. It is not always easy, and there are often times that my tiny daughters hear things I wish they did not have to hear. However, my daughters also have compassion and understanding that is beyond their years, because of the girls that live with us. My daughters think that all families are made up of different races, and they are learning daily about making good choices. I am so proud of who my children are becoming.
The girls I work with are very special young ladies. I learn something from each one of them, and I hope that they learn something from me. As I stated earlier, they are often a pain in my neck, but they also each hold a piece of my heart. In less than five years of marriage, Boss and I have had exactly 20 kids walk through our doors (not counting our own two), and we are forever changed because of each one. I am not sure how long we will continue to do this work, but I hope it is for a very long time.
Friday, January 18, 2008
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