We know what Ethan wants for Christmas !

A NEW SON !

While there were many great things that happened on National Adoption Day, the greatest in our family was the adoption of our son !
Quinton James !

This day was again surreal ! Volunteers were all over the courthouse to welcome the families. There was a balloon arch ( like at the prom ) that we entered under. There was food , family pictures and all the kids received a sweet teddy bear. Our courthouse has very long pew benches that lined the hallway and our courtroom was at the end. The benches on that day were filled with families and kids. If I had to guess I would say 90 % of the families were African American. It was a precious scene all of these parents taking these children into their homes. There were families with 8 kids in them . There were families with several teenagers. I was so moved I could not help but tear up at what was taking place in this building on this day. I know some of these kids will not have to live in the cycle of sin that their parents were raised in. Like our babies many of these kids were removed from horrible situations and placed into families that love and adore them. I am so thankful for these people who have opened their hearts and homes to these children. Who like most of us just want to be loved and accepted. But , who unlike most of us have experienced awful situations .

We had many sweet people celebrate with us on Quinton's special day ! Matt's sister and her husband and their kids , our favorite worker at our agency and Quinton's sweet CASA worker who drove in from out of town . As well as Poppy and Grammy , Aunt Ann and Uncle David, our pastor and his family who had been at a sporting event all day and came over anyway, my closest friend Tiffany (who has prayed over all the kids we have been submitted on, probably 75 ?)and her family, and many other sweet friends who came over to celebrate our adoption.

We are so excited and we really cannot believe we get to have this little cutie in out family. We are of course thrilled to have all the paperwork, visits, and caseworkers over with for now.

People have asked us , if we will continue to open our home to kids. We are open to however many children the Lord would bless us with ! We do pray there will be more, we would of course, like to even out the 5 to 2 guy /girl ratio in the house.

Thank you for all of you who have supported us so faithfully on this long, bumpy road.
We feel blessed and totally overwhelmed at how good the Lord is to bless us with people like you !

NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY !

This is a very special week across our country ! In courtrooms everywhere there will be around 4,500 kids taken out of the "broken failing system". They will get a new name and become a part of a family that will hopefully love them unconditionally ! They will now have someone in their life that will be there when they need them. There will be much hoopla going on at the courthouses ! Family pictures, presents, balloons, clowns, food and just excitement.

While this will be an amazing week !

Here is the reality ! There are 510,000 kids in foster care. There are 129,000 kids that are legally free to be adopted right now .This does not include the millions of orphans in other countries who will go to bed tonight in conditions we would not let our dog live in. They are just children !

I met a young lady last week. Beautiful young girl ! She could be a model ! If you did not know her story you would think she lived a great life with no problems. This sweet girl about to age out of the foster system had lived in 30 homes since she was 4. She had lived through things children should not experience. The hope for her has come through foster parents who would not give up on her, even when she kept running away. This precious girl will get adopted this week . I do not know if her adoptive parents are Christians. I would like to think they are. They are however setting an example for us all !

There are so many foster kids who need someone like this couple to just love them, the way Jesus loves us ! He takes us with all of our "issues". He loves us with a love that we cannot fathom ! He takes us back with open arms when we run away ! Most of us are the picture of the prodigal son . I know I am. He loved us while we were yet sinners. We deserve nothing ! He takes us in and heals our wounds and makes us his kids.

Please join me in praying for the kids who will be adopted this week! Pray that they will find security in our Heavenly Father. While there are nice people on this earth , we are all sinners and our Heavenly Father is the only one who will never leave us or forsake us.

Please also pray for all those children who are waiting for a forever family. I only know what some of these kids have experienced and I cannot imagine having to cope with things like seeing your parent be killed or being treated so badly, by people who are supposed to love you. Sin is an ugly thing !

Pray that more Christians will open their homes to these kids ! You can look at the adoptable kids in Texas at the Tare website go to dfps.state.tx.us/adoption . They change this every week.

If you have any questions about fostering , I would love to answer them. Post a comment and I will get back to you.

Fostering to Adopt

Fostering

Matt and I are updating our license to continue to foster to adopt. It can be a long process with much to do. We believe it is what God has called us to , so we are going through it . Some of our stuff can just be updated and some "requirements " have expired and we have to go back and do them over again.

I thought I would take a minute and in case someone knows someone who wants to go this route , I would share an overview of most of what it takes.

Fostering children is NOT for everyone ! I know people who stopped after the first child left and they were not able to do it anymore. It was too painful and emotionally so draining.
Here are the facts:
In order to foster or foster to adopt you must do these things:

Complete training

There will be some classes that will bore you out of your mind.However, you might be surprised and get some training that is interesting and educational. One of the classes we were required to take was infant CPR. We were glad to have had this training when I was holding a 5 pound 3 month old who turned blue on me and stopped breathing. Thankfully Matt was home and he started CPR, I called 911 and the baby started breathing again . The baby lived and was fine. This was a medically fragile baby and most people will not get a baby with these issues. You never know when something you learn in a training will apply.

Your House in order

Cleaning supplies
It is good to have all cleaning and chemicals locked up somewhere. We bought a Rubbermaid storage piece that is in the garage and we attached a lock with a key. That means they do not want any cleaning stuff out on counters or under sinks.

Plug covers on all plugs.We already had locks on cabinet's in the kitchen which is great because we knew we wanted little ones.

Your agency or CPS is not looking for a perfect house,but , everything must be working. Toilets, hot water from sinks, etc.They are also looking for anything that could be dangerous, an area with many cords sticking out, for example.

Fire inspection- needs to be done and you need a carbon monoxide detector as well as smoke alarms on each level and fire extinguisher's on each floor.

Firearms-reported and secured. They just want to make sure your house is clean and safe for children.

Background checks

They will check to see your criminal history to make sure you are not on the most wanted list or anything serious.

Driving record

They will want a copy of your driving record. No big deal !


Getting to know you

They will interview you and get to know all about your childhood up to the present day. They will probably interview you and your spouse separately. They are looking for anything weird in your history that might not qualify you to foster kids.

Paperwork

All of these things will require paperwork and there will be times that you think, it is too much , I cannot finish all this. You can persevere and press on because it will be worth it !

My Church is putting together an entire booklet together on Adoption. If anyone wants a very in-depth version of what you need to do to adopt a child please email me .

I will write about the plus side of fostering to adopt another time. There are certainly many great reasons to going this route.

John Matthew has a silly hat !

Did any of you watch Blues Clues with your older kids? We did ! Steve had a song he sang when blue had something silly on his head.

It went like this:

Blue has a silly hat
Blue has a silly hat
and you repeat that until your annoyed !

In fact I will sing this for you in the video !

Well we have been singing that here for many years and so the first time our baby cleared out his bowl and put it on his head we sang the song. That was our first critical mistake ! John Matthew being the showman that he is, found this to be his new stand up act at the dinner table. Why not he has a captivated audience .

The problem now is he does this at every meal with every bowl. He has a lot of hair and so the food gets really messy in all his curly hair.

The moral here - be careful what you find to be funny !

Quinton James !

My Sweet Quinton is so funny. Every since he came into our lives he has brought so much joy ! One of my favorite things about him is he is into clothes. He loves accessories ! He loves to find peoples shoes in the house and put them on, he does not care if they match or not ! He loves Hockey ! He loves to look nice ! He knows when he looks cute.

Heavy metal in blue

Patrick just got Braces ! He picked out blue ! He is so excited to have them. Trying to get used to eating a whole lot slower and there seems to be some foods that are not even worth trying to eat !

I always wanted braces growing up ! Little did I know I would get to put most of my kids through them.

He looks so grown up !

New addition !

Because we want to see how fast we can max out our current home we just got another dog. We already had Marvel, the very large Catahoola and Matt and I were thinking it would be great for him to have a buddy !

Back story on Pets -
Now for those who know me well, they know I am not a "dog person" . I have actually always loved cats. When Matt and I first got married we had Miles the cat. He was black and white and he loved me. He slept on my head , nice I know. Now Miles the cat hated Matt, everyday when Matt came home he would attack Matt and bite him and try to climb up his leg and slide down with his claws dug into Matt's leg. My sweet husband endured the cat knowing I loved him. We kept Miles until we brought Grace home and Miles the cat was in her bassinet. That was all we needed to find a new loving home for Miles.

10 years later my kids and My husband decided it was time for a dog. We found Marvel on Craigslist and he really has been a precious pet. He is a protector and never barks unless the yard guy is in our yard. He does not chew up anything and he is so gentle with my all my kids. He is well trained and puts his nose on the door knob when he wants to go out. Since we have had Marvel I realized I just did not have much experience with really good , smart dogs.

This month Matt and I were looking at dogs online and found my new baby dog! We had a list of cute names , but when we saw him we had to call him SUGAR ! He is precious ! He is one year old. He is house trained. He also gets along with Marvel and we could not be happier.

GOT GERMS !

We have all passed some bug around our house for the last week. Now, I have been a mother for many years and I have lived through countless high fevers, too many stomach bugs to count and hundreds of colds. I have just never had 5 kids sick at the same time I was sick. Needless to say it has been a first for me. Like everything else has to be in my house I had a spread sheet of who had what meds and when. Thankfully , My precious husband has remained well !! He is holding down the job and the sick ward.

Have you ever noticed that a persons personality seems magnified when they are sick? The laid back ones seem to be more chilled. The children on the High drama side seem to be a bit more clinging and whinny. The talkers when they have fever can really get to babbling. Cuties !

I have prayed for a large dose of patience and I always try to keep my small issues in check, when I realize there are people who are praying for their children to live .

Hope you all are staying well this season !

Patricks Birthday !

(Patrick after eating a turkey leg at the state fair )

Dear Patrick ,
I cannot believe you turned 9 years old yesterday ! It is amazing to think back to the day I had you . In some ways it seems like yesterday ! In other ways you have changed so much. We remember when you were born and the nurses did not need to look at your bracelet because you looked so much like your dad and you still do. You were such a cute toddler and you were so sensitive and you still are. We rejoiced when you became a believer and we have watched our faithful Lord transform you and change you into a sinner saved by Grace. We love to have theological discussions with you , because you are so deep and you understand so much ! We love your passion and we are so excited to see the plans our Father has for you . You inspire us to Love God with all our hearts ! We are blessed to be your parents ! You are a special blessing from the Lord, Patrick !

All our love ,
Mom and Dad

By the way, you are the only 9 yr old I have ever met who ordered sushi on his birthday !

WHERE'S MARVEL ?

My kids had their own version of Where is Waldo, with our dog Marvel.

Can you spot our very large dog?

SOCCER SUPERSTAR

Ethan is 6 years old. This is his 3rd season to play soccer. The first one does not count because it was indoor soccer (6 games ) and the field was the size of my den. No , I do not have a large den, the field was tiny. He never scored his first 2 seasons.
The first game of the season was last week .His team lost the game 2 to 1 but he scored the only goal. He was so proud ! We were so proud ! It is like a switch has been flipped in his brain and he gets it. It is really fun to watch your child have fun doing something. Now we are not the parents who are in some kind of delirious denial that any of our kids will get a scholarship for sports. We do enjoy watching them find something that they enjoy.

He is in his victory stance in the picture !

John Matthew is excited to be adopted!! Beware ! this is a very professional video !

(Yes, my baby has on a bow tie)

ADOPTION DAY!

This week has been a whirlwind for our family! On Tuesday we found out that we would be able to adopt our baby on Friday! Wednesday we went to the Cps office and our baby was moved from a foster placement to an adoptive placement. We had so many people jumping through hoops to get this adoption finished this week

We have had the privilege of working with a Great CPS worker. I know everyone has his or her own opinion of cps workers. Here are the facts we know about these people, they are not paid much money, they work long hours, and they deal with crazy people who have done crazy things, most of them really seem to care about kids, and like in any profession you have those that are good workers and those that are not great. We have loved our worker on this case. We feel so blessed we got to work with her. She really wanted the best for our child.

Anyway, Thursday night I got everyone’s clothes together and ironed (I am funny about ironing) Matt and I both could not sleep. It was a strange yet somewhat familiar feeling. I had all 3 biological kids with c-sections and so I always knew when my babies were coming. This night kinda felt like that. We were excited to have the whole thing finalized. We were so excited for him to have our name. For us to be able to say he was ours. To go to the doctors office and they do not call out some random name when it is my baby’s time to go back, they will call out the name we gave him instead. On the flip side we know him, we were there when he got his first tooth, and when he said his first word which was Ummyummyumm (His word for yeah food), and when he took his first few steps, which was this week! He has seemed like our baby from day oneYet, the whole week has seemed surreal! We believed this was what we were supposed to do since fall 2006. It has been a long journey for us. We do feel so blessed, because we know there are others who do not have any children and they long for even one to call their own.

While this has been a long journey, we have been so blessed by the body of Christ! I will save that long post for another day.

So Friday we went to the courthouse and the whole thing took about an hour. It was too easy! A few papers to sign a few minutes before the judge and he is ours. I could not help but cry when the judge said his name.

I could not help but think about the picture on spiritual terms. Our father has chosen us (all believers in Christ) to be his kids. He plucked me out of my crazy life and put me in a new place and in a new family. I now have a new identity in Him, the old has gone and the new has come. That is the story of my baby and the story of my life.

People say to us,” you are so great to do this”, we are not great, we are sinners saved only by grace! Yet, we serve a great and awesome God! Who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask.

I am getting old !

I turned 40 years old today !

Do you remember when your mom and aunts turned 30 years old or 40 and you thought, Wow ! they are soooo old ? Well, I do ! I have been in major denial that I am turning 40 ! I am having trouble even typing the number ! Last night I went to bed knowing when I wake in the morning I will be old !

I woke up this morning to our family tradition , which is cake for breakfast ! Matt bought me White Chocolate rasberry truffle Cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory. This was a great way to start any day !! My cute family had cards and gifts for me ! My entire day was filled with calls and emails from people I love ! My precious Husband made me one of my favorite meals- shrimp boil ! He is so good ! Needless to say , what started as a day filled with self- pity and fear of old age , ended with my heart being changed and me being thankful to be alive and thankful to be surrounded by so many priceless blessings. Here are 5 of them !

Back to school with 5 kids

We started school 2 weeks ago ! For a homeschool mom this phrase takes on a very different
meaning ! Besides school supplies , we get to buy all the text books and plan all the lessons. This year I have a sixth grader , third grader , first grader and my two little ones. It can appear to be impossible to be organized and have a clean house and school everyone. Here is how I do it! Not perfectly, but with Gods grace I am trying .

When I first started homeschooling I went to a homeschool fair and the Lord (really, it was Him) took me to a random book I found at a book booth. The book by Steve and Teri Maxwell is called" Managers of their homes ". Let me say this, if you have more than 2 kids and you are home all day, you need to buy this book. If you homeschool your kids and do not have this book, you must buy this book ! Can you tell I love this book!
Here is the idea in the book, the family who wrote the book have many children and they were very organized. They asked 20 of their friends would you like to use our schedule and plans for running a home and see if they work for you ? The book is their plan and their friends thoughts about the plan and how they tailored the plan to their family. There is copies of schedules in the back of the book. As a foster mom and a homeschool mom, my family is always changing , but one thing remains, I still must get my job done !

The Maxwell's are a humble and amazing family who really desire to bring glory to the Lord. Their website is titus2. I just bought" Managers of Their chores" and I am so excited to have a great plan in that area of our home. I would recommend any of their resources .

Anyway, Especially if you are just starting to homeschool this is a great resource to help you get a plan in place, and that seems to be half the battle sometimes.

Our Adoption Journey

Our story began fall 2006 when my husband and I were taking biblical counseling classes. We heard a sermon that changed our lives. Voddie Baucham ( Voddiebaucham.org) a fantastic preacher out of Spring ,Texas, preached on Centrality of the Home. We were brought to our knees in absolute conviction. We knew we would need to change some things in our home. We began making preparations for those changes. I was working as a preschool minister at a large Southern Baptist church. I quit my job, we pulled our kids out of public school and began homeschooling them and we started the process of becoming foster parents in hopes of adopting.

Our timeline:

Fall 2007-January 2008 licensed as foster parents

February- 1st placement baby boy, still at the hospital due to the drugs in his body. We visited him everyday for 2 weeks and found out the day before we brought him home that an uncle would be coming to get him instead. We were new at this and we were crushed.

March 15th-2nd placement- a baby boy and his 2 year old sister. Precious children! We were in love with these kids we made our requests know to the Lord that we wanted to keep them. This was not the plan! They left 2 months later.

Mid July - We get a phone call about a group of kids who were removed in a drug raid and they cannot find a place for them. They all come here for almost 2 months and leave to go with grandparents.

We tell our agency we would like only adoptive placements.

March 2009- Baby boy (D) 3 days old born on drugs , probably adoptable. Arrives on Monday.
Friday of that week we get a call about another adoptable baby boy M. He arrives the next Monday.

Mid May baby boy D leaves.

Late May we get matched to an adoptable 2 yr. old boy. He arrives to be a part of our family.

As of September of this year Matthew will be an official part of our family.

In November our Q will be adopted!

Now it may seem like a simple process , however we have been submitted on probably 50 kids within the last year. We have been very close to getting other adoptive placements. It is a journey of faith and trust. Thankfully we trust a soverign God and we know He has a plan. It has been exciting to watch our family grow and blossom .

We are so thankful to get to adopt these boys ! We have learned so much about ourselves and our family through this process!