Questions answered

So how many children all up are you planning on adopting? How old are they? I know you want your own children so how do you think you will manage the mix of birth and adopted children?

We are adopting five children in all at this point. Hopefully in two years we will be moving into a bigger house and maybe getting a bigger vehicle. If those two worlds collide we will be looking to adopt some more children. Yes, we do hope that God blesses us with some children of our own as well. I dont think there will be any problems between birth and adopted children. They will all be loved as much as my heart can love them. These children we are adopting wont be my "adopted" children versus my biological children. They will all just be my children.

Adoption

Word just came through that Adrian's mom and dad signed the surrender papers. This means we should be able to start the adoption process soon. I talked to his mom and dad at the hearing today and she is pregnant. Her due date is January 11, 2006. She does want us to have the baby. Of course a lot can happen between now and then but we are going on faith that we will be the mommy and daddy to little Jonathan David. I dont know anything about newborns as all of my children have come to me at a year of age or older. Should be interesting to learn.
The girls will probably be adopted in January 2006. I talked to thier worker today.

Well gotta get dinner ready.
More later.

Im home

We got back from our trip to North Carolina yesterday. We had a blast. I have lots to blog about but right now Im waiting for my banana bread to be done and then I have to get the rolls for tonights supper ready.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Whats In A Name and It Might Be a Boy

Well A's mom told our worker that she is having a little boy and she wants hubby and I to pick out a name for him. Allow me to be transparent for a moment. Im so in love with this maybe fictional little guy that every time I think about him my heart pounds and I get tears in my eyes. I pray all the time that God will keep my baby safe and healthy. Im trying to hold on to that last shred of reality that says dont believe anything until you have him in your arms. I know if there is no baby that God has another one waiting for us somewhere but this little guy has wormed his way into my heart. When I look at my sweet blond haired, blue eyed two year old I think about what his little brother might look like. For those who dont know me personally trust me when I say that A is one cute little bugger. He has dimples and a smile and a personality and he is just one special little guy. Will his brother be like him? So goes our life! :)

Im going to reveal some names to you all today. I have kept them hidden but now with adoptions right around the corner I have been busy with a project. We are going to be changing our girls middle names and A's middle name too. Plus I have been looking at baby names. We want names that mean something. If our daughters or sons asked us why they were given the names they have I can tell them the meaning of the name their mothers gave them and then the meaning of the name I gave them. I will be telling you first names and then moving on with what some of the names I have found for a middle name and thier meaning. Now some of these names are funny. I liked the meaning a lot but will not be using them. I have a dear sweet hubby who will veto half to all of the names so dont fear when you see them. Ok here we go. Let me know what you think.

For the eight year old.
Her name is Karly which means "little, womanly" as best as I can find out. They did not have a meaning for that actual name that I could find but this was from a name Karly is derived from.
For a middle name I thought about who she is. God is important to her and I think she is very close to becoming a believer. She is also full of love and very lovable. Here are some middle names.
Christiana - "Christian"
Amanda- "Love, Worthy of Love, Precious thing"
Janisa - "Funny, loveable, hyper child" This made me laugh because she is all of these!
Liese- "Beloved by God"
Tesia - "loved by God"
Vevina - "Sweet Lady"

For the five year old.
Her name is Kelsie. The best meaning I could find was "beautiful Island". Searching for hers was a lot like Karly's because they did not have an actual meaning for her name just some different versions and what that meant and were derived from. She is my beautiful, graceful, peaceful, quiet child. Here are some middle names.
Keely- "beautiful and graceful"
Kisalyn- "Beautiful bearer of Christ"
Serena - "Peaceful one, Calm"
Anika -" Very beautiful, graceful"
Annabelle/a - "grace and Beauty"
Charrise - "grace, beauty, kindness"
Nina- "grace"
Roseanne- "graceful lamb"
Seanna- "God's Grace"
Christine - "Christ bearer"

For the four year old.
Her name is Tamara. Her name means "palm tree, spice" :(. I think we should change her first name!!! LOL She has the face and smile of an angel. She is just as sweet and as loveable as the day is long! Some middle names for her.
Parisa - "angelic face" this is my personal favorite because it fits her so well but never fear hubby vetoed this one in his sleep. LOL
Angelica - "Angelic"
Angelina- "Little Angel"
Evangeline- "Like an angel"
Neria - "Lamp of God, angel" I love this one too but its such an odd name!

For the two year old.
His name is Adrian. It means rich, wealthy, dark one. He is obsitinate, ornery, strong willed....beautiful, loving, sweet, handsome, charming....
Middle names.
I found one right away and knew it was for my little boy.
Charles - "Manly, strong" I have to run it by hubby but I think this will be his new middle name.

For our baby, Lord willing.
My personal favorite
Jonathon - "Gift of God"
David -"Beloved One"

Caleb- "Bold"
Michael- "Who is Like God"

Paul- "Little One"
Christopher- "Christ Bearer"

Well there you have it. You know who KA, KE, T, and A are. C is still a mystery because he is going home soon. Please let me know what you think of the names. Tell me your favorites. Make fun of the ones you dont like...with taste please.
Happy Sunday!

2 Things

I got this from Wandaring Homemaker...she is always tagging me with silly stuff..but she knows I love her! :) Anyone else can copy and paste this over to thier blog leave me a note telling me you did it!

2 names you go by
1. Julie
2. Juicy (Given to me 8 years ago by a 2 year old who could not seem to say my name. Now her and her siblings still call me Juicy)

2 parts of your heritage
1. Godly
2. English

2 things that scare you
1. Being Buried Alive
2. Being eaten by rats... (I saw this on without a trace the other night and now I keep thinking about it!)

2 of your everyday essentials
1. Bible Time
2. "I love you" from hubby

2 things you are wearing right now
1. Long burgandy colored skirt
2. burgandy and green striped sweater shirt

2 of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment)
1. Casting Crowns
2. Mercy Me

2 favorite songs (at the moment)
1. Who Am I?
2. Never Been More Homesick Than Now (I dont know the name but that sounds right!)

2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love)
1. Laughter
2. Communication(Praise God, I have them both! )

2 truths
1. Jesus in the only Way to Heaven
2. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength

2 physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex)
1. Sense of Humor
2. Faithfullness

2 of your favorite hobbies
1. Sewing
2. Reading

2 things you want really badly
1. Have a big house with lots o land
2. To be organized

2 places you want to go on vacation
1. New England area
2. Lancaster, Pennsylvania

2 things you want to do before you die (Lord willing)
1. See our children busy serving for God' s kingdom
2. See all of our children saved

2 ways that you are stereotypically a dude/chick
1. I talk a lot!
2. I love pretty things and (dh says I have a lot of shoes)

2 things you are thinking about now
1. Thanksgiving
2. A new baby

2 stores you shop at
1. Publix
2. Sams

2 people to tag:
1. Allison
2. Jessica

Update on our children

I talked to the social worker for the girls yesterday. She has nine adoptions on her plate right now on top of all her other cases. She is working like gang busters to get this one through. She said we are at the top of her list. We might have to wait until January due to some technical difficulties, but Im ok with that as long as it gets done!

Now, our surprise of the week. We went to court for A on Tuesday. We were hoping for a termination of parental rights trial, but his parents were not there. Our worker went by their house to inform them of the trial because they have to be given notice and the place was vacant. The mom called me Fri night and left a message so I gave that number to our worker. If we dont find mom and dad and serve them with the papers we have to wait an additional thirty days for a "dilligent search" search to be made. Anyways, we got our case pushed back to Nov 29. The state appointed lawyer for the mom stops hubby and me on the way out and says he needs to speak with us. He tells us mom wants us to adopt A and his sibling due Jan 11. We dont know for sure if she is pregnant. She has told the caseworker she is but never gave any proof of it. We are trying not to get our hopes up at this point because a million things could happen to change things between now and January...if she even is pregnant. :P
As far as we know she has not given up her bad habits of drugs, drinking and smoking and has had little to no prenatel care so we have been praying for the health of the unborn baby.

We are heading out to North Carolina next week for Thanksgiving with my friend and her family. I have so much to do between now and then. I am so excited. She of course will cook a huge meal and we will stuff ourselves silly and I have already decided that Weight Watchers does not apply on Thanksgiving. I will jump back on program on Friday... I hope. LOL! I have lost 6.2 pounds so far and would like to continue to see a downward spiral.
Ok I better get going busy day of sewing ahead. :)

Questions about foster care

Thank you Julie. I enjoyed reading that very much. My husband and I have never been able to have children and have considered being foster parents. I must say though we have several fears about the whole thing. Some of them are 1) having the government so deeply involved in your life. 2) the emotional torture of having to give a child back to a parent who you KNOW is going to hurt them again. 3) I was on a foster website and ALL the children were listed as having ADD or ADHD and we're thinking, yeah, we know how to take care of kids (I've taught preschool in the past) but having no actual PARENTAL experience are we able to handle a child with ADD or ADHD? And are we going to have to give them drugs constantly? 4) we knew of a family in our Church who were foster parents and the foster kids told the case worker that the dad spanked them---thankfully the caseworker searched out the matter and found out the girl was lying but it's scary to think of being accused of something like that. 5) my husband and I aren't in our 20's anymore (he's in his 40's and I'm in my 30's) so I wonder if we have the stamina for it! (o; 6) my husband works LONG hours so the bulk of it all would fall to me, and though I've taken care of several children before, it's different than actually 'parenting' them. 7)having to deal with the birth parents. 8) As Christians we have certain beliefs about music, dress, etc...how do you tell a child who's been listening to rock music his/her whole life that it is not allowed in our house?
The above comment was posted by Mrs. B. I am going to answer her questions here so everyone can see them.

1) Yes, the government is involved in your life. You have a ton of people traipsing through your house monthly. You have to document all areas of life. If the child gets hurt you have to document it. If the child is sick you have to document it. They will decide what is best for the child as far as medical care and mental health. If they want to drug your child you cant stop them. Some workers are laid back and easy going. They know children fall down, they know children get angry when they get in trouble. Other workers question your every move. You get used to it..and remember you KEEP your SENSE OF HUMOR! They do let you make a lot of decisions regarding the child but they have the power to veto your decisions.

2) This has happened. You just PRAY! You give the child as much of yourself as you can before he is sent back and as much of God's love as you dole out. Then you send up a prayer everytime you think of the little one and move on taking care of the ones still with you.

3)Yes, every child in foster care is on mind altering drugs. Or at least it seems that way. There was even an article in a newspaper about it once. Right now out of my five only one is on ADHD drugs. As soon as she is mine we will be getting her off of the drugs. She does not need them she is an 8 year old girl who has a lot of energy and creativity. A lot of the children just have never been given discipline or boundaries. If you stay consistent within one month you will see a completely different child. We did not have any experience either. We read our Bible, we prayed and we learned from experience. We are always getting compliments on our children.

4) The first thing they told us in class is you will have an accusation made against you. We have had a couple but have all been unfounded. Not even enough to warrant an investigation. The caseworkers know that kids will say and do anything to get their way. They are used to it. We are careful around the children, they know though that we love them and when they get in trouble its because we love them. You cannot spank foster children. Goodness knows some of them need it BUT you cant do it. The workers tend to side with foster parents more often than not. If your child has any sort of weird injury report it immediately to the case worker and write it all down. We have a little boy with us who wanted so desperatly to go back to his mom that he told anyone who would listen that we were banging his head on the table. After some more questions it was determined that he thought that if they took me to jail like his mommy he would get to go back to her. You definitely have to stay on your toes!

5) Im almost 27 and my DH is 33. Sometimes I dont think we have the stamina! Its tiring definitely but well worth it. You are given a questionnaire at the beginning and you can pick which behaviors you dont want, what ages you want, boys or girls or both, how many? You just match your abilities to a child. Probably I would say early elementary or preschool would be a good starting point for you guys..but then again since your home you could feasibly do babies. ???

6)See answer 5. Start with one or two and get comfortable there. If you can handle more add one more. If you are comfortable with one or two then stay with one or two. You get to say yes or no when placement call you.

7)AHH! My favorite part of the whole process. Some birth parents you grow to love others you want to strangle. The main thing is you can choose how much involvement personally you have with them. Some of my children's birth parents I have never met. One I like a lot and one just gets on my last nerves. This is where your sense of humor comes in... AGAIN!

8)We are strong Christians. The children in your home can be raised according to your beliefs. They can attend church with you and are required to abide by your house rules. We have a house rule about television. Our workers think its crazy but they respect it. Our little girls wear dresses most of the time though we dont require it...we do encourage it. Our biggest change was our eight year old. She finally decided she was not going to "die" without 24/7 television.


There are limitations to how you can raise the children and what you can do. Its frustrating sometimes but it just forces you to rely on God. He has made me quiet creative. :)