Update

We received a call the day after the match meeting took place and we were told were not picked for the little girl from Texas. I was dissapointed, but at the same time I know its for the best.

So, now we are waiting to hear about our two kids from FL. They are waiting on a home study to be completed on the grandmother of the kids....

Which leads me to this...a 'blogger friend' of mine was recently denied by DHS to adopt...I don't know the details, but from what I can gather from what I know of her and have read on her blog, she seems like a very genuine, sweet and trustworthy person. I don't know anything about the grandmother of these kids in FL either, but I think its probably safe to assume that, whatever parenting skills the kids mom had, she learned them from her own mother...so, if this grandmother is approved to adopt these kids, why isn't my blogger friend? What is wrong with this system? I just want to scream! Not only is it taking FOREVER, people who want children more than anything in this world are told they can't adopt for some ridiculious reason, while parents who have abused and abandoned their children multiple times are given chance after chance to do right. I guess I always thought this entire process was for the benefit of the children, but I guess I might be wrong...

Guess what.....

The meeting was rescheduled! Who would have thunk....@@

It is now set for tomorrow...so by tomorrow we'll at least have some answers to our questions since we really know nothing about her. But we won't know which family is chosen until later in the week or even sometime next week.

As far as the regular family life goes, we're of course getting ready for Christmas and trying to figure out our living situation for January. We're hoping and praying that our house will be finished before Jan 1st but the weather has been crummy which has delayed everything a bit. So, we might be spending a few nights at my sisters house or renting another month at the apt, depending in how far into January it goes.

Its coming along nicely though! They started putting siding on yesterday so it looks like a real house now!! The electric and plumbing is all in, so next is the walls - yay!!

:)

We have a match!

Finally!!

Unfortunately, we don't know that much about her yet. All I know is she is eight years old, she'll be nine in May. She loves to read, jump rope and swim. The picture shows a smiley little girl with long piggy tails :)

The family selection meeting will take place on November 30th. Please say a prayer that the family that is best for this little girl gets choosen...whether it be us or not.

MIA

Has it reallly been a month since I blogged? I know, I know..shame on me!

No update on our 'exciting news' ... it will most likely be Christmas or later before we know anything...I'll elaborate more later...

Have a good Monday!

Tired

Tired of waiting. Tired of trying to be proactive and not get anywhere. Tired of hearing about how many kids are waiting in the system. Really, where are they then? Tired of hearing of others who have been waiting less than half the time we have been waiting, getting matched with kids. I know I shouldn't have that attiude, but it's tough. We've been in the process for a long time and it's extremely emotionally draining.

We are still waiting to hear about a possible match...it could be the first of the year before we know anything though. I want more than anything to just start planning on bringing these kids home. Start buying items for their rooms, start looking for bunk beds for the boys' room...but I don't want to set myself up for a heartbreak...so we'll just wait it out...some more.

I dug the blanket I started out of the closet last night so I can start working on it again. I'll post pictures of it soon :)

Things have been pretty busy for us lately though. T has football practice twice a week and a game every Saturday morning. He starts violin lessons this week too which is twice a week during school and every Thursday at 7:30 am...yikes. Cub Scouts start next week too...ugh. Thankfully that's only three times a month. His schedule is busier than mine is : /

Well..I'm going to take my 'Debbie Downer' attitude back to work now...it's just been one of those days so far...feeling drained and down. It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend though so maybe that will help :)

Have a good day everyone!

House update

I can't even remember the last time I updated our 'house' situation...a lot has changed! We closed with the buyer on our old house last Thursday and have been living in a cozy two bedroom apartment for the past nine days - so far, so good! They broke ground on our house the first week of September and have came a long way even since this picture was taken. Footings were completed yesterday and today hopefully they are putting in block. They are predicting the house will be complete sometime in December. Ahh...moving in the winter; fun, fun.

Patience, Grasshopper.

Where did that saying ever come from anyways??

Needless to say, over the past two weeks I've been chanting that phrase over and over again to myself...amongst other things..haha. So, I really don't have any great news...and I don't know how much of the news I do have I should really share since this blog is public, so I'll make it as generic as possible. The kids we're hoping to be matched with have a relative that needs to be considered before they place them with a non relative family. So, now we wait to see if this relative passes their home study, background check, etc. From what I am being told, if this relative does not pass, we will be the family they chose.

I will say, these kids are as cute as can be and I can definitely see them being part of our family. So the next few months will be filled with lots of prayers that we are able to bring these kids home.

We've already been waiting almost fifteen months...what's three more, right?

News :)

Yes, I have some...but I don't want to jinx it by saying anything!!! So I will keep you all in suspense until I hear more :) But it is sounding very promising! So PLEASE keep us in your prayers!!!

More blessed than we realize

I stole this from creatingmyownlittlenirvana a blog that I discovered recently and have thoroughly enjoyed following. I find these facts fascinating and at the same time, extremely saddening. It's amazing how often we forget all the amazing privileges we really do have. All of the things we take for granted everyday. Like this morning, for example - my husband ate the last of the cereal and I'll admit, I was slightly annoyed. But just went ahead and left a few minutes early and picked up a delicious Butter Rum muffin on my way to work. You never really stop and think of how many thousands of people in this world that will never know that luxury. May you all be grateful  for everything you have and more importantly, remember to share it with those who do not.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over head and a place to sleep . . . you are richer than over 70% of the people in this world?

 

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, or even spare change in your pocket . . .you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy?




If you have never experienced the danger of war, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation . . .you are ahead of 500 million people in the world?




If you can attend a church or temple or mosque without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death . . .you are more blessed than three billion people in the world?




If you woke up this morning with more health than illness . . .you are more blessed than the over one million people who will not survive this week?


Let us be truly aware of what we have, what has been entrusted to us. And let us be grateful.

 Most of all, let us share this immeasurable wealth we have with the immeasurable millions who go without every day. We have the power to change the world.

All you need to do is say yes.

No news....

I have nothing new to post, except for that this waiting thing still bites. Yep, definitely doesn't get any easier. We've submitted for quite a few kids over the past couple weeks though, so that's a good thing at least.

I can't believe we are nearing the end of summer already. Last fall at this time I thought for sure we'd have our kiddos home already, or at least have a match. But, apparently our kids aren't ready for us to find yet, so we'll continue waiting. We complain about how the long the wait is, but I'm sure it's nothing compared to what our kids are going through now. I hope and pray wherever they are that they are ok, and that God leads them to us very soon!

The stakes are in the ground for our new house, so that was exciting to see! Although, this week our plans on a rental fell through so we are scrambling to find another place to rent asap. We are looking at a place tonight. We're also hoping we can move the closing date on our current house to Sept 1st so we can avoid making a Sept house payment here. I'm going to miss this house so much :( I still can't believe we're moving!

It's the weekend for me already, so T and I are off to get some breakfast in a bit here...then home to start some packing. Try not to be jealous!

Have a great day bloggers!

Uh oh....

I just realized I may need to rename my blog since we are now looking at sib groups of 2...maybe I jinxed myself by assuming we'd only adopt one...hmm...hope so ;)

Adding two makes a crew?
Add two and we'll snowshoe?
Plus two....pink and blue?

Hmm..might have to think about that for awhile...maybe I'll just wait until we have our kids home and do something along the lines of the Three Muskateers ;) I can't wait!

Where does the time go?

I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted last! Where has the summer gone?

Our update went smooth and we are officially approved to submit for sibling groups of two - very exciting! I can't believe we've been waiting over a year already! But, I definitely think it was a year well spent, learning about the process and figuring out exactly what we are comfortable with and what needs we can parent the best.

Our plans to build and move this fall are progessing well and much quicker that we anticipated. Our house has officially sold and we close on September 21st. There will be almost two months where we'll be in between houses but we have a couple options on places to stay and both would work very well. We plan to put all of our belongings in storage during those two months with the exception of our clothes and things we need and use daily. We are hoping to be able to move in around Thanksgiving - such a perfect time when we have SO many things to be thankful for!!

I can't wait to see what is in store for us in the future. So many changes in such little time and they are all going to be wonderful.

Steve and I were discussing paint colors last night and it dawned on me that since we are doing all the painting ourselves, I might as well save time and money and go ahead and paint one bedroom a color to suit a girl :) So the search is on for a girly paint color! Tyson is still deciding on what color he would like for his room and thinking about the prospect of possibly sharing his room with another boy. He wasn't really keen on the idea until I mentioned bunk beds...then he was all over it ;) My sister and I had bunk beds when I was younger and I loved them...even though I had to sleep on the bottom ;)

This weekend we are going on a family camping trip that we have been planning for months. We are camping on a Goat Island just off the shore of Lake Beltaine. Not sure where it gets its name...it doesn't really look like a goat and lets hope their are no wild goats on it! LOL! It's only 55 acres so that's highly unlikely! My sister and her family and Steve's kids and their spouses/signicifant others are all joining us, as well as Steve's nephew and his girlfriend. We are camping for three nights and will also be celebrating my 29th birthday on Sunday...that's right..it's a big one! My last twenty-something!!! Lake Beltaine is a beautiful lake and we are so excited to boat it and relax in the sun!!

Have a great weekend!!

*I checked it out and the island does actually look like a goat!! Or a Scottie Dog...hmmm...
Goat Island

Home Study Update Visit

Last night our adoption worker, Katie, came over for our annual home study update visit. Everything went good, just a few odds and ends of paperwork to fill out. This time around we are applying for our foster care license which will open us up to adopting Minnesota kids, as well as being placed with kids that have a concurrent plan, whether it be reunification with a birth parent, or being adopted.

I can definitely say that my outlook on adoption has changed this past year. I've done a lot of research and reading these past twelve months and have had my eyes opened to some of the behaviors and challenges that come along with RAD and FASD that I didn't know existed before. Just reading blogs on here and listening to what other adoptive parents have to say has really taught me a lot. I definitely think we are more prepared today that we were last year at this time. So waiting this past year hasn't necessarily been a bad thing. It's gave us a lot of time to talk, think and learn....but enough with the waiting - we're ready now!!!

The summer has been good so far. We've stayed busy getting things cleaned up at the lot and Steve has put in lots of hours building a nice deck and putting in a dock. Now if the weather would just warm up so we could use it! We are planning on going out there tonight to have a picnic and set up the gazebo.
 I think this weekend we'll be out there too - hopefully tubing if it's warm enough.

Ok...that's better :)

Not quite so much going on...

No new news to share...we have our a home study update visit tomorrow evening...we'll be bucking down tonight and getting the rest of the paperwork finished up.

We had a nice weekend. My mom came up Friday and we visited the greenhouse here in town and picked up some flowers. Then we went for supper at Don Pablos and came home and watched The Great Outdoors...again - Tyson and I watched it a month or two ago...love that movie!

Saturday we braved the rain and joined the festivities of Summerfest downtown. We ate corndogs and funnel cakes in the rain and Tyson played in the bouncy houses for a little while. Thankfully it cleared up during the afternoon and by the time the parade was ready to start it was actually pretty nice out. I just love parades :)  I was a little disappointed there was only one marching bad though :( They're my favorites! Tyson did manage to score a half a grocery bag of candy though, not to mention a sombraro that the Don Pablos employees were throwing from their float! How awesome is that?! After the parade we picked up Taco Johns and had supper at the river lot. My mom hadn't been out there since we mowed and built the deck and dock so she enjoyed that. Overall a good weekend :)

Ok so be honest...

Is my page too busy?? Hello??

I'm thinking it is....too hard to read the text on the side....I'll play with it more later....I love the new options though! Very cool!

Ok so....apparently I can't count...

Because as of today we've been waiting 333 days for a match..LOL...I was getting a little ahead of myself with that last post! Haha!!

We recently began filling out paperwork for our renewal...I 've enjoyed myself immensly filling it out this far...NOT. Although, there is way less now than there was for the initial approval so that's a relief at least. We are also applying for our foster care license! Yay!!! I truely feel that this is THE year!

On the homefront, things are terrific :) We closed on our river lot last week and Steve completed the deck and installed the dock this weekend. Hopefully the weather warms up a bit so we can tube the river soon! We cleaned up our canoe yesterday and will probably take that down the river before we tube it just to make sure there's not any areas that are really weedy that we wouldn't be able to get a tube through.  We have some house plans drawn up as well, and we're just waiting for the bid to come back. There's still a few changes we want to make, but we're pretty much sure this is the one! We were forunate enough to be able to take a peak inside the exact same house that they had already built for someone else which was super nice. It's so hard to imagine what the house will look like by looking a flat peice of paper so seeing it really helped make the decision an easy one!

Day of Waiting 324

Ok....so 324 has no significant meaning...except for that it is a lot of days!! And in exactly 41 more days, will be our one year anniversary of waiting. Hopefully that will be the first and last annual anniversary we will have!

My worker has been very diligently searching for kids lately which has been so great. She also mentioned this morning that our profile had been critiqued recently and the feedback wasn't so great. After hearing what was said and reading it again, they were very right. It definitely was emphasing our need to be matched with a child, rather than the child's need to be matched with us. It also stated that I said "a happy environment produces happy children", which I did, but I meant more along the lines of, if the parents love eachother and treat eachother kindly, that rubs off on the children and usually they end up treating their spouses the same. Not always, I know, but I definitely do not want to give the impression to anyone that I believe I can love a childs problems away, because I know that is not realisitic. You can't love away brain damage from FAS or love away horrible memories of abuse and neglect. Those are things that will exist no matter what you do. So I can definitely see where they were coming from and feel much better now that we changed the wording of it.

It's hard though, trying to make yourself seem so wonderful so they pick you. On one hand you don't want them to think you live in this fairytale world, yet on the other you don't want to share all the gruesome details of all the horrible things you lived through and have them think you're a wacko! Thankfully we're right in the middle. Steve and I have had our share of ups and downs in life - thankfully nothing too traumitizing ;) (although, there was that one time when my mom cut my bangs...haha) But, with the support and love of our family and friends have made it through and became the stronger people we are today. I'm at a place in life right know where I can and want to share all the things I've been blessed with and welcome a child into our home, support her and help her grow up. I hope that is something they can feel when they read my profile. I know this will change our lives forever and that we'll have plenty of bumps along the way - but we're definitely up for the challenge :)

Another couple months have rolled by...and still we have no news to share. We've submitted for a couple kiddos here and there, but for the most part things have been really slow. I keep reading in the news and  on all the county and state adoption facebook fan sites that there are over 100,000 kids in care needing homes...where the heck are they all then? How do I find out about them? It's just so frustrating!

There's still that once little one in particular that we are waiting to hear about....I think of her all the time and can definitely see her fitting in very well with our family. So, we'll continue to say lots of prayers that we are choosen for her...guess we'll just have to wait and see!


Things have been pretty busy for us lately. My sister and I recently sold our dads farm and had an auction for all the farm equipment. It went very well and we were very pleased with the outcome. Steve and I recently purchased 1.7 acres on the Otter Tail River - so that's pretty exciting!!! We can't wait to get out there and start clearing out some of the brush. We plan to build a little deck down by the water and a gazebo further up at the top of the hill. Tons of space for kids to run and play! Last night we met the guy that owns the empty lot next to us - he said once the river goes down a bit it's around 5 feet in the deepest part of the river. Kind of dissapointing as far as putting a pontoon in - but it will definitley make swimming a lot more fun!! The bottom is nice and sandy and the current is pretty slow...perfect!! Our plan is to eventually build out there...probably won't happen this summer though. But, who knows!

Beautiful!!

That's all for now! Please remember to say lots of prayers for us, that we get matched soon!!

Dawn

Day 250

Today marks day 250 that we've been waiting to be matched...things have been very slow this past month. We're waiting to hear from a couple different workers if we'll be chosen to go on to the selection meetings. There's one sunny little girl in particular that I can't stop thinking about...I've said lots and lots of prayers over the past few weeks that we are the ones for her!! Of course, any child that we are chosen for will be a wondeful blessing!

While everything on the adoption front has been slow, spring sure has made a quick appearance! Everything has dried up enough that we were even able to take Cooper for a walk today...and better yet, light the bbq grill! Steve's boss gave us some smoked venison brats - they were so tasty!

My mom is coming up on Friday afternoon and will be staying through Monday. She is going to watch T and my niece A on Saturday night, so my sister Lisa, brother in law Mike, Steve and I, can go to the Totally 80's Prom here in town. I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun! My sister and I found the most awesome dress's and have our cans of Aqua Net all ready to go! LOL!

I wish I had some wonderful news to post, but I don't :( We're still waiting....

I've been doing a lot of reading in different adoption forums and on Adopt Us Kids' Facebook page and am feeling very discouraged. There are so many families on those sites who have been waiting a lot longer than we have and still haven't been matched yet. There are a few that are open to sibling groups and still haven't been matched.

I know I shouldn't let that get me down though. I know that when the time is right God will let it happen...I just hope God thinks that the right time is very soon...like April or May perhaps? Haha. T and I were shopping this afternoon and walked by a rack of Easter dress's..I stopped to look at them and he said "Mom, I just know we'll be able to buy one of these soon." Hmm...a child's psychic intuition maybe? LOL! I hope he's right!

In the meantime I thought what a better way to wait out the time, than by socializing with other people who are going through the exact same thing? So I formed the Facebook group Waiting to be matched. Theres ten members already :) It will be nice to be able to share stories and offer support to each other while we wait.

I read the book The Lost Boy, a couple weeks ago, written by David Pelzer. He is also the author of the book A Child Called It. His book explained the feelings of a child going into and living in foster care his entire life. He talked a lot about the abuse he endured from his mother and the way it made him feel. Often times people think a foster or adopted child should feel "grateful" towards their adoptive or foster parents - that they have been saved from a horrible situation. Of course, as a child, they don't understand that. They may feel guilty that their parents are in trouble for the abuse/neglect and deep down all they probably really want is to go home. Parts of the book were a little disturbing, but I think it was a good glimpse of the system through the eyes of a child.

Things at home have been quiet this week. T has school off tomorrow so Steve and I are taking a vacation day and we're going to go to Maplewood State Park snowmobiling for awhile. The trails there are smooth, groomed and family friendly. It's supposed to be 27 degrees tomorrow! Woot Woot!!

Last weekend we spent the weekend with Steve's brother and his family in Fargo at the Holiday Inn. There's a small waterpark there and T and his cousin H had a blast swimming and playing ping pong :) It was nice to get away for the weekend...even if it was only an hour away ;)

Have a good weekend!

Wait...wait...and wait some more :)

Unfortunately, I have no new news to share - just wanted to post a little update and ask for everyones prayers that we get matched soon!!

We're just continuing to keep our fingers (and toes, and arms, and legs...and anything else we can cross ;) crossed that we will hear something very soon!

I also wanted to share that last Sunday I purchased kiddo #2's very first doll from us; an extremly cute Cabbage Patch Kid with long curly hair; it was so much fun picking her out!

Nothing too exciting happening on the home front. Steve and I are bowling for his employer this weekend in the Chamber of Commerce's annual "Battle of the Business's". We've been doing it for the past few years and its always a good time. Then of course Sunday is the big Super Bowl game. We're going to try and make a trip up to my dads this weekend too, to show the farm to a potential buyer.

Hope everyone has a good rest of their week!

An American Tale

I remember back one night, when I was about 5 or 6 years old, we rented the movie Fievel: An American Tale. There was a part in the movie where Fievel gets seperated from his parents and sings this song, Somewhere Out There. I can still vividly remember breaking down in tears when he sang that song, and feeling so sad for him that he had lost his parents. To this day, hearing that song still makes me tear up!

So today as I was browsing through the http://www.families.com/ website, I came across an article an adoptee had written about her search for her biological mother, and a collaboration of songs she had put together that comforted her during her search. She notes that the song 'Somewhere out there' was one of her favorites. I couldn't help but think back to that day when I cried so hard for Fievel, and now wonder how many kids out there must feel like Fievel did on the day they were seperated from their parents.

So I decided to look up the lyrics for this song; and oddly enough, while this song still makes me a little sad, I can't help but compare the words to exactly how we are feeling right now, praying that we'll find that special little person and loving that little someone, 'somewhere out there'.


Somewhere out there


Beneath the pale moonlight

Someone's thinking of me

And loving me tonight



Somewhere out there

Someone's saying a prayer

That we'll find one another

In that big somewhere out there



And even though I know

How very far apart we are

It helps to think we might be wishing

On the same bright star



And when the night wind

Starts to sing a lonesome lullaby

It helps to think we're sleeping

Underneath the same big sky



Somewhere out there

If love can see us through

Then we'll be together

Somewhere out there

Out where dreams come true



And even though I know

How very far apart we are

It helps to think we might be wishing

on the same bright star



And when the night wind

Starts to sing a lonesome lullaby

It helps to think we're sleeping

Underneath the same big sky



Somewhere out there

If love can see us through

Then we'll be together

Somewhere out there

Out where dreams come true...

Blanket Update :)

I haven't worked on the blanket very much over the past six weeks, but plan to get back in gear and make some progress on it. I think I made it way to long...seems to take forever to get to the next row! She'll be able to cover her entire bed with it by the time I'm done!

We've submitted our home study a few times this month already. We've heard back from a couple of the workers too, which is always so nice! It can be really frustrating when you email and leave messages inquiring about different kids and you never hear anything back. I'm sure they're really busy and they're constantly bombarded with inquiries, but still...it's really frustrating!

I read this article today about the children of Haiti whose plans to be adopted by U.S. families are now in limbo due to the earthquake. I just can't imagine what these parents are going through. To be so close to having your children home and then have something so terrible happen. Those poor kids over there. I just can't even imagine. I wish there was more we could do. Hopefully they will figure out a way to expedite all these cases and get these kids over here quickly.

If you would like to donate to the American Red Cross to help with the Haiti relief effort, you can do so  here.

As sad as I am that the Holidays are over, I am so happy to be back into our regular routine again. 2009 was quite a busy year for us. The first half of the year was filled with wedding planning and also with getting our home study completed. At the time I thought preparing for both of those things would never end, but looking back I can't believe how fast they both went. By the beginning of July our home study was complete and we were officialy waiting to be matched. Four weeks later Steve and I were married and more than ready to enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

The rest of the fall was fairly uneventful - we celebrated T's ninth birthday and Thanksgiving in November and looked forward to spending Christmas and New Years with our family at my moms house. Our December took a turn for the worst when I received a early morning telephone call from my Aunt that my dad's health had taken a turn for the worst. Unfortunately, my dad lost his battle with cancer that day. But I am grateful that I was able to be with him during his final moments and that he is no longer suffering.

So now, we are looking forward to an exciting new year. We hope and pray that this year blesses us with a long awaited addition to our family. We don't have a whole lot planned for this year. Just a few little things - we plan to put new sheetrock and insulation up in the sun room in order to make it a television and play room for the kids. With everything we had going on last summer I didn't get to do a lot of planting, so a small garden and lots of flowers is on the agenda for the summer as well. We also hope to get in lots of camping time and are planning to take a week and go the Black Hills of South Dakota, or the Wisconsin Dells. We have our fingers crossed that we will be able to share all these things with another little one!!!

Happy 2010 everyone!!