Got Hail?

We had a hail storm like nothing I've seen in my life yesterday. I know to some of you, this is no big deal, but around our parts, it was a hugely fun surprise and we were all running around screaming like kids in a candy store (with money in our pockets). 

Here's M-Dog taking a dare and going out for a run in it: 

That's a pretty big hail stone, if you ask me!

It was just so beautiful coming down and seeing it cover our driveway like snow:

Seriously, the kids had so much fun. I did, too.

The chickens were out roaming when it hit, so they went for cover under our steps:

J-Man was pretty sure it was the neatest thing ever. 

Interrupting my regularly scheduled break...

...to talk about how wonderful it is to be done with the adoption process!

May 17th was a greatly anticipated day in our house. I mean, we didn't know until about a month ago what our finalization date would be, but we often dreamed about the day we would be finished with the process.

Monday morning I woke up and couldn't wait to get to the courthouse. We {amazingly} got out the door by 7:20 a.m. with 5 kids, all clean and hair brushed. They even had clothes AND shoes on. And, they had all eaten. Tell me that isn't impressive?

We got there at just the right time...got right through security and only had to wait a few minutes before we were called back to the judge's chambers. We had so much family there that we didn't go back to his office, but were out in the court room. It was wonderful. I can't even put into words the joy I felt when he announced he was terminating G's dependency on the court and signing her off as "our child." I cried a bit, but a lot less than I thought I was going to.

It was all over within about 15 minutes, and we all went and had hot cocoa afterwards. It was a perfect day for it--cool and overcast. We came home and just enjoyed our day. It still hasn't really sunk in yet...maybe after a month's worth of social worker's visits passes and no one shows up. Or maybe after G falls down and gets a bruise and I don't have to e-mail anyone to let them know. Or maybe when we want to go on vacation and I don't have to tell anyone where we're going and when we'll be back. Or maybe when I take her to the doctor and don't have to get a form filled out and sent back to the adoption agency. Ah, so many freedoms!

I'm just so thankful for our sweet girl and so happy to be done. Done. Done. Done. DONE!

Introducing...

Miss G! OUR daughter. =)

And all the kiddos together.

What an awesome day!

Stream of Consciousness...

First off, J-Man has graduated to the land of missing teeth. He lost his first one on Saturday after what seems like a year of it being loose. The tooth fairy was generous and left something she knew Josh would appreciate--a new CD. She made sure to let him know that the first lost tooth is special, and not to expect such an extravagant gift every time. I dunno...there's just something about that first tooth to me...ahem, I mean, the Tooth Fairy. Like it's a symbol of childish adulthood. Yeah, you read that right. Maybe I should coin that phrase, "childish adulthood."

Good thing she warned him that such awesome gifts aren't in his near future, since this morning, Mr. C "accidentally" kicked J-Man in the mouth (oh, did I say "accidentally"?) and knocked out his other hanging tooth.

Now, tooth #2 hangs safely in a Ziploc baggy on the cupboard...safe from little hands. Can anyone say, "25 cents?" What a let down for poor J-Man. I'm sure he'll survive.

Only 13 days until Miss G's finalization! I can't wait to share "real" pictures of her here. You won't be disappointed! She's a cutie, I tell you.

Planning for our Adoption Network Kickoff (check us out on Facebook here!) is going well so far. I've been learning a lot about the red tape involved in planning an event at a big church. If I would have known ahead of time, I probably would have picked a different venue; but I'm actually glad I've been able to see what goes into putting on such an event.

These past few weeks, I've finished reading "The Hole in Our Gospel" (highly recommended), and "Three Cups of Tea." I enjoyed the latter, but it was a bit long-winded for my taste. Right now I'm reading, "The Well-Trained Mind," and I can't say enough good things about this book So many moms (homeschooling and non-homeschooling) have recommended it to me, and I finally forced myself to get it. Soooo worth it.

I find myself reading tidbits of homeschooling books all day, and then at night settling in for some more. I fall asleep thinking "education," and dream about teaching our kids. It seems to have taken over my mind {temporarily}? Each kid has such a different way of learning, and figuring out how to meet each of his needs while not burning myself out has been, well, insightful. I am thoroughly enjoying teaching them, though. I truly feel like I am experiencing life with them, in a way I never felt when they were in school all day. It's exciting to see them progress, and knowing that I had some {small} part in that is wonderful.

13 days! 13 days! 13 days!

May 17th

Oh, what a glorious day it will be!

God willing, on May 17, 2010 at 8:30 a.m. we will be summoned into the judge's chambers and will finalize Miss G's adoption. Finally!

I keep looking at G and thinking how much her birth family is missing by not having her in their lives. She is a beautiful, sweet, and perfect member of our family. It pains me to think of having my children taken away, raised by some stranger. Of course, I know her history. I know what her birth parents have done, and they are in no way fit to be parents of these woven-by-God children. They have had many, many chances, and to leave these kids in their care would be nothing short of a disaster.

I am so looking forward to completing our family...no more answering to social workers or adoption agencies, just raising our kids like "normal" parents!

In other news, I am so excited about a new adventure Superman and I are undertaking. We are starting an adoption network at our church! I can't believe that there are over 10,000 people who attend any given weekend, and there is no network for families who have adopted. I can't wait to see how the Lord works in this group, and how it grows over time. I have so many plans and ideas of where I would like to head...patience, I suppose. =) For those of you who are part of adoption groups, do you have any tips or words of advice for me? Right now I'm reading " The Adoption Network," by Laura Christianson. It's an excellent resource given to me by a friend--one I never even knew existed!

Homeschooling is going awesome. We are planning on wrapping up our school year the last Friday in May. Can't believe it's coming up so quickly!

Tomorrow we're one step closer...

...to being the official mommy and daddy to this adorable girl.

Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., we will sign final papers for Miss G. Final. Final. Fi-nal. Gosh, I like the sound of that!

I can't even begin to say what it feels like.

Gobbling

The day after Christmas, we decided to live on the edge and drive out to Idaho to see my brother and his family. It was quite the adventure, being that we only stayed there 1.5 days, and drove 9 hours out and 10.5 hours back. But, it was fully worth it!

On the way home, we went through Reno, Nevada. It's a mini-metropolis of hotels, casinos, and other sundry businesses. As we drove through, we talked to the kids about all the casinos. Superman explained what gambling was. He broke it down like this: "If I told you to give me $20, and if you could guess a correct number between 1 and 1 million, I would give you $40. If you got it wrong, though, I would get to keep your $20."

The kids all seemed to get that. Well, I don't know about N...she was licking the sticky lollipop residue off her fingers. And G, well, she was chewing on leftover french fries and bits of old food from her car seat. But, I digress.

The boys all seemed to be intrigued with this "gambling" concept. Mr. C, especially. He kept asking all sorts of questions and saying, "What a rip off!" and, "Why would anyone give their money away??" We continued on home, feeling very productive after such a great conversation.

Fast forward to last night. The boys are all watching a cartoon in M-Dog's room. Mr. C comes running in to the family room and exclaims, "Daddy! The t.v. just told us we should go gobbling!" To which I said, "What? Gobbling? What does that mean?" Mr. C says, "You know. They were telling us to put all our money is some machine so they could take it all! They were telling us to go gobbling!"

Ha. The things kids say. It's like when I was growing up and always thought grilled cheese was GIRL cheese. I think I was like 13 before I realized it was grilled.

How Adoption Changed My Views--Part 2

When we had Mr. C, he was perfect. Or at least, perfect in our sight. He was a typical first child...smart, early walker, constantly stimulated. We had nothing else to do but shower our boy with love and attention, read to him constantly, do puzzles with him, and help him grow his brain. Being that Superman is a teacher, he had half the year off to spend with our firstborn. I think we crammed more stimulation into that first year than in all the ensuing years combined.

Right before Mr. C turned one year old, J-Man was placed with us. Suddenly, spending unending amounts of time interacting with Mr. C became close to impossible. And I felt pretty guilty for it.

I realized when we got J-Man that he didn't get that same running start that Mr. C did. He had already been in 3 foster homes in his near-six months of life. He had been hospitalized for pneumonia and RSV and had never had anyone sit down and read to him or wrestle with him. And there was an obvious difference between where he was developmentally at 6 months, and where Mr. C had been at 6 months.

And when M-Dog and N came to us, it was even more apparent. They had been removed from their birth parents when M-Dog was 2 years, and N was 5 weeks. They went on to three foster homes before the Lord planted us on their front step. And as I've said before, M-Dog was three by that time. And he didn't speak. So much vital time had passed, and those so-important first few years were thrown by the wayside, never to be had again. N was 13 months when we got her, and was still crawling, only saying "mama" and just behind in general.

Thankfully, we got G at six weeks. She was still young, and had only been in one foster home, so her transition to our home was simple.

So this is what I've learned:

1. It's nearly impossible (or maybe even impossible) to give all our children the same level of undivided attention that our firstborn received.

2. Children adopted out of foster care almost always come with baggage. But, the baggage is so worth carrying. Because seeing your child blossom from the child he or she was into the child he or she is becoming is one of the most rewarding experiences. Ever.

3. I can't expect the same responses and growth out of each of our children. Of course, this would apply if we only had biological children as well, but I believe it's more pronounced in adopted children. These kids each have their own story, their own challenges, their own pains, and their own triumphs. Their pasts have shaped who they are, and I have to flexibly work around those nuances and parent them individually instead of as a group.

It's hard to admit, but there have been times (usually the challenging times), when I have thought to myself, "Man, it would have been so much easier to just have our own biological kids." I know that sounds really bad. I know that every child is unique, and who knows what future children of ours would have turned out like. But, at least I would know where they come from, you know? At least I would know that they were provided for, loved, and given the best I could give them. I won't lie, it's hard to be an adoptive parent. But as I've said before, it's also one of the most amazing adventures.

And it's a perfect illustration of the way our Lord "adopts" us, despite our histories. Despite our shortcomings and failures, He loves us perfectly. And I am so confident that when He sees us blossom, it makes Him giddy with excitement.

Happy Gotcha Day to my Sweet G...

One year ago today, G came to us...6 weeks old; tiny, sweet, adorable.

She fills our lives with more joy than we thought possible.

She giggles and laughs and runs around with her brothers and sisters.

She has spunk and grit and tenderness all in one.

Sweet little G...how grateful we are for you!

On Birthparents...

When J-Man came to us, his parental rights terminated about 2 weeks later. Being new adoptive parents, we had no idea how the process works, what to expect, etc. Our social worker told us the mom had 60 days to appeal, but that she most likely wouldn't. And, she didn't. Thankfully.

We did discover, however, while perusing the documents detailing J-Man's life, the names of both birth parents. This got us thinking. Wouldn't it be great if we could have some photos of them? I mean, I'm not adopted, but I often long to know more about my dad's history since he passed away in 2000. I know he carried with him stories from abroad, where he grew up in India. I wished he had shared his language and his culture with us more. I can only imagine how those feelings would be magnified if I had never met my birth parents and didn't know who I looked like. I would imagine there would be a hole somewhere in me...longing to know who I came from, where I came from, whose nose I had, whose eyes I had.

So, with that, we decided to hire a private investigator to track down J-Man's birth parents and get some photos for us.

It took a few months, but in the end, we ended up with one photo of birth mom and a silent video of birth dad. Along with that came a good supply of info on both parents. We have those items locked up in a safe that's only for J-Man's eyes. No one else in our family has ever seen it, not even our other kids. When he's ready to share it with people, he is welcome to do it. Occasionally, we open up that safe, show J-Man who is birth parents were and remind him just how much we love him. We remind him that God put him in our lives, that we CHOSE him because he was the perfect boy for our family and that any time he has questions about where he came from, he can ask.

I'm so happy we made the decision to get those photos. We hope to update that file in a few years just so we can keep tabs on them; that way if J-Man decides when he's grown that he wants to find his birth parents, he won't have to trudge through 20 years of mystery to find them.

M-Dog, N and G were all such a different story--since we did visits with birth mom for awhile, I just asked (through the social worker) for her to bring photos and a letter to each of the kids at their last meeting. She obliged, so they each have something from her. We also set up an e-mail account so both the birth parents could send messages at any time to the kids.

I'm curious to see whether our kids will have a desire to find their birth parents later in life. As much as I want to hold on to them as "my own," I know that it's not my right to hold them back from something so important should they decide they need to discover their histories.

What are your feelings on this?

The "G" is for...

G...

My pixie-like,
adorable,
tad bit high-maintenance
girl.

As much as I'd like to show her incredibly delightful face, since we're still not finalized, I decided against it.

Miss G is the consummate completion to our family. As I stated here, I was initially freaked out about the idea of bringing another child into our house. And although it has definitely been a challenge (to put it mildly) at times, having a sister for Naomi has been like eating a warm cupcake and discovering there's oozing chocolate in the middle.

G is definitely a mommy's girl right now. But that's completely by her choice. Superman is just waiting for her to realize the power she has over him (not that he would admit that). She won't go to anyone else if I'm around without screaming bloody murder. But, I have hope that she won't be 16 and freaking out that I'm going to disappear when I go around the corner. Although at that point, I'll probably wish she did.

G is so darn adorable. I mean, really. When I referred to her as a pixie above, I wasn't really exaggerating. She has these dainty features and this cute smile with little dimples that just make her look like a mini-angel on earth. Sure, she's high maintenance right now, but that's ok. She's earned it.

She's so close to walking (which, by the way, I thought she'd do at least a month ago since she was standing on her own before crawling...). I think once she actually gets the confidence up, she'll be good to go.

She's turning one this month. So strange. I remember when we first got her at 6 weeks old, I felt like her first birthday was soooo far away. But, here it is coming up!

Her parental rights were terminated a few months ago, and now we're just in the appeal process. Birth mom has appealed every decision possible with all her kids, so it really was no surprise. We're just in a waiting game at this point hoping that 6-9 months from now our family will officially be complete!

So, that wraps up our kiddos. Would you like to know the dirty details of Superman?