Happy Easter

He has risen, just as he said!

We got to spend Saturday with our new kids, having an egg hunt, picnic and playtime at a park! It was so fun having all 6 of our kids together! On Sunday we went to church to celebrate Jesus, had a yummy lunch with grandparents and took a long nap! A little low key this year, but just what we needed!

Doubling Children!

Soooo, we met our new kids today! YAY!!! Since my last update we made the prayerful decision to proceed with the sibling group of 3 children.  We've been able to talk with the foster mom on the phone a few times, and had our first visit with her, the children, and both caseworkers today.  It went really well.  We had great conversation with the other adults, and were able to interact with the kids some too.  The best part was seeing all six of our children playing with one another! We had plans to go to a park, but the weather dictated otherwise, so we ended up at McDonalds Playplace. Not the best place for this type of meeting, but really our only option, and it turned out okay.  We met them in a town half way between where they live and where we live. Our towns are about two hours apart from each other. Sorry about the non specific sentences, but identifying information is not being released at this time via this blog - my foster/adopt friends understand this!

The oldest girl is 7, the middle girl is 6, and the boy is 5.  For now I will be referring to them as their ages...here is their story...
The bio mom is a drug addict and used during all of her pregnancies which is the primary reason for their removal into protective custody. The maternal grandparents received legal guardianship of 7 at birth, and at that time they were attending church with the current foster parents, who often babysat for 7. When 6 came along, she was a preemie and had to be woke every 2 hours and fed to be kept alive.  The maternal grandparents did not feel as though that was something they could undertake, so the current foster parents stepped up to fill in the gap and cared for her "13 out of every 14 days". When 5 was born, he tested positive for cocaine and was immediately taken into custody. Again, the current foster parents decided to fill this need.  They obtained their background checks and 5 was placed in their home at 2 weeks old by protective services.  At that time, the girls were also placed with them, due to the maternal grandparents decision to allow the bio mom to continue living with them and being around the children although she had not quit using drugs.  So, these kids have been with the same foster parents for just over 5 years, and have had a relationship with them their entire lives. That kind of attachment and emotional stability is unheard of for almost all foster children, so these guys are really blessed! The current foster parents are in their 60's and feel that the best thing for the children is to be adopted by a young family, which is why they are willing to let them go. Please be in prayer for them though, as it will be a very difficult transition.  The foster mom started crying several times today during our discussion about visitations. I can't imagine! These have been her babies for a long time.  The best part about this situation is that the foster parents want to stay involved as grandparents. They have made it more than clear that they wish to be grandparents to our current 3 as well, which is a huge blessing and answer to prayer for us. God is so good to us! He has not only given us 6 beautiful children, but a Nana and Papa as well! We are so excited about that! Our new grandparents are believers in Christ and live a lifestyle that is very similar to ours as far as moral standards go in accordance with tv/music/clothing, etc..., so this is truly a God ordained match for us!

We will be continuing to visit with the kids on the weekends for right now, as they are in school on weekdays, and live too far for just a quick evening visit. We will be progressing slowly, as it will take time for everyone to adjust to the new family dynamics, but hope to have them living with us by early summer. Please pray for my sweet husband as he stays up late every night diligently preparing our home for 3 more children (lots of painting and rearranging going on!). Please also pray for our children (all 6!) that they will form strong bonds with one another and adjust quickly to sibling dynamics. B, N and L will be sharing their parents and home, and 7, 6, and 5 will be moving into a new environment and will be getting parents. Those are big changes for little people.  Please be praying that the Peace of God, which transcends all understand will guard them.  They are all so precious and we want this transition to bring good not harm.  Please pray that we will know how to facilitate these changes in our lives and home.  And maybe pray I grow a couple of extra arms! ;-) Thank you!

Spring Planting

Today was so gorgeous! We went to Lowe's first thing to grab our supplies and headed home to spiff up the front flower beds. Two things about Lowe's: 1) Saturday mornings are crazy busy this time of year. Go early...we did, and all was well, but I felt sorry for the hoards of incoming people as we were leaving. 2) Look for their "distressed plants" - usually in the back corner of the garden center. These guys have sat on the shelves for a few too many days and are looking less than ideal (droopy, dehydrated), but, they are 50-90% off the original price, and they recover nicely once in the ground and watered. This is the second year in a row God has blessed us in this way. We got over $200 worth of plants for less than $40! Yay! Now on to the fun stuff...daddy works, mommy cleans up messes, and the boys LOVE gardening! :-)

Proud Mama Moments

Disclaimer: I'm bragging about my kids! ;-)

So, these little guys are growing up soooo fast. It's crazy how much they change, sometimes even from day to day. L has been scooting/army crawling all over the place, and is sitting up. N is honing his climbing skills...I found him in the crib the other day, and he has no fear on the playground! B is improving his academic skills everyday. He loves making patterns, and practices often. He's also quite a master at puzzles these days. He put together an 84 piece puzzle all by himself today! They are smart little guys! Oh, and I can't leave out my amazing husband! Check out his building skills!

Adoption Decisions

Ugh. I'm so frustrated right now. We are facing a really tough decision. Please pray with us and for us, that God would provide a clear answer.

We had a conference call with a team of caseworkers in Kansas in January 17th. The conference was in regards to a sibling group of 5 children; a 12 year old girl, an 11 year old boy, a 10 year old boy, a 9 year old girl and an 8 year old boy. Wow, right?! I know! At the end of the conversation we had agreed to adopt these children, and their worker was to initiate the ICPC (Interstate Contract for Placement of Children), which takes about 6 weeks to complete. Well, time has gone by, and although our worker has asked for several updates, we hadn't heard anything from KS until last week. The email we received then stated that another family had applied for the children that they had to consider. We were at a loss, because we thought these kids were already ours. We've been preparing our home for them. We had no idea where the other family came from, and if they would take precedence over us (they would automatically if they were in the same state as the kids, or if they had a previous relationship to or with the kids). The same day I spoke with our worker about that news, she also received an email from a caseworker here in Oklahoma, who had chosen our family for a sibling set of 3; a 5 year old boy, a 6 year old girl, and a 7 year old girl. So, of course we're thinking the door to KS is being shut, but that God is giving us other kids, which still may be the case. But, this morning, I received a call from the caseworker in KS, who told us that they would hold a BIS (best interest staffing) for the kids on the 18th of March, and they would have a final decision then as to which family would get custody of the 5 children. At that point, they would begin the ICPC process and we could start visitation. (We were supposed to originally be starting visitation this week, with the kids moving in by June 1st, when school was out.) She indicated that we were her first choice, but of course, she cannot officially state that, and we're a little apprehensive to trust what they are telling us, since they were supposed to be done with our ICPC by now, and they haven't been very forthright with information so far. If we choose to go with the OK kids, they are a guaranteed adoption for us, since they are in state, and we are already authorized for them. We would be able to start visitation with them next week. Problem: in OK, once the kids disclosure has been presented, you have a week to indicate whether or not you wish to proceed with them, or you deny them, and they will move to the next family in line. We got their disclosure (a file read, basically) last Tuesday, which means we are supposed to give our caseworker an answer tomorrow about them. Since KS called today with that new information, our caseworker has graciously agreed to extend our deadline until Thursday. So, we have 3 days to decide which sibling group to let go... Please pray!