VBS and Stuff

Our church is having VBS this week so the kids have been busy having fun. The theme is Wacky Lab and that involves lots of slime and games. All of the fun has been wearing them out and having to get up at 7am has been wearing me out! 

My older boys have been helping out with VBS because they are just a little too old to participate. I think that they were a bit bored and told me two days in a row that some of the adult volunteers weren't so nice to them. So, today Aunt Tina (my sister) rescued them. She works at the church and I think that they actually spotted her and begged her to let them help her out. They must have had a really good time with her because it's all that they have talked about this afternoon. Who knew that hanging out with Aunt Tina could be so much fun? From what they have to say, her job isn't that difficult. "She just sits at the computer and talks to court people all day." Hmmm? Child welfare is a stress free job for sure, huh, Tina?! Thanks for rescuing them from the mean adult volunteers! I mean, something really should be done about those meanies that volunteer their time to the church and children in the community!

You may ask what I've been doing without my children this week. Well, I'd love to say that I've been lying around eating bon bons and floating in the pool but that's not the case. I've been working! I had a photo session yesterday and I have been wrapping up some paperwork and post processing today. I do love my job but I am looking forward to our vacation! The countdown has officially begun. We have 15 more days!

Tomorrow is the last day of VBS. I am looking forward to sleeping in on Friday!

The Gift of Adoption

When I was a child and adults or other children would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I didn't know how to answer. All I ever really wanted to be was a Mom. I played with baby dolls much longer than most girls and I had decided that I wanted at least six children.

My dream came true early in my adult life. Trevor and I had our first child a month after I turned 19. Nothing could have ever prepared me for the feeling that I would feel as the doctor held my baby boy up so that I could see him for the first time. And, nothing could have prepared me for all of the work and heartache involved in caring for the very challenging, colicky baby that God had blessed us with. Ha ha. I loved every second of it though.

I watched my husband grow from a rebellious teenager to a protective Father in an instant. That tiny little life that we lovingly created together changed both of our lives forever. We knew instantly that we wanted to have at least one more child. Of course we went on to have another son fairly easily. If you read my testimony earlier, you'll know that we had loss after loss as we tried to have our third child. During that time, I investigated adoption and talked at length with my husband about it. It was because of all of our losses that he didn't want to adopt at that time. He was afraid that we would begin the process, be matched with a child and the parents would change their minds. So, we just pressed on in our efforts to have another child and I'm so glad that we did.

Thoughts of adoption never really left our minds though. We were so Blessed to have three healthy boys. We love them so very much and knew just how much joy that they bring to us that we wanted to share that love and joy with another child. It made perfect sense to adopt an older child and a girl this time.

I began to look into adopting a local child through our foster care system. We completed our classes and we were cleared to adopt. Trevor immediately felt a connection with a child that was on the FL Adoption Exchange. We had no idea that this child would eventually, after many, many, twists and turns, become our daughter.

I'll never forget the weeks and months leading up to our first visit with her. Just knowing that our child was out there and not being able to see her or talk with her was agonizing. She was going through so much and we just wanted to reassure her that she was going to be okay. Looking back, the wait was short though. Our first visit was great. I will remember it as clearly as I remember seeing each of my boys for the first time.

There is no way to describe the love that we have for this child. We love her as much as we love our boys. We have the same hopes and dreams for her as we have for them. Our worries are the same. She is and always will be our child. We are so blessed to have her in our lives and it's amazing to think that God had this planned before we were ever born.

There are so many, many children out there that need a loving home. They live here in the US and they live in foriegn Countries. So many people believe that it costs thousands upon thousands of dollars to adopt. That is not always the case. If you have love in your heart for a child, especially an older child (over 5) or a sibling group, and you can afford to provide basic needs for that child, chances are that you could afford to adopt.

If you have a heart for children and don't want to adopt, keep our older children in mind. There are hundreds of children that age out of the foster care system every single day. They go off to college and many times have no one to go home to for the holidays.

If you have questions about adoption through our foster care system or foster care, please leave a comment with your email address. I'll try to answer your questions. Things are different from state to state but at the very least, I can point you in the right direction.

I snagged the info below from http://www.faithfulfroggers.blogspot.com. Hop over and check out Heather's beautiful family.








The Top 13 Reasons Why Adoption is For You!
1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can’t watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child’s “real” parents.
7. You have ever been “pregnant” with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth. (2 years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God’s heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You know what the word “Dossier” means, and you can actually pronounce it!
13. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.
Stephanie

More Summer Fun

I am terrible when it comes to taking snap shots of my kids. I can't just snap pictures without setting them up and looking at what is in the background. It's the photographer in me. Well, I threw caution to the wind today and snapped away!

My kids took out the slip n slide and I got out the camera. They decided that Boogie Boards are easier on the knees. We all had fun!

This is Forrest. He's my oldest. He'll be 14 in a little over a month.

This is Chase. He'll be 12 in January.

This is Ashley. She's our sweet girl. She'll be 11 in October.

And, this is Brent! He's our wild man. Can you tell? He'll be 7 in January.


Look at their expressions as he steals a turn! The little booger. There's not much that they can do because they have all spoiled him. It's all their fault... not mine.

Our Summer

It has been a busy, busy summer. This is the first summer that I have worked and the first summer that I have had four children. It has been fun but very busy.

We live on a lake so that provides a lot of entertainment. Everyone in the family loves to go on the boat and the kids love to fish.

This is my husband doing what he loves. This is an old picture but I just love it.

My baby boy can sit and fish for hours at a time. If you can believe it, the water level was covering that dock two years ago.

And, even the dog has to find a way to stay cool.

We will continue to have fun and try to find ways to relax. I hope that you're having a fantastic summer too!

Stephanie

Fathers

I've had somewhat of a rocky relationship with my Father for as long as I can remember. I love him with all of my heart and I wish that things could be different. I pray for changes daily but I am patient with God as I realize that these things happen for a reason. 

Both of my parents are mentally ill. My Father is Schizophrenic and Bi-polar so many things that he does can be attributed that his illness. He was also abused when he was young so that also plays into things. My Mother is clinically depressed and she also has Lupus. 

The main issue that I have with my Father is that it seems that no matter how hard I try, I can never please him. He is very controlling and more often than not he's vindictive and hurtful. No matter how old you become, you seek your parent's unconditional love and acceptance. It's really all that you want to feel complete. 

I struggled with all of this for a very long time and at times, I still do. About a year ago, I felt God's Fatherly arms around me. That is something that I've not felt from my Dad in year and years. I needed that so badly and as I felt it, I realized that I am everything to the only ONE that matters. Go loves me unconditionally and accepts me exactly the way that I am. I have rejected Him at times and He is still standing there with arms wide open as I run to Him again. 

I will always love my Dad and pray that some day that he will accept me as I am but even if that never happens, I know that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me and accepts me for who I am. He created me just the way that I am. I look forward to the day that I can see His face and let Him know just exactly how very much I love Him. 

The same Heavenly Father that loves me and accepts me as I am, loves you too. If you take a moment to focus on Him and trust Him, you will feel it too. There is honestly no feeling like it.

Jimmy

On June 25, 1981, I was given the most precious gift that my parents ever gave to me. That gift was my baby brother, Jimmy. On December 7, 2005, at the age of 24, he was rescued from this World and gifted with eternal life in Heaven. It was the the best day of his life and the saddest day of mine.

Jimmy struggled to find his place in this World. From the time that he was born, he was my baby. I've always loved babies so having a real one was the best! He was my playmate until I started dating and then he would hang out with my boyfriends. Being the baby in the family and taking so long to make his appearance, he was quite spoiled.

I remember playing all alone in mud puddles until he came along. I was so happy to finally have someone to play trucks with and make mud pies with. My sister is the prissy one. You should have seen the way that she would look at me when I asked her to play in the mud. She had no idea what she was missing. Naturally, Jimmy was happy to sit right down and dig tunnels and fill dump trucks. He was my best friend.

I got married when Jimmy was 12 (he turned 12 the day before my wedding). He loved my husband and my husband loved him. He played little league football and then football in High School. He also wrestled in High School. We went to as many games and matches as we could. We had babies during this time so it wasn't as often as we would have liked.

Jimmy was a good boy and he loved his nephews beyond belief but he struggled with life. He became addicted to some prescription narcotics due to some injuries that he received wrestling. He struggled with that addiction for years. It was hard to see him suffering. He overdosed twice and gave us all a scare. I was able to pour my heart out to him the first time. I'm so glad that I did because it left me with no regrets.

Jimmy was killed in a motorcycle accident due to no fault of his own. I'll never forget that rainy December night. It was the worst night of my life. I truly believe that Jesus to reached down and Jimmy took His Hand. The hope of being with him again is the only thing that makes this pain bareable.

Please join me in remembering my baby brother this week. He would have been 27 years old. I miss him terribly but I know that he is happy. That makes me happy.

My Testimony cont.

I am so thankful that I knew Jesus when I lost my brother, Jimmy. As I said before, I feel that the prayer that was said as I headed to the hospital is what has brought me from where I was before his accident to where I am now.

I have always known God but I haven't always trusted Him. When I learned of Jimmy's accident, I knew that I needed God and somehow I began to trust Him. I drove to the hospital I trusted that Jimmy was in God's Hands and he was. As my World as I knew it, shattered at the hospital and I begged my husband to get there, I knew that I was in God's Hands. As I somehow moved my way through preparing for a Memorial service that my sister and I planned, I was in God's Hands. I didn't sleep much in those days following Jimmy's death and during those hours I spoke with God.

God literally carried me through the very darkest times in my life. He carried me through losing my babies even when I was furious with Him for allowing it to happen and He carried me through losing my baby brother. There were times when I felt like I wouldn't be able to live without Jimmy and God has shown me how. There were times when I felt so alone and desperate and God has shown me that HE IS HERE and that He has also given me family and friends for comfort.

I have always felt like I was meant to adopt. I brought the idea up to my husband when we were struggling to have our third child. He wasn't open to the idea for several reasons so I let it go. We would talk about it from time to time but it was never a serious thought until April 2006. My husband brought the subject up and suggested that we check into adopting an older child. That was all that I needed to hear. The process was started right away and after some twists and turns, we have a beautiful daughter that we know was meant to be our's!

My testimony may seem simple to you and in many ways, compared to others it is. I just want you to know that no matter what your "story" is, God is there. He's always here. We just have to accept Him and allow Him to help us. He's always willing and when we allow Him to help, our lives are so much fuller.

I will always miss my baby brother but I know where he is. He's at the feet of Jesus, playing with my babies. I can't wait to join Him.