Thanks to a good friend of mine, I have decided on the new name for this blog. One that is positive and reflects how we feel about each other. We are fortunate to have found these three children who needed a family to love them. They have blessed us and made me especially as Mother be more. I hope I am not failing them because there are new things I have to try and parent that I have never dealt with in my 19 years of motherhood experience with my other five children. But I keep praying and I feel that I will be ok, more importantly... THEY WILL BE OK... and thru all my hard efforts and love, they will be taught right from wrong and grow up to be amazing people.
Boy that sounded conceded. Not trying to sound like that because believe me, I am only hopeful here...but in my heart of hearts, I do feel the Lord has control on this one, he is going to be there for me and them. He will lead me down whatever path I need to go so that they can be ok and better than ok. It has been a lot of hard work and I know there is more work coming, but its so worth it.
I feel fortunate as well in this journey we have been on to find these children and after finding them. For all the wonderful support and love from so many others. I felt greatly loved and have no way of expressing my gratitude to everyone who has been there for us in so many different ways. Thank you all for your love and support. It really means the world to me :)to US!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Chang in title...
thinking of changing my title to this blog to..... NOT THE DUGGARS BUT CLOSE ENOUGH! What ya think? LOL I feel like saying 10 is enough is almost negative sounding. Any ideas?
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Can't wait to share pictures....
I can't wait to share pictures of my newest little children we are adopting. I wish I could right now! They had a great Easter! It was so much fun having little children around for Easter again. We went and saw the Easter Bunny. We had to wake them for Easter Morning and get them all excited. I don't think these children have ever had Easter like it is at our house. We did easter egg hunts and breakfast and Grandpa's. They loved the little gifts we bought them to go in their baskets with the candy. They were so excited! So much fun!
So here's the catch up. All three children are all finally healthy, caught up in shots, dental and are still getting some evaluations done on them. We think J (age 5 boy) has autism. My husband thinks he has it so bad we will have to keep him with us forever. I am not so sure. He is teachable. He is so smart. He wants to work and is a hard little worker. I think we will be suprised :) But if not its ok, because I look at him and love him so much! HE IS MY SON! :)
These little ones do fit our family so well. They have settled down so much since the first time we got them in Jan. They are learning the house rules and what is expected of them and holding to it :) They have brought us all so much joy already. There are my days where I am wiped and wonder if I am too old to do this. 8 kids WOW! Especially since now we have 6 girls and two boys. The girls love to talk and sometimes its all I can do to focus on what they say. You know how they go into every little detail... HE SAID/SHE SAID/THOUGHT/ lol....
We are planting a garden. We didn't think we would get it done in time but the young men from our church came over for a service project and in 2 hours had all our rock gone and we were able to rotatil and get more dirt and stuff for it :) Now we just have to plant! :)
We have upped our food storage. Litterally went out and bough 1600 worth of food for our storage. Its like a 1/3 of what we should have but its a great start and what peace I feel for having it if something were to happen. (Loss of job, gas prices go up, natural disaster)
Today I go get a physical to be able to adopt these three. I am nervous. I hate going to the doctors. I hate needles!
I had an amazing Mother's Day. My children are so great. Woke up to flowers and cards. The children were so good. They put on a play they made up for me :) so cute! They planted pretty flowers out front for me :) I had a blessed day. Thinking about how blessed I am to say I am a mother of 8 :)
Now we are just preparing for the adoptiong. WAITING!!! Not sure yet when... there is some court thing in June. They are trying to make sure no DADDIES come forward to claim the kiddos. So yeah... gotta wait. We are also trying to get them all evaluated to make sure we won't need help with medical or anything while they are being raised with us. The state will help us if J turns out to have autism. Which will be a huge blessing. Doctors and therapist for that are so expensive.
BUT THAT IS IT FOR NOW :) WE ARE SO HAPPY!
So here's the catch up. All three children are all finally healthy, caught up in shots, dental and are still getting some evaluations done on them. We think J (age 5 boy) has autism. My husband thinks he has it so bad we will have to keep him with us forever. I am not so sure. He is teachable. He is so smart. He wants to work and is a hard little worker. I think we will be suprised :) But if not its ok, because I look at him and love him so much! HE IS MY SON! :)
These little ones do fit our family so well. They have settled down so much since the first time we got them in Jan. They are learning the house rules and what is expected of them and holding to it :) They have brought us all so much joy already. There are my days where I am wiped and wonder if I am too old to do this. 8 kids WOW! Especially since now we have 6 girls and two boys. The girls love to talk and sometimes its all I can do to focus on what they say. You know how they go into every little detail... HE SAID/SHE SAID/THOUGHT/ lol....
We are planting a garden. We didn't think we would get it done in time but the young men from our church came over for a service project and in 2 hours had all our rock gone and we were able to rotatil and get more dirt and stuff for it :) Now we just have to plant! :)
We have upped our food storage. Litterally went out and bough 1600 worth of food for our storage. Its like a 1/3 of what we should have but its a great start and what peace I feel for having it if something were to happen. (Loss of job, gas prices go up, natural disaster)
Today I go get a physical to be able to adopt these three. I am nervous. I hate going to the doctors. I hate needles!
I had an amazing Mother's Day. My children are so great. Woke up to flowers and cards. The children were so good. They put on a play they made up for me :) so cute! They planted pretty flowers out front for me :) I had a blessed day. Thinking about how blessed I am to say I am a mother of 8 :)
Now we are just preparing for the adoptiong. WAITING!!! Not sure yet when... there is some court thing in June. They are trying to make sure no DADDIES come forward to claim the kiddos. So yeah... gotta wait. We are also trying to get them all evaluated to make sure we won't need help with medical or anything while they are being raised with us. The state will help us if J turns out to have autism. Which will be a huge blessing. Doctors and therapist for that are so expensive.
BUT THAT IS IT FOR NOW :) WE ARE SO HAPPY!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Kalene's Prom
Kalene went to Prom with a friend. :) She had a blast! My Mom made her dress! She was so beautifuL!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
What I have learned from our adoption journey...
I know that Revelation is real and confirmation too. I know that God has answered all my prayers.(some quicker than others, some to refine me and in his time) That he is in my life and that many angels from heaven and on earth, have helped our family in our journey for that last two years.
I know that as a family we have grown closer, that our faith has become stronger and that we were given hope even in our darkest hours.
Looking back these last two years I can see where all of this has come about for me personally and for my family.
We KNEW as a family, individually and together that SOMEONE was missing. We could not deny it. There is something very beautiful and sacred about a family praying for a long period of time together, individually at ever opportunity to pray... meal time, family prayer time, individual prayer and prayers said in the temple... Praying with ONE purpose, ONE HEART and full of hope and faith while doing so. It brought us closer together to do this as a family.
Looking back, I can see where one of us might of felt down or less in faith about our journey, how the others who were strong were able to lift that person, we could lean on the other ones faith and testimony and become strong again. Our family unit has never been so solid until we had this opportunity to grow in such a spiritual manner. (I am thinking we must continue on doing this with other purposes that we agree on as a family)
It was such a blessing to see our children anxiously waiting to hear about our temple trips and what we felt when we prayed about our adoption journey. What comfort it brought my children to hear that, YES we are meant to adopt, That YES there is a special someone still meant to join our family and YES we were still on the right path. That peace, that revelation and that confirmation was the very food to our souls and faith that we needed to continue, as a family, to wait patiently for the Lord to tell us when it was time... (IN HIS TIME)
I am stubborn woman, I testify that God knows us individually because he knew I had it set in my head that we were getting an infant. He had to patiently and slowly soften my heart to his will, and open my mind to the idea of not an infant but a child and not just one, but 3. Over time, he truly did that.
Many times angels did attend us, in our prayers we all could feel them surrounding us and praying with us. Comforting us and cheering us on because we were doing all that we could possibly do to ensure these things would come about, one being living the way we knew we should to the best of our ability. Angels were there in my darkest hours, when I felt alone and faithless or full of doubt. They did comfort me... softly encouraging me to continue on in this journey. I felt them.
Then there were angels who came to our needing hour from earth (people) and who had been prompted to do certain kind acts of kindness that truly filled a need in our life. From just listening to me, to sharing how they knew we were meant to have another person too, to putting food in our house after the children arrived and I had no money to get us food, due to no time to rearrange our food budget that was already spent that month. To clothes and even toys for these children! The amount of help, love and support from others who truly wanted to be apart of this journey with us has been amazingly overwhelming and beautiful! I feel so blessed!
God answered many important prayers for me immediately to show me he was there and that YES these were my children. In Nov, I poured out my heart to the Lord, and had signed us up for pride classes to become a foster parent so we could open our adoption options up but that class wasn't available until February and an hour later, after praying on my knees and begging for direction, a case worker called and told me that a class was available that next weekend and our name came to them. THAT THIS NEVER HAPPENS, she repeated that several times. I knew God wanted us to do foster to adopt and had no doubt from that moment that our child/children would come thru the foster system.
Another prayer answered was when we got the children on January 5th, We were broke and had already gotten our food for the payday. I had nothing in the check book and I once again prayed how will I feed these children? I was thinking of going to the church for help but a dear friend felt the promptings of the Lord and had plenty of money left over on her food stamps and just showed up one day with a great amount of food to that filled our pantry and freezer! SHE HAD NO IDEA OUR DESPERATE NEED she just knew that she had to do this for us. How blessed I am that she followed that spiritual promptings. So many more prayers were answered, so many telling us that YES THESE THREE CHILDREN ARE OURS!
I must share that there were many trials and one trial that was difficult for me was so many people looked at us like, YOU HAVE FIVE KIDS WHY DO YOU WANT MORE? YOUR SO OLD!!! IS THIS MIDLIFE CRISIS?? EMPTY NEST SYNDROME? (because Virginia was leaving for College) I heard So many rude comments and received so many disturbing looks. It was hard to ignore and sometimes even hurtful, but I made it through all that... and I held my head up high for I knew what the true meaning of this life was... to me... its FAMILY! That is all that matters. That is what the whole plan of salvation is based around... FOREVER FAMILIES! At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks but what we know as a family. Together as a family we can do anything with the Lord on our side! And for us, this journey has proven that.
I am excited about the day I go to court and sign my name on the papers that I am indeed the Mother of these children. Then I will walk into the temple holding my families hands, kneel before the alter all in white as my other three little angels will walk in all in white and join us. Becoming our forever children! Making us a FOREVER COMPLETE FAMILY! I know that day angels will attend... MANY MANY ANGELS FROM EARTH AND IN HEAVEN! Oh sweet will be that day!
I know that as a family we have grown closer, that our faith has become stronger and that we were given hope even in our darkest hours.
Looking back these last two years I can see where all of this has come about for me personally and for my family.
We KNEW as a family, individually and together that SOMEONE was missing. We could not deny it. There is something very beautiful and sacred about a family praying for a long period of time together, individually at ever opportunity to pray... meal time, family prayer time, individual prayer and prayers said in the temple... Praying with ONE purpose, ONE HEART and full of hope and faith while doing so. It brought us closer together to do this as a family.
Looking back, I can see where one of us might of felt down or less in faith about our journey, how the others who were strong were able to lift that person, we could lean on the other ones faith and testimony and become strong again. Our family unit has never been so solid until we had this opportunity to grow in such a spiritual manner. (I am thinking we must continue on doing this with other purposes that we agree on as a family)
It was such a blessing to see our children anxiously waiting to hear about our temple trips and what we felt when we prayed about our adoption journey. What comfort it brought my children to hear that, YES we are meant to adopt, That YES there is a special someone still meant to join our family and YES we were still on the right path. That peace, that revelation and that confirmation was the very food to our souls and faith that we needed to continue, as a family, to wait patiently for the Lord to tell us when it was time... (IN HIS TIME)
I am stubborn woman, I testify that God knows us individually because he knew I had it set in my head that we were getting an infant. He had to patiently and slowly soften my heart to his will, and open my mind to the idea of not an infant but a child and not just one, but 3. Over time, he truly did that.
Many times angels did attend us, in our prayers we all could feel them surrounding us and praying with us. Comforting us and cheering us on because we were doing all that we could possibly do to ensure these things would come about, one being living the way we knew we should to the best of our ability. Angels were there in my darkest hours, when I felt alone and faithless or full of doubt. They did comfort me... softly encouraging me to continue on in this journey. I felt them.
Then there were angels who came to our needing hour from earth (people) and who had been prompted to do certain kind acts of kindness that truly filled a need in our life. From just listening to me, to sharing how they knew we were meant to have another person too, to putting food in our house after the children arrived and I had no money to get us food, due to no time to rearrange our food budget that was already spent that month. To clothes and even toys for these children! The amount of help, love and support from others who truly wanted to be apart of this journey with us has been amazingly overwhelming and beautiful! I feel so blessed!
God answered many important prayers for me immediately to show me he was there and that YES these were my children. In Nov, I poured out my heart to the Lord, and had signed us up for pride classes to become a foster parent so we could open our adoption options up but that class wasn't available until February and an hour later, after praying on my knees and begging for direction, a case worker called and told me that a class was available that next weekend and our name came to them. THAT THIS NEVER HAPPENS, she repeated that several times. I knew God wanted us to do foster to adopt and had no doubt from that moment that our child/children would come thru the foster system.
Another prayer answered was when we got the children on January 5th, We were broke and had already gotten our food for the payday. I had nothing in the check book and I once again prayed how will I feed these children? I was thinking of going to the church for help but a dear friend felt the promptings of the Lord and had plenty of money left over on her food stamps and just showed up one day with a great amount of food to that filled our pantry and freezer! SHE HAD NO IDEA OUR DESPERATE NEED she just knew that she had to do this for us. How blessed I am that she followed that spiritual promptings. So many more prayers were answered, so many telling us that YES THESE THREE CHILDREN ARE OURS!
I must share that there were many trials and one trial that was difficult for me was so many people looked at us like, YOU HAVE FIVE KIDS WHY DO YOU WANT MORE? YOUR SO OLD!!! IS THIS MIDLIFE CRISIS?? EMPTY NEST SYNDROME? (because Virginia was leaving for College) I heard So many rude comments and received so many disturbing looks. It was hard to ignore and sometimes even hurtful, but I made it through all that... and I held my head up high for I knew what the true meaning of this life was... to me... its FAMILY! That is all that matters. That is what the whole plan of salvation is based around... FOREVER FAMILIES! At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks but what we know as a family. Together as a family we can do anything with the Lord on our side! And for us, this journey has proven that.
I am excited about the day I go to court and sign my name on the papers that I am indeed the Mother of these children. Then I will walk into the temple holding my families hands, kneel before the alter all in white as my other three little angels will walk in all in white and join us. Becoming our forever children! Making us a FOREVER COMPLETE FAMILY! I know that day angels will attend... MANY MANY ANGELS FROM EARTH AND IN HEAVEN! Oh sweet will be that day!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
We signed!
So Monday the 21st we signed pre-adoption papers for all three little ones :) From the sounds of our case worker and now adoption worker the judge wants them adopted by June :)
That doesn't mean it will happen by then but sounds like they are shooting for that! I am just thrilled! The children are very excited too. They all want new names and have helped in picking them. They are so cute. There are days where they tell me what their new names are LOL :)
I can't wait for the day to share more pictures of our life and these children! Of our FAMILY! :)
I still find myself saying to myself," I am a mother of 8 children!" and ya know, it sounds so RIGHT!
That doesn't mean it will happen by then but sounds like they are shooting for that! I am just thrilled! The children are very excited too. They all want new names and have helped in picking them. They are so cute. There are days where they tell me what their new names are LOL :)
I can't wait for the day to share more pictures of our life and these children! Of our FAMILY! :)
I still find myself saying to myself," I am a mother of 8 children!" and ya know, it sounds so RIGHT!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
1st Place Winner!
I am so PROUD of Kalene my 17 yr old. She gave a speech for a $2500 scholarship for college and WON 1st place :) I am so proud of her courage to do such a thing in the first place. I could of never done it! :) She is amazing and SHE DID IT ON THE FOSTER SYSTEM!
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