It has been a few days since I have sat here in the sun room looking out into the yard at my beautiful birds and putting my thoughts down. The last few days have been interesting, to say the least.
We have picked up our "new" daughter and have her settled in. We are waiting on the adoption to move forward. For now, we are what has been termed as "babysitters". Our young "charge" seems to be adjusting pretty well considering that she has only been here a few days. Her and my son seem to have a love/hate relationship at this point, so I am guessing that she feels at home and he has accepted her.....their relationship reminds me of a true sibling relationship at this point. My oldest daughter seems to be OK with the idea of another child in the family now as well. At this point, I am hoping that all goes smoothly with the adoption and we can move forward as quickly as possible. My biggest concern for this is the fact that right now, we have no "formal guardianship" and if our little charge gets sick, taking her to the doctor would be a nightmare. The way allergies are in this state, this rather bothers me.....or what if she gets hurt somehow?
Home school in our house have not yet began. We will start on Aug. 23rd. I have all of our plans made out and all of the curriculum ready to go. The reason we have not started yet is because I wanted time for all of us to get to know our new one and time for her to adjust somewhat before we dive right into school. I do think that when school begins that it will be quite interesting to say the least!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Gotcha Day
Today is "gotcha day" as the woman who is allowing us to adopt her daughter puts it. It means that to an adopted child, this is the day we got you. Yes, today is the day that we go to pick up our new daughter and bring her home. We will be meeting her and her current parents at the half-way point and then returning with her. The time is drawing near, only 5 more hours and we will be on our way to pick her up and in 12 hours time, we will be back home with her. Exciting and scary all at the same time.
Now that the day is here, there are so many things running through my mind. Will she be happy here? Will she miss her old life? Will she like our more laid back and less "on the go" lifestyle? Will she enjoy being in the country? Will we be able to raise another child properly? Will we be able to home school her properly? Will everyone accept her as our own? So many different thoughts and worries. All for nothing I am sure, but the thoughts and worries are there for the time being.
It is a lovely day weather wise, and for that I thank Creator. Nothing but sunshine and a bit cooler temperatures than it has been being. That should make the trip easier and more comfortable for all of us involved. I am not a good traveler. I do not like to travel. I get car sick still! And at my age? Oh boy! I am already counting the minutes to being back here in my own home and having the trip behind us!
Now that the day is here, there are so many things running through my mind. Will she be happy here? Will she miss her old life? Will she like our more laid back and less "on the go" lifestyle? Will she enjoy being in the country? Will we be able to raise another child properly? Will we be able to home school her properly? Will everyone accept her as our own? So many different thoughts and worries. All for nothing I am sure, but the thoughts and worries are there for the time being.
It is a lovely day weather wise, and for that I thank Creator. Nothing but sunshine and a bit cooler temperatures than it has been being. That should make the trip easier and more comfortable for all of us involved. I am not a good traveler. I do not like to travel. I get car sick still! And at my age? Oh boy! I am already counting the minutes to being back here in my own home and having the trip behind us!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Getting Impatient!
A few more days have passed and we are still waiting on the criminal background checks to surface so that the agency knows for sure that we are "decent" people. Without those documents, once again, we will not be able to go pick up our daughter this weekend. We are getting very impatient. We do get to talk to the child on the phone about twice a week, but we want her here with us so that we can get her settled and get to know her before we begin to home school this year. We will wait on her because we do not want her to be behind and have to play "catch-up" as soon as she gets here. Even my son is getting a bit anxious! He wants his new sister to get here and he is ready for school to start as well. Creator knows best, but goodness....sometimes the wait is awful!
Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to meet another home school Mom in the area and trade off a box of curriculum that we will not use for a box that we will most likely be able to use. I know this county has over a hundred home school families .... but it is almost impossible to find them. I would like to be able to get together with some of them and get to know them and allow our children to spend time with each other as well. Maybe, sooner or later, I will find more of the home school families. As I said in the paragraph above, Creator knows best!
The weather here is beautiful, but the temperatures are scorching! The heat index will be around 115 today, I think I heard. Wow! Everyone's lawn, flowers, and gardens are dying rapidly now. We haven't had anywhere near enough rain to help them out and I don't see that we will have any time near soon.
Today, Tuesday, I am planning on printing out some of the curriculum that I have written myself for my children so that it will be ready to use in the next week or two. I am really excited about starting school with the kids this year, but I also wonder if I will have time to study my own college courses. I am worried that I won't be able to finish them by the deadline that I have to complete them. Granted they are not that hard and they are correspondence courses, but the print in the books is so tiny that I don't see how I will ever get through them....even with my glasses on, I can barely see the print. That makes me NOT want to do the work even though I am really enjoying the courses themselves. Well, I guess I will just have to buckle down, sacrifice some of what little sleep I get, and continue on with my own studies anyway.
Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to meet another home school Mom in the area and trade off a box of curriculum that we will not use for a box that we will most likely be able to use. I know this county has over a hundred home school families .... but it is almost impossible to find them. I would like to be able to get together with some of them and get to know them and allow our children to spend time with each other as well. Maybe, sooner or later, I will find more of the home school families. As I said in the paragraph above, Creator knows best!
The weather here is beautiful, but the temperatures are scorching! The heat index will be around 115 today, I think I heard. Wow! Everyone's lawn, flowers, and gardens are dying rapidly now. We haven't had anywhere near enough rain to help them out and I don't see that we will have any time near soon.
Today, Tuesday, I am planning on printing out some of the curriculum that I have written myself for my children so that it will be ready to use in the next week or two. I am really excited about starting school with the kids this year, but I also wonder if I will have time to study my own college courses. I am worried that I won't be able to finish them by the deadline that I have to complete them. Granted they are not that hard and they are correspondence courses, but the print in the books is so tiny that I don't see how I will ever get through them....even with my glasses on, I can barely see the print. That makes me NOT want to do the work even though I am really enjoying the courses themselves. Well, I guess I will just have to buckle down, sacrifice some of what little sleep I get, and continue on with my own studies anyway.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Waiting
We have managed to get through all of the visits with the social worker and finding all of the documents that she needs, with the execption of us going to the doctor for a check up. However, we are not going to be able to go pick up our new daughter this weekend as was planned because our criminal background checks have not arrived. Hopefully, these documents will arrive this coming up week so that we can go get her next weekend, Aug. 7th. We have her room all ready for her and we have been able to speak on the phone with her several times. Her mother is a wonderful lady that really just wants the best for this child.
My oldest daughter and her husband are planning to take a mini vacation that same weekend that we are to go pick up our new addition to the family. They are going to Holiday World with some other family members. All of them have an anniversary around that time, so it is their anniversary gift from my in-laws and us. I hope they all have a wonderful time! My daughter didn't get to have a honeymoon, so this is just fantastic that the two of them will get to do something for their anniversary this year.
As for my son, he is disappointed that he isn't getting his new sister here as planned. He is so looking forward to having another child in the household. I just hope he remembers that when the sibling arguements begin....HAHA.
My husband and I are staying quite busy as well. We have had canning and freezing to do, lawn work to do, housework to conquer, getting our new child's room ready for her, and ordering her home school curriculum. We will be using the same curriculum for her that we are using for our son, except geared for her grade.
I do have concerns that I will not be able to teach two children at once, but I managed before. However, at that time, one was in high school and the other in primary school. These two will be grade 3 and 6. I am sure Creator will give me the wisdom, strength, and patience to do this. My son is older, so maybe he can help me with my daughter sometimes. That would be good for all of us and give him a sense of acheivement as well.
Our garden, such as it was, is beginning to die off now, so I don't expect to be doing a lot of food preservation the rest of this fall. We do hope to run across more vegetables from local farmers to put up for the winter. Hopefully, next year will not be so harsh on the gardens and we will have a better one. Even with us watering and babying the garden each day, it has produced very little according to the time, effort, and money that we put into it this year. Well, Creator knows best and I trust that our harvest from the garden along with the produce purchased from others will carry us through.
My oldest daughter and her husband are planning to take a mini vacation that same weekend that we are to go pick up our new addition to the family. They are going to Holiday World with some other family members. All of them have an anniversary around that time, so it is their anniversary gift from my in-laws and us. I hope they all have a wonderful time! My daughter didn't get to have a honeymoon, so this is just fantastic that the two of them will get to do something for their anniversary this year.
As for my son, he is disappointed that he isn't getting his new sister here as planned. He is so looking forward to having another child in the household. I just hope he remembers that when the sibling arguements begin....HAHA.
My husband and I are staying quite busy as well. We have had canning and freezing to do, lawn work to do, housework to conquer, getting our new child's room ready for her, and ordering her home school curriculum. We will be using the same curriculum for her that we are using for our son, except geared for her grade.
I do have concerns that I will not be able to teach two children at once, but I managed before. However, at that time, one was in high school and the other in primary school. These two will be grade 3 and 6. I am sure Creator will give me the wisdom, strength, and patience to do this. My son is older, so maybe he can help me with my daughter sometimes. That would be good for all of us and give him a sense of acheivement as well.
Our garden, such as it was, is beginning to die off now, so I don't expect to be doing a lot of food preservation the rest of this fall. We do hope to run across more vegetables from local farmers to put up for the winter. Hopefully, next year will not be so harsh on the gardens and we will have a better one. Even with us watering and babying the garden each day, it has produced very little according to the time, effort, and money that we put into it this year. Well, Creator knows best and I trust that our harvest from the garden along with the produce purchased from others will carry us through.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
More on the pending adoption
The social worker that came to our house on Saturday was a very sweet young lady. We really liked her. I felt at ease with her immediately. I feel like all went very well.
We spent Sunday running around looking for items that we need to make our new daughter's room special for her. We finally have it complete for her I think. It's a pretty room and I think she will have enough room for all of her clothes, toys, and such.
Yesterday, I spent the day on the run digging up almost 20 year old documents that the adoption agency needs from me, old divorce papers and such. Stuff that I prefer to keep buried and not talk about, but it has to be done and then I can rebury it again. Hopefully, forever this time.
Today, the same social worker will be back at our home to speak to each one of us on an individual basis. Not sure what she wants to talk about, probably our lives in general.
On Saturday, as far as we know, we get to go pick up our new daughter. It's about a 4 hour trip to meet her family where they wish to meet. This cuts off an hour or two for us. We are excited and a bit nervous all at the same time. Of course we have worries of whether the child will like us and how hard it will be for her to adapt to our surroundings and environment.
Sometime soon, we all have to go to the doctor and get a physical to make sure that we are all healthy here and that we don't have any weird or catchy diseases. I know we are all healthy and such, but it has to be documented for the safety and well being of the child we are adopting.
My real worries lie with my oldest daughter. I know that my son, myself, and my husband are really all she has, but her fears of us abandoning her and her son are not logical to me. I am sure they are valid fears to her. I only hope that, in time, she will adjust and feel differently.
We spent Sunday running around looking for items that we need to make our new daughter's room special for her. We finally have it complete for her I think. It's a pretty room and I think she will have enough room for all of her clothes, toys, and such.
Yesterday, I spent the day on the run digging up almost 20 year old documents that the adoption agency needs from me, old divorce papers and such. Stuff that I prefer to keep buried and not talk about, but it has to be done and then I can rebury it again. Hopefully, forever this time.
Today, the same social worker will be back at our home to speak to each one of us on an individual basis. Not sure what she wants to talk about, probably our lives in general.
On Saturday, as far as we know, we get to go pick up our new daughter. It's about a 4 hour trip to meet her family where they wish to meet. This cuts off an hour or two for us. We are excited and a bit nervous all at the same time. Of course we have worries of whether the child will like us and how hard it will be for her to adapt to our surroundings and environment.
Sometime soon, we all have to go to the doctor and get a physical to make sure that we are all healthy here and that we don't have any weird or catchy diseases. I know we are all healthy and such, but it has to be documented for the safety and well being of the child we are adopting.
My real worries lie with my oldest daughter. I know that my son, myself, and my husband are really all she has, but her fears of us abandoning her and her son are not logical to me. I am sure they are valid fears to her. I only hope that, in time, she will adjust and feel differently.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Adoption Pending
Today, the social worker comes to our home. We got the word on Tuesday that if all goes well, the mother would like for us to adopt her almost 9 year old daughter. I have done nothing special to prepare for this visit. I see no reason to do so. My home is relatively clean, overly clean according to some people and not clean enough to others. I see no safety hazards here as I have a small grandchild and have already gone through the house to take measures to keep him safe when he begins to crawl and walk. I have nothing to hide and neither does my husband or son, so I see no reason why we would not be able to have this child.
It has been a hectic week though from running around trying to find documents that are needed for adoption and trying to fill out all of the paperwork involved. I knew there would be a lot to it, but gee whiz....i really had no clue whatsoever! All for the best of the child though and that is the job of the agency.
We are super excited at the aspect of having another child in our home. My son is looking forward to no longer being "the baby" as well. Bless his heart, with him being a child, he told me that my blow dryer is dangerous and to lock it up. LOL....ok, so it was done. Then he tells me that I must also lock up my straightener and curling iron....LOL....ok, i never use those, so that has been done as well. He didn't find anything else that he thought would be dangerous, so I guess we are all good on that part. :-)
I can only hope that my oldest child, our 19 year old married with a baby child, comes to terms with this. She won't discuss it with me and if I try to talk to her about it, she just nods her head and changes the subject. I don't know if she is jealous, or if she feels like she is being replaced, or if she feels like we are kicking her and her baby out of our lives. We must get her to open up and talk to us somehow.
It has been a hectic week though from running around trying to find documents that are needed for adoption and trying to fill out all of the paperwork involved. I knew there would be a lot to it, but gee whiz....i really had no clue whatsoever! All for the best of the child though and that is the job of the agency.
We are super excited at the aspect of having another child in our home. My son is looking forward to no longer being "the baby" as well. Bless his heart, with him being a child, he told me that my blow dryer is dangerous and to lock it up. LOL....ok, so it was done. Then he tells me that I must also lock up my straightener and curling iron....LOL....ok, i never use those, so that has been done as well. He didn't find anything else that he thought would be dangerous, so I guess we are all good on that part. :-)
I can only hope that my oldest child, our 19 year old married with a baby child, comes to terms with this. She won't discuss it with me and if I try to talk to her about it, she just nods her head and changes the subject. I don't know if she is jealous, or if she feels like she is being replaced, or if she feels like we are kicking her and her baby out of our lives. We must get her to open up and talk to us somehow.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Possible Adoption
Been a few days since I have set down to organize my thoughts into writing, so I guess I may need to do that today.
I had company over the weekend. A friend that I have known since...well....birth I guess since I can not ever remember a time of not having been around her. I remember her being at my 4th birthday party and I am sure we were around each other before then. Our grandmothers were close friends and neighbors. She moved out of state several years ago, and we lost touch for 20 years, but last year, through facebook, we found each other again and have been able to visit each other several times now. For that, I am grateful.
My husband and I are hoping to adopt a little girl that currently lives about 5 hours away from us. We should hear something today whether or not her Mother has chosen us to be her new family. If so, we will begin the process of the criminal back ground checks and the home studies and all of the other legal aspects of adoption. The child is almost 9 years old and I think will be a good fit into our home and life style. We would welcome another child into our lives and into our home school. My son is super excited at the idea of being a big brother and having some one in classes with him. My husband is excited at the idea of having a child of our own (both of my children are mine from previous marriage). My daughter is a bit iffy on the idea of having another sibling, but she is grown, married, and has a child of her own and out of our home. I am excited, but worried if I will be able to teach two young children at once. I know many Moms do this everyday, but I am ADHD, my son is also, and this little girl is also ADHD. Can we do this? That is my only concern. I do not want to send her into a public school setting because her mother is telling me that she does not do well at all in public schools. The same is true of my son. I do not want to send him into a public school as he does not do well either. I can only hope that all will be well and trust in Creator to guide me and give me strength, wisdom, and above all, patience!
I had company over the weekend. A friend that I have known since...well....birth I guess since I can not ever remember a time of not having been around her. I remember her being at my 4th birthday party and I am sure we were around each other before then. Our grandmothers were close friends and neighbors. She moved out of state several years ago, and we lost touch for 20 years, but last year, through facebook, we found each other again and have been able to visit each other several times now. For that, I am grateful.
My husband and I are hoping to adopt a little girl that currently lives about 5 hours away from us. We should hear something today whether or not her Mother has chosen us to be her new family. If so, we will begin the process of the criminal back ground checks and the home studies and all of the other legal aspects of adoption. The child is almost 9 years old and I think will be a good fit into our home and life style. We would welcome another child into our lives and into our home school. My son is super excited at the idea of being a big brother and having some one in classes with him. My husband is excited at the idea of having a child of our own (both of my children are mine from previous marriage). My daughter is a bit iffy on the idea of having another sibling, but she is grown, married, and has a child of her own and out of our home. I am excited, but worried if I will be able to teach two young children at once. I know many Moms do this everyday, but I am ADHD, my son is also, and this little girl is also ADHD. Can we do this? That is my only concern. I do not want to send her into a public school setting because her mother is telling me that she does not do well at all in public schools. The same is true of my son. I do not want to send him into a public school as he does not do well either. I can only hope that all will be well and trust in Creator to guide me and give me strength, wisdom, and above all, patience!
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