Call me back....I found you a baby!

One of my good friends just sent me a message, "Call me....I think found you a baby?!"  Of course she didn't answer when I called her back, LOL!  I'm sure it wont amount to anything, but of course I'm now sitting here daydreaming.  You see I have always really wanted to adopt a baby or younger child with Down Syndrome.  This friend of mine has the most adorable little boy that brings joy to everyone around him with a simple smile.  I have known several families throughout my life who have been blessed to raise children with Down Syndrome.  I would just about have a heart attack if I was chosen to raise a precious child with Down Syndrome......

How to Help: Birthday Bags

How to help foster kids without being a foster parent?


I just saw a great idea over on Facebook and HAD to share!  A lady and her "group" created "Birthday Bags" for foster families.  These bags contained a cake mix and packaged frosting, plates, napkins, forks, a cake pan from the dollar store, candles, party hats and noise makers! How cute is that?!  I love this idea and would be super easy for a Women's Ministry, church group, or classroom to do as a project.

Fingerprinting

After waiting MONTHS for the social worker who is completing my home study to send me my registration number for fingerprinting, it finally arrived!  I had to bring a little one with me, but overall it was fairly quick and painless.  I went first thing in the morning, my little one has been really wonky from about 11am-1pm lately, no idea what that is about! We waited about 30 minutes and it took about 30 seconds to complete the fingerprinting.  She said I should receive the results in a week - 10 days, quicker than I had read online!  Hopefully this will not slow anything up. As far as I know we are still on for submitting my home study to the board on October 1st.  I would love to have some more kiddos by Christmas time.....specifically some girls so I can finally do some toy shopping that involves dolls and everything pink :)

Empathy: Resources

Resources:

Activities to Develop Empathy in Children
Developmentally appropriate Empathy by age
Empathy exercises for kids:  List of resources and activities

Back to school night for Matthew

It was back to school night tonight for Matthew, I found out about said back to school night at 4:30 this afternoon!  The boys grandma graciously agreed to come over and watch the boys.  I wouldn't have blamed her if she said NO and ran screaming.  The last time she came over to babysit involved some physical aggression, Matthew trying to jump out the window and pretty much a lng ride on the crazy train....but she came anyway :)  I take it all as a sign that the boys are finally really starting to attach to her and feel the need to push back on that attachment.   In light of previous events, I took Matthew with me and put Joel to bed early so really she only had James to deal with this evening.  James in charge of snack tomorrow so I had them put that together to keep him busy. 
The back to school night was uneventful, Matthew has the same teacher as last year and I communicate with her regularly.  This is his second year attending a special private therapeutic school that our local district pays the tuition for.  He is in a class with about 5 students, there is his teacher and her aide as well as some one on one aides for some of the students.  His teacher is great and Matthew is doing great at school most days.  This will probably be the last year the district pays for him to attend and I am anxious to see if the skills he is learning in this highly structured and monitored environment will transfer to a "regular" setting.  In all likelihood he will transfer to a emotional/behavioral unit of sorts at the local district, so he will still receive support but there will be a lot more interaction with typical peers.
There was only one other parent who showed up to the back to school night and the teacher is constantly thanking me for the amount of communication we have, I don't think there is much involvement from parents of other students.  This makes me sad, many of these kids are here because of a lack of parental involvement, I get that, but here I am desperately trying to help my son change his past and we are all still here in the same place.  Sometimes it makes you wonder if it is even worth all the effort, but I know it is and have hope that this is just the beginning of a successful journey to adulthood.

Medication Approval

The insurance finally approved Matthew's anti-psychotic medication!  Woohoo!  We are only using this in emergency situations where he is unable to calm down.  I'm hoping having this on hand will help us avoid anymore trips to the ER.

Adoption fundraising letters

Have you seen these pleas for money to adopt kids on all the social media outlets lately? Its come up in several groups I belong to and it bothers me immensely! I'm not exactly sure why it bothers me so much.  Maybe its the sense of entitlement, like just because you want something I should pay for it?  Maybe its the fact that if you wanted a child that badly and didn't have the funds to pay for your private domestic adoption of a healthy white baby you could wait till you saved enough or maybe not purchase that daily Starbucks or trade in your brand new car for a clunker like the rest of us.  Maybe its the fact that if you really felt like God was calling you to adopt, maybe he wanted you to adopt the 6 year old African-American boy living the next town over who has been dreaming for a real family his whole life instead of the cute chunky baby.  Maybe I'm just jealous no one forked over a bunch of money for me to foster/adopt?  Who knows, but in light of it I have decided to write my own fundraising letter:

Dear Friends and Family,
I would like to introduce you to a very special little person but I cant due to my agency's privacy rules. He is my child, regardless of whether he stays here an hour or forever. I do not know who will be dropped off at my door yet, but we are so excited to meet him whether at 1:00 PM or 1:00 AM. Im open to adopting him if his parents are unable to safely have him return home, and we need your help to keep our home updated to meet my agencies ridiculous rules and provide room. No words can capture the true joy and excitement we feel as we anticipate the blessing of his presence in our home.

As most of you know, we have continually gone through traumatic experience taking in child after child who had been abused, neglected, and traumatized.  We have bonded with these children only to have them ripped from our hearts at a moment notice, sometimes returned to families who are not prepared or able to keep them safe.  Despite the continuing heartbreak, God has healed us physically, spiritually, and emotionally, and we are so excited to begin this journey again.

We are in the process of looking to purchase a home that can accommodate a large number of children. Due to our constant love and care for children in need our current home has undergone significant damage including pee soaked carpets, burns on floors from fire setting, molding and doors broken, drywall kicked in, permanent door alarms and surveillance cameras and broken windows.  Houses are very expensive, and we would like to invite you to be a part of our foster care/adoption journey by giving financially. The total cost of a new house meeting our needs is $300,000, and we are hoping to raise half of that. We trust that God will provide the funds needed to complete this journey.

Im too busy and exhausted chasing children, filling out forms and reports, waiting for CW to return my phone calls, and dealing with 14 other professionals telling me what to do after visiting 20 minutes a month to do any actual fundraising so just paypal me money at XXXXXXXX

Thank you for taking the time to let us share our journey with you.

Sincerely,

XXXXXX and XXXXX XXXXXX