Our Foster Care story

So, May is Foster Care Awareness Month. A sweet friend, who has adopted 3 children from the foster care system, asked me to post a little something about our journey. A few months ago I posted an abridged version of Cooper's story. To see that post you can go to gotcha day. So as I pondered and prayed about what to post...here's what I came up with.
     I have always known I wanted to adopt. I LOVE children! When I was growing up a family who went to our dance school were foster parents. I watched as this mom (of i think 3 biological children and 2 or 3 adopted children) walked into the studio with precious little babies every week. Some were tiny, some were toddlers, I'm sure they had some with "issues", but as a child I remember watching this family and knowing I wanted to be like them. I remember watching the children, the adopted and biological kids, love on their foster brothers and sisters as if they were their own. I remember thinking what amazing missionaries these people were, they were willing to sacrifice ease and comfort to love and provide for these children who had no one.
    So fast forward 10ish years. Clay and I had talked before we were married that we wanted to adopt. I had gone to, and completed nursing school, was working on a pediatric unit. Clay was in seminary and I wanted a family SO badly! I got pregnant and miscarried. I was devastated. As a struggled through the next few months watching, what felt like, everyone around me getting pregnant I thought maybe this was God's way of showing us we needed to be foster parents and adopt before we had biological children. We signed up for the classes, jumped through all of the hoops and became licensed. During that time I got pregnant again, miscarried again, was able to diagnose why I was miscarrying and got pregnant with Cole. We were over the moon excited about having a baby, but Clay and I felt like just because we were going to have a biological child didn't mean God didn't want us to continue with foster care and adoption. We continued to move forward. When I was about 4 months pregnant, Susanne (my sweet friend who was also Cooper's foster mom) called and said she had a baby she thought would be going up for adoption, would we be interested? We prayed about it and decided we did. We went and met Romeo, a 3 month old sweet, chubby, beautiful Hispanic baby. We fell in love immediately. Long story short, after months of caring for him, the system decided we weren't the best choice for him. It broke our hearts. We weren't sure why God would bring this sweet baby into our lives only to take him away. Clay and I prayed and grieved, and trusted that God had a bigger plan for this sweet baby.
      So, after an emergency C-section and surgery to remove my gallbladder 5 weeks later it was time for re-licensure with the foster care system. We decided with a new baby and 2 major surgeries we should not get re-licenced until things settled down a bit. As it turned out, the sadness over losing Romeo (who we were going to name Logan), all the work we put into becoming foster parents, and only fostering 2 children, paved the way for us to adopt Cooper, the perfect addition to our family.
     Now, with all of that said, I want to be clear. When we were presented with the opportunity to adopt Cooper we had to do some serious praying. On paper Cooper had a lot of issues. Clay and I had to accept that their could be some challenges ahead. In God's great sovereignty I was blessed to be in a family that had some "strugglers". The prospect of a child with some "struggles" didn't scare me to much because i was able to watch my parents raise some amazing children despite their struggles. But I also wasn't entering this new stage of life lightly. We were ready! We felt like God had led us on this journey to that point, and just because it may not be easy, that was no reason to throw in the towel. We were confident Cooper, just the way he was made, was meant to be ours. I tell people often that if they are called to foster care or adoption, their may be heart ache and frustration, but the child God has for you will be yours. We have been able to watch God do a mighty work in Cooper's life. Cooper is a perfectly healthy, spunky, brilliant, sweet, gentle, caring little boy. The funny thing is when people ask us which one of our children are adopted all of them raise their hands and scream, "I'm the adopted one!" We are so blessed God called us to be a part of growing his kingdom this way and are so excited to adopt a few more children one day soon.....yes, I know, we are crazy!

Thoughts....

Warning: this could be a long one....

Ok, so lately I've had some people comment that I have it all together, or they don't know how I do it, or I make this "motherhood" thing look so easy. Let me start by saying, I'm the chief of all sinners, my kids disobey, my house gets messy, I snap at the kids, there are stamps and coloring on my walls, I often wonder what it would be like to sit, by myself, at the beach (or anywhere for that matter) without children crawling on me. With all of that said, as I ponder these remarks and try to figure out why they make me feel so uncomfortable I realized a few things.

Growing up I was homeschooled from 3rd grade to 12th grade. I was 1 of 5 kids, the second oldest (oldest girl). I had a lot of responsibilities and chores. I remember, OFTEN, being told, "if you don't work you don't eat" or "go to the ant you sluggard." One of my best friends growing up was 1 of 9 kids, she had a lot of responsibilites too =) I remember that a lot of my friends didn't like coming over to my house because I was still responsible for all of my chores or taking care of my brother and sisters, but when Christa came over (or I went to her house) we would make a game out of it, pretend to be "mommies," and get our work done while having fun. I also remember watching my mom and dad work. They work hard. I still marvel at their work ethic. They demonstrate a servants heart and servant leadership. I had amazing examples. So, with all of this said, I was talking to my mom the other day and she said something profound. She said that her goal in raising me (us) was that she wanted us to be 10 steps ahead of where she was when she got married. When my parents chose to homeschool all of us their main concern wasn't that we go to Harvard or become a neuroscientist, their goal was that we have a heart for Jesus and what He loves. That we would learn to be servant leaders, that we would learn to run a household and raise children who love and serve the Lord, that we would learn how to die to self each day and think of others as more important than ourselves. That we would desire to bring glory to our Savior and make an impact for His Kingdom. My mom also said having children and homeschooling is probably used more for the parents edification and sanctification more than the child's =) I can truly say, in my case, they have succeeded. When people look at me like I have 7 heads when I tell them we are planning on homeschooling our kids I quietly think about what my parents have said and demonstrated to me in my life. (This is not to say their is anything wrong with sending your children to school! I have always wanted to homeschool and love teaching and seem to thrive in chaos =)

So, yes, because of my amazing parents (and my amazing husband who contributes immensely) I feel like, right now, where God has me, I am good at what I do. I love being a wife and mom. I'm excited about the new challenge of educating my children. I love the challenge of seeing if I can accomplish everything on my to-do list (never happens!!!). I love hearing my sweet girl (who makes me more like Jesus everyday) tell me she loves me, out of the blue. I love Jude's drooly, slobbery wet kisses and claps of delight over the most random things. I love the hilarious stories from my oldest, and I love watching my handpicked little boy take initiative and pick up Jude's toys "to help mommy so she will be happy." I want to be able to help my children be 10 steps ahead of me when they grow up. So, I will work hard at equipping them to work hard (and find joy in it), to serve others expecting nothing in return, to die to self, to desire to bring our Heavenly Father glory above all else!

Pantry Overhaul

So, the older I get and the more children I have the more I CRAVE order in my chaotic life. I feel like I am constantly organizing, decluttering and cleaning only to turn around and have it all over to do. So when I decided to re-organize my pantry I was excited because this is one area my children are not allowed (can't reach) to get into, therefore it has a better chance of staying organized.

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and though I don't have the time to make is as "pottery barn-esque" as the pinterest photos, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I also wanted to do it as economically as possible, so I started shopping! I found all the glass containers, buckets and baskets at Dollar General. They cost me 40.00 total. I had the ziploc tupperware containers from BJ's, but I'm thinking they cost me about 10.00. I "re-purposed the lazy susans, but i got those at Walmart when we moved in a year and half ago. My favorite part...I found these AMAZING labels at Micheals....they are chalkboard!!! (They cost 6.99) You stick them on the containers, use the pen (cost 8.99, but used a 40% off coupon so it was 5.oo) (but I'm sure it would work with regular chalk though) and label! It turned out really cute and when the food in the container changes I just wipe off the label and write what the food item is! The total cost was about 60.00. I keep walking by to admire it...sad, but true =)

Before The magic chalkboard pen from Micheals Up close of the chalkboard labels

...After!!! I'm in love!!!

1/2 Marathon...I did it!!!

Well, I did it!!! I ran a half marathon! If you would have asked me 4 months ago if I would ever run a half marathon I would have said HECK NO! I realized that running would be the fastest way to get in shape so i gave it a whirl.

Clay and I went to Jacksonville last weekend and ran in the Tour de Pain. Clay ran a 10k Saturday morning and a 5k (with Mary Bodo...our awesome babysitter =) at 7pm that evening and then did a little carbo loading at Cheesecake factory. Sunday morning Clay and I woke up super early and started running. It was hard, but it could have been much worse. My sweet husband ran with me the whole way even though he could have run much faster. I told Clay at mile 11 1/2 (while running up a steep incline) that I was in hell (a little over dramatic =) and I snapped at him at mile 12 ish to stop talking to me...other than that it was pretty smooth sailing. My goal was to run it in 2 hours and 15 minutes. I wasn't sure if I could do it because that works out to being just over a 10 minute mile the whole race. We finished in just under 2 hours and 15 minutes! I'm so glad it's done, but I will definitely do another one soon.

Just before the race

We did it!!!

9 months

My little monkey is 9 months old!

-crawling like a pro

-pulls up on everthing

-has stood up by himself for a good 15 seconds

-LOVES to play with his basket of toys

-thinks his big brothers and sisters are hilarious

-gives the best open mouth, drooly kisses

-eats and eats and eats and eats and eats everything!!!

-growls at me if I don't get him food fast enough

-weighs in at 21 pounds and wears size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes

-is a chunky monkey

-has the most beautiful big brown puppy dog eyes

-has hit the stage where he clings to me and wants "mommy snuggles" all the time

-had his first "daddy wrestle" time tonight

-has 2 bottom teeth that he gives the cutest little grins with

-will be walking before I know it....moms of multiple children know the more you have the more you want them to stay where you put them, not beating all his siblings records for walking!

-Such a blessing to our family

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March Happenings

Clay and I ran in the Gate River Run (9.3 miles) last Saturday. It was my first race and I was SUPER nervous. It turned out that I ran it by myself (Clay is a lot faster than I am), which ended up being kind of nice because I cranked my music and ran. I ran it in just under 1 hour and 37 minutes and Clay ran in in 1 hour and 30 minutes. It was so windy that day so it made running over the bridge quite an adventure! It was so fun to get my medal and know that we did it!

My family was up for about a week. We got to go to the beach one day. It was really windy, but tons of fun. It was Jude's first "mobile" trip to the beach, he was very busy crawling around and eating lots of sand. I LOVE living so close to the beach! I can't wait for many more beach days this spring and summer.

Jude loves Uncle Trey

Snuggles with "Uncie"

"Date Night"

Wednesday Cole decided he didn't want to go to Kid's Praise (a little choir class at Nina's church) so Nina took Bailey Kate and Cooper and I took Jude and Cole. I needed to go to Jacksonville to do a big grocery run at BJ's (yes, we are now a family that consumes so much food we buy in bulk) and I also wanted to go to Once Upon a Child to get Jude some new clothes. He is so chunky in the waist I had to get him some new pants that didn't give him a terrible muffin top. As we were sitting at dinner and Cole and I were chatting he told me, "Mom, we're on a date, you are my date." It melted my heart and made me so grateful for these sweet moments I get with my kids. I also realized that night that Cole NEVER stops talking, moving, yelling, etc. I decided that he easily contributes to 85% of the chaos in our house.
We have been working a lot on keeping a routine and implementing chores with the kids. In the evenings one of Cooper's chores is to "babysit" Jude while I make dinner. He does such a good job and is so sweet and gentle with Jude. I'm so proud of my little people!

Strawberry picking

Today Nina (Diane), the kids and I all went to our local hydroponic strawberry farm. It was SO fun! We got a quick lesson on only picking the strawberries that are bright red and how to cut them with scissors. I was a little nervous when they each got their own set of scissors, but they did awesome! I was so proud of them, they picked a huge basket full of bright red, yummy strawberries (While Jude napped in his carseat). The kids had loads of fun and we made some sweet memories with our Nina! Strawberry picking pros!

YUM!