It has sure been quite awhile since I have written anything. Life since December 2015 has sure taken a huge turn. Children have come and gone, moves have been made, jobs have been changed, a marriage occurred, and even death has appeared in this crazy whirlwind of a year and a half.
New beginnings in life have always presented themselves with crossroads. Paths in which we can choose to go down that lead us in many different directions through life. Human nature has been to question which path we chose to go down and if it was the correct decision. With the many trials I have been faced with over the past year and a half, I have questioned almost every path I have chosen. Was the path that lead me to a child I will never forget the right path? Was the path that lead me to my current home the right path? Was the path that lead me to my current job the right path? After so much debate within myself, I have been lead to believe that there are no right or wrong paths. There are just life experiences gained in each and every passing day. Life experiences that help shape and define our values, beliefs, culture, and future decisions. When learning and growing in today's society, the paths that do not lead to instant self gratification are almost always questioned by ourselves. The paths that lead us to define our value and worth as a person take time to grow and reveal that gratification.
So much is the same with foster care. Each child placed in my home underwent some kind of trauma. The act of removing the child into a physically and emotionally safe environment did not lead to instant gratification. It took time for that child to heal, learn, bond, and grow in the home before seeing any type of progress. The same can be said about the life decisions made in my life over the past year and a half. Baby J has been adopted into a home and is thriving so very well with his new family. Many of my previous foster children are growing and thriving in their new homes or are back with their biological families and thriving. I have even seen many changes in my biological son, Caden, as he has grown into an almost 5 year old with many foster siblings coming and going. Life for him definitely has not been easy but he is maturing into such a loving and caring little boy.
Life has been very difficult and hard to balance since the adoption and passing of sweet baby Ezra. The path that lead to his adoption was a very difficult path to walk down. All of the ups and downs of adopting a special needs child piled with the difficulties of adopting a child from a Native American tribe weighed heavy on my heart and head for months and months. Once it became clear that sweet Ezra was becoming sicker with time, decisions needed to be made and adoption occurred. The joy of having adoption finalized clashed with the decision to take sweet Ezra off of life support and let him pass on peacefully and without pain. His little body fought hard and strong for 14 months and he was such a joy to many. The loss of a beautiful and loved child is beyond words. Picking up life after that loss is again, beyond words.
After much deliberation, my husband and I decided to reopen our home to other foster children again so that we help children down whichever path they choose for their life and support them in any way we can. Much love and hope to be back with another update soon. <3
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
The BIG news!
Well these past 2 weeks have been very hectic! My birthday and fostering anniversary was on November 25th. I still have a hard time believing I've been on this roller coaster of a journey for a year now. It has definitely been one of the most blessed years of my life so far.
My birthday started off pretty well. My 11 month old foster son, baby J, was cleared of any developmental delays that he was diagnosed with when I received him in July! Best birthday news I have ever received! We have definitely been working hard towards that goal and I really didn't think we could accomplish it so fast. The rest of the day was spent in a car on our way to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a family Thanksgiving with my wonderful boyfriend's family. We had an amazing trip and visit with his family. I even got Black Friday shopping for the kids done. I did not go out during the early morning madness. I waited until almost noon and still got almost everything on my list.
Most of Saturday was spent in the car on the way home from Iowa and baby J started to not feel very well. I just figured he was tired of being in the car for so long. We spent most of Sunday in bed resting and hoping baby J would start feeling better by Monday. Unfortunately, both of the boys weren't 100% on Monday, so my mom watched Caden so I could go into work and get some things done. I brought baby J with me and wrapped him on my back for his nap while I worked. He slept great for about 2 hours and I finished most of my work in that time but when he woke up, I knew something was not right. I laid him down to change his diaper and he had a seizure. I rushed him straight to the ER. After spending many hours in the waiting area, the doctor finally saw us, They had a very hard time getting a vein to draw a blood sample for testing. It took 3 nurses to finally get a good vein and draw some blood. The tests came back okay so they sent us home with instructions to go see the Pediatrician in the morning.
Tuesday morning started off pretty normal. I got up and ready for work, then woke up Caden and got him ready for school. Baby J slept in, which was not unusual because he was sick. When I woke him up and laid him down to get dressed and ready for the day, something wasn't right. He had a blank look on his face and then had another seizure. When it was done, I sat him up and he threw up and it had some blood in it. I rushed him to the ER again and ended up getting pulled over for speeding. The officer followed me to the ER to make sure we got there okay. This time, the nurses got us back almost immediately. The doctor came in within a few minutes. After some discussion between nurses and doctors, they decided that we needed to be transferred to the Children's hospital in Tulsa. While we waited for the transfer, the nurse told us that an IV was going to be put in, It took 6 nurses and over 30 mins to try and get a good vein, After blowing 2, they decided to stop and have one final nurse come in and try. After only 5 mins, she got a good vein and the IV set up, But they didn't give him any fluids through the IV. I guess they were waiting until we got to Tulsa. It took the ambulance almost 2 hours to finally arrive to transfer us. Once we got to Tulsa, things went pretty smoothly. The doctors came in and discussed what was going on and the tests they needed to do, The process was pretty lengthy. I was told nothing about how long we would stay but we ended up staying the night. I had to leave Wednesday to go to work and my mom stayed with baby J. They took a few more tests and released him on Wednesday evening with instructions to follow up with his pediatrician on Monday.
Now comes the BIG news! During everything else going on, I heard back from my caseworker and I had been approved to move into the Methodist Children's home to an open 5 bedroom house. My mom decided that since we had available workforce (my brother, nephews, friends, and boyfriend) over the weekend, we should move everything in 3 days. So Thursday while I was at work, they started cleaning and moving. We worked all day Friday and Saturday packing and moving. We got everything but one final load moved by Saturday evening. I was so very stressed but grateful to my wonderful friends and family for working so hard to help me get all moved in,
Early Sunday morning at 2 A.M., there was a little too much excitement when my brothers trailer, which was hooked to my dads truck, was struck by a drunk driver. The truck was parked in front of my parents house. It was pretty damaged but thankfully my boyfriend saw the accident and got the car description so they found the car and impounded it. We managed to still be able to use the trailer for the one last load on Sunday.
Monday was pretty eventful. I had some help unpacking in the morning and I got one side of the house unpacked and set up. At baby J's doctors appointment he had a few more health concerns so we need to keep him out of daycare for the rest of the week. My wonderful mother is helping watch him so I can still go to work. Monday evening I finished some baby proofing around the house and my goal is to be completely unpacked and set up by this coming Monday for a house inspection. I am hoping and praying that I can take another foster child in time for Christmas. I will be back to update again next week! Prayers for peace while unpacking and health for baby J are much appreciated.
My birthday started off pretty well. My 11 month old foster son, baby J, was cleared of any developmental delays that he was diagnosed with when I received him in July! Best birthday news I have ever received! We have definitely been working hard towards that goal and I really didn't think we could accomplish it so fast. The rest of the day was spent in a car on our way to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a family Thanksgiving with my wonderful boyfriend's family. We had an amazing trip and visit with his family. I even got Black Friday shopping for the kids done. I did not go out during the early morning madness. I waited until almost noon and still got almost everything on my list.
Most of Saturday was spent in the car on the way home from Iowa and baby J started to not feel very well. I just figured he was tired of being in the car for so long. We spent most of Sunday in bed resting and hoping baby J would start feeling better by Monday. Unfortunately, both of the boys weren't 100% on Monday, so my mom watched Caden so I could go into work and get some things done. I brought baby J with me and wrapped him on my back for his nap while I worked. He slept great for about 2 hours and I finished most of my work in that time but when he woke up, I knew something was not right. I laid him down to change his diaper and he had a seizure. I rushed him straight to the ER. After spending many hours in the waiting area, the doctor finally saw us, They had a very hard time getting a vein to draw a blood sample for testing. It took 3 nurses to finally get a good vein and draw some blood. The tests came back okay so they sent us home with instructions to go see the Pediatrician in the morning.
Tuesday morning started off pretty normal. I got up and ready for work, then woke up Caden and got him ready for school. Baby J slept in, which was not unusual because he was sick. When I woke him up and laid him down to get dressed and ready for the day, something wasn't right. He had a blank look on his face and then had another seizure. When it was done, I sat him up and he threw up and it had some blood in it. I rushed him to the ER again and ended up getting pulled over for speeding. The officer followed me to the ER to make sure we got there okay. This time, the nurses got us back almost immediately. The doctor came in within a few minutes. After some discussion between nurses and doctors, they decided that we needed to be transferred to the Children's hospital in Tulsa. While we waited for the transfer, the nurse told us that an IV was going to be put in, It took 6 nurses and over 30 mins to try and get a good vein, After blowing 2, they decided to stop and have one final nurse come in and try. After only 5 mins, she got a good vein and the IV set up, But they didn't give him any fluids through the IV. I guess they were waiting until we got to Tulsa. It took the ambulance almost 2 hours to finally arrive to transfer us. Once we got to Tulsa, things went pretty smoothly. The doctors came in and discussed what was going on and the tests they needed to do, The process was pretty lengthy. I was told nothing about how long we would stay but we ended up staying the night. I had to leave Wednesday to go to work and my mom stayed with baby J. They took a few more tests and released him on Wednesday evening with instructions to follow up with his pediatrician on Monday.
Now comes the BIG news! During everything else going on, I heard back from my caseworker and I had been approved to move into the Methodist Children's home to an open 5 bedroom house. My mom decided that since we had available workforce (my brother, nephews, friends, and boyfriend) over the weekend, we should move everything in 3 days. So Thursday while I was at work, they started cleaning and moving. We worked all day Friday and Saturday packing and moving. We got everything but one final load moved by Saturday evening. I was so very stressed but grateful to my wonderful friends and family for working so hard to help me get all moved in,
Early Sunday morning at 2 A.M., there was a little too much excitement when my brothers trailer, which was hooked to my dads truck, was struck by a drunk driver. The truck was parked in front of my parents house. It was pretty damaged but thankfully my boyfriend saw the accident and got the car description so they found the car and impounded it. We managed to still be able to use the trailer for the one last load on Sunday.
Monday was pretty eventful. I had some help unpacking in the morning and I got one side of the house unpacked and set up. At baby J's doctors appointment he had a few more health concerns so we need to keep him out of daycare for the rest of the week. My wonderful mother is helping watch him so I can still go to work. Monday evening I finished some baby proofing around the house and my goal is to be completely unpacked and set up by this coming Monday for a house inspection. I am hoping and praying that I can take another foster child in time for Christmas. I will be back to update again next week! Prayers for peace while unpacking and health for baby J are much appreciated.
Monday, November 16, 2015
The past few weeks have been pretty hectic. I have been talking to the Methodist Children's Home about moving in to one of their open homes. It is a 4 bedroom house so this would give me the opportunity to have more children in my home. My mom is even willing to let me use her van to have more car seats. It is also a wonderful community to be surrounded by. Being yards away from other foster parents to get advice and help from. I am very excited and really praying hard that this is the path that God is leading me down. I am also in the process of switching foster care agencies and trying to get my home open for another foster child. All of this is definitely taking longer than I hoped and it is getting closer and closer to the holidays. Most of it is just hang ups in the paperwork and there is nothing I can really do about that.
Thanksgiving and my birthday are next week! I can hardly believe it! If I am approved for this home, I would start moving next week so I could be all moved in and set up by Christmas. Speaking of that, I have never had a foster child for Christmas but I am so blessed that DHS and my local church offer the Angel tree and have funding to support foster children for the holidays. I feel like so much needs to be done by Christmas and I don't have enough time to do it all. I am hoping to get most of my Christmas shopping knocked out by Black Friday. I am doing a minimalist Christmas this year and following the 4 tips want, need, wear, read to get gifts. There are already plenty of toys in my house so I'm hoping to not get very many more.
Well, off to finish some more paperwork. Seems like that is all I've been doing the past few weeks. Check in next week for my update on decisions and what I'm doing for Thanksgiving and my birthday!
Thanksgiving and my birthday are next week! I can hardly believe it! If I am approved for this home, I would start moving next week so I could be all moved in and set up by Christmas. Speaking of that, I have never had a foster child for Christmas but I am so blessed that DHS and my local church offer the Angel tree and have funding to support foster children for the holidays. I feel like so much needs to be done by Christmas and I don't have enough time to do it all. I am hoping to get most of my Christmas shopping knocked out by Black Friday. I am doing a minimalist Christmas this year and following the 4 tips want, need, wear, read to get gifts. There are already plenty of toys in my house so I'm hoping to not get very many more.
Well, off to finish some more paperwork. Seems like that is all I've been doing the past few weeks. Check in next week for my update on decisions and what I'm doing for Thanksgiving and my birthday!
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