We are diving in!

Today I made our first phone call to get Joseph assessed for early intervention services. I realized when I hung up the phone that I have very mixed emotions about this. I want him to get all the services he needs in order to reach his full potential, but part of me wants to pretend like everything is fine(denial runs strong in my family!) It is also a little intimidating to jump into this pool! It is such a big, scary and unknown world...the world of speech therapists, preschools and whatever else. I am confident, however, that God has Joseph and his future in His hands!

Finnally Forever!

The best day of 2009!

Joseph's adoption day!

It was so great to finally sign the papers that made Joseph a legal member of our family. He has, of course, been a part of our family in our hearts since he was placed with us! What a great day! We had brunch at the Tower Cafe(Where we have eaten to celebrate every adoption!), and then headed off to the courthouse. Brian and I signed papers, we took pictures and whoo-hoo, Joseph is ours FOREVER!

Joseph's Adoption Hearing!

Praise God!!

We have adoption hearing date for Joseph! Although there has been no reason to believe his adoption wouldn't go through, it is always such a relief to finalize the adoption. We all love Joseph so much, and are so glad to finally be his forever family! It is times like these when the goodness of God is simply unquestionable!

Joseph and the CA Budget Crisis!

Joseph fell asleep in his high chair tonight while we were all eating dinner! I guess cantaloupe and chicken just isn't exciting enough for him!


Although Joseph's adoption is moving along as expected, there have been some curves in the road! We requested a new adoption worker for him after a less than professional experience with the worker he had been assigned. I met with her supervisor; she was very kind, and I felt that she really listened to what I had to say. She said she would assign a new worker after his hearing to terminate his birth parents parental rights(which was at the end of last month). His original worker represented him at the hearing, and the court decided to terminate parental rights, as well as, grant us the power to make educational decisions for Joseph prior to the adoption finalization. This seemed strange at first given he was only 10 months old at the time of the hearing, but I think it has more to do with requesting resources and services for him if the need arises. (He has a follow-up developmental assessment in August.) So, everything was moving along. However, due to the California budget crisis, 1/3 of all the staff in adoptions will be laid off or reassigned. This means that he will be assigned a new adoption worker at some point, but we don't know when. Until that time the supervisor has taken on his case, which I am happy with. She is very pleasant to work with. Unfortunately, our homestudy worker is being reassigned to another dept., so we will be assigned a new one. I am very sad about this because our homestudy worker has been very supportive throughout our whole process, and we will miss her! All homestudies are now on hold while the department re-organizes. Luckily, our homestudy was finished prior to placement! I asked if this would affect our finalization time frame, and nobody knows for sure. I would think that the county would want to get the adoptions that are close to finalization finished and off the case load, but this is the government...so who knows! God has all of this under control!

Joseph Update!

I realize it has been too long since I have updated this blog! It isn't that I have had nothing to say, I have simply not known what to share. For the first time since starting our adoption/foster care process we have had trouble with a social worker. I will not be able to share the details here until everything has been resolved, but I have filed a formal complaint against Joseph's adoption worker(not our home study worker).This will not affect his adoption proceeding forward(or shouldn't!) and we will be granted a new worker for Joseph after an upcoming meeting with the supervisor.

This has been very stressful for me, and something I have definitely spent a lot of time in prayer about. As an pre-adoptive family, like in the case of Joseph, I do not want to do anything that rocks the boat, or causes the social workers to have any reason not to like our family. We really want to fly under the radar of the system, jumping through the necessary hoops and as smoothly and quickly as possible adopt our kids. So, to file a complaint against his worker goes against what feels safe in this situation. However, the worker's actions have left us with no other course of action. So, please pray specifically that the supervisor hears what I have to say in the way I intend it; that we will indeed be granted a new worker, who will not be put off by our action toward the past worker; and that Joseph's parental rights termination hearing which is scheduled for the end of the month will go forward as planned. I know God is BIG, and that ALL of this is in his hands! I also see that God has asked me to step out in faith more lately, and he continues to prove himself faithful to me.


So, here are some cute pictures of Joseph I took the other night! He now has two teeth! He also is crawling, up on his hands and knees, not the army man crawl anymore! Joseph is also pulling to standing at, but not yet cruising the furniture. So Cute!

I thought this was soooo cute, Joseph fell asleep curled up next to Brian. I had to take some pictures!

PS. I am sorry about the crazy picture location. I was having trouble getting them to line up the way I wanted them!

Adoption Update(Finally)!!

Our computer crashed a couple of weeks ago, so I haven't been able to update the blog. So, here is the latest update on the adoption of Baby J. His court hearing was continued until the 26th of this month because not all the paperwork was completed by his social worker in time for the hearing. Now I realize these are very over-worked and underpaid people, but when my sons permanency is put on hold because someone simply didn't do their job...that really drives me crazy! I am thankful that the hearing was continued relatively soon, only a couple of weeks. Please pray that the next hearing will actually be heard, and progress can be made!

Adoption and Reunification

It has been a while since I have blogged specifically about adoption. I think in my regular, day-to-day life I forget that we are in the process of adopting Baby J. I feel that he is already mine, and maybe I prefer to think of him that way, instead of in process. However, his birth mom has a hearing next week that should decide whether or not to continue offering her reunification services. As this date approaches, I am divided. Of course my heart is hoping for her services to be terminated and for us to be one step closer to officially adopting Baby J. But, there is the side of me that understands the weight of each hearing, and the loss involved both for Baby J. and his birth mom. I continue to pray for each of my kids' birth parents, and I truly hope for the best for each of them. I know the best thing for any of them is that they would meet and fall in love with Jesus. That is my main prayer for them! So, today as I think about adoption, I am hesitantly excited, anxiously hopeful, and obediently prayerful. Does that make sense?

Everyday Life!

What a sweetie! Baby J. is such a great addition to our family. He has just slipped right in to all of our hearts, and seems unaffected by the busy nature of our lives.

This is where he tends to take many of his naps. On the kitchen counter, among the newspaper, books, and dishes. He seems very content to be in the middle of things(the kitchen is the hub of the house). He likes to be close to me and he will sit in his seat and hang out with me while I do dishes or make dinner. At least for now!!


We moved some furniture around, so we could have our old computer in the living room. Isaac thinks it is his! He has really enjoyed learning to play some preschool level computer games. It is nice to have the computer downstairs where I can see it. Since I am planning to home school Isaac for Kindergarten in the fall, we are rethinking the use of some of the spaces in our house. What an exciting time! God is doing a new thing!!