I just told Little I that he needs lotion on his skin a few times each day because he has brown skin. I explained that his older brother and sister don't need lotion on their skin because they're vanilla.
He said, "Yeah. They're not chocolate anymore."
I tried to explain that they never were chocolate. They've always been vanilla because they were born from my tummy and I'm vanilla. I reminded him that he came from another lady's tummy.
He said the reason they're vanilla is because they're from You Nork.
There's a peak into a 5-year old's mind as to how we learn race. It really means NOTHING!!!
Showing posts with label adoption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adoption. Show all posts
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Thankful Thursday
This week I am thankful for...
1. A stranger (a black man in his 50's) in the parking lot of the library who called out loudly to me, "Are those your children?" I answered, "Yes, sir." He went on to tell me what a marvelous thing adoption was & that I should never listen to people of his ethnicity who say these children are missing out on their culture by being adopted by white parents. He said, "culture is how you're loved and that's all that matters." What sweet words of affirmation from a complete stranger!
2. Miss B and Cowboy are home after having a great time at church camp.
3. The opportunity to take 4 middle school girls from our homeschool group to our local food bank to volunteer. We worked with other volunteers today to organize and box 10,179 pounds of food to be distributed throughout our state to people who are hungry.
4. Tonight! I can hardly wait! I get to go work with some other ladies to prepare for the school year for our homeschool group. We're going to the home of Miss Musicality (my sister) & the 5 of us will get to talk, eat, plan, talk, eat, work, giggle, talk, and sleep a little. There are still some details that we need God to iron out for the year and we can't wait for Him to show up tonight & reveal those details to us!!!
5. New springs on the garage door. Although it did cost money to replace them, thanks to my couponing we were fairly stocked around here and I didn't have to make many more purchases for this week.
6. The Crockpot. I love the smell of the house when I've planned ahead and put a roast in it for the day. And we all love the taste of a yummy dinner.
7. Camp laundry being caught up. All the gross lake clothes are clean.
8. My marriage. I know several people right now whose marriages are struggling and I'm grateful for a Godly husband who adores me.
9. Family being so close to us.
1. A stranger (a black man in his 50's) in the parking lot of the library who called out loudly to me, "Are those your children?" I answered, "Yes, sir." He went on to tell me what a marvelous thing adoption was & that I should never listen to people of his ethnicity who say these children are missing out on their culture by being adopted by white parents. He said, "culture is how you're loved and that's all that matters." What sweet words of affirmation from a complete stranger!
2. Miss B and Cowboy are home after having a great time at church camp.
3. The opportunity to take 4 middle school girls from our homeschool group to our local food bank to volunteer. We worked with other volunteers today to organize and box 10,179 pounds of food to be distributed throughout our state to people who are hungry.
4. Tonight! I can hardly wait! I get to go work with some other ladies to prepare for the school year for our homeschool group. We're going to the home of Miss Musicality (my sister) & the 5 of us will get to talk, eat, plan, talk, eat, work, giggle, talk, and sleep a little. There are still some details that we need God to iron out for the year and we can't wait for Him to show up tonight & reveal those details to us!!!
5. New springs on the garage door. Although it did cost money to replace them, thanks to my couponing we were fairly stocked around here and I didn't have to make many more purchases for this week.
6. The Crockpot. I love the smell of the house when I've planned ahead and put a roast in it for the day. And we all love the taste of a yummy dinner.
7. Camp laundry being caught up. All the gross lake clothes are clean.
8. My marriage. I know several people right now whose marriages are struggling and I'm grateful for a Godly husband who adores me.
9. Family being so close to us.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Five Years Ago
5 years ago God & I had already convinced Cowboy that we needed a third child, but nothing was happening. We were beginning fertility testing.
5 years ago God had a plan for us that we knew nothing about.
5 years ago I was thrilled to be welcoming very soon a new niece and nephew. In vitro miracles!!!
5 years ago God was opening the womb of Baby Sister, who had longed for a baby for many years.
5 years ago I was beginning to think like a desperate woman. Desperate to have another baby. I knew these desperate thoughts. I'd had them all before. 8 years before.
5 years ago there was a woman recovering from delivering a 6 pound 2 ounce beautiful baby boy.
5 years ago my womb was closed and I was aching for a baby.
5 years ago our family didn't know that what we were missing had already been brought into this world by God.
Today I am amazed that God chose us to be his family.
Little I, we can't believe you are 5!!!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Relinquishment
Because I've been a foster parent for a few years now, I've had plenty of time in juvenile courtrooms in my state.
LOTS of good people watching! I have seen some hysterical things (people swearing up and down they're not high come back into the courtroom a bit later with a failed test). Some bizarre things (an older gentleman have a seizure, EMT's came in, and the judge continued to hold court). Some things that make me downright angry (parents who are idiots and don't take care of their kids)!
The absolute saddest things I've seen are parents relinquishing their parental rights.
Let me clarify--I was not in court the day that Little I's biological mother (BM, as we refer to her) relinquished her rights. There was nothing sad at all about that to me on that day. I cried tears of pure joy when Cowboy called to give me the news. However, I feel sad for her when I think of her. I pray for her. I worry about her life. I want her to know God and spend eternity with us and live out His purpose for her here on earth.
Back to the sad stuff...
Yesterday I went to court for NoBo's case. His mom, who we love, relinquished her parental rights. I cried with her. It's a happy-sad kind of thing. We're thrilled we'll most likely get to love on NoBo for his whole life, but we're sad for his sweet mom.
LOTS of good people watching! I have seen some hysterical things (people swearing up and down they're not high come back into the courtroom a bit later with a failed test). Some bizarre things (an older gentleman have a seizure, EMT's came in, and the judge continued to hold court). Some things that make me downright angry (parents who are idiots and don't take care of their kids)!
The absolute saddest things I've seen are parents relinquishing their parental rights.
Let me clarify--I was not in court the day that Little I's biological mother (BM, as we refer to her) relinquished her rights. There was nothing sad at all about that to me on that day. I cried tears of pure joy when Cowboy called to give me the news. However, I feel sad for her when I think of her. I pray for her. I worry about her life. I want her to know God and spend eternity with us and live out His purpose for her here on earth.
Back to the sad stuff...
Yesterday I went to court for NoBo's case. His mom, who we love, relinquished her parental rights. I cried with her. It's a happy-sad kind of thing. We're thrilled we'll most likely get to love on NoBo for his whole life, but we're sad for his sweet mom.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sweet Kisses
I hate to admit this. Especially to those of you who've never been able to have children biologically. But, here it is anyway...
There are times when I still get sad that Cowboy & I were only able to have 2 children biologically.
At those times when I let myself "go there" and be sad, I pull myself up quickly by thinking about how gracious God has been to me and Cowboy to allow us to have this precious boy as our son.
Little I is so passionate. He brings such an abundance of joy to our home daily.
Last week he was kissing us all goodnight. He spent a few minutes kissing each of us all over our faces & necks. We were laughing hysterically and I continue to be amazed that God chose us to be Little I's family.
There are times when I still get sad that Cowboy & I were only able to have 2 children biologically.
At those times when I let myself "go there" and be sad, I pull myself up quickly by thinking about how gracious God has been to me and Cowboy to allow us to have this precious boy as our son.
Little I is so passionate. He brings such an abundance of joy to our home daily.
Last week he was kissing us all goodnight. He spent a few minutes kissing each of us all over our faces & necks. We were laughing hysterically and I continue to be amazed that God chose us to be Little I's family.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Christmas Wishes
I'm a couple days late with this, but here are some of my Christmas wishes...
* I wish people everywhere would choose to be adopted by my Heavenly Father.
* I wish more people would choose to adopt a child. I once heard that if 1 family in each church, synagogue, temple, etc. in the U.S. would adopt a child from foster care that there would be no children in need of a home. I know my church is covered, but many churches have ZERO families who have answered this call.
* I wish my father-in-law's cancer would be completely eradicated.
* I wish my children would get along with each other.
* I wish Little Bit would be successfully transitioned home and would be safe.
* I wish Cowboy and I had more date nights.
* I wish my munchkins wouldn't complain when given chores and schoolwork.
* I wish for September to get here quickly so that we can go to Walt Disney World again.
* I wish for our country to not slowly transition to a socialist government over the next few years.
Miss B and I will be skiing over the next few days, so nothing new will be here until New Year's Eve or so. I'm sure I'll have great pics and fun stories.
5 hours until I'm out the door for Colorado,
Jenn
* I wish people everywhere would choose to be adopted by my Heavenly Father.
* I wish more people would choose to adopt a child. I once heard that if 1 family in each church, synagogue, temple, etc. in the U.S. would adopt a child from foster care that there would be no children in need of a home. I know my church is covered, but many churches have ZERO families who have answered this call.
* I wish my father-in-law's cancer would be completely eradicated.
* I wish my children would get along with each other.
* I wish Little Bit would be successfully transitioned home and would be safe.
* I wish Cowboy and I had more date nights.
* I wish my munchkins wouldn't complain when given chores and schoolwork.
* I wish for September to get here quickly so that we can go to Walt Disney World again.
* I wish for our country to not slowly transition to a socialist government over the next few years.
Miss B and I will be skiing over the next few days, so nothing new will be here until New Year's Eve or so. I'm sure I'll have great pics and fun stories.
5 hours until I'm out the door for Colorado,
Jenn
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Adopting Little I
I've been meaning to do this for a long time. My memory is not that great (& I'm sure my love for Coke Zero is not helping that) so I feel that I have to journal things to remember them. Our story of adopting Little I follows.
Our plan was 2 kids. God was so good to us and we were able to have 2 chilren on our own. As soon as I had recovered from my c-section with C-Man I said I wanted another. Cowboy thought I was crazy and reminded me that our plan was to have 2 kids. I got tired of nagging him and just turned it over to God. I asked Cowboy to pray about how many children we should have. He heard from God and it wasn't the answer he wanted, but he obeyed. (I just LOVE my husband!)
We were not able to have any more kids on our own and decided that we should become foster parents in hopes to adopt. We had friends who had done this and knew there were plenty of kids out there that needed homes. We made the first phone call in August of 2005 to get information about becoming foster parents. We finished our foster parent classes in December of 2005. We were SO ready to have another baby by this point, but we still had more red tape to go through.
In January of 2006 God gave me a dream. God has never before or since given me a dream or vision. In this dream I was on a playground at an orphanage looking for my child. I found him. He was a beautiful 5-year old boy with brown skin and big brown eyes. I woke up from the dream and told Cowboy what our boy was supposed to look like. Even though I knew we were supposed to get a baby, not a 5-year old, I knew God had shown me our child.
We finally received a phone call on March 29, 2006 to ask us if we'd take 2 little boys. Because of some extra responsibilities I had at the time, I had to say "no" to 2. I asked the worker if she had any brown-skin boys under 1. She told me she had some. The stress set in. How would we decide which boy to accept? I called Cowboy, who was in the car with Miss B and C-Man. We said a quick prayer and knew we were to take Little I.
We picked up Little I the next afternoon. He was SO tiny and had the hugest brown eyes. He was a malnourished 9 1/2 month old baby with Don King hair. In those first weeks I told him numerous times, "We'll always feed you when you're hungry."
Many details and 2 1/2 years later he is officially OURS!!! We can't imagine life without him. He brings us great joy everyday with phrases like, "Knock your cheese off!" and "Hey, Bobby!"
God is SO good!
Our plan was 2 kids. God was so good to us and we were able to have 2 chilren on our own. As soon as I had recovered from my c-section with C-Man I said I wanted another. Cowboy thought I was crazy and reminded me that our plan was to have 2 kids. I got tired of nagging him and just turned it over to God. I asked Cowboy to pray about how many children we should have. He heard from God and it wasn't the answer he wanted, but he obeyed. (I just LOVE my husband!)
We were not able to have any more kids on our own and decided that we should become foster parents in hopes to adopt. We had friends who had done this and knew there were plenty of kids out there that needed homes. We made the first phone call in August of 2005 to get information about becoming foster parents. We finished our foster parent classes in December of 2005. We were SO ready to have another baby by this point, but we still had more red tape to go through.
In January of 2006 God gave me a dream. God has never before or since given me a dream or vision. In this dream I was on a playground at an orphanage looking for my child. I found him. He was a beautiful 5-year old boy with brown skin and big brown eyes. I woke up from the dream and told Cowboy what our boy was supposed to look like. Even though I knew we were supposed to get a baby, not a 5-year old, I knew God had shown me our child.
We finally received a phone call on March 29, 2006 to ask us if we'd take 2 little boys. Because of some extra responsibilities I had at the time, I had to say "no" to 2. I asked the worker if she had any brown-skin boys under 1. She told me she had some. The stress set in. How would we decide which boy to accept? I called Cowboy, who was in the car with Miss B and C-Man. We said a quick prayer and knew we were to take Little I.
We picked up Little I the next afternoon. He was SO tiny and had the hugest brown eyes. He was a malnourished 9 1/2 month old baby with Don King hair. In those first weeks I told him numerous times, "We'll always feed you when you're hungry."
Many details and 2 1/2 years later he is officially OURS!!! We can't imagine life without him. He brings us great joy everyday with phrases like, "Knock your cheese off!" and "Hey, Bobby!"
God is SO good!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Ebony or Ivory?
If I choose ivory this time, does it mean I'll never get another ebony?...
I have been teary today and I don't know why. I think I'm getting a bit overwhelmed at thoughts of the past week and a half. We were able to finalize adoption on our sweet Little I on October 31st. This has been such a long wait for our family. After the adoption, the Judge looked at me and said, "You know there's more where that one came from." I told him we were ready for more.
Now it looks like we could have another placement, but it's not the placement we thought we wanted next. We had in our minds that we needed another brown-skin boy so that Little I wouldn't feel like an outsider within his own family. When I write this down it seems so silly to me. I think about God's adoption of me. He didn't seem to care that I am completely different from every other child of His. He didn't make sure I was a certain race, gender, or age. So why is it so hard for me & Cowboy to make this decision? At church today God seemed to be telling me in a variety of ways that we should say yes to this placement. However, Cowboy doesn't agree. Because I love God and trust him to give Cowboy the answers for our family, I'm waiting.
By the way, it took Cowboy quite a while to decide we needed a 3rd child. Then, when it wasn't possible to have a third biologically, it took even longer for him to decide that we should pursue adoption. I'll just wait on him to hear from God or I'll trust God to change my heart on this matter.
I have been teary today and I don't know why. I think I'm getting a bit overwhelmed at thoughts of the past week and a half. We were able to finalize adoption on our sweet Little I on October 31st. This has been such a long wait for our family. After the adoption, the Judge looked at me and said, "You know there's more where that one came from." I told him we were ready for more.
Now it looks like we could have another placement, but it's not the placement we thought we wanted next. We had in our minds that we needed another brown-skin boy so that Little I wouldn't feel like an outsider within his own family. When I write this down it seems so silly to me. I think about God's adoption of me. He didn't seem to care that I am completely different from every other child of His. He didn't make sure I was a certain race, gender, or age. So why is it so hard for me & Cowboy to make this decision? At church today God seemed to be telling me in a variety of ways that we should say yes to this placement. However, Cowboy doesn't agree. Because I love God and trust him to give Cowboy the answers for our family, I'm waiting.
By the way, it took Cowboy quite a while to decide we needed a 3rd child. Then, when it wasn't possible to have a third biologically, it took even longer for him to decide that we should pursue adoption. I'll just wait on him to hear from God or I'll trust God to change my heart on this matter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)