Family Friday: The Ever Changing Numbers of a Foster Family

Dear Friends and Family,

One thing that is ever changing in a foster family is your numbers. By that, I mean the numbers of children in your home. If you read last week's post about Adoption you know that we recently adopted and added to our permanent family. We now officially have four biological daughters and two adopted sons!

However, change is always happening when you foster. We currently are fostering a sweet baby boy and a teenage girl which brings our household to a grand total of 10 people! The baby was placed with us through DHS and has been with us for a couple months. The teen was a mutual placement with her parents' consent to stay with us for a period of time till things evened out in their home. We don't know how long either of these placements will be with us.

What is funny to us is when people comment on how many are in our family! Honestly, we don't notice it. Until days like today when 6 out of 8 kids are gone for the weekend. Then it seems SUPER quiet!

Praying that your weekend is blessed!

If you missed last week's post:Adoption!

Until next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi
Numbers 6:24-26

Monday Madness: Am I Back in the Groove?

What's On My Mind Today:

Good morning!

I'm praying that as you read this that the Lord will bless you today! As I sit down to write, I glanced over at my calendar to see what is coming up this week. There are some things that will need prayer and things that could change. One thing that won't change: God's ability to get me through the week that is staring ahead of me.

This week there is at least one court date I need to go to for the parents of one of our current placements. It's not mandatory to go as a foster parent. However, I make them a priority. For starters, you learn a lot of things about the case that DHS can't tell you for confidentiality's sake that is made public knowledge. I also find that the parents often have no one else standing there to support them. How scary that must be? I can't imagine. 

This week I am preparing for something exciting that you will find out about later. There is a lot of planning that goes into it. Maybe a little less than I imagined? While I am pretty well prepared, there is a lot to accomplish in the next couple days and I have no idea when I will find the precious time to get it done.

Most of you know that currently, we have 8 children. Six are ours and two are temporary. Because of that, I have been trying to get into a different rhythm than I am used to for this school year. Every year is different. Usually, by now I am in the groove of things, but it's just starting to come together! What makes it a bit more complicated is that on the school front, we homeschool, have one in private school, one in public school and one that is homeschooled but uses the public school resource room. Talk about going in different directions all day long! With a lot of prayer, the Lord has allowed me to delegate some tasks that I thought I needed to accomplish and ask for help in other areas. Rarely do I look at the calendar with dread now. 

Time to get going on the To-Do List! Praying your week goes well!

If you missed the last Monday Madness post: Celebrating My Girls' Birthdays

Until next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi
Numbers 6:24-26

Family Friday: ADOPTION!

Dear Friends and Family,
In getting back in the groove of blogging, it seems appropriate that the first Family Friday post should be about our recent adoption!
A little backstory: if you are new to my blog, you would need to know that we are a foster family. We have been doing this for ten years and despite the sometimes challenging and often hard times, it has been worth every moment. Through this, though this was not our original plan, we have added two boys into our family of all girls. You all know our son, Tony, who has been in our family since he was 9 months old. What you may or may not realize is that we have been fostering a little boy since Thanksgiving 2016. On the blog, he has gone by a couple names: Stuart Little and Little Mr.
It is my privilege to introduce Noah James as part of our family! He always was a part of our family, as all our foster kiddos are, but now we have the blessing of adding our last name to the end and making it, as my mother-in-law says "official"!

I'm still waiting on pictures from friends and family so I can make him a photo album but here are some fun ones from his Gotcha Day! I hope you enjoy!

He was counting down the days for MONTHS!

Such a happy boy!

So excited to go inside!

He can hardly contain himself!

Sitting on his birth mama's lap and asking what is happening next!

It's OFFICIAL!

One of his foster mamas and her son.

For his adoption feast, he wanted sherbert and grapes!

There were several amazing things about this day of September 6th. One is that the courtroom was jam-packed with people from all over: DHS, church, family, and friends. The other is that we had the blessing of having his biological family there to share the experience as they have become an extended part of our family! It was such an amazing time and we feel so blessed to have had so many people come to celebrate with us!

If you missed the last Family Friday post:Kudo Tokens

Until next time...

Have a blessed day and embrace the craziness in your life!

Heidi
Numbers 6:24-26

Fostering Friday: What's Happening Right Now...

Welcome to Fostering Fridays!

 Our hope is that you will be able to get a taste of what it's like to foster

 by reading our experiences and thoughts!

It's been a while...

Fostering Friday: Buddy by Sierra

I love our little guy!!

Fostering Friday: What Are Your Questions?

Welcome to Fostering Fridays! Our hope is that you will be able to get a taste of what it's like to foster by reading our experiences and thoughts!

I got to thinking....

Fostering Friday: Is it fair?

                                                         Welcome to Fostering Fridays! 

Our hope is that you will be able to get a taste of what it's like to foster by reading 
our experiences and thoughts!
This week, I feel blessed to let you see into the heart and mind of my daughter
and her feelings about fostering...