The Beginning

Today has been a day of beautiful day of memorable moments. I hope to blog about them soon, but for now I am tired, so I will now post the journaling for a scrapbook page about how my new kids came...

Mid-July our licensing worker from Family Services and Children’s Aid, Stacia came to our new house to transfer our foster license. As we finished looking at the house, we sat down at the table. Stacia said, “Well, we already have a boy in mind for you His name is David and he is 12 years old...” She went on to describe him. She mentioned that he was part of a sibling group and had a brother named Joshua who was 6 and a sister Joy who was 8. Instantly Chad & I were interested in hearing about all three of them. David needed to be moved before the start of the school year, so they suggested that we start meeting with his foster family to see if he would be a fit for us.

A week later we had Chris & Marcy over with their bio kids and David. He was very quiet during dinner. After dinner the kids went to play and we talked about the joys and challenges of parenting David. That night as they left he went out to the car and before he got in he did a funny little skip, and at that moment my heart melted. I knew he was the right fit for us.

Over the next month we met at the pool, the park, and finally had him come to our house for a visit alone. We agreed to have him move in as a foster placement.

We had been thinking and praying about Joshua & Joy too. So before our meeting about moving David into our care we told the agency that we would like information on adopting all 3 of them.

The morning of the meeting the Stacia, Seana, and Sarah (the foster workers), Marcy (David’s foster mom), and Patty (Joshua & Joy’s foster mom) were all there. As we started to discuss things it came to light that Patty’s childcare for her upcoming trip to Florida had fallen through. Chad typed out on his phone, “Do you want to keep them?” I nodded yes, and he gave me, “well tell them” eyes. I spoke up and said, “We will keep them.” There was a sense of open mouthed surprise in the room. The workers asked again and again if we were sure. Once Patty and Marcy left, I explained that if we were seriously considering adopting them what better way to see if it would work.

David moved in on Friday the 17^th of August, and a week later Joy & Joshua came for 10 days. It was crazy getting used to feeding so many, but it was so fun as well. They were so snuggly and fun. We knew we were in the honeymoon phase, but we just soaked it up. We loved every second.

They went home on Sunday, and as soon as the holiday weekend was over we called the agency and told them we wanted to move forward with adoption. We went to the office on Tuesday, September 4^th and signed “intent to adopt” paperwork.

Friday, September 7^th we picked up Joy & Joshua from day care after school and brought them back to Culver’s. We sat in the corner booth and asked them if they wanted to be part of our forever family. David & Joy immediately said yes. Joshua was a bit more hesitant, but as the conversation went on he said, “YES!” he would change his last name to Green, and “YES!” he would call us mom and dad. It was such an exciting day.

Two weeks later September 21, 2012 Joy & Joshua moved in too! Now all we had to do was wait the 6 months to finalize the adoption. 

This picture was taken today at the Grand Traverse Pie Company. So Unexpectedly Blessed!