[SAHmom]

I have spent time reading everyone's updates and exciting news and thought I would share ours.

We were approached about a sibling group of two. The boy is 10 and the girl is 9. This particular person thought we would be a good match. I have to admit that I have seen this sibling group before while scanning our state's profiles of adoptable children. We are now in the process of gathering our information to see if we will be considered as their family.

As for our children in the home...we just got back from going to Branson, Missouri. I was amazed by how far everyone has come. The only behaviors were from the heat and simply being tired. It was great! Our children have come a lllooonnnggg way!

I haven't heard from son, J, 18, since his phonecalls of wanting money and us footing his college {he's been talking about college for two years now and the money disappears} and my telling him no more money!

Anyhow, that is our update from our neck of the woods...how about all of you?????

[sunshinemommy]

Well I'm still here so I figure I'll post an update...

Pea, is doing great..She's so happy and contented!! I can't figure it out..She must have gotten used to chaos in utero! LOL...She's gaining weight and is a happy contented baby who loves her baby chair and her sling..

Rosie my Posie had a few baby related setbacks...She's a little angry she's not the baby anymore and we've had some toileting issues, but nothing we can't deal with. The biggest news!! She's graduating from Early Intervention Preschool this year...and will be starting KINDY next year! She's made leaps and bounds this year..her speech is more understandable to other people and her behaviours are more appropriate! She will be going to the same private school her big sister is going too, which will make life easier! She is going to a "I'm ready for school" Camp which is in the mornings at the Early Intervention preschool..and then in August they start visiting the new school, new classroom. Her kindy teacher is amazing and is giving up her time to meet with Rosie's team and help Rosie visit the school..


My Bonnie, has finished her year. It's been a rough year for me...coming to realize that she may not be as capable as I think she should be...and that years of abuse and neglect have taken more of an unreversable toll then I thought. She will continuing in her private school...She's still with the Olds group next year. I think my positive this year is her determined never give up attitude and her cheerful positiveness! She participated last week in the Special Olympics regional swim meet and I cried when most of her class, TEACHER and principal showed up with signs to cheer her on. She won gold in her Freestyle race She can still be a bit of a bully, but this is fading too, as her social skills get better She is going to a few camps this summer, we're experimenting with some new camps too. An aquatic adventure camp held at the pool where I work, with counsellors that I know and trust....She's very excited..

Miss Tiff...who lives with my parents is doing well. She thrives on being the only child of two totally committed parents. It has been difficult to have her so far away, but it is for the best for her and for her sisters...I was surprised when she came with my parents for Pea's birth, how well behaved she has become and how she attached she has become to my dad and mom. She doesn't hug indiscriminately anymore...and stuck close to them.

And finally my big girl She's had a hugely successful school year. She is on the Honour Roll with distinction and recieved her Chief Scout award this year (think Eagle Scout)...It is the highest award a Scout in Canada can earn. She has written a support book about testifying in court...She is looking for input from parents and kids about their experiences testifying in courts...
We're so so so proud of her and her accomplishments..Next year she will continue at her school (on full scholarship) and will be taking advanced placement courses..Many of her teachers can't believe that this poised, confident young lady (who is also growing like a WEED...I guess that's what good nutrition does) is the same child they first met..She has become a passionate advocate for human rights....We have stumbles along the way, she finds dealing with men very difficult and uncomfortable..and she will often obssess over things..

As for hubby and I, we continue on...Pea has brought us closer together..and has made us as even more of a team. I leave little love notes in his lunch box..or pictures of the girls..

We are planning a family vacation for the end of July. The girls and I are taking the train (help me, help me) from here to our cottage in Ontario...It will take about three days (ugh) to get there. Hubby due to work, has to fly in and out on a weekend. We'll be spending two weeks there and then taking the train back.

Well that is my long update

[kretzklan]

Oh my goodness - SAHM...I didn't know you were looking for more placements or open to them. What exciting news and how uncanny that you've seen them online as well! Sounds like a lot is coming up for you!
Sunshine - sounds good all around...especially the oldest - what a wonderful thing for her to be pursuing!

Things here are well, summer. We are busy - not always fun busy - but busy. DD is annoying lately...hoping it's yet another stage and DS2 is doing moderate to well. DS1 is total teen funk...I'm really working on ignoring the bad stuff!

[ajjhmf]

Sound's like things are going well with you guys. That's great to hear.

Things here are much inproved over last mouth. We survuved vacation to Disney and even managed a to have a good time.

J is 10 now and alternates between pre-teen funk and total immaturity. We're working hard at parenting him where he is at but since that changes day to day, it's hard to do. Today he woke up on the wrong side of the bed after losing his video game time for today by misbehaving at the VBS open house last night. He's been surly and on the edge so we aren't going to baseball as I know that will be a disaster. We've pulled him from Tang Soo Do as well for a while until he gets things under control.

H is 4 (Nearly 5 as she reminds up daily) and doing great. She's starting to read and LOVES school. I give her summer work and she asks for more. Our biggest challenge is that she is now passing J up in a lot of areas.

M is 3 now and having a great summer. Last year at this time he couldn't talk and now he jabbers up a storm. It's a great change. He's really becoming a fun kids to be around.

[lucyjoy]

Hmm-kids are doing okay

S(12) is working with me this summer and planning to go back to public school in the fall. He is bummed he couldn't go to camp this year but has managed to go swimming quite a bit.

D(17) is still working and still refusing to finish school.

T(18) is as far as I know, somewhere in Co. Last call I got was several months ago from a mental hospital.

Ra(20) got a temp job and is living with V's family(V lived with us a few years ago)

RU(20) is still in Iraq and looking forward to returning stateside and making future plans.

M(20) is working and fighting for the right to see his daughter who was born May 8.

Mouse(20) is in Iraq and having a tough time adjusting.

B(24) is in MI and finally in an apartment with just K and Little A. The third surgery on his shoulder seems to be working allowing him to stay employed.

C(26) is back living with the uncle that gave him to me. I think that is a good place for him. He has not worked since his breakdown 2 years ago.

My business is dismally slow due to weather and other issues. Dh remains unemployed.

[crick]

Will keep fingers and toes crossed for you Sah!! Shall we send the chocolate NOW or wait? LOL!

Things are going well here although I don't feel I had enough of a vacation in South Bend. Think another 2 days without the family would have had me completely rested and relaxed.

T, K & S will start school on July 8th so their summer fun is quickly coming to an end. Will have another "set" of 4,5 & 6th graders and one of the teachers emailed saying "I didn't know you had another one coming in??!!" Sheesh...I ONLY have FOUR kids!

J will start 7th grade in August so I'm looking forward to having a month of alone time with him. Unlike many moms, I've never had the alone time with the oldest child thing so I think it'll be good.

Family reunion coming up in July hosted by cousins who live in Nebraska. They are having it at a big state park full of many things to do so it'll be fun. Kids are excited to ride a horse and go fishing, which isn't something we do here. Camping yes, fishing..no.

The only downer of my life is that our house isn't selling and with 4 days left on the contract, it's not likely. I REALLy wanted to move and yet with it not happening, I need to dig deep and figure out how to pull my head outta my nether regions and deal with it. Life is good and I know that, so can't go into the "I wish..." mode.
I'll get there...

[Lylac]

Great updates everyone!

Lets see..

Lyla is doing great, except that she asks to go to school everyday. She's still making progress developmentaly.

Bremon..well he's still a clown, he's doing great tho.

Nate is making tremedous progress in all areas. He plays with the other kids and toys now. He always has something in is mouth. He'll even let you touch his face without freaking out. He's babbling now, dada, mmmomma, gagaga, fafafa.

Abbie is doing pretty good. She has alot of surgeries coming up, that we're praying will help her.

Me and Tim are doing great....and could possibly see a sunny Skie in our future

[athikers]

Good updates everyone

Let's see...

Tucker is going on two solid months without using his feeding tube... so we have two months to go until they can pull it out! He continues to eat mostly baby food, but he is getting hungry now and tonight he got his own sippy cup out of the fridge because he was thirsty! He is making leaps and bounds in all areas...except speech. Like his long lost brother Nate (Lylac's son) he now plays appropriate with toys and his sister... sometimes. His autism therapy is up and running FINALLY and we are already seeing good progress.

Pixie... is Pixie. Full of drama. Very happy when she's happy. Very mad when she's mad. The self-injuring seems to have been mostly a phase and its done now. She was potty trained for just a few weeks until last week when she got swimmers itch... and now she's back to lots of accidents and being scared to go poop. Oh well.

Hubby and I are doing better, getting used to reality of a severely autistic son and what it means for our family and our future.

[Mkuhlmann06]

T - Is now a teenager and Im trying really hard to be treating him as such, although still with a lot of boundaries and rules. He is much better behaved when he not only knows that they are there, but they are enforced. In the past few months, he's grown out of his baby face and is really starting to look older. His world was really turned upside down by Rs placement and in some ways he has been much better about it then expected, while in other ways he's backslided some. He has been discharged from trauma, behavioral, and mobile therapy over the past few months. No more Psychologist either, as we don't need that DR unless we need services again. Only one left is the Psychiatrist for medication management. He hasn't heard from biomom in 14 months (and has only heard once in the past 2 years) and we've been trying really hard to keep in touch with 4 of his 5 siblings. Hopefully they will all get together this summer here at our house for a BBQ/reunion (first time in 5 or 6 years).

R - What a drama queen! She's really getting good at Tae Kwon Do -- the one sparring instructor rides her a little hard, but it's because he sees her ability. She's not sure she wants to continue past Oct. SHe wants to try other sports/activities (she's never had the opportunity to do anything before our placement). I can understand this, but she's just so good at what she is doing now. We're VERY SLOWLY progressing towards finalization (not because of her behaviors or anything... just because of her agency/worker in FL).

DH - Is finally adjusting to having a PMS'ing, drama queen, tween girl in the home (almost 6 months later). They still have no management positions available, so he's still earning about 1/2 of what he did 10 months when he was laid off.

Me - Still recovering from some bad poison ivy and am glad not to be referee'ing the kids as much. They have improved with their interactions between each other. Im trying really hard to take some days off here and there throughout the summer to take the kids places - amusement parks, sight seeing places, etc, as I feel like Im only going to have 1 or 2 more summers before they're too independent to be doing these activities. Sometimes I get sad for missing out on so much of their lives, but then remember how lucky I am to have them as my kids!

[SAHmom]

Oh my goodness - SAHM...I didn't know you were looking for more placements or open to them. What exciting news and how uncanny that you've seen them online as well! Sounds like a lot is coming up for you!

kretzklan, it is strange how things work. Hubby and I have been talking about updating our homestudy to adopt again in September. We were even going to give Adopt America Network a call...that is how we learned of our "Texas" kids.

We were approached by someone. They actually started the conversation with "You wouldn't by any chance want to adopt again....I know a sibling group that would fit perfectly in your family." I had to tell her, as a matter of fact...!

We are now updating our homestudy and have been gathering all of the necessary documents. I am not as nervous as I have been in the past. I have a pretty good feeling about this...strange, I know. I believe that things happen for a reason and that these two were meant to be in our family. Can't explain it, but we shall see!!!!

BTW, I appreciate seeing the updates. I love reading them...how about a few more?

[momraine]

OK lets see here are mine
S- He is doing amazingly well. He is working at our local movie theater, dating the same girl for 2 years, driving, wants me to get his IEP re-instated. He was trying to take some college classes, but he failed a part of a placement test because of his dysgraphia (kid can't write legibly) but has super high scores in everything else. He is very frustrated about this. He is also managing to fit in volunteer work and looking forward to band where he will be a drum major. Last time they competed at the state level they were fourth place, that was two years ago, this is the year they can compete again (they are only allowed to do it every other year) He is really hoping they do well.
W- is headed into high schoool, I can't beleive it! He gets constant phone calls from friends to get him to solve thier problems. He is still involved in dance and does lots of volunteer work and got really good grades, all A's with one B and one C from a teacher who failed her entire class with an impossible final. (we got this from several other parents all with kids like W who had straight A's in that class until that final, it was W's first C ever)
P- is going to homeschool one more year. She is still into dance.
M- is back to his old tricks so this will be a long summer.

[Kerbchek]

These updates are fun to read...

J continues to do well, but is becoming more and more of a hermit... he just loves to stay home and hang out. He's excited that we're going to adopt again. He wants to be a big brother (I hope that continues... I'm sure there'll be ups and downs), and the whole search for the next kid continues... There's a matching staffing on a kid on Monday... I'm not invited, but they are reviewing my homestudy... and they'll call me either way Monday afternoon, so I'll be anxious to hear the news on Monday...

E (16 - almost 17 who moved back with his mom in March after being in my home for nearly 4 years), still will not return calls, will not return text messages... he's kinda just disappeared out of our lives... not sure if he's upset or mad at me/us about something... really not sure why he won't talk to us.... I've texted back and forth with his girlfriend, she says he's gotten texts from me and that he's not mad... I just wonder why he won't ever reply... or stop by... or anything...