Adoption classes

SNOW DAY PICTURES---This is when the "other side of the street" neighbors decided to attack us with snowballs...check out my stance ( i am in the green). I think it was a tie b/c we all collapsed in the snow from laughter.

These are the two snowmen we built in our neighborhood.

All of our neighbors who contributed to the snowmen. We are blessed.

Last night was our first adoption class at our new agency. We were supposed to start last Thursday but it was cancelled due to snow. In fact, we went through record snow last week for the Dallas/Fort Worth area...about 9 inches where we live. We were out of school/work for two full days, tag on a weekend and we had a nice looooonnnngg 4 day weekend!! We spent almost all day Thursday throwing snowballs, making a 9 ft snowmen and body sledding. We spent almost all day Friday nursing our bodies back to health since we are getting old and took a beating playing in the snow :). Anyways, back to adoption class.

Last night the topic was on Sexual Abuse and everything that goes with it. Its hard to imagine why anyone would want to hurt a child in that manner but our director told us that almost 60% of the kids that come through thier agency have been sexually abused or sexually exposed.

We talked about things such as; appropriate boundaries, perceptions, warning signs, etc... We even got down to details such as the rules in our household when it comes to changing clothes. Do you allow your child to undress and then run to the shower?, or do you have a hamper in the bathroom? Are they expected to be fully clothed at all times? Are you and your spouse comfortable with a child who may not want to hug at first or even hold your hand? Its a lot to think about but you want your child to feel safe with you and to know that they can have rules about thier own body that you will respect.

We have another class tonight on Grief, Seperation and Loss and then another on Thursday night on Behavior Modification. We are going to aim for having our home study finished by the end of April....which right now seems practical.

*** We have a bed for our kiddo*** . Two of our closest friends here are getting married in March. He is moving into her home and is giving us his bedroom set!!!!! We are excited to begin setting up his/her room. We already have a really fun bright red rug, a bed, a miniature frisbee golf basket (adam is going to start our kid early) and a desk. We are waiting on a dresser and are hoping to create a small activity table for him/her out of our current coffee table.

Please pray for us as we start to narrow down our preferences for adoption...they ask you to be very forward about what you can and can't handle ( disabilities, past experiences, religious preference). At first, I was the one who wanted five children of any age and any race and Adam wanted one baby. However, Adam told me on the way home last night that he thinks we could handle a sibling pair ( and without any persuasion on my part :)). I was just getting used to the fact that we were only going to get one child :). God is working, I know that!!! Now, if only we could agree!!!!!!!