It's A Wonderful Life

I'm not sure that I have ever put down in the blog our journey to adoption. With 9 adopted children and a story that started many years ago this could be a long post. I will try to give the most important information but I'm sure there will be holes left. If you would like to ask questions feel free to do so. If there is enough interest I will answer those questions in a separate post not just in the comments. If your questions are personal and you don't want to share you are welcome to email me and I promise I will get back to you! Our first experience with adoption was in the first year of our marriage. We were approached with the possibility of adopting 3 girls under the age of 10. I was still working but had the plans to be a stay at home mom. If we were to take the girls I would need to stay home and Doug take full responsibility of the finances. It was a hard decision but we chose to go forward. The adoption fell through but the seeds were planted. When our secon

A new museum opened up at Thanksgiving Point. We love that place. They have a Dinosaur Museum, Farm Country, beautiful Gardens, and now the Museum of Natural Curiosity. I have never seen a museum as cool as this one. We spent hours there and still didn't have time for everything. Here are some pictures of the family having fun.   The Museum has a great zip line. Not tall or very long but sturdy and ALL my kids were able to enjoy it. Scott really liked it.     Olivia liked the zip line too but she is in the stage of between. Between liking children things and teen things. Wanting to be in both worlds. She is growing into such a beautiful young woman.     Casey is never too old to play! However, he loves things bigger and better but still easy to please.     6 of kids on the teeter totters.   They had an area with all water discoveries. The floor was a cement tile with gaps between each square. Underneath the tile was a water recov

  It is for the precious children like Sierra that we dedicate our lives. Keep rooting for me sweet girl! Yesterday LDS Family Services made the announcement that they would no longer be doing adoptions as of August 1, 2014. There are several contributing factors in their decision. but with this change many people have no place to go to fill their adoption needs. Family Services provided a lower cost adoption option. They also created a place for birth moms to have hope and feel secure knowing they would find a strong family that met their criteria. With Family Services getting out of adoptions they leave a void. LDS Family Services plans to refer all birthmoms to local adoption agencies and focus only on counseling. I'm glad they are still going to counsel but sending these mothers to local agencies may not be the best option. Once the birthmoms are affiliated with an agency they can then only choose from families that have paid fees and signed up with that agency.

This week has been an eventful week and it's not over yet. It started out on Monday in the ER with Doug. He had some extreme pain in the lower stomach area. He had been talking about some pain for a couple of weeks and we came to the conclusion that he had an inguinal hernia. We are no strangers to hernia's. Two of the girls had a total of 5 hernia's and had them fixed. I popped two hernia's 16 years ago when I was pregnant with Pierce and Creed now has two as well. We most definitely have a genetic disposition for this. While in the ER the pain subsided and the Doctor decided it truly was a hernia. The hernia is on the right side and most of the pain was on his left. It made no sense. What did the doctor say? "Sometimes our bodies don't know what they are feeling" We were out and on our way in an hour. I have to admit, I was less than sympathetic towards Doug. I have lived with hernia's for 16 years and through 4 pregnancies and lifting many child

Scott and I have been working diligently on learning letter sounds. We have been working towards reading but it's been slow going. It's hard to find the balance, knowing what the child can do and what is too much. At an appointment for Scott's speech the doctor told me he will not learn to read but only memorize. I was pretty discouraged because reading opens up the world. Scott deserves the world. I came home and continued our regimen of learning sounds and putting them together to make words. There were days I wanted to give up and give in but I knew I just couldn't do that. Last week I saw glimpses of progress. I didn't know if I could hope but I began to push a little more. Within just a couple of days we received the reward. As of this morning Scott has read 3 books. That's THREE BOOKS!!!! He can do it! Miracles happen if we just allow ourselves to believe. We can never give up. From a child treated like he could not do anything to now beginn

A few weeks ago I walked into the front yard and this is what I found.   We had just had a rain storm that filled our water feature. A prefect place for the ducks to cool off.   Every Spring we get at least one set of ducks that hangs around our yard. We all love having them. This year we have a family of Quail that has made their nest in our bushes. I love to hear the sounds of nature and see the green plants. Listening to the song of the birds first thing in the morning stirs feelings of gratitude and peace. I love to start my day that way.         4 weeks ago our van gave out on us again. That was the last time I was going to put money into the van and worry about getting stranded. Overall the van was sturdy and has, for the most part, been reliable. With 153,000 miles though it was getting old and tired. Once the van was up and running we sold it. We are now on the hunt, but in the mean time we drive the car or the bus. It's