Thank you

On this day each year, we stop to formally thank those who have stood in the breech and defended this country.

Every Veteran is a hero.  Thank you for your service.


In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

-Lt. Col. John McCrae

And time goes by

I'm sitting at work right now. It's been forever since I even thought about what to write on here.

It seems the adoption process is going exactly nowhere. We thought about becoming a licensed Foster Care family, but that didn't go anywhere either. Missed contacts with the Licensing person resulted in loss of momentum and interest.

Now we look online every so often. It seems that apathy has taken the place of excitement. Maybe work and financial stress has caused us to stop for a while.

The certification is still in place. It will happen when it happens. We just nede to keep our spirits up.

Update

The move to Wordpress has been aborted. Too many settings and setup for a simple blog.

Last week we were involved in a match meeting for a brother/sister sibling group. It didn't work. We were not chosen.

It is so easy and sterile to write a simple two sentence update, but that doesn't come anywhere near to the heartache, hope, fears and prayers that went into this potential match-up.

We are still looking, and will be broadening our search to include younger girls. Hopefully the Lord will show us the right person soon.

Ok...in summary.

I guess it's bad taste to treat your blog like a Twitter or Facebook update. Every blog I read is usually full of agonizingly long soliloquies about life and stuff. And here I went and posted three short blurbs yesterday. Shame on me. Or not.

Here is the long wrap up from yesterday.

We arrived at a bowling alley in Tucson (actually Marana) yesterday morning at 9:15am. We checked in, got our name tags and started wandering around. About 9:30, the children started to arrive. At 9:45, the prospective parents met and went over some ground rules for the event. Total confidentiality. Do not talk about adoption to the kids. Do not favor one child over another. Have a good time.

If you've ever seen Speed Dating on TV, or even participated yourself, it is similar. Each child (or group of children) is assigned a bowling lane. Each parental group is assigned a lane to start from. You interact with the child/children in that lane for about 10 minutes and then rotate to the next lane. That way everyone gets to meet everyone else, and you get to bowl. At least that's how it's supposed to work. Some of the kids want you to bowl with them, and then some of the younger ones just want you to watch while they bowl. You get to chat with them about superficial stuff, and interact on a casual level.

It is really heart-warming to watch what happens during the event. The kids are shy and nervous at the start, but about halfway through they are chatting with everyone and having a great time. After 2 hours of bowling, each child is given tokens and everyone moves to the arcade area for another hour or so of play.

After the event, the parents-to-be meet for a debriefing. We are each given a packet with info on each child, and a interest form. You look through the packet, read a short generic bio of each child, and write down the names of the ones you are interested in. This information is pared with your home-study info and passed along to the case worker for that child.

I also found out that the kids are asked who they liked, too. So you are being graded by them as well. Some of the older ones had notebooks and kept notes on each parent group they met.

If I could, I'd adopt them all. Foster care sucks. While it is necessary, it still is not pleasant.

GET INVOLVED! You have room in your home and heart for one (or more) of these children!

Fun Times

Well, we had fun at the Match Party. We met several children that we are interested in learning more about, and we are waiting to hear back from the case workers.

Bowling Fun

There is something cathartic about watching kids bowl. They do it with such abandon and fun.

Great match party.

Adoption Match Party

Here we are at the Adoption Match event in Tucson. There are several prospective parents and a lot of kids. This should be a fun event.

Pray for us!