Hello! No new child news yet, but I thought I would take this time to reflect back on our year. It has been an eventful year, full of ups and downs. Here is a (brief) list of things I consider important that happened to us this year.
January-I traveled to New Jersey/New York with my Mom to help her with arrangements for my Uncle's funeral. He was my Mom's only brother and they were very close. It was difficult, not only to see everything, but it was hard to watch my Mom get upset knowing there was nothing I could do to help. The positive side was that I got to meet alot of my New York family that I didn't know so that was great. I got to meet my Great Aunt who is one of the most wonderful women on this planet. She is just a terrific lady who, at 81 years old, is more feisty than I am at times!
February-We officially begin the adoption process by attending orientation at the local DFCS office. We were so excited that we could not hold in our news and we began telling family and friends our good news. This is when we officially became "paper pregnant". Also, Russell began his new job!
March/April-Slowly begin paperwork, first home study completed. On April 20, our new niece Kylie was born! On April 25, our baby Sunny turned 8!
May-We unexpectedly lose Russell's mother on May 20. This was definitely, by far, the most difficult and saddest event of the year for both of us. It is extremely heartbreaking knowing that our child will never get to know either of their paternal grandparents. However, Russell's mother knew about and supported our adoption very much. She was one of our biggest cheerleaders. I am grateful that my parents have been supportive of both Russell and I through this ordeal.
June-Taryn's very busy summer reading program at work. Parenting classes start at the end of June. We meet some wonderful couples and single people who we hope, for their sake, are farther along in the process than we are. We hope that they have not had to deal with as much loss of paperwork and miscommunication as we have! During the classes, we received over 100 pages of paperwork to fill out.
July-Complete our 100+ page paperwork "Bible" for the adoption. Our first great nephew, Aiden, is born! Taryn breathes a sigh of relief as the summer reading program is over....until next year. :)
August-Nothing exciting happens because our paperwork was stuck under someone's desk for a month!! Talk about miscommunication...
September-Taryn turns the Big "3-0". Ouch! More miscommunication and paperwork from the case workers.... We begin going back to church and are enjoying the services, pastor, and meeting new people.
October-All paperwork is completed. Home study #2 is scheduled for November 1! Russell and I celebrated 8 wonderful years of marriage on the 11th.
November-Home studies #2 and #3 completed and passed with flying colors!
December-Case worker says we are in the middle of the approval process and everything is going as planned.
So what does 2012 hold in store for us? I'm not sure, but I hope that, by this time next year, I will posting about the cute things our child does or says, and hopefully asking advice from other parents!
Russell and I hope each and every one of you have a happy and safe New Year's holiday!
-Taryn
Showing posts with label sunny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sunny. Show all posts
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Results of the final home study!!
Okay, folks, it's what you've been waiting for! Final home study results!
We were so nervous about this final visit. The social worker showed up and Sunny was a complete angel. She remembered her from last time! She was soo cute, she only barked (again) when the case worker did not pet her! She still wanted that attention! All of us sat in the living room while the case worker asked a variety of questions. During that time, Sunny was sleeping on the couch between us. It's almost like if you didn't know she was there, you never would have guessed it.
The questions lasted for about 2 hours again. Then, she had a long checklist of items to look for in our home. She checked for the child safety locks, working fire extinguishers, and working smoke detectors. She noticed that we had two disaster plans - one in the child's room and one in the living room. She also noticed that our cords from the blinds in our home were properly placed so a child could not reach them. Another thing she checked was that all of our rugs in our house had the grip stuff on the bottom so they would not come loose.
We then signed some papers and she left us with one last "homework assignment". We had to create a three-generation family tree for each one of us. We also had to note if the family member was deceased, and the year they were deceased. Taryn's was pretty easy because her family is pretty small. Russell's was kind of difficult, because his Mom and Dad had at least 7 siblings each! But, we figured that out and came up with two great looking family trees! Right before she left, she told us that she thought we would make great parents! Yeah!!!
What happens next? The approval process. The social worker told us that these normally go pretty fast and that we should be approved by the end of the year. And then that's where the fun part begins-we start talking about a little one! Right now, we are expecting to hear about our child somewhere between January and February. So we are planning to enjoy December as one of our last months as "just a married couple"!
We were so nervous about this final visit. The social worker showed up and Sunny was a complete angel. She remembered her from last time! She was soo cute, she only barked (again) when the case worker did not pet her! She still wanted that attention! All of us sat in the living room while the case worker asked a variety of questions. During that time, Sunny was sleeping on the couch between us. It's almost like if you didn't know she was there, you never would have guessed it.
The questions lasted for about 2 hours again. Then, she had a long checklist of items to look for in our home. She checked for the child safety locks, working fire extinguishers, and working smoke detectors. She noticed that we had two disaster plans - one in the child's room and one in the living room. She also noticed that our cords from the blinds in our home were properly placed so a child could not reach them. Another thing she checked was that all of our rugs in our house had the grip stuff on the bottom so they would not come loose.
We then signed some papers and she left us with one last "homework assignment". We had to create a three-generation family tree for each one of us. We also had to note if the family member was deceased, and the year they were deceased. Taryn's was pretty easy because her family is pretty small. Russell's was kind of difficult, because his Mom and Dad had at least 7 siblings each! But, we figured that out and came up with two great looking family trees! Right before she left, she told us that she thought we would make great parents! Yeah!!!
What happens next? The approval process. The social worker told us that these normally go pretty fast and that we should be approved by the end of the year. And then that's where the fun part begins-we start talking about a little one! Right now, we are expecting to hear about our child somewhere between January and February. So we are planning to enjoy December as one of our last months as "just a married couple"!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Home Study #2 Results
I know, many of you have been waiting for this post! Today we will be having our final home study, and we are sooo excited! But, let me back up and tell you about the previous home study two weeks ago.
When the woman arrived, it kinda made us do a double-take because she resembled Russell's mom. She was very nice, and Sunny absolutely loved her. She barked at first, but it was only when she would stop petting Sunny. I guess Sunny wanted lots of attention too! After the woman was at our home for awhile, Sunny settled down and went to sleep on the couch. She was a perfect angel through it all.
She arrived just after 10 a.m. on November 1 and did not leave until after 1 p.m. We did not think a home study could take that long! For the first two hours, she asked us all sorts of questions. It started off with general questions such as our job and education, and then there were lots of questions asked about our childhoods. We were reminded, while answering those questions, how different our childhoods were from each other. Not bad, just different. Russell came from the traditional family-Mom, Dad, Russell, and his brothers. Taryn's childhood was not as traditional because her parents divorced when she was young so there were stepfamilies to deal with at various points in her childhood and always had to figure out which parent she was spending different holidays with. Like we said, not bad, just different. She also asked us different questions on our beliefs on raising children.
After that was completed, we gave her a tour of our home. She was impressed with the child safety locks that we had in place and absolutely loved the room where our child will sleep. She was also excited that the child would have not just their own bedroom, but their own bathroom as well.
She informed us that there are two things we needed to complete before she came back for the final home study. We were to make a disaster plan (fire escapes and in case of severe weather) and we had to move the cords from our drapes high to where the child could not reach them.
Our next home study is scheduled for today at 10 a.m. Wish us luck!!
When the woman arrived, it kinda made us do a double-take because she resembled Russell's mom. She was very nice, and Sunny absolutely loved her. She barked at first, but it was only when she would stop petting Sunny. I guess Sunny wanted lots of attention too! After the woman was at our home for awhile, Sunny settled down and went to sleep on the couch. She was a perfect angel through it all.
She arrived just after 10 a.m. on November 1 and did not leave until after 1 p.m. We did not think a home study could take that long! For the first two hours, she asked us all sorts of questions. It started off with general questions such as our job and education, and then there were lots of questions asked about our childhoods. We were reminded, while answering those questions, how different our childhoods were from each other. Not bad, just different. Russell came from the traditional family-Mom, Dad, Russell, and his brothers. Taryn's childhood was not as traditional because her parents divorced when she was young so there were stepfamilies to deal with at various points in her childhood and always had to figure out which parent she was spending different holidays with. Like we said, not bad, just different. She also asked us different questions on our beliefs on raising children.
After that was completed, we gave her a tour of our home. She was impressed with the child safety locks that we had in place and absolutely loved the room where our child will sleep. She was also excited that the child would have not just their own bedroom, but their own bathroom as well.
She informed us that there are two things we needed to complete before she came back for the final home study. We were to make a disaster plan (fire escapes and in case of severe weather) and we had to move the cords from our drapes high to where the child could not reach them.
Our next home study is scheduled for today at 10 a.m. Wish us luck!!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Happy Mother's Day!?!?
Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! Happy Mother's Day to everyone who can get pregnant at the drop of a hat, or just by saying the word "pregnant"! OK I said it, now I got it out of my system. Mother's Day brings so many mixed emotions for me.
The first emotion is happiness and love for my own mother and mother-in-law. That one comes easy, I am so grateful for all they have done for us in life. Russ and I are so grateful for their support during this journey to bring a child into our home.
Next is sadness-for the last several years, it's hurt me that Sunny is my only baby. I always wondered "Why can't it be me? Why can't I join that illustrious Mom club? It's just not fair! I know I've done some things that I'm not proud of in life (but everyone does that sometime in their lives), but why does God choose to punish me this way?"
Then is hope-This is the first Mother's Day that I have considered myself a "mom-to-be". This is the first Mother's Day that I have actually not cried and been upset, so I think I'm heading in the right direction.
Happy Mother's Day everyone!
-Taryn
The first emotion is happiness and love for my own mother and mother-in-law. That one comes easy, I am so grateful for all they have done for us in life. Russ and I are so grateful for their support during this journey to bring a child into our home.
Next is sadness-for the last several years, it's hurt me that Sunny is my only baby. I always wondered "Why can't it be me? Why can't I join that illustrious Mom club? It's just not fair! I know I've done some things that I'm not proud of in life (but everyone does that sometime in their lives), but why does God choose to punish me this way?"
Then is hope-This is the first Mother's Day that I have considered myself a "mom-to-be". This is the first Mother's Day that I have actually not cried and been upset, so I think I'm heading in the right direction.
Happy Mother's Day everyone!
-Taryn
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Sunny's Vaccinations
On Friday, we took our darling Sunny (our 7-year old miniature pinscher) to the vet to get her vaccinations. She acts like she usually does at the vet! When I got her out of the truck, she jumped back in to the truck! Then, when I picked her up, I had to carry her into the vet's office because she would not walk in there on the leash. Keep in mind, she only weighs 11 pounds!! When we finally made it inside, she kept staring at the door because she couldn't wait to get out of there. The receptionist called her "Gretchen", which is extremely funny because that is my mother-in-law's dog's name! Gretchen is also a miniature pinscher, btw. We finally got back to the examination room, where I put a muzzle on her. Every time we go, she tries to bite the vet, so this is why she needs the muzzle. After all of the painful shots and nail trims were completed, I was able to take the muzzle off and she started barking at the vet and the techs! But, the important thing is, the vet said Sunny is doing great and I got her vaccination certificate! Yeah! One thing to cross off the list!
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