Becca's First day of school

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my little slice of heaven

A friend told me about this bird sanctuary 10 min from my house that I have officially fallen in love with. I admit that my mental image of it before I went had lots of trees and dozens of birds, which was way off, but somehow I have learned to love the Salt Lake marsh filled with miles and miles of dry reeds. The sanctuary has a mile of meandering board walks, and two pavilions, one of which is 30 feet high, allowing you to look out at the beautiful surroundings. I am mostly amazed by the fact that it is only 10 minutes away, but I feel 100 miles away in my own private place.

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Little Michael Gets Carried to Bed

Last night, we finished reading scriptures and saying family prayers in our bedroom. Little Michael was lying curled up next to me in the bed and asked to be carried to his room. I told him that someday he would be too big for me to carry, and what would we do then? He just looked at me and pleaded, "But I'm only 4! I'm not big yet." Then, I asked him, "Well, how long am I going to be carrying you?" His response, "Just until we get to my bed."

What do you want to play?

I was working with Becca on her violin today, and little Michael was looking on interestingly. I turned to him and said, "Michael, do you want to play an instrument? What do you want to play?" Michael responded eagerly, "Basketball!"

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Our Growing Family

Dear Family and Friends,


We have an announcement to make, and no we're not pregnant - but we are expanding our family.


Allow me to share our story:

A couple of years ago – maybe two and a half, Michael came home from work and said, “I want to adopt a teenager.” And, as my head said, “That’s nuts!” my heart said, “Okay.” Mike had heard a commercial on the radio about adopting teenagers through the foster care system and immediately felt that that was something we could do. I also felt immediate excitement at the idea – and complete trepidation – all at the same time. We were 27 at the time (not that we’re that much older now) and we were talking about a teenager. Hmmm… But we went forward. We took classes for foster care and started the application process. And although we both felt like it was right for us, we decided it just wasn’t quite time, so we stopped the process.


Well, a few months ago, we realized that now is the time. So we started again. We wanted to wait to tell everyone until we were getting close, and we are now nearly through with the licensing process. We have finished our classes, turned in our applications, had our doctor’s appointments, and done our background checks. All we have left is our home study (safety check of the house), and we will become licensed to be foster parents.


Now, to tell you a little more about what we will be doing specifically, we will not be doing regular, traditional foster care (though we are open-minded to it for the future), but rather will be pursuing an adoption of a legally-free girl, probably between 9 and 13 years old. There is apparently no lack of such children, and we are so excited to start meeting them and finding the right girl who needs us. Because of the way the system is set up, it is mandatory (and wise) for us to be foster parents of a child for 6 months before we can adopt, hence the need for foster licensing. But the parents of the children we will be considering will have already had their parental rights revoked (or very nearly revoked), so the child we bring home will be ready for adoption. After we obtain our license (anywhere from 2-6 weeks or so from now), we will go through a process that will likely take a few weeks or longer to select a girl and she us, and gradually get to know her and establish a relationship with her. After some transitioning, she would then come to live with us under foster care. After the six months, if all is going well, we could then pursue an adoption.


We want everyone to know that this has been a very prayerful decision on our part, and we are going in with a lot of support. A child we would be considering will have gone through a lot of loss, grief, and will likely have a history of neglect and/or abuse. Though we know we won’t be perfect, and we know we will have ups and downs and things will at times be difficult, we know the rewards will be far greater. We are so excited to give a home and family to someone who needs us so badly. Please, when the time comes in the next few months, we just ask that you give your love and support to us and to her, whoever she is. We also wanted to give as many of our friends as possible a heads up, so that if and when we bump into one another, and we have an extra, older child, you will understand what is going on and be able to welcome her with open arms instead of confused faces. We will send an introduction email once everything is in place.


Thank you for being our family and friends. We love you all very much.


Love,

Beth



p.s. Our kids are very excited about getting a big sister. It took a little explaining to help them understand the idea of adoption – Becca was trying to figure out how we could get a baby – since that’s how kids come – that would be bigger than her. And now, Little Michael (who is 4, by the way!) tells us that since we are getting a big sister, he also wants a big brother. Lastly, the kids are ecstatic about the idea of getting bunk beds, something we will be needing soon.

mommy Michael date

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Attack of the piano bench.

Poor Becca fell face-first into a piano bench today. It's still quite swollen (her nose, not the bench). When telling the story to her daddy, she told him that her nose has two holes, and blood came out one side, and boogers came out the other.

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