How we got our kids.

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This was taken on March 28th 2006.
This was on a great trip we took to Canada when we only had one kid. It was actually on this trip where we noticed how much our only daughter, Jerika, needed a sibling. We had been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant, had tired infertility treatments and 2 years had gone by with no success. We kept saying that she needed a sibling whenever she would come to us asking us to play dolls again and again and again, now we both love playing dolls but we knew she would have so much more fun with a sister or brother.

So when we got home we started the process to get foster kids. 2 months later on May 19th our first foster child came to our home. She arrived at 4 in the morning, her mother had been caught shoplifting at Walmart with her two children and was going to jail. The kids had no place to go. So B who was six came to our home and her 18th month old sister went somewhere else. It was a Friday night and we had her all weekend. Her mom had her hearing on Monday and the judge let her kids go back to her. We said good bye to B.

It was sad, she lived in a hotel with her mother and from what she told us they were homeless and it was scary there. On B's fist day with us she asked if she could call us Mom and Dad. We said she could call us what ever she felt comfortable with. So she started to call us Mom and Dad. She cried when she left, she did not want to go back to her family, she wanted to stay and be in our family. Joe was emotional when she left because he had gotten attached very quickly to her and felt so worried for her life and upset by her sadness.

We got our next foster child the very next day, she was 10 months old. The police brought her about 8 pm and said she only needed a place for about 24 hours and was being brought back to her grandmother. Her mom had run away with her and had just been captured. R was tired when she got to us and Joe was setting up a crib right after we got the call. I held this beautiful little girl in my arms, she could lay her head on me, then sit up and look right in my eyes, she would grin, then lay her head down on me again.

She was very dirty and smelled like cigarettes so she got a bath and went to sleep so happy to be in a crib. When I laid her in the crib all clean and cute, she smiled laid her head down on the soft sheet and promptly fell asleep. The next day Jerika and I played with her and she was delightful. We then drove her down to the workers in Salem where she was given back to her grandparents.

We did not have a placement for 3 weeks, then one day in the late morning I got a call saying would we be able to take a 2 and a half year old. Yes of course. When could they bring her? She was at the McDonald's with her case worker while DHS searched to find her a home. I said bring her on over.

When Jacqueline arrived I walked out the car to meet her. I kneeled down next to her and she said, "Jacqueline's mommy?" pointing to me. I said "Yes I am going to be your mommy." We showed her her room, she was only 5 months younger than Jerika and they hit it off, they have been best friends ever since.

We had set up a crib in the bedroom because we were supposed to get a 4 month old the day before but the judge had her go to her father. The case worker noticed the crib and said that Jacqueline's mom was pregnant and due in 3 months, she said perhaps we could take her baby too.

Three months later, August 12, we went to the hospital and picked up Jennedy. We now had three girls and thought we were done.

When Jennedy was 6 months old, I got Pregnant!!!!! Amazing but true. They say that often happens when you are adopting. Your body decides it can relax and you end up prego. So along came the first of two boys. See posts Trenton

When Trenton was just 8 months old the birth mother of our children had another baby and we got little baby Tyler. We are still waiting to adopt him, and are unsure if it will happen this time because the birth mother is doing well and some dumb caseworker might send him back even though he has been with us his whole life and it would be better for him to be with us. We are trying to have faith and keep our hope alive so keep us in your prayers.