Remember "Let's Make A Deal"

[BobVigneault]

Here's where I left off in our adoption adventure.

We were pursuing three boys and a 3 year old sister. Their mother has recently died.

We were going to meet their case worker on September 6th. This will give the social workers time to prepare them for meeting with us. Still not a sure thing, it's down to two couples but it looks real promising.

We've been buying clothes and furniture and getting ready for 3 boys.

Today, the soc worker called and said that a case worker in Milwaukee pulled our file and wants us to take 3 kids from Milwaukee. Two girls, 10 and 5, and a 2 year old boy.

We wanted more boys and 10 is older than we wanted but these three are already committed to us if we want them. We can see the boy next week!

Or we can have what's behind the curtain where Carol Merril is standing....

Well, just moments ago, we said yes to the 3 from Milwaukee. It's was agonizing and I didn't have time to consult my PB friends.

Here's an issue that we had to consider. Because the kids will be wards of the STATE for 6 months, it will be illegal to homeschool them until we adopt them. Ugh!

The commandment says that as PARENTS we are responsible for their training but as long as the state has them we must abide by their rules.
It's a pretty good school in our neighborhood and so we will let them finish the year. Next year they will be homeschooled. I don't see any other way around this.

Pray for us. We're very excited. It will be a difficult transition for the 10 year old. Her mom is in prison and she is extremely bright. We may need a bigger house too.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Rejoicing with and praying for you, dear brother!

 

[BobVigneault]

Well we met with the kids yesterday and overall it was an exciting and joyous time. Ikeria, 10 and the oldest was very nervous and shy at first. She was quite concerned about us being caucasian but she quickly relaxed when she saw we were friendly. She was very intrigued by the pictures of our pool and the thoughts of swimming everyday. She seemed comforted by the pictures of Jackie and Abby, our dark skinned neices (African American and Indian). Within 20 minutes of our first meeting she agreed to coming to our house for the extended weekend for a visit. All three kids are extremely cute and Ikeria, at ten, is already a whole half head taller than Teresa, my wife. That was a surprise. Ikeria knows nothing about our desire to adopt them and is hoping her mom will come around.

As soon as Denzel's (2 yo) feet hit the ground he took off running. He loves to run. We gave him a car that he seemed to be enjoying very much. He likes to hit. He hits you when he's happy and and he hits you when he's mad. We will have to work on that. He has a surprisingly big vocabulary and can form whole sentences. He is also very clever.

Aalyia (5 yo) was sweet. She has incredibly expressive eyes. As soon as we sat down she grabbed Teresa's hair pick and began re-shaping Teresa's hair. We visited and showed them pictures and asked them questions and the time went way to fast.

After leaving them we went to children's court where we met with the district attorney; this is when we recieved the biggest surprise of the day and not a pleasant one. The kids are not in the process of having parental rights terminated. It is probable that this will happen based on the parents previous behavior but it will be a lengthy process. It could be that we would not be able to adopt them for 15 months or more. Worse, after all that time, we could lose them back to the parents. That would be a big, big hurt. Teresa didn't seem to wrestle with that at all. She wants to give these kids a good home and build into their lives. We already love them enough to protect and provide for them for the rest of our lives and if it comes to a time where we would have to love them enough to give them up then we will trust God to supply that grace.

For now, we are so excited about their coming this weekend. We will pick them up Friday night and bring them back Monday afternoon. I believe we will have them back to us quickly, possibly the following weekend.

I'm sorry if this message has a generic flavor but I wanted to send it out to several people without typing the same things over and over. I just wanted to pass on a brief account of yesterday's exciting events.

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

Bob it wasn't a generic post at all. God bless those kids with whatever he is willing to give through you. He has it mapped out already. God bless you for the goodness that is in you. Yes, I know, it comes from him.