Adoption and our family!

The picture above is a picure that our 1st respite child made us and it is one of the best pictures I have ever gotten. It still and always will always be on our fridge and in our hearts!
Adoption! This has been a big topic of discussion around our house lately. We have actually had to two chance to adopt some great kids. About a month ago we had the chance to adopt a two year old boy but they found a family that was already foster parents which we would have had to become in order to take him before we could adopt. And now just this week we had the chance to adopt a sibling group of three, two girls and their little brother. Although we really would have like to have taken them in we just don't have enough rooms in our house. We only have two bedrooms and would need at least three. It do make me a little sad that we couldn't add these children to our family and give them a SAFE and LOVING home. My hope is that they find a safe, loving home that is large enough for them to have some space they can call their own. We are not discarding the idea of adoption though. We are going to be starting foster care as soon as we finish all the requirements. Our first objective as foster parents will be to help return the children home to their biological parents when the parents can provide a safe and somewhat calming home but for those children that can not return home we are not closing out the option to adopt these children. Although we would love to adopt a pink baby ( these means a baby that as soon as its born it is your child the mother has not option to change her mind--this is what some of the people I know in the social work field call that type of adoption) we don't now if we are able to have children of our own yet so we think our time is better spent with children that really need a safe place to call home while things are getting settled at there birth parents home. So I can't wait until we are able to become foster parents and get to know all the great kids we will have a chance to leave lasting memories with. We are already doing respite care and love all of the children we have had though there but they are all very different children. Some you have to step back and say we may need to change our way of doing things with this child but it all needs up good. We love having these boys in our house they keep us busy and allow us to do a lot of fun stuff that we may not normally do just the two of us. We play games all the time, we get to go the the park (when its not freezing) and we have gotten to go sledding a few times which is something I haven't done in a long time! Something I have also found a little surprising is that some of our teenage boys love to help us clean and cook! One of the boys it doesn't matter what I'm doing from cooking, to cleaning, to carving pumpkins, he just loves to help. Even though you can clearly tell he is ADHD when he is helping me you wouldn't be able to tell. I am very much enjoying getting to know all of the boys different personalities and I'm excited to get to know so many more children. This is such an amazing experience that I would never give up for anything. Someday I hope we can add our own biological children and any of our adopted children to our family. Children are so amazing I think they can teach adults a lot about life and help them not forget the little treasures in life.