National Adoption Day

The Event On Friday, November 17, 2023, we adopted our little Sprout at the County’s National Adoption Day event! HOORAY!!! The event was… chaotic. I know we should appreciate everything that happened and was given to Sprout in the course of the day, but in some ways I wish we’d had an adoption in theContinue reading “National Adoption Day”

Fireworks in Court

We’ve been in contentious foster care related court hearings before when Gronckle was returned home. In that instance, the child’s attorney disagreed vehemently with the agency and judge, but the appearance was brief and everyone managed to avoid taking things personally. I left and cried, but the attorneys shook hands afterward and all was okContinue reading “Fireworks in Court”

Hard Emotions

I was chatting with an old friend last night, and he mentioned that foster care seems to be full of challenging emotions. Boy is that an understatement. About a month ago, the agency was telling us they wanted to have Mama surrender her rights to Sunny and have us adopt her. We were more thanContinue reading “Hard Emotions”

A Spooky Room for Sprout

We’ve been foster parents for almost 8 years, always in the same three bedroom house. Well, now a four bedroom house! There’s a master bedroom, and that’s stayed ours all along. But the other two bedrooms on the second floor have gone through a million different permutations. Kiddo was our first foster kid, and sheContinue reading “A Spooky Room for Sprout”

Sunny’s Need to Belong

The subject of belonging came up for me recently when I listened to a We Can Do Hard Things podcast called “Being Left Out: Navigating that Lifelong Ache.” In the episode, Glennon, Abby, and Amanda talk about the need for feeling like we belong, and how fundamental that feeling is to our survival. In essence,Continue reading “Sunny’s Need to Belong”

We have a date! (maybe)

Sprout’s parents’ rights have been “terminated.” Her mother surrendered her rights, and her father’s rights were terminated recently and he didn’t appeal the decision. That means Sprout gets a new adoption case worker. In this case, it’s a worker we know and love. She was Miss Kicks’s case worker, and while that situation ended inContinue reading “We have a date! (maybe)”

The state of my house

My spicy 5-year-old had the chutzpah to announce this morning that she’s been telling her friends and her teacher that our house is “dirty.” There’s lots to unpack around that. First, she comes from a truly dirty house. Her Mama is not a good housekeeper, unfortunately. So though Sprout was referring to our house (IContinue reading “The state of my house”

Islamic Education for Sunny and Sprout

Ever since Sunny came to us and we realized the importance of Islam to the girls’ family, we’ve been searching for the right Muslim community for them. We tried a mosque by the university, but Sunny didn’t have a good experience there and begged not to go back. We asked their family for ideas butContinue reading “Islamic Education for Sunny and Sprout”

How it’s Going

A few updates for y’all: 🎡 State Fair Time! I’ve taken 2 out of 3 kids to the fair so far. One was Sunny and one was a family friend who is 13. A good time was had by all except me, and I survived, so that’s really what matters. The highlights of it wereContinue reading “How it’s Going”