Background
4As this is my first blog post I would like to begin by explaining how we’ve decided became All Knowledge Adopters.
John and I were attempting to have a child for about two and a half years but to no avail. We had discussed being foster parents, but hadn’t started the process until one day we got a call from a friend of ours asking if we would take her grandchild that was in state custody. We were lucky and the state certified us as special certification foster parents. We had to fill out a lot of paperwork, get fingerprinted and start the home study process before the kids could move in but things moved pretty fast.
As little Cindy entered our lives John and I started going to bed every night smiling, we finally had a family. At first everything was new and a little bit difficult for all of us, but as more time passed the closer and better relationship we built. I will never forget the first time she called me her mommy 🙂
After quite a while Department of Human Resources gave us full custody of her. Shockingly enough it was a single sheet of paper and signing it felt just so… indescribable. Our little Cindy was ours food good now and there was no one to come between us.
We’ve kept very close contact with her grandparents as they were our friends and sometimes we would visit her parents too. She loved seeing them but they had some personal problems I would rather not go into. Our little Cindy has two mommies, two daddies and a looooot of grandparents. And she loves spending time with all of them. She is shockingly social, especially when compared to an introvert like myself and have comments ready for everything like the little smartass she is.
Eventually we’ve realized how happy she was, with how many loving people she is surrounded with, and just how insanely happy we’ve become since she came into our lives and enriched them. “So, lets get another!” my husband said one day, suffice to say I agreed immediately.
After a lot of discussion we have decided for adoption. Cindy entered our family when she was five and half years old, and this time we wanted to have a little baby in our home. A new challenge some might say 🙂
I will avoid going through all the hardships of paperwork and such details as that is not the subject I want to share here. I would like to share the moment we entered a ward and we heard a single baby crying, as it turned out it was a tiny little lady weighting at 8 pounds named Amanda. As I was told I immediately turned into a little girl myself as I kept jumping around and repeatedly saying “She’s sooo cuuute, so cuuuute. Oh my god just so cuute! I want to hold her! Can i hold her? Oh my god she’s soooooooooo cuuuuute!”. That was it, she was already in my heart.
We met her biological parents very short after. They were a very young couple which couldn’t afford taking care of Amanda and was against abortion. Their names are Christopher and Lucy, and as it turns out close friends of ours to this very day.
Now, taking in a little baby was suffice to say interesting. I feel like I am a champion of sleepless nights filled with cries, a living legend when it came to concern that Amanda might be feeling ill. As much as I thought I was prepared, I wasn’t. But eventually I became a master when it comes to changing diapers, preparing quick meals, jumping around whole house day and night just trying to get things down and take care of my three kids (John included). I was insanely tired, and double that happy with my life.
Chris and Lucy started visiting us often and spend quality time with Amanda, I’ve gotten a little bit (A LOT) worried that they might want her back but somehow I was reassured that was not the case. That’s when I realized that every parent just wants to be a part of their child’s life. When knowing how it would make me feel to have her disappear out of my life, how could I possibly be able to keep them away. So we saw each other often, and our friends and family kept on growing, and by that I mean we decided to adopt yet another one 🙂
When we met Ashley she was 10 months old, her parents didn’t want anything to do with her. Just literally didn’t care at all, it was a shocking experience knowing someone wouldn’t care about such little bundle of joy. Perhaps it especially upset me since I cannot even have a child of my own, I do not know. Ashley is our latest addition to the family, our little blue eyed angel has celebrated her first birthday recently. Cindy is acting like a big girl and takes good care about her little sisters.
We are now one huge happy family.
This was a great read. I’m very happy that you managed to get the family you always wanted. I hope I will soon feel same joy as you, I am currently still dealing with papers and things are moving very slowly. Do you perhaps have any tips?
I have plenty, you can write your questions to me through http://akadoptions.com/contact/ and I’ll try to be as detailed as I can 🙂
Congratulations Amanda! So, Ms. Marie does that mean you can come up this way and do our photos too!? I’m still itnerested, and I’d love to get some shots done for the holidays! They’re just around the corner. So, let me know! Thanks!
I would tell you the same thing I would tell a single, unramried person, a young family, a retired couple you get the idea! Don’t spend what you don’t have. I would hope you did some financial analysis before divorcing but if you didn’t, now is the time. Know where your money is going. Every penny. Then you can more accurately assess the situation. Having a single income is not the end of the world, it just shapes your world. I grew up in a single income household and we have raised our children in a single income household. Both places we did without a lot. My parents married, had their first apartment and had a bed and card table and chairs. Then they got a couch and chair. Then they got a kitchen set. Who does that anymore! When dh and I got married we both had apartments. After 26 years his furniture is still in the living room and we recovered my sofabed a few years ago and it is in the rec room. Until we redid our kitchen/family room 6 years ago we hadn’t bought new furniture besides beds. Growing up I never had brand name anything. My mum made lots of sissy’s and my clothes (it was cheaper to do so then) and often we had 3 outfits one on, one in the wash and one in the drawer. I never knew we didn’t have much. My kids never had brand name anything until they could buy it for themselves (one chooses to, the other would rather have more of the cheaper stuff!). Some of mine and dh’s clothes are 15+ years old. We asked for clothes for birthdays and Christmas if we needed them. Cloth diapers cost next to nothing. Our kids really only got toys on their birthdays and Christmas and small things at Easter.Cell phones are NOT a necessity, nor is fancy cable and expensive internet. We’ve only added some of those things as we could afford them. Eating out is a luxury, no one seems to cook anymore, yet complain they have no money! It really doesn’t cost that much to feed a family if you buy real food and cook from scratch. Yes, your time will be stretched, but that is what your life is/will be, so adjust and prep some foods on days off and cook double and triple to serve at a later meal. Dh’s coworkers (who all make about the same) have never understood how he could afford to have a wife at home. If they knew we had no debt (haven’t since paying off the mortgage 21 years ago), gave 10% faithfully to charity, had cash in the bank to replace (when needed) the 93 van and the 2001 car well, they just don’t understand how it is possible. But, they take yearly, non-family vacations, eat out constantly, drive fairly new cars, live in large homes (certainly not the 1000 sq foot that I grew up in!), have extensive wardrobes, and buy (bought) non-essential things for their children often.Needs and wants are two very different things, but a lesson lost on so many these days. It’s all about the choices that you make. Best wishes to you as you move forward.