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Showing posts from 2018

Growing our Heritage from A-Z: In Search of a Full Quiver Month 3

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Here we are again, I posted this early on in our adoption Journey with A and it still holds true:  "It feels like a  Tale of Two Cities , "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"....ALL AT THE SAME TIME." Some days are great and some are terrible, horrible, awful but the struggle is worth it.  We know that in adopting older boys we may very well be their last chance at a forever family, so we always go in knowing that the behaviors will be tough but that we will see it through.  Our resolve has definitely been tested.  However, by the grace of God and patience that surpasses all understanding,  we continue to struggle through each issue as it arises. We see massive gains yet there are still huge setbacks that require time to regain lost ground--but we are getting there.  I am 'mommy' and my husband is "daddy" and I get tons of hugs and snuggles and "I Love Yous".  A few weeks ago, after a inconceivably rough day, as I was

Growing our Heritage: In Search of a Full Quiver--From A to Z, month 1.5

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Stolle party of 6! It has been a little over the one month mark since we added a new member to our family.  We are now a family of 6. The similarities between Z's story and A's story and behaviors are uncanny.  We learned a lot our first go-around with A about how best to handle discipline and behaviors of children from hard places and it has all come in handy.  I find myself to be far less exhausted and on edge this go around; there really is a huge learning curve when dealing with adding 8 year old boys you barely know to your family. Z is a joy.  He is a adorable ball of energy; full of love, creativity and butt cheek jokes (yes, I'm serious).  He calls me momma or mommy and loves sitting in my lap and snuggling.  He calls Jason daddy with ease, and has even asked to sit in his lap from time to time.  My life has become a tornado of beyblades, pokemon cards, xbox discs, sports and fart jokes--and I wouldn't change it for the world! I just cannot get over the gift

Growing our Heritage: In Search of a Full Quiver Month 6--Satan HATES adoption

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We are officially in month six of our matched adoption and have our finalization court date set.  Everyone is excited and relieved to be at this point.  "A" is a completely different child and so very ready to be adopted.  As far as dealing with the struggles associated with adopting a child from foster care--those have minimized almost to the point of being non-existent.  Most of our struggles these days are what I would characterize as normal kid stuff.  However we seem to be dealing with a new struggle and our foe has doubled down on the attack. Satan hates adoption.  He hates the healing that comes with it.  He hates the broken cycles of abuse and drug addition.  He hates the love and the hope...he hates everything about it. We have been under what I can call nothing short of a blitz attack.  There have been issues after issues in our personal lives; finances, housing, deaths, sicknesses, relationships... I can go on and on here, but won't because he doesn't de

Growing Our Heritage: In Search of a Full Quiver Month 5

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So I've been MIA for a while.  We are now closing in on our adoption date and things are good.  We still have rough waters but the frequency of them is less and less.  A has now really assimilated into the family and it's like he was always here, and I cannot imagine life without him at this point.  He's a big goofy ball of snuggles, cuddles, leggos, minecraft, xbox and nerf wars.  I was, however, woefully unprepared for the tornado that is boyhood--the ruined clothes alone are shocking!  But so much of what we encounter these days are simply boy issues and not trauma/foster care issues. I will say that Jason and I are still shocked by the injustices of this child's prior life experiences.  For the sake of his privacy I won't do into detail but there are so many life skills that he just doesn't have because no one took the time to teach him, or later on ask him if he knew how to do them.  We keep stumbling into things and saying, "That never crossed my min