We were up and out of our house before the sun was even up this morning! We headed over to Edina, MN, about a two hour drive, for our next education session with our agency. This three hour session was a class about parenting children who are adopted. It covered everything from developmental stages of children to attachment and bonding issues that many adoptees face when they get to their forever home. Some of things we felt we knew already from our extensive (and anal) research, but the class really gave us the opportunity to meet other people who are also going through the process and talk with them. We discussed tactics and tools that we can use to communicate with our children throughout their lives and the various stages of development. We were also hit with the fact that one of the biggest challenges that we might have to face is that during the first three months (at least, maybe longer) we can and will be the only caregivers. Unfortunately, with many adopted children they may be dealing with attachment issues. In order to help with their attachment issues or lack thereof, we must be the only people consistently meeting all of their physiological needs. This does not mean though that our baby cannot interact with anyone else - just that they cannot be held, fed, changed or soothed by anyone but the two of us. We fear this may be very hard for our families, especially the grandparents!! We will obviously be sure and educate everyone and keep them up to date on the progress. Overall, it was a great day and we're excited about learning more. It was definitely a good source of information to get started and also continue in our own research.
This last week I also started attending a course called Parenting with Love & Logic. In my field, many of the teachers I work with have also adopted Teaching with Love & Logic in their classrooms. Ryan and I are very fond with this line of thought and I am psyched to learn more. The class meets once a week for about two hours. We are also hoping to start incorporating this philosophy at the Boys & Girls Club.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
You Are What You Eat...
I received an interesting email from a good friend of mine in Minnesota...
Subject: John Hopkins article
You are what you eat, so eat well.
A stupendous insight of civilizations past has now been confirmed by today's investigative, nutritional sciences. They have shown that what was once called "The Doctrine of Signatures" was astoundingly correct. It now contends that every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological function and that this pattern acts as a signal or sign as to the benefit the food provides the eater.
Here is just a short list of examples of Whole Food Signatures.
A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and YES science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.
Grapefruits, Oranges, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY TO ELIMINATE CANCER, ("TRY" BEING THE OPERATIVE WORD), JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.
THIS FROM THEIR NEWSLETTER THIS YEAR.
They are telling us to use nutrition in our battle with Cancer. This is fully compliant. I plan to give this out to friends with cancer. It says everything I can't say.
Doug Bullock
======================
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.
CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc. are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.
CANCER UPDATE FROM JOHN HOPKINS HOSPITAL
1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.
Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.
Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.
Better yet, don't use the microwave for food as it nukes 100% of the enzymes needed for digestion and also 80% of other nutrition.
Subject: John Hopkins article
You are what you eat, so eat well.
A stupendous insight of civilizations past has now been confirmed by today's investigative, nutritional sciences. They have shown that what was once called "The Doctrine of Signatures" was astoundingly correct. It now contends that every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological function and that this pattern acts as a signal or sign as to the benefit the food provides the eater.
Here is just a short list of examples of Whole Food Signatures.
A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and YES science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.
Grapefruits, Oranges, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY TO ELIMINATE CANCER, ("TRY" BEING THE OPERATIVE WORD), JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.
THIS FROM THEIR NEWSLETTER THIS YEAR.
They are telling us to use nutrition in our battle with Cancer. This is fully compliant. I plan to give this out to friends with cancer. It says everything I can't say.
Doug Bullock
======================
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.
CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc. are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.
CANCER UPDATE FROM JOHN HOPKINS HOSPITAL
1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.
Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.
Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.
Better yet, don't use the microwave for food as it nukes 100% of the enzymes needed for digestion and also 80% of other nutrition.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Playing Mom and Dad
This weekend Ryan and I had the chance to play mom and dad. Friends of ours had to go out of town - to the Packer game - and we stayed at their house with their four sons, three teenagers and an eight year old. We had a blast! We spent most of the time pigging out (mom said not too much junk food) and playing Guitar Hero...Ryan thinks he's going to be a rocker someday, unfortunately he was beat by a girl :) The youngest also had a hockey tournament, so we spent a lot of time at the hockey rink watching him play. We got home late afternoon on Sunday and were happy to just lay on our couch with our puppies. Late Sunday night I started to feel icky and achy. By Monday morning I was miserable! I managed to get up and get to work, but only lasted half the day. I came home on my lunch and slept 7 hours. I'm feeling much better today, although my head is still groggy and I can barely breathe. Lots of meds and lots of vitamins - I'll be back to normal in no time.
We're still continuing to work on our deaded biography. Hopefully I can sit my lovely husband down this weekend and we can finally finish this thing! Once we have finished that and sent it to our social worker, we're hoping to have our Homestudy written within two weeks. We should also be able to send in our formal application to Adoption Alliance by the end of this week.
Off to bed to get my rest!
We're still continuing to work on our deaded biography. Hopefully I can sit my lovely husband down this weekend and we can finally finish this thing! Once we have finished that and sent it to our social worker, we're hoping to have our Homestudy written within two weeks. We should also be able to send in our formal application to Adoption Alliance by the end of this week.
Off to bed to get my rest!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Tornadoes go through my hometown!
Whoever heard of tornadoes in January?? Tuesday morning, the radio news broadcaster had news of a tornado in Kenosha, WI. I knew it had to be bad for the news people up here in the Northwoods to be talking about Southeastern Wisconsin.
Late Monday night, tornadoes caused serious damage to the city of Kenosha, the majority on the North side on Birch Road...my family lives on Birch Road!!! I'm so thankful that everyone was ok. I called my mom first thing Tuesday morning to get all the details. They closed Bose Elementary, which is where she works. At about 1 a.m. Monday night, she and my sister went outside to check out the damage. As they were walking back home, the weather sirens went off again and policemen started shouting for everyone to get home and take cover - it was another tornado coming! One of the buildings that was damaged, the roof actually was ripped off, was an apartment that I lived in with a good friend right near Bose Elementary School.
Tornadoes in January! Whuda thunk!
See following articles for more details:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22549196/
http://www.wisn.com/news/15002065/detail.html
http://www.channel3000.com/news/15006857/detail.html?rss=c3k&psp=news
Late Monday night, tornadoes caused serious damage to the city of Kenosha, the majority on the North side on Birch Road...my family lives on Birch Road!!! I'm so thankful that everyone was ok. I called my mom first thing Tuesday morning to get all the details. They closed Bose Elementary, which is where she works. At about 1 a.m. Monday night, she and my sister went outside to check out the damage. As they were walking back home, the weather sirens went off again and policemen started shouting for everyone to get home and take cover - it was another tornado coming! One of the buildings that was damaged, the roof actually was ripped off, was an apartment that I lived in with a good friend right near Bose Elementary School.
Tornadoes in January! Whuda thunk!
See following articles for more details:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22549196/
http://www.wisn.com/news/15002065/detail.html
http://www.channel3000.com/news/15006857/detail.html?rss=c3k&psp=news
Monday, January 7, 2008
Physicals...
We are putting together the final pieces of our Homestudy. This afternoon Ryan and I went in for our physicals. After about two hours of poking and prodding, we set up appointments to go back in a few days for more lab work and the reading of our TB test. We are hoping to get it all finalized by the end of this week.
The next step is finishing up our biographies - should be simple enough right?? Upon getting our assignment to write our biographies, we thought it would be so simple...after all it's all about us!!! Let me tell you, it is really hard! It really makes you sit down and take a look at your life and your childhood. We are going to shoot for finishing this up within the next two weeks so we can get our Homestudy finalized. Then on to the Dossier...
The next step is finishing up our biographies - should be simple enough right?? Upon getting our assignment to write our biographies, we thought it would be so simple...after all it's all about us!!! Let me tell you, it is really hard! It really makes you sit down and take a look at your life and your childhood. We are going to shoot for finishing this up within the next two weeks so we can get our Homestudy finalized. Then on to the Dossier...
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Clairvoyance
Dear Jes,
As you obviously already know I am your husband. I was thinking about our future son tonight and had a moment of clairvoyance. I predict that we will be pretty cool, liberal parents. When our son is young he will probably look up to us and admire us as his parents, but when he reaches his teens he will want nothing to do with us and as he progresses into his late teens and early twenties he will blame us for all of the "problems" in his life. I know this will bother you immensely and you will probably obsess about what we could've done differently to prevent this behavior. I just want you to know that by the time he reaches twenty-fiveish he will begin to come back around and by the time he is thirty we will have a very strong and healthy relationship again. Just thought I would prepare you for that. See you later.
Love,
Ryan
ps-Thank you for setting up this blog!
As you obviously already know I am your husband. I was thinking about our future son tonight and had a moment of clairvoyance. I predict that we will be pretty cool, liberal parents. When our son is young he will probably look up to us and admire us as his parents, but when he reaches his teens he will want nothing to do with us and as he progresses into his late teens and early twenties he will blame us for all of the "problems" in his life. I know this will bother you immensely and you will probably obsess about what we could've done differently to prevent this behavior. I just want you to know that by the time he reaches twenty-fiveish he will begin to come back around and by the time he is thirty we will have a very strong and healthy relationship again. Just thought I would prepare you for that. See you later.
Love,
Ryan
ps-Thank you for setting up this blog!
We're Adopting!
Dear Family and Friends, As many of you may already know, there are many children around the world who are living in dire circumstances. Although the US has a very strong foster care system, in many countries of the world, the same cannot be said. Although the lives of many of these children seem to be very bleak, they are not without hope.
On our one-year anniversary, we decided it was time for us to add to our family and made the decision to adopt internationally. We have chosen, through many long talks and much research, to adopt through the Kyrgyzstan program. We are extremely excited and will be developing a website to keep all of our family and friends informed about our lives and also our adoption journey. Please keep your eyes open in the near future for the announcement of our website debut.
Thank you all so much for your love and support! We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Timeline to date:
12.28.07
Today we had our home visit with our Social Worker from Crossroads Adoption Agency. We had a lot of trepiditations about this day because the result of her visits determine the future of our adoption process. To our relief, the visit went much better than expected, and Tracy was a extremely nice and knowledgable! We asked her a ton of questions, as not only does she have several years of experience as an adoption counselor, but she was adopted herself. We discussed the homestudy report, which is very extensive, and Tracy prepared us for the future expectations in the process. We have begun to write: grants, homestudy report, Dossier, biographies, blogs. Looks like January is going to be a blast.
12.06.07
We just sent in our preliminary application to our placement agency in Colorado. After our Homestudy is complete, we will start to work with Adoption Alliance to put together another slew of documents!!
12.05.07
Tonight we drove to Hudson, WI to have our first educational session with Crossroads Adoption Agency. They walked us through all of the tedious paperwork that we will need to complete in order to fullfill our Homestudy requirements. It was a blustery -7 degrees out. We stopped at San Pedro's, a fantastic Mexican restaurant, on our way out of town. The reality of this process is beginning to settle in. We are very anxiou and excited about what awaits us!
12.01.07
Yay! We've been approved. We recieved notification today that we have been accepted to Crossroads Adoption Agency Homestudy program.
11.26.07
Today we submitted our formal application to the agency that will be doing our Homestudy.
On our one-year anniversary, we decided it was time for us to add to our family and made the decision to adopt internationally. We have chosen, through many long talks and much research, to adopt through the Kyrgyzstan program. We are extremely excited and will be developing a website to keep all of our family and friends informed about our lives and also our adoption journey. Please keep your eyes open in the near future for the announcement of our website debut.
Thank you all so much for your love and support! We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Timeline to date:
12.28.07
Today we had our home visit with our Social Worker from Crossroads Adoption Agency. We had a lot of trepiditations about this day because the result of her visits determine the future of our adoption process. To our relief, the visit went much better than expected, and Tracy was a extremely nice and knowledgable! We asked her a ton of questions, as not only does she have several years of experience as an adoption counselor, but she was adopted herself. We discussed the homestudy report, which is very extensive, and Tracy prepared us for the future expectations in the process. We have begun to write: grants, homestudy report, Dossier, biographies, blogs. Looks like January is going to be a blast.
12.06.07
We just sent in our preliminary application to our placement agency in Colorado. After our Homestudy is complete, we will start to work with Adoption Alliance to put together another slew of documents!!
12.05.07
Tonight we drove to Hudson, WI to have our first educational session with Crossroads Adoption Agency. They walked us through all of the tedious paperwork that we will need to complete in order to fullfill our Homestudy requirements. It was a blustery -7 degrees out. We stopped at San Pedro's, a fantastic Mexican restaurant, on our way out of town. The reality of this process is beginning to settle in. We are very anxiou and excited about what awaits us!
12.01.07
Yay! We've been approved. We recieved notification today that we have been accepted to Crossroads Adoption Agency Homestudy program.
11.26.07
Today we submitted our formal application to the agency that will be doing our Homestudy.
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