Home Study and Drama

So we completed our home study visits with our social worker. She was very nice. It was a crazy week, she came during the boys back to school nights, soccer practice, and me going out of town for my niece's wedding. Yet, its complete now we are just awaiting the final copy so we can file our I 600 forms.

Yet, in that process big T was asked if he had any contact with the police as a child. So he told her yes, and about the time he received a ticket that was dismissed by a judge. She then made the decision to have his juvenile records checked and he has to write a letter of apology to go in the home study. Crazy. The ticket was for trespassing on school property. He was there while adults were walking dogs, running on the track. Yet, he received a ticket for being a kid on school grounds. So him and his Mom decided to fight the ticket and take it to court. Rightly so the ticket was thrown out for its ignorance and the wanna be police officer (he was a school officer not a real police officer) was told to get a life. Yet, now due to the fact that he went to court over this he has to write a letter of repentance and we had to verify his juvenile record was clear. I am not sure about all this and think that they are going a little overboard with this.

Besides that the Director of Operations of IHNFA was suspended last week leaving a lot of questions in regards to our Honduras adoption. We do not know what God's plan is but trust in him as this is his will for us and knows exactly where and who he wants in our family.

Much Love,
Tnt and Boys

Physicals

Our family of five had physicals done at Kaiser in July. We had to take our children back in for blood work, then back in for shots that they felt the children needed, then the TB test reading, on this past Friday they called to say they forgot to give the children vision and hearing tests. So on Monday i took the boys back in again for the fifth visit for their physicals. During this appointment I requested that the paperwork get signed. I learned that the Doctor was actually on vacation and was not available for the next 45 days. I was livid. So after making a formal complaint with management the boys paperwork was signed. Unfortunately T and my physicals were not able to be signed as the Doctor that performed the physicals does not have a license for practicing in the state of Virginia. Not sure why Kaiser has her working in Virginia if she doesn't have her state license.

So before school started the last week of August, I sat at Kaiser for three hours awaiting our paperwork to be signed. I did finally get the boys physicals signed, but he unfortunately did not write letters of explanation to the surgery B had for his eyes, and the anemia the boys have. So we are still awaiting completed forms and do not know when we will receive our forms.

After waiting a few more weeks I finally gave up, requested a copy of the boys records and took them to Corbin's doctor. She filled out all the paperwork, wrote the letters and had a notary come in to sign the paperwork. So finally the boys physicals are done. We also finally heard from our doctor at Kaiser and she completed our paperwork correctly.

So physicals completed!!

Tnt
and the boys
GAB

Back Again

T and I after months of praying about starting over with the adoption process have stepped back into adoption. We began the process again this past June. We did not really advertise it yet, but here we are almost done with the homestudy and dossier portion of our adoption. After a lot of prayer and many meetings, we have decided on going with America World Adoption Agency. We also are adopting from Honduras. We are looking at adopting an older boy age 3 to 7 year old. I know many of you are suprised by this.

Check out our time line and we will keep you updated from here on how its going.
Please keep us in prayer as we embark on this new adventure God has placed before us as we bring home our new son from Honduras.

TnT, and GAB

Our Decision

We have decided that we are not going to proceed with adoption through the Foster to Adopt program. This decision was not made lightly and one that did not come easily. We sat through many hours of classes listening to them talk about how these children were sexually molested, physically abused, mentally abused, neglected and many many other abuses. Then went on to tell us how these children would not adapt well within a home, and our goal is to re-unite the Parents and Child first and for most.

So basically if we were to adopt within Virginia we would need to sit through 42 more hours of this. Then wait for a phone call for a child, then work toward repairing and reuniting that family together for over a year. Then after that failed they would look at others and adoption as an option which could be another year. So we would sit in uncertainty for over a year to two years, not knowing if the child was ours or not. We have no rights what so ever not even allowed to cut the child's hair because they are not ours.

This just seems like something of a form of torture to our family and children. Yes, we want to adopt but not like this. We don't want to put our boys in harms way and hurt them in the process. So we are not going to go through with the adoption program at the county or state level. I can now understand why so many children are just left sitting in foster care after sitting through those classes. It was AWFUL and I have seen A LOT in my life. Nothing compared to that.

So now we wait and pray for a situation that seems right. We are back to looking at private adoption or international adoption. Yes, this is outrageously expensive but still feel this is more along the lines of where God wants us to adopt from. This obviously can't happen until Travis gets a job. So Please pray that he gets a job soon.

Thanks for praying and we will keep you posted
TnT

Classes

I don't think there is any words for sitting in a class for 11 hours hearing about children and their loved ones abusing them and destroying their tiny world. It is so heart breaking.

We have three more classes to attend, our homestudy, and tons of paperwork before we can are completed and ready.

After the first class, I felt so overwhelmed and concerned about if we could do this. The worry that we would hurt the boys again was huge. Yet, after a lot of prayer and research as well, I feel more comfortable today. Even though the second meeting was even worse than the first.

We are now waiting on a phone call for our Social Worker for our second home visit. We will let you know when and how that goes.

TnT

In just four days!!!

We get to begin our training!! Yeah! It is going by fast. We are all very excited and can't wait to begin this part of the process. The training on Saturdays are 8 am to 4 pm, and there are 3 of them. We also have three Tuesday evenings as well but those are only 3 hours of training.

Will let you know how it went on Saturday,
Take Care
TnT

Didn't Fail, invitation extended

Well, we did not fail that first home visit and the county has officially extended us a formal invitation to attend the training program. Our first training date is February 21st and we will have completed all classes by March 14. They say we will be completely done with the entire paperwork and clearance process by the end of March. But I have to doubt the speed of the local government. They can't possibly move that fast.

So we mail back our acceptance letter and in 15 days attend our first class on parenting. Its a go folks. Wooo Hoooo!!!!

TnT