Our Perfect Disneyland Day

The first Wednesday of the month my sister, Tami and I take our girls to Disneyland. We love going on this day because we leave late enough in the afternoon and late enough at night that we don't hit any traffic. We also love that the crowds are less.

For Christmas, I got Nevaeh a Minnie Mouse costume with a matching costume for her doll. I had been waiting for her to grow into the shoes that went with it but yesterday's weather looked so perfect I just couldn't wait any longer. So I stuffed socks in the front of the shoes to make them stay on her feet.

I was a little sad to find that the doll's headband (Minnie Mouse ears) had been dropped and broke. I borrowed some super glue and thought I fixed it. After making these minor wardrobe repairs, we were on our way.

When we walked through the entrance of Disneyland there was a short line to see Minnie Mouse. Tami suggested that I take Nevaeh right over and get her picture taken with her. I had planned on going to see the Minnie Mouse in Toon Town but the line can be really long for that one. We hurried over and got in line, but right as we did, Minnie had to leave and starting walking away.

Because we are Disneyland experts, I knew where she was headed and started to follow really fast. I really just wanted to find out how long it would be until the next Minnie would come out. As we approached the gate for her to go behind she turned and saw Nevaeh and her doll. She leaned over and hugged Nevaeh and then picked the doll up and cradled it. Unfortunately, when she handed it pack the headband fell off and it broke again. And of course I didn't have my camera out to take any pictures.

This is what the doll is suppose to look like with her Minnie ears on.

The escort then hurried Minnie Mouse behind the gate. I asked one of the other workers how long it would be until she came back. They said 2 minutes. I then asked where we should go and wait since you never know where they are going to locate themselves on Main Street. They told me we could just stay there and that when Minnie Mouse came out she would walk us over to where she was going to be. 

I quickly got Nevaeh out of her stroller and started looking for my camera. Neaveh wanted to play with the umbrella that I throw out of the stroller while looking for the camera. When I took it away she throw a huge fit. My hopes and dreams of the perfect picture with Minnie Mouse were dashed.

So I started bribing her. I know - bad mom. But it worked and she gave the umbrella back. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get her ears on her before Minnie Mouse came back out. Luckily for me, my son was there and grabbed the stroller so I could run ahead and get these great pictures.

The little girl in the Tinkerbell outfit running to catch-up is my niece. She was waiting in line to see Goofy when she noticed that Minnie Mouse came back. She did finally catch up and got to hold Minnie Mouse's hand. Poor Nevaeh tripped on the way up the stairs and isn't smiling very big here because I think she is still a little stunned. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that her shoes are 2 sizes too big.

Later on that day we did stand in line to see Minnie Mouse at her house. Neaveh does not really like to pose with the characters. She would rather hug and kiss on them and tell them that she loves them. So her happy faces are usually pushed into a character's chest where they can't be seen.

We had to stop on by and see Mickey too. I was sad that he wasn't in his normal outfit that would have matched better. But considering we go the first Wednesday of ever month, I'm sure we will have many more opportunities to take pictures with the mouse. Maybe I will even be able to get the dolls headband fixed.

All and all is was a great day at Disneyland. Nevaeh was stinky a few times when I wanted her to wear the ears or hold the doll. It seemed she only wanted to hold the doll if my niece wanted to hold her. Other than that she could have cared less. We have to work on her sharing skills.

I am so grateful to my oldest son, Josh, for coming with us. He was a little sad that the Tangle line was closed and he didn't get to do his smoldering look for Rapunzel and have his picture taken. He made the day so much easier for me and made it possible for me to keep track of all Nevaeh's accessories. Plus he made riding the train and the tram possible. I would not have been able to do it without him.

But The best part of the trip was when I woke up this morning to a sweet little girl who said,

 "Aw, I loveof you mommy. Thank you for taking me to Disneyland. It was perfect." 

Still in a Daze

I was not prepared last night for how I felt. I had seen A's (our 2nd foster daughter) grandma at Wal-mart numerous times since I left A with her over 3 years ago. But I have not seen A since that dreadful day.

So last night when I was at Wal-mart and heard a familiar voice scream "Get back here before I knock your head off" I was not prepared for the feelings that flooded over me when I looked up to see A running in front of her grandma. I only knew it was A because her grandma was following her. I probably would not have recognized her without her grandma there.

My heart skipped a beat as I look down into the eyes of this beautiful little girl that I last saw when she was 11 months old. But what broke my heart even more was when I said "Hi A" and she looked directly at me and said "How do you know me?" I just replied that I knew her when she was a baby and then she bounced away.

Her grandmother then told me that she doesn't know that she was taken away and lived with a foster family. I don't blame her. Would a 4 year old really understand that anyway? She only lived with us for a month. Yet I was surprised at how quickly she bonded with me.

At visits she would get down and go see her mom and grandma, but if she was hurt in the least little way she would come running back to me for comfort. She never had a problem leaving the visits either. I would say it was time to go and she would just tot on over and hold up her arms to me.

She looked happy last night. Her grandma said she finally kicked the mom out and does not allow her to see A anymore. That was a huge relief to me. Last time I saw the grandma she told me that the mom was watching her while grandma was at work. I didn't understand how the grandma could have custody because the mom was seen as unfit, yet the mom was allowed to babysit.

I walked around Wal-mart in a daze the rest of my shopping trip. My heart ached for this little one and the life that will be her's. Yet, I know that it was meant to be. If she had stayed even one month longer, we would not have gotten Nevaeh.

So all I can do is hope that she felt loved the month she was with us and that somehow that carries over to the rest of her life.

And then I remember how blessed I am to have this little one that I thought was going home after being with us for over 19 months.

This is her 18 month Easter picture that was taken right before she started overnight visits at the halfway house.

If you would like to see the video I made when I thought she was going home you can go here. It is dedicated to all who have loved a foster baby and had to let them go. It is a feeling that can never be explained if you have not lived it.

These children live forever in your hearts.

Inspirational Video of Young Woman with Down Syndrome

As many of you know I have been advocating for children with Down Syndrome who live in Easter Europe. The reason I feel so passionate about this is because these children are sent away to adult institutions to live out the remainder of their lives when they turn 4 years old. Some of the institutions are better than others, but for the most part, these children are considered throw aways. They are seen as burdens to their society with no real potential.

So in my effort to educate and raise awareness about these beautiful children, I stumbled across this interview. Now I do realize that not all children with Down Syndrome will turn out like this amazing young woman. My point is to show that there is so much potential there. So much that they have to give. So much that will be wasted if they are just locked away in an institution somewhere.

So when you think of these children, please stop and think of this video and ask yourself if you could be blessed by adding someone like this to your family.

Love Is

Love is

a sweet, nutty husband who comes home after a long day at work

and massages my head and shoulders to help get rid of my sinus headache

even though he is not feeling well himself.

Love is

a sweet son who gets up every morning to make breakfast for me and his sister after 

he returns home from early morning church.

Love is

a charitable son that cares enough about what I care about 

to donate his own money to an orphan on the other side of the world and

to fast for him to find a family without me knowing about it until after the fact.

Love is 

a compassionate son that plays with and reads to a very active toddler for me

when I am not feeling well and need to take a nap.

Love is

an active Princess who says in her sweet little voice

"Aw, no worries mama, I'll help you clean upa my mess."

Love is 

a grandma who stays up late to make beautiful dresses for all of her little 

granddaughters and a grandpa who drives her to delivery it and has to sit in 

traffic for over two hours because of a freeway closure and then has to turn around 

and go right back home.

Love is

a grandma and grandpa that send Valentine's Cards with special notes

written inside.

Love is

a grandma and grandpa that call to check up on their family

even though they are having health problems.

Love is

 

taking the time to move a birth family to their new apartment after

they have been homeless for over 6 months and visiting with them on Valentine's Day.

Love is 

what I want more than anything for this beautiful orphan with a heart condition

on the other side of the ocean.

Love is

my family. 

Who support me in everything I do.

Happy Valentine's Day

Matching Mondays

Please hop on over here to see who Brenda has listed this week. These darling children are adoptable from the Foster Care system.

There are three beautiful little sisters that are looking for a home together that live in California.

And this little guy is also from California.

Please take the time to post this link on your Facebook account or Blog so that others are made aware of these children. That would make my day!

You never know who will have the seed of adoption planted in their hearts. It may not be today but you never know about tomorrow.

If you would have asked me 7 years ago if I would ever be a foster parent and then adopt, I probably would have told you no.

But look what I would be missing out on!

Matching Mondays

In my attempt to help others save the one, I have decided that every Monday and Friday I will be posting pictures of children who are in need of forever families.

Brenda, of Another Small Adventure, post pictures of children who are in the foster care system and available for adoption on her blog every Monday. I will provide a link to her blog so others can share with their friends and families those children who are in need of a home.

http://anothersmalladventure.blogspot.com/2011/02/matching-mondays.html

I honestly believe that most families out their could find such joy in adopting a child into their lives. They just need to find that perfect child for their family and be made aware of them. This is my goal. To make every family aware.

We do not have to concentrate on the masses, just look to save the one.

Which one will you save?

Or better yet, which one will save you?

Helping the Masses or Saving the One

A few years ago my husband and I were having a conversation about a talk we head in church. A man told a story about another man who was doing incredible acts of service and helping people all around the world. That night, my husband and I started to discuss the talk. My husband made the comment that he wished he could be more like that man and needed to look for more opportunities to serve others in a grander way. He was feeling really down that he didn't have the time or resources to do more.

I then commented that the man was helping the masses but we were saving the one. He looked at me confused. I tried to explain what I meant. It was great that this individual was helping so many people by providing them clean drinking water and medical care. It was wonderful that he was using his fortune to help the less fortunate. But what we were doing was really important too.

I asked my husband how many he people he knew who had taken in a foster child and loved them like their own. How many people did he know who were willing to love a child for 18 months, clean up their throw up, change their poopy diapers, play with them, love them and drive them back and forth to do parental visits twice a week with parents that had them taken away because they had been accused of beating and shaking them.

We were in the process of saving the one. No one would write stories about us or call to interview us for what we were doing. No one in our large society would ever really even know what we had done.

Now you may ask how it is that we saved Nevaeh. Surely someone else would have stepped forward to adopt her sooner or later. After all she is really adorable. It always amazed me that while she was our foster daughter people would comment "I'll adopt her." The thing was that Nevaeh never had a lack of people who wanted her. Her birth parents were trying their hardest to get her back and we of course we growing more attached to her by the minute.

But as foster parents our job was to love her like our own while realizing that she belonged to someone else. When she did finally come up for adoption we were informed that there were over 75 people on a waiting list who would gladly give her a home.

So what did we save her from? How were we any different than these other people?

We took the risk. We agreed to care for her and love her for up to 2 years without knowing if we would be able to adopt her or if she would return to a life that we wouldn't wish on a dog. We cried and prayed for her safety when we had to leave her for overnight visits at the halfway house. And comforted her when she returned to us and had night terrors about those visits.

We had many people tell us "I don't know how you do it. I could never love a child and have to give them back."

That is why so many babies in the foster care system get bounced around. Not many people are willing to take that risk. They want to wait until the baby is already freed for adoption. Which, like Nevaeh's case, takes about 2 years. In the mean time, those little babies are bounced around from foster home to foster home never learning how to bound.

Of course, I look at my beautiful daughter and think of how much joy she has brought to our lives. I don't really look at it as saving her but really we did. Since we have adopted her, her birth parents have been homeless, have lived in a motel for a while, have had domestic violence where one of them ended up in jail and the other one looked pretty beat up. That would have been her life. Instead she is our spoiled princess who gets up every morning and ask when we are going to Disneyland again to ride the spinny cups and when does she get to see Minnie Mouse again.

The other night this topic of helping the masses came up again in our house. This sports player has done incredible stuff for the masses. My husband talk about how he wished he had the money and the resources to fly off to Russia and help the orphans.

In my mind I had to laugh. Here my husband was once again wanting to help the masses and I was looking to save the one. I had been looking at all these sweet faces on Reeces Rainbow and thinking of how many of these children with down syndrome need a home. How many of them will be looked over? How many will go to institutions while a whole group of people wait on list for their perfect child? What amazed me was the people who are adopting them. These people either already had children with downs or have adopted many times before. They are scrapping together all the money they can to pay the ransom on these precious little ones. Below you can see a small glimpse of what it is like for them once they go to the institution.

So I have decided to concentrate on saving the one. I may not be able to go over and bring a child home right now, but I can raise money for those who are and I can raise awareness for those who are looking to adopt and hoping that they will look this way. The plight of the special needs orphan has become my challenge, and I hope I can make a difference even if it is only saving the one.