Photo Books of our Life

I love making digital photo books.

I don't necessarily have a favorite company 

that I use.

I'm afraid I am not very loyal.

I go where the deals are.

I love that I can share my books with people on-line.

I love that I can make them as simple or as complicated as I want.

These books are not in any particular order.

I do have my favorites.

I love Nevaeh's Tinkerbell Party,

her Yellow Shoes Book and the one

I made for her birth parents.

I love her adoption day one too but

I am making another one that includes her

sealing day as well.

I will be adding more to this page as I finish them.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to view this photo book larger

Link to Christmas Book

Link to Halloween Book

Link to My Yellow Shoes Book

Link to Birth Parent's Book

Daddy B - Father's Day Visit

Have I ever mentioned that this open adoption thing is hard?

So you might ask...

Why do you do it then?

Sometimes, I am not sure.

Sometimes,I think it would be so much easier to just pretend she doesn't have "other" family.

Sometimes, things are awkward 

and sometimes they just drive me crazy.

I haven't written much about our visit lately because 

there has been so much "Drama" in B and M's lives.

Today I came to the conclusion once again that 

Daddy B is so much more together and in love with this little girl 

than Mommy M.

I really don't mind bringing her to visit him.
He spends his whole time playing with her.

And she loves hanging out with him

Today we even picked up Grandma N
and Nevaeh had a great time playing with her hat.

Plus, Daddy B brought her a Kung Fu Panda Bear.

It's been a while since Nevaeh has seen Daddy B.
(Part of the Drama)

So she didn't go running into his arms as usual.
It didn't take long for her to warm up to him but I made
the mistake of calling him Daddy once and
she stopped and looked at me funny and then said
"that's not my daddy, that's Daddy B..."

There was a huge blowup on Valentine's Day over how she addressed them.
Let's just say "more drama" and leave it at that.

After visiting with Daddy B we went to take food to
Mommy M.
I won't go into detail about our visit with her.
I thought about it and it just wouldn't be fair for me to
post her problems on an open blog.

But trust me...
The woman drives me crazy with so much DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA!!!!!

And so I go back to thinking about the whole open adoption thing.

It's hard on me.
I don't like "DRAMA".

But in the end it still feels right.
And in the end there is a little girl who knows she is loved by so many.
And sometimes we do things we hate for the people we love even if it means dealing with the DRAMA.

Angels Foster Care 5K

I participated in my first 5K on Saturday.

I did not make very good time because I kept stopping to 

take pictures.

View of the course from the bridge.

I really had no idea how seriously some people take their

5K's.

The first runner crossed the finish line in just under 16 minutes.

I hadn't even made it to the bridge or the 1 mile marker

by that time.

The course was at Liberty Park in San Diego.

There were some really neat places to take pictures.

Behind Nevaeh is a huge ship.

And these full size cannons.

There was great free food

along with giant sized stuffed pancake people.

Nevaeh had a great time on the free bounce house

and slide.

Of course going down head first was the best part.

Then we were off to impress the football players.

Don't let the pink outfit and bows fool you.

Nevaeh can hold her own when it comes to playing any game that involves a ball.

But this, this is the reason why we came.

It wasn't to try and beat our best time at a 5K.

It wasn't for the beautiful scenery or ocean breeze.

Nor the free food and entertainment.

It was to support an organization that brought me

the best gift I could ever have.

Thanks to these ladies and all their hard work,

babies all over San Diego County will be safe tonight.

They will be placed in loving homes

while their parents try and get their act together

or while CPS figures out they got it wrong.

(that is what happened with our first placement)

Foster Care is a broken system. 

One that needs so much repairing.

But with all it's faults, 

there are still people like Cathy and Rachel

who work tirelessly to ensure

that these babies are safe and loved

while the grown ups figure out the rest.

Next year

our whole family will be involved.

Want to join us? 

Who Are You Thinking About Today - The Unloved

It was very interesting to me that today, 

I happened upon a post by Nie Nie asking

  "Who are you thinking about today?"  

Considering that there is so much doom and gloom in the world, 

(especially today since it is suppose to be the end of the world) 

I wanted to focus on the reality that I live in and the pure joy and beauty I have found from it.

I wanted to focus on all the wonderful families who have touched my life 

and changed if for good ever since I first started following the 

Fillmore Family and their journey to Anya.

After following them I was hooked on learning more about other

  Reece's Rainbow Families 

and the children who are orphaned because they have "special needs".

For the past week I have been following the Cox Family.

The are in U country right now meeting their new princess for the first time.

I wake up every morning to see if there is a new post

and cry along with them as they experience the joy of adoption.

I love reading Julia's blog and feeling her pain and passion 

as she desperately tries to tell people of the condition that 

these orphans live in and then being able to follow 

along and see first hand the change that one little boy

has gone through because he is now loved.

I was also lead to Patti's blog

where I have learned so much about children with Down Syndrome

and the joy they bring to their families everyday.

I am also impressed more and more each day by the dedication and
determination of Cathy at Angels Foster Family Network.
And by all who work with her to unsure the safety of foster babies.

This is my life. 

These are the people that inspire me.

Others may go through life complaining and saying how

horrible the world is and asking where is the love and 

compassion today?

Well, I have found it.

I am living in this blog world.

I am rejoicing with these people 

when there becomes one less orphan 

in the world.

And these are the reason I was inspired to start

my Pretty Princess Preschool blog.

So I could somehow try and raise awareness and funds

for these very "Special" children.

This is who I am thinking about today.

This is who I think about everyday.

And I will continue to think about them 

until there are Orphans No More.

Two New Blogs

Hi Followers :)

I am excited to announce that I have launched two new blogs. The first blog is Pretty Princess Preschool . This blog is for anyone with toddlers, preschoolers or even young elementary age children. I will be posting wonderful fun ideas several times a week. There will be lots of free ideas too with links to other free sites. There will also be lots of ideas using the products I am selling to raise funds for orphans in Easter Europe and for foster care children.

I would appreciate it if all of you would post my link on your facebook pages, like my Pretty Princess Preschool Facebook page or say something on your blogs about this new blog. I love and believe in these products, Story Time Felts and Bird Rock Family (please see fundraiser page to order) and Reece's Rainbow and Angels Family Foster Network, the two causes, that I am trying to raise funds for.

I know that not everyone who reads my blog will be able to order something but by passing the word along I am sure there are many people out there who will want to.

My other new blog is http://operationorphansnomore.blogspot.com/. It will be dedicated to raising awareness for the special needs orphans featured on Reece's Rainbow. I will be helping to raise funds for specific children and families and I will be using this blog to post about fundraisers and things that are going on in that community.

This blog will go back to being my family blog.I will continue to write about Nevaeh's visits with her birth parents, which I haven't been for the past two because I was consumed with my other passion, the orphans. But I do have stuff to report on that.

I would like to thank all of you for following me on this site and for commenting when you can. It makes me feel like I am not talking to myself :)

Can you really shield them from the pain?

Below is a poem that my 14-year-old son Jared wrote for his English class. Jared had just turned 11 when we got the call to foster Nevaeh. He also shares her birthday. This picture was taken the day I brought her home.

Foster Adoption

Is she right for us?

Sitting on a bench in the happiest place on earth, we received a phone call to help a child who was beaten shortly after birth,

Her parents would abuse her when she wouldn’t be quite,

Our family made a decision that we would help her with all our might.

Are we right for her?

Nevaeh entered our home as a new foster child,

Her love for us was scarcely mild,

She kicked and screamed and wanted her mommy,

And my family seemed to be turning into zombies.

Will it get better?

Nevaeh started to bond with us and we bonded with her,

Our family now loves this child for sure,

She is now calming down; she knows she’s safe with us,

Her parents are still allowed visitation so take her to them we must.

Who will keep her?

Her parents are improving and Nevaeh must now stay with them over night,

On the drive to their home our hearts beat ten times faster because of fright,

Thoughts raced through my head: Will they beat her again, will she be okay, will she still be alive to see the light of day?

One year later, Nevaeh is still visiting her parents,

The family who will keep her was still undecided,

We thought for sure Nevaeh’s biological parents would be the ones to keep her.

She IS right for us:

One day we got a phone call from Nevaeh’s new and improved parents,

They told us they would give us possession of her but they would still like visitation,

Tears in our eyes, we arrived at court,

Nevaeh is now legally ours.

We ARE right for her:

After two and a half years of waiting,

Our excitement of our new family member almost led to fainting,

Angels is the foster agency all this happened in,

And Nevaeh is the angel that we finally did win.

This picture was taken on Nevaeh's 3rd birthday and Jared's 14th birthday

Up until 2 days ago, when Jared got up in front of our church congregation to bare his testimony, I had no idea of the impact that the whole foster care process had on him. I watched this young man, wise beyond his years, get up and fight back tears as he told of his experience in the temple and the joy of knowing that Nevaeh would be a part of our family forever. 

Jared had asked me a few times during the foster process if I thought we would be able to keep Nevaeh. We had talked some about how it was very possible that she could return to live with her birth family since that was the goal of foster care. We had talked about loving her even though it would hurt to lose her. But I would always go to my room to quietly cry about the pain I felt. I know realize that my son was hiding his pain from me too. 

Foster care is such an amazing journey. There is no way you can be a good foster parent and not completely love the child that is in your care. There is no way you can know the birth parents for two years and not feel sorrow and compassion for them. There is really no way that you can shield anyone from the pain of the process. 

It is just part of the process. 

Better Than the Royal Wedding

Today - April 30, 2011 -  A very special event occurred

There was no media coverage

There was no huge crowd of people

In fact, the guest were very few in numbers

But a Princess of the King of Kings

Joined by a Grandpa, a Grandma, 2 Aunts and An Uncle

a Father 

a Mother

and three handsome Princes

walked into the House of the Lord 

and became an Eternal Family.


It was a day that will live on in history.