Having a difficult time – as Joshua reached 2, I’ve really wanted a second child. It seems so unfair that having kids is so easy for others.
I’ve been meeting with a Stephens Minister from church; she gave me a book “hannahs hope”. I want to read it but don’t have the will yet.
A friend is in the midst of a contested adoption; it’s contested by the biological dad. I won’t post details for their privacy, but contested adoptions and unfulfilled adoptions are some of the landmines that can hit a family when adopting domestically.
As time has gone on, I realize more & more how relatively quick & free of drama our son’s adoption was. His biological mother wanted a closed adoption, and we just send her best friend photos of him. (which I need to give her an update ). No one contested; and so I thought all adoptions were as easy as ours. It is hard as we think about adopting a second time and it’s made us a little wary of everything that can go wrong.
We know that God is in charge of everything, but this wariness is tempered with our age. When I hit 33 earlier this month, my first thought was “wow, a lot of countries won’t let you adopt babies after you’re 35″. I feel the press of time and this sense of urgency, especially if we go through an adoption that doesn’t go as planned and we have to start all over.
pray for my friend dealing in this contested adoption.
I took out Joshua’s newborn sling from his baby bathtub because he is too big for it.
Tonight I gave him a bath in his baby tub, and he was probably sitting in 6″ of water. This was enough water for him to lay back and float his little legs. It was SO ADORABLE. I couldn’t leave him alone in the tub or I would have grabbed the video camera. He laid back on his bottom, arms over each side of the tub, floating his chunky little legs back and forth across the water, watching them float!! I was laughing SO HARD I could hardly help him sit up.
The tub has a “shallow end” for his bottom and a “deep end” where his feet are supposed to go. Well, I turned him around and helped him sit up in the “deep end.” He sat up (with my help) and starting pounding his fists into the water. He thought that was the best game ever! He got his mommy soaked. He was grabbing the little washcloths and rubbing them on his face and chest, like he was trying to wash himself. Adorable.
Spent part of the day with “Grandma Pat” & “Grandpa Phil” – Josh had a great time with them – smiled and posed for the camera like a pro! He only had a couple short crying jags – I think his teeth have really been bothering him and he needs to keep on a good schedule of orajel to keep the pain at bay. We visited Daddy at work and bought a bunch of fallish clothes at Children’s Orchard….Joshua outgrew SO MUCH within a short amount of time. Some 3-6 mo. outfits he only wore a few times. He’s skipped to 6-9 months. He’s not particularily big or heavy, but I think it’s his height. I will be fascinated to watch him grow up and see how big he gets when he’s older. I spent about $50 and got a big bag full of good stuff and dropped off some smaller clothes that Children’s Orchard is going to buy for credit. I would probably get more money selling them at a garage sale, but I just haven’t the time. I am tossing around the idea of hiring a housekeeping service for at least a couple times a month and seeing if I can fit that in our budget.
I borrowed the new New Kids on the Block album from my friend Savanna at work and I love it! I can’t wait to see them in concert in November. My sister Julie and I were supposed to see them in Illinois with a group of friends but they CANCELLED the concert on us. I got kind of sad tonight because I think my mom would have gotten a big kick out of Julie and I finally going to see NKOTB – mom bought us a bunch of NKOTB dolls that ended up getting destroyed in the housefire.
Makes me sad, also, that my mom didn’t get to meet Joshua. I think she would have had a fun time being a grandma.
I starting bawling when I saw this tonight on Biography – it caught my attention due to the name, Lois Jurgens.
Lois Jurgens was an adoptive mother whose own son testified against her in the murder trial of his brother, Dennis Jurgens.
This is especially poignant because the birth mother was forced to give up her son for adoption because she was in state custody. Years later when she was trying to locate her son, she found out he had died. The birth mother, Jerry Sherwood, was convinced that he had been beaten to death. Due to Sherry’s efforts, the case was reopened and Lois Jurgens was convicted of murder.
While I was crying and holding Joshua I kept saying, “You’re giving all of us adoptive parents a bad name.” Yes, giving us a bad name, indeed.
What a heartbreak, on so many levels.