Melissa | October 9, 2011
Our long home study interview was today. Each agency and country is different, but this will be 2 of 4 (our orientation meeting at our agency counted as #1).
Again, since each agency and country is different, your interview will probably look a little bit different but this is how ours went today.
Our social worker did [...]
Melissa | October 2, 2011
This is kind of a post-in-progress. We find ourselves with a strong-willed child from a hard place in our home. I’m hoping there are more of you out there.
For our purposes, I’m going to define the key words like this:
Strong-willed: Thrives on conflict. Has difficulty obeying right away…ever. Always fights to be “right.”
From a hard [...]
Melissa | September 26, 2011
If you bake out all the collagen from a bone, and tap it with a mallet, it shatters.
The Pilgrims built rectangular houses out of lumber.
The Wampanoags built dome-shaped houses with large pieces of bark as walls.
In the midst of keeping up with schooling, we’ve been finishing the last of our paper chase. We were assigned [...]
Melissa | August 13, 2011
Regardless of which adoption journey you are on, you will need to complete a home study. As part of your home study, you will need to gather a bunch of documents. Although this list may vary a little from state to state and agency to agency, it will give you a good idea of what [...]
Melissa | June 25, 2011
*****PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT*****
There is a giveaway going on until midnight. Don’t forget to enter.
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You’d think since we’ve adopted before that we wouldn’t be daunted by our second paper chase, right? Wrong.
Korea’s process is drastically different than most other international programs because the family does not adopt in-country. Instead the trip is pretty much to just gain [...]
Melissa | June 23, 2011
*****PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT*****
There is a giveaway going on until the 25th. Don’t forget to enter.
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It’s really my goal in life to never be “that” person. Since having kids, I strive to not be “that” mom. You know the one who thinks her little angel can do no wrong, or the one who packs a lunch [...]
Melissa | May 27, 2011
Road #1: Derek’s Calendar all started when Derek served for a couple years at MTW’s AIDS project in Addis Ababa. Between book club and our Global Outreach [GO] Team at church, we see a lot of Derek and he still has a lot of Ethiopia connections.
Road #2: The president of the non-profit with which we [...]
Melissa | April 27, 2011
I totally meant to post about Ty’s Airplane Day yesterday. You know, on his actual Airplane Day. But I didn’t. Bad Mommy. I considered pre-dating a post so when I looked back I would think I had been on the ball. But I didn’t.
So yesterday, 2 years ago, Ty took his first steps onto American [...]
Melissa | March 9, 2011
Last fall, I was really torn between putting Ty in preschool and keeping him home an extra year to make sure we were setting him up to succeed whenever he entered the world of structured, group settings. Then I found this fabulous program that was a 3-hour-drop off (major points) AND half preschool-half gymnastics [...]
Melissa | March 3, 2011
It seems the blog has seemed a little neglected lately if you take away all the adoption posts. A lot of my hours have been spent helping America World Adoption Agency (AWAA) coordinate a brand new Ethiopian orphan hosting program called Welcoming Angels.
Backstory:
Two years ago (or so), Patrick and I envisioned our church getting pysched about [...]
