Here we go again

Ok...  We got a bit of a breather, which not going to lie, was really nice.  Most new parents don't get that opportunity to take a few weeks off and re-group. It makes me wonder though, if God thought we needed a relatively easy practice run with a sweet sweet baby (who's forever family has sent us pictures and we're planning a visit with them soon), and then a few weeks off, during which we went to this awesome conference on connection at adoption and loving kids from hard places (there will be a rabbit trail on this subject in a few paragraphs), He must have something really entertaining and exhausting in store for us.

I'll give you a moment to let your imaginations run wild with humorous scenes of us chasing around a couple of wild little monsters (a term of endearment)...

This might sound insane, but I'm actually looking forward to having some funny, pulling my hair out, stories to tell on myself and our future kidos in blogs yet to come.  The kinds of stories that aren't funny at that particular moment, but 10 minutes to 10 years later they're hilarious.  And you can bet there will be stories dripping with sappy cuteness and sweetness. And we can't leave out the "kids say the darnedest things" kind of stories.  Those are my favorite.

There will also be sad stories, as we work through their attachment issues, their loss and grieving process in regard to their biological family, and reasons and events which led to their being removed.  These stories will never be funny to anyone, and I will likely filter them some for their privacy and to spare all of you knowing the things that even I would rather not know.

This conference we went to focused on helping children from hard places work through their past and present and grow into the beautiful people they already are.  Empowered to Connect.  The main speaker was the author of "The Connected Child" which I fully intend to read from cover to cover, probably more than once.  Dr. Purvis is the child whisper.  She was and is key in the development of the Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) parenting method.  The counseling and research work she has done is incredible and has achieved fabulous results in children of all risk levels.  I wish I could just download everything she knows from her brain to mine.  If you are a parent of a private, foreign, domestic adoption, or foster to adopt child, you need to get this book and go to the next conference if you're able.  We'll probably go again for a refresher next year.

http://empoweredtoconnect.org/

We feel refreshed, energized, and ready to go with a healthy bit of respectful fear moving forward toward what and who God has for us.  We're going to open our home back up the first full week in October because of work scheduling reasons.  And since we're open to foster placements that seem likely to move toward adoption rather than just adoptive placements, we're likely to have placements rather quickly.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers.