Things are getting really going here at the Doyle house. The kids are getting settled in and we are getting into a routine. After being baptized by what he calls "poop soup" diapers and a clogged toilet that required more than the plunger to fix, Ryan has turned into quite the "mister mom". We finally have Bella on a sleeping and eating schedule. We really got lucky because she sleep so well. It is nothing for her to sleep from 8 PM until 9AM. Greg is full on energy and I feel bad that he has been cooped up in the house since they got here as it has been raining and Ryan is not comfortable taking them both out yet by himself. He has been taking care of them this week while I have been working. I will be off for ten days starting Thursday. Greg did meet a neighborhood kid today who I set up to come down to the house. I had met the family previously and was excited that her son is 11 and her daughter is 4. I have talked to the mom and she is going to bring her daughter over sometime to meet Bella. We will see how that goes. Bella is doing well at home but she does not do well in public. She was not able to leave my lap on Sunday. It was really difficult and will prevent me from doing my Sunday responsibilities. This is difficult since I am the only singer on the praise team and one of four people in the Easter program in two weekends.
Charis and Sam (Charis is one of my best friends, we grew up together) are coming to visits us this Thursday through Sunday. The trip was planned way before we found out about the kids. They are actually going to stay in a hotel with her dad's points when will help the situation. Plus, we will be able to go swimming at the hotel which Greg is really excited about. I am looking forward to seeing them and hope things go smoothly with the kids while they are here. 'Charis and Sam will be moving overseas soon which means this will most likely be our last time to see them. :( Sad times.
Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers:)
Teah and Ryan
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Finally, they are here!!
So much has happened since my last entry that I hardly know what to write. Looking back of the last week of anguishing anticipation it seems it was more like a month. Good News! Greg and Izabella FINALLY arrived on Friday night. It was not how we would have hoped as they did not drive up to the house until 8:45, an hour and 45 minutes past their previous bedtime.
Greg is a tall, has dark brown hair, blue eyes, and is full of energy (and he would add something about his "big guns"). He really is a good looking kid. So far we have noticed he always has something to say. He is very personal and full of compliments and politeness which suites him well as he is very charming and fun to be around. He loves video games, sports, building and seems to be into anything active. He is currently at an overnight birthday party for a friend he had to leave back at his last placemnt. We were glad to be able to make that happen for him as he was really bummed he was not going to be able to go. Ryan wil pick him up tomorrow evening. He and Ryan are like long lost friends. He loves that Ryan is in to video games and sports and will hang out with him and do these things.
Bella is cute as a button. She was very nervous when she first got here but after a while she warmed up to me and Ryan both and had us carrying her all over the house. She seems to like girly things and the usualy kid things (Blues Clues, Spong Bob, Princesses, Dora...). She is struggling with the loss of her previous foster parents who she calls mom and dad and has lived with for the last year.
It breaks my heart for both of them. I can't imagine being in their shoes. I would probably think I would be taken from this home too. I hope they will come to see that we really want them here and that we really do care. Please continue to pray for us and for them. I have really funny stories to tell later involving Ryan and fecal matter but I am just too exasted to stay awake any longer. Love you all!
Greg is a tall, has dark brown hair, blue eyes, and is full of energy (and he would add something about his "big guns"). He really is a good looking kid. So far we have noticed he always has something to say. He is very personal and full of compliments and politeness which suites him well as he is very charming and fun to be around. He loves video games, sports, building and seems to be into anything active. He is currently at an overnight birthday party for a friend he had to leave back at his last placemnt. We were glad to be able to make that happen for him as he was really bummed he was not going to be able to go. Ryan wil pick him up tomorrow evening. He and Ryan are like long lost friends. He loves that Ryan is in to video games and sports and will hang out with him and do these things.
Bella is cute as a button. She was very nervous when she first got here but after a while she warmed up to me and Ryan both and had us carrying her all over the house. She seems to like girly things and the usualy kid things (Blues Clues, Spong Bob, Princesses, Dora...). She is struggling with the loss of her previous foster parents who she calls mom and dad and has lived with for the last year.
It breaks my heart for both of them. I can't imagine being in their shoes. I would probably think I would be taken from this home too. I hope they will come to see that we really want them here and that we really do care. Please continue to pray for us and for them. I have really funny stories to tell later involving Ryan and fecal matter but I am just too exasted to stay awake any longer. Love you all!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Here we go again!
Hello Friends!
Well, we are really learning to role with the punches here. Greg and Bella's arrival date has been pushed back again. No, not kidding. It turns out that now they have to check with the judge before the move takes place. Next they may need to check with the governor and maybe even the president! Seriously, it is so rediculous that they waited to do all of these things after they told us the move was a for sure last week. it is also slightly ironic that we had asked for a week originally and they had told us no and here we are a week later. We really are fine though since we know that it will happen eventually. I had two long conversations with the case worker today who filled me in on more details of the situation and history of these two kids. All we can do is wait and pray that they kids handle the transition well. They have really been through the mill. I can't share details but they have been through so many homes in the last couple of years it would make you cringe. Please pray for them.
Thanks guys:)
Well, we are really learning to role with the punches here. Greg and Bella's arrival date has been pushed back again. No, not kidding. It turns out that now they have to check with the judge before the move takes place. Next they may need to check with the governor and maybe even the president! Seriously, it is so rediculous that they waited to do all of these things after they told us the move was a for sure last week. it is also slightly ironic that we had asked for a week originally and they had told us no and here we are a week later. We really are fine though since we know that it will happen eventually. I had two long conversations with the case worker today who filled me in on more details of the situation and history of these two kids. All we can do is wait and pray that they kids handle the transition well. They have really been through the mill. I can't share details but they have been through so many homes in the last couple of years it would make you cringe. Please pray for them.
Thanks guys:)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
False Alarm
It has been a roller coaster of emotions the last couple of days. Although we were told with no possibility of another outcome that we would be parents by 12:30 Monday, when the time came things went very wrong. We got a call at 11 from Sara our Children's Sanctuary case worker (who is our only line of communicating with the kid's DCS case worker) stating the drop off time had been moved back since they were running behind. So we waited...... and waited......... and waited, but no knock on the door or phone call. One thing is for sure, DCS workers do not get the award for being the best communicators. So by 3:30 we could wait no longer. We called Sara and insisted she contact Betty (the kids DCS worker) and find out what was going on. It was the lowest point of the day when Sara called us back and informed us that not only where they waiting on the therapist to give the go ahead on the transfer at 4 but then at 6:30 they were also meeting with the previous foster placement couple to make sure there was nothing they could do to prevent the move. So after begging us to take them, and stating they could not even wait a week so we could prepare they were now telling us that the move may not even happen. WHAT!!! We had spent the entire weekend getting attached to the idea of having these two children join our family and now it felt devastating to possibly loose them. And in addition I don't think I have ever been that angry at anyone. I wanted to get make complaints to every person over that woman and get her fired. Yea, not a normal reaction for me. We felt so helpless. We were so angry and hurt at how cavalier it seemed they were treating this situation and there was no one we could even complain to about it! it sounds to us like our case worker did not follow protocol and when she went to talk to her supervisor about moving the kids she was told she needed to go back and complete missing steps. This left us up a creek at the time.
Thank the Lord the result of the meeting was that everyone agreed the removal should happen, including the previous foster parents and Greg. Of course they it took us calling them again to find that out. it was 8:30 when we finally found out that the placement is for sure going to take place. We were so releaved that we forgot about how mad we were. Since Betty is in a training for the next couple of days she is not able to bring them until Thursday. Again, we are totally excited but now we hate that we are having to wait until Thursday. :( It is so hard to wait.
God did teach us something through this. We now realize how much we really want these two children to be a part of our family. We might be scared but we are sooooo ready for this!
Even though we have been assured that this is a for sure thing this time, I can't help but have a little fear that something might happen again. Please keep praying my friends!
We love you all!
Here are some pictures of the kids rooms I thought you guys might like to see :)
Thank the Lord the result of the meeting was that everyone agreed the removal should happen, including the previous foster parents and Greg. Of course they it took us calling them again to find that out. it was 8:30 when we finally found out that the placement is for sure going to take place. We were so releaved that we forgot about how mad we were. Since Betty is in a training for the next couple of days she is not able to bring them until Thursday. Again, we are totally excited but now we hate that we are having to wait until Thursday. :( It is so hard to wait.
God did teach us something through this. We now realize how much we really want these two children to be a part of our family. We might be scared but we are sooooo ready for this!
Even though we have been assured that this is a for sure thing this time, I can't help but have a little fear that something might happen again. Please keep praying my friends!
We love you all!
Here are some pictures of the kids rooms I thought you guys might like to see :)
Monday, March 23, 2009
The Big Day....Almost
Greg and Bella were suppose to be here at 12:30 but here we sit. Things got delayed a little but they should still be here later today. So after three days of frantically trying to get everything done here we sit twiddling our thumbs. The house is so clean that we could pass a hospital inspection. The rooms are set up as much as possible considering we know so little about the kids. The medicine cabinet is stocked for cough, cold, stomach ache, open wound, or basically anything that would not require an emergency room visit. I have safety proofed everything I possibly can, and I have a enough food to feed all the neighbors let a lone two children. So here I sit with nothing else to do but get more nervous!
I have had Ryan working non stop on a never ending "honey do list". He has been awesome! He has worked so hard so that the house would be to my standard even though his standard is so much different then mine. He could care less if every closet in the house has been reorganized or if the kids both have a laundry basket. Poor man didn't know what to do when I sporadically broke into tears for no clear reason. I know he must have questioned my sanity at times. I still can't believe we got done with what we have in the last couple of days. It truly is a miracle that we are still standing. Thanks to the Collins' and the Moffett's for the help.
I promise to Blog more so that you will all know how things are going. I am sorry to say I will not be allowed to put pictures of Greg or Bella on the Blog. (one of the foster care rules). We really do appreciate your thoughts and prayer, keep those prayers going!
I have had Ryan working non stop on a never ending "honey do list". He has been awesome! He has worked so hard so that the house would be to my standard even though his standard is so much different then mine. He could care less if every closet in the house has been reorganized or if the kids both have a laundry basket. Poor man didn't know what to do when I sporadically broke into tears for no clear reason. I know he must have questioned my sanity at times. I still can't believe we got done with what we have in the last couple of days. It truly is a miracle that we are still standing. Thanks to the Collins' and the Moffett's for the help.
I promise to Blog more so that you will all know how things are going. I am sorry to say I will not be allowed to put pictures of Greg or Bella on the Blog. (one of the foster care rules). We really do appreciate your thoughts and prayer, keep those prayers going!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Just when you think you understand where life is heading you turn a corner.
We have turned a corner and found that the years of trying to start a family were not nearly as far away as we thought they would be. They are NOW! And they are much different then we thought they would be. We haven't yet started the embryo adoption process offcially although we both continue to think this is something God wants us to think about in the future. No, it seems that God had something completely different in mind for us right now. I am excited to announce that Ryan and I will have two foster children coming to live with us. When the need presented itself yesterday both Ryan and I immediately felt God's urging which is weird since we both thought He was leading us toward embryo adoption. I am beyond trying to figure it out and just thank God for this gift and pray for Him to continue to reveal His Will to us one day at a time.
So............now we are trying to prepare for this huge change. They will be moving in on MONDAY! I know, right?! That is reeeeeeally soon. We only have this weekend to set up their rooms and get the house perfect so that it meets all the foster care safety requirements. It has all happened so fast but in just two days the decision was made and we have made a commitment to care for these children; Greg, 12-yrs-old and Bella, 3-yrs-old. We don't know a lot about their background but like most foster children they have been through more in their short years than most people will in their entire life. Their parents rights have been terminated for a while now so they no longer see any of their biological family members. We have heard that they are very close to each other and that Greg is very protective of his sister.
We are really excited.........ok so we are freaking out! We really need your prayers as we have been on our own for a while and know this change will be difficult in many ways as we will be saying goodbye to many freedoms and facing new parent struggles. We also would appreciate prayer for Greg and Bella as this is their fourth placement and each one has torn a little more from them. We pray that their transition into our home, church, and new school will be as smooth as possible. I pray that God will give them comfort and work through us to show the love that can only come from Him.
We love you all and thank you for your prayers and support.
Ryan and Teah
So............now we are trying to prepare for this huge change. They will be moving in on MONDAY! I know, right?! That is reeeeeeally soon. We only have this weekend to set up their rooms and get the house perfect so that it meets all the foster care safety requirements. It has all happened so fast but in just two days the decision was made and we have made a commitment to care for these children; Greg, 12-yrs-old and Bella, 3-yrs-old. We don't know a lot about their background but like most foster children they have been through more in their short years than most people will in their entire life. Their parents rights have been terminated for a while now so they no longer see any of their biological family members. We have heard that they are very close to each other and that Greg is very protective of his sister.
We are really excited.........ok so we are freaking out! We really need your prayers as we have been on our own for a while and know this change will be difficult in many ways as we will be saying goodbye to many freedoms and facing new parent struggles. We also would appreciate prayer for Greg and Bella as this is their fourth placement and each one has torn a little more from them. We pray that their transition into our home, church, and new school will be as smooth as possible. I pray that God will give them comfort and work through us to show the love that can only come from Him.
We love you all and thank you for your prayers and support.
Ryan and Teah
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