The Christian Crew

I remember when Brielle had her 3rd birthday and the party we threw at our home with a bunch of her little friends, her birth family and all her grandparents from every side that could be there. We make a fun cake and large bounce house was inflated in our living room! There was FUN in the air but, also a lingering feeling of " OH CRAP- it's about to get REAL!" In our original placement agreement- we would terminate contact in person with Brielle's birth parents except for pictures and letters/emails/ blog at 3 years so, She could have a NORMAL life! Our heads and our hearts couldn't wrap around the idea of never seeing our NEW family ever again- or Keeping Brielle from knowing her birth family, in person. What kind of selfish people were we? Well, I think when we made that agreement- everything was just so unknown and new (and Yet Kara and Kyle agreed that this would be okay with them.:/) After our tiny girl dug into her presents and the last pieces of...

WE had our Kick-Off Party and ENJOYED getting to know each other! We had VISITORS come all the way from CO Springs as well! and our OLDEST decided to WRITE what she feels Adoption means on the white board and helped set up as well! Her birth momma would be proud- she is growing up so fast! FOOD and Adoption Art/Literature  Tables! Kids being kids:) We Played a Getting to know you GAME!  The Reddekopps even made it here from down south! It was such a treat to see them! You read a question then tossed the ball to the person you wanted to answer that question! Some were easy, some were funny, ALL got us talking and thinking! Myself and Gavin ( He was in a back scratching coma:) Jessica- our birth momma friend ( not my son's Birth mom though:) and SLADE our baby! Our Guest, LCSW, who specializes in working with foster care and adopted kids and her little man! Ray, who was recently adopted this year th...

SO... (drumroll please) WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! YEP, we did it. Sorry for the lack of pics right now- you will get them soon! We found a place up in the Mountains of CO and we are LOVING IT! Though we haven't moved in yet- every time we visit it- it feels a bit more like home. We did demo on the house last friday and i sledge-hammered the kitchen tile today and we have had lots of help to get it to the 89% completely demoed phase. There is still more stone to remove from the fireplace and more flooring and tack strip to remove but, WE ARE SO CLOSE! Next is gas lines ran to the kitchen, upgraded and new furnace and HVAC stuff, some plumbing and electrical work then THE GOOD STUFF- new floors, new paint, new counters, new appliances, new doors , new trim etc... We are however doing some RECLAIMED projects too ( another day i'll talk about it). Today, the Rainbow play set got installed in our yard ( did i mention it's 2.4 acres?) G-man also locked the KEYS in our car! Luckily...

Without bragging too much- Lets just say we got to enjoy a beautiful cabin up in the woods for a couple days last week as we celebrated Aria's 6th Bday! Aria and Brielle loved playing by the river and finding all the COOL stuff around the cabin and property- they found hidden doors, keys in stumps, little critters, neat carvings in the wood details o the house and outside and a fish and crawdad too!  The first day of fishing Brielle caught a lil' guy and the second day- Aria decided to dangle a worm in the water off the ledge and caught a crawdad. He was a meaty looking one too! Her birthday was a success and so much fun ( pics on that to come)! Thanks everyone who made it so and thanks to Gma Betty for ALL your help! This is the gorgeous view of the mountains and valley and river we had right out our window and from the campfire area! we truly enjoyed this retreat and will come back again! I'm so happy our summer had been a blast and we have 2.5 weeks ...

WOW! I cant believe 6 months has flown by so quickly! Where did the time go? I am so happy to announce that i will be back blogging again with my main emphasis on family, my family, adoption and issues related to all aspects in between. You might occasionally here a few reviews on books, products and such but mainly the above stuff. So, yeah, I can back track too much ( or you'd get bore to tears of a million flash back fridays ( i will post a few) but the next bit should get you up to speed... Where are we now? Staying put in the Denver Area suburbs, raising 4 kids, swimming& lessons, workouts, walks, naps, gardening, hanging out with friends, learning to balance life, going on dates with my hubby ( we just celebrated 11 yr on the 5th of July!) and building a business. My husband is loving the real estate company  and the ownership position. Its tons of work but well worth it! The kids are growing like weeds! we tube down rivers, do gym and dance and B fly fishes and we ha...

I can't believe he is almost 8 months now! These are from a few weeks back and he already looks different! He is starting to fill out and get some rolls on his legs- It's cute! We are truly blessed and so honored to be his parents and our girls parents too! You know, I just am so happy that God has granted us these blessings and a great marriage. Yeah it's not all perfect all the time but, I'm married to someone I love and he loves me completely, even with my grumpy days! That makes a huge difference when you are parents b/c you rely on each other to get through the hard parts of life and parenting! We keep thinking about how amazing and wonderful our next family member will be too! How will they find our family? Through foster placement, through a friend of a friend, we don't really know but, if our marriage wasn't solidly grounded we'd not even be looking forward to the future or having more children through any means! I Hope and Pray that this tiny man wi...

I'm going to be a little lagging in posts for a week or so b/c i have to finish all my clients work but, have no worries. Things are GOOD here! So, Here's some pics of our visit with Gavin's Birth father and Birth grandma, Tammy! Tammy had to Spoil the girls and get fun cookies to decorate and pumpkins to carry their Halloween Candy in! She is such a Sweet lady and we are so grateful for her enthusiasm and desire to be a part of our fun and crazy family! Brielle was very meticulous too! We played at the park on a couple occasions and enjoyed getting to know one another. The girls love Dustin and He learned how to handle Tiny Girls who like to crawl or rough house with anyone who will let them! Aria was sort of confused at first when we told her that Dustin and Tammy were coming b/c she thought it was Tami, Jessica's Step mom( lovingly called Grandma Tami). So, Aria asked her this: " Can i call you Grandma Tammy too?" She was sweet and obliged! So, we now have ...

On Dr. Karen Purvis .... Please read here- i agree with this 100% - now how do we get her to speak in CO to ALL Adoptive and FOSTER Parents! I had the pleasure of meeting her (and if my card reader wasn't ruined by a cute 4 yr old girl with big sweet blue eyes- you'd see the picture of us together:) and She is PHENOMENAL! I want to be BETTER at being a parent and i KNOW i will soak up her knowledge as a foster parent in the upcoming months! *linked to the adoption & Foster Care blog- such a lovely one!

---- My name is Jessica I’m 24 I found out I was pregnant shortly after I turned 23. I was so scared to find out I was pregnant. I was a college dropout in the army reserve and I was working security full time making $12/hour and was barely making it. When I first found out I was pregnant I considered abortion for about two seconds. I didn’t want my family knowing I made a mistake and I screwed up. I wanted to hide my actions. After I thought about it and then remembered my values and beliefs that thought was gone as quickly as it came. My next options were to be a single parent or place her up for adoption. I thought long and hard about what I needed to do. At this point no one knew I was pregnant. When I went to the doctor to confirm my suspicions I found out I was 12 weeks along. At this point I started reflecting on my life, my finances and where I was at that point in time. The biggest question that went through my head was can I do this on my own. After goi...

I hate it when ALL birth fathers get a bad rap. Even though every adoption and birth parent situation is different- without BF's - OUR KIDS WOULDN'T BE HERE! And more & more, you see bf's supporting adoption plans and/or building relationships with the adoptive families! It's no surprise to me that they'd want to have some involvement. If I was in their shoes, I'd want the same. Take a look at Baby Darling's Birth Father ! Ben is a STUD! And we are all human with Natural, deep feelings! So, when we had the opportunity, granted by Jessica, to meet DUSTIN , we were thrilled & scared to explore it! So, during the National FSA conference we went on our lunch break and ditched the Birth father panel to meet Gavin's own birth father in the Layton Mall! Even though I had never met him, I automatically felt a motherly/sisterly love for this young man who had played a part in Gavin's existence. Though it be by accident to some- We all...

So, On the following Friday we took our trip to UT! We hardly told a soul ( okay maybe a few people) and after all of our talking,I anticipated a perfect meeting. Well... We took the LOOOOONG way to UT and ended up being like 3 hours past what we had planned on. We were supposed to meet at the LDSFS office at 4:30 and we actually ended up meeting at the South Towne Mall at 7:30 with No Case worker at all! Our phones were dying so we charged up at the T-Mobile store and we were eager to meet Jessica and her entourage of relatives, Step mom, grandma and sister too! Jessica walked in as we were standing around the Gumball machines and IT was Magic! She walked in and I know this sounds so cliche' for adoption but, It was like we already knew her and her family! We talked about all kinds of silly things and rode the carousel, grabbed a bite and then we headed over to Jessica's parents home and talked and laughed and our girls LOVED her kitties and doggies and chasing them all aroun...