Monday, May 20, 2013

Family

Family:
a. a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not: the traditional family.
b. a social unit consisting of one or more adults together with the children they care for: a single-parent family.
I often think about the concept of family.
We define that.  For ourselves.  For our children.  For our experience.
Before I had children my "family" had a few definitions...  I "defined" family as my relatives through my parents: brother, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc.  I also had a definition of family which encompassed those friends who were very close.  Friends who had/have known me for better and for worse over years and years.  And there was family as defined by God; my Christian "family."

Now that I'm a parent, now that I'm older, now that I have gone through both some tough and some wonderful experiences, family to me encompasses all that and more.  My core family, my center, is of course myself and my children.  And then beyond that... it's friends who have known me for years, and known the TRUE me good and bad... it's relatives, but then again maybe more specifically relatives who I can trust, relatives who I know are there for me/us through it all and not just looking from the outside unwilling to toss a rope when you are at the end of it... and it can also be recent friends who have battled through prayer and life with you as well.

But regardless the definition you have of family for you... our primal definition begins with what we learn as a child, those people we live with, the ones we call "mom", "dad", "brother/sister".  Our relationships form and develop based off of these; good and bad.  For a child who doesn't know that.  A child who has never had those immediate familial memories and ties, what must the world look like to them?  Do they even truly understand the meaning of "mom" or what it at least SHOULD mean?

For what it's worth, Macy now knows she has a family.  It's crazy for me to even type that.  When I put together a package to send to Haiti to be given to her, I had been told I could send a photo book but that it would not be able to be given to her until we had gone through courts.  Completely understandable.  Imagine my surprise when I opened an email Friday night to find pictures showing that not only had she been given our package, but also the photo book!  Tears, fast and furious, as I saw her surrounded by others, and most likely trying to process what exactly "this" was, who were these strange people looking back at her in the pictures of her book, what did "Mom" or "Grandma" even mean?  But I know.  And I know that she at least can begin to process and understand.  And I pray for her heart.  I pray for our process.  I pray for our family.




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About Me

I am a single mom to four amazing kids; each of whom just happen to have been adopted. The first three were adopted through foster care, and we just completed an international adoption from Haiti. Our family has grown through adoption and I am all the more blessed to know each of my children. I worship a mighty God, teach Special Ed, love bargains, and am inspired by Pinterest... come along with us for the ride!


Olivia - 14

Olivia - 14

Braeden - 11

Braeden - 11

Liam - 9

Liam - 9

Macy - 5

Macy - 5

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What you should know about HIV

-HIV can NOT be spread through casual/household contact. HIV is not spread through hugging, kissing, shaking hands, sharing toys, sneezing, coughing, sharing food, sharing drinks, bathing, swimming or any other casual way. It has been proven that HIV and AIDS can only be spread through sexual contact, birth, breastfeeding and blood to blood contact (such as sharing needles). - HIV is now considered a chronic but manageable disease. With treatment, people who are HIV+ can live indefinitely without developing AIDS and can live long and full lives. - People who are HIV+ deserve to be treated with love, respect, support and acceptance as all people do. Additional information on transmission of HIV can be found on the Center for Disease Control website: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources

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Orphan Crisis

• 147 million orphans in the world
• 50 million orphans in Africa 
• Every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by AIDS
• 16,000,000 have been orphaned by AIDS
• Every week, AIDS claims as many lives as American fatalities in the Vietnam War
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Hence the title of my blog

Little Did I Know

Little did I know that the road would be so rocky
Little did I know that the trip would take so long
Little did I know that my heart could hurt so much
Little did I know that God is never wrong

Little did I know that love could be so powerful
Little did I know that a dream so far could go
Little did I know that God would place the right ones
Little did I know that my heart, so large, could grow

Little did I know that a dream has it’s own timing
Little did I know that this day would finally come
Little did I know that four souls would be sent to guide me
Little did I know that they would choose to call me mom

But God knew all along and He had a plan to follow
God knew all along that my dream would soon come true
God knew all along that we five should be together
God knew all along that I’d share it all with you