Tag Archives: death

Coping with Loss

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It is difficult for anyone when they lose someone they love. It can be even more difficult to watch those that you love struggle with their loss when they do not have the knowledge of the Gospel to help them through their loss. At times, I don’t give much thought to the fact that merely knowing what happens after we die is a huge comfort to me. Since I was raised in the church, it has always been a part of my understanding of God, His Plan, and What happens after this life. But, for many, they do not have … Continue reading →

Should You Consider Adoption Part 5

The last concern that we heard when we were starting the adoption process was a shocking one for me. I heard from some of our extended family that it is not possible to love an adopted child the same as you can a biological child. I personally cannot understand that the idea is even out there in the universe. I do not have any children biologically but I cannot imagine loving them any more if I had given birth to them myself. When my daughter was about 1 she was diagnosed as failure to thrive, they kept running all these … Continue reading →

Should You Consider Adoption Part 1

Would you be surprised to know there are about 115,000 children in the foster care system in the United States waiting for a family to call their own? I am not sure what I can do just as a regular person to help people consider giving these kids a family. I am not sure where the hesitation comes from for people to adopt. I am going to go through some of the deterrents that I have heard. Adoption not only benefits the children you give a family but it also give you such a gift of the love of a … Continue reading →

Things to Think About

There are some things that people don’t think about when they are considering adoption. First people think adoption is super expensive and they just stop there and don’t consider it because of the cost. Some agencies and foreign adoptions are very expensive. I can say that we did not pay anything for our children’s adoptions. We adopted a sibling group so the state of Texas actually helps pay the legal costs for the adoption. They will also do this if you choose a special needs adoption, special needs does not always mean physically disabled. This term also covers children over … Continue reading →

It’s Official We Are A Family

Rebecca is officially free for adoption! We had already finalized Steve and George’s adoption they are officially ours. The time has come to make Rebecca ours as well. In our hearts and minds she was already a Woolard but on paper and legally she was a ward of the state. The court date came pretty quick because we had already had her in our custody for the mandatory 6 months. The court procedures are pretty basic, you walk in with your lawyer and the judge asks if we want to adopt the child. If the child is old enough they … Continue reading →

It’s Official She Relinquished

Visitations between Rebecca and her biological mother are over. The biological mother has agreed through mediation to voluntarily relinquish her parental rights to Rebecca. Now we have a mediated agreement in place but she still has to go to court to make it official. The CPS case workers have warned us that there is a chance that she could retract her agreement and that the mediation agreement is more of an honor agreement than a legally binding one. The court date was set for her to appear in front of a family court judge and tell him that she officially … Continue reading →

The Good Bye Video

Today is the day of the last visitation between Rebecca and her biological mother. Thanks to a successful mediation she has agreed to relinquish her parental rights in return for written updates on all three of her children each quarter, a picture and video of the kids once a year. We offered her the opportunity to make a video for the children to watch when they got older. We had hoped this video will allow her to tell the kids about herself. We thought it would be a great gift for the kids when they got older. They would have … Continue reading →

The Last Visitation

Today is the day that we have been waiting for. Today is Rebecca’s last visitation with her biological mother. This day has me a little emotional. I was worried about how hard it would be for the biological mother to say good-bye forever to her daughter. I don’t know if she will show any emotions as so far she has never cried, smiled or showed any sign of emotion when either being handed her daughter or when she handed her back to the case workers. I tried to put myself in the biological mother’s shoes and I cannot even begin … Continue reading →

Mediation Day Part 1

Leading up to the mediation with Rebecca’s birth mother we sat down and gave a lot of thought to what we were willing and not willing to do. The CPS case worker talked to us and explained the whole procedure to us and gave us suggestions on what the biological mother may request and what we should and should not consider. Given the fact that she had lost her rights to George and Steve we had a feeling she was going to want them tied into this mediation agreement somehow. Legally she has no right to ask for anything to … Continue reading →

Meet The Teacher Night

School starts back next week and tonight we are going to meet the teachers. This is always an interesting day for our family. When you have a family that does not match there is usually some explaining to do. With our family we also have to tell the teachers the basics of seizure first aid just in case the boys have a seizure at school. Luckily that has not happened but it is better to be safe and informed than sorry and scared. We always explain to the teachers that the children have been adopted and that they all have … Continue reading →