Making Cookies

Izzy helped make Christmas Cookies to give to her babysitters. She loves to help in the kitchen!

All ready to go!

Izzy helped make Christmas Cookies on her first Christmas but was too tired!

Beckham was a little more awake! (Ya...he is not too cool for the purple bumbo)

Adding her personal touch

Making Cookies PUSH PLAY

Adoption Education Presentations

Karson and I have had a fun opportunity lately. We have been going into local Jr. High and High School health classes and doing a presentation about adoption. All of the health classes spend a day talking about adoption and FSA (Families Supporting Adopting), which we are a part of, sends people out to teach about adoption. We were lucky enough to be asked to share. We love to talk about adoption and both of our kids stories so this has been an amazing experience and we feel we are spreading education about adoption.

We get to team teach with a birth parent. (not our children's birth parents, in fact it has been a different one every time) We take the first part of the class and do a power point about adoption education. We share our own stories and have pictures of Izzy and Beckham through out as we teach. Then the birth mother or birth father spends the last part of class telling her or his story. The kids have been great and are so attentive. They have had lots of great questions.

I want to share a little of what we share in these presentations because I think it is such an important thing for everyone to know about. I put the sections in blue that are especially great for all of us to know.

1. A little about us. We share about us and how we met, fell in love, and got married. We share about our strong desire to have children and our battle with infertility. We then show a slide with us and both kids birth parents. We tell a little about Izzy and Beckham's stories and how we were able to become parents through their birth parents and the miracle of adoption.

2. Un-Planned Pregnancy. We have them think about their lives and how it would change if they or their girlfriend became pregnant. Then what would the choices be. Marriage, single-parenting, or adoption.

3. Parenting as an option. We spend a while talking about parenting as an option. We cover some of the things to think about if this is something they want to do. Finances, Living Arrangements, Child Care, Effect of single parenting on mother and child, etc. We tell them that the choice is theirs and just point out some things to think about.

4. Adoption as an option. We talk about what adoption is. We tell them about each of our children's birth parents and how they put careful thought into what would be the best at that time for their baby and for them.

5. Adoption Myths. We tell them that they might never be put in the situation to place a baby for adoption but they will most likely know some who has, someone who is adopted, or someone who is an adoptive parent. We tell them these myths so they can always know and be educated on adoption. This is one of the parts I think is good for everyone to hear.

*MYTH: A birth parent who cares about his/her child would not even think about adoption

*MYTH: A birth parent will never know anything about his/her child and the adoptive parents in the following years.

*MYTH: Adoption is an irresponsible solution to an unplanned pregnancy.

*MYTH: A birth parent will eventually forget about the child he/she relinquished for adoption.

*MYTH: All adoptees will grow up to have serious psychological problems.

*MYTH: No one can love a child as much as the birth mother.

*MYTH: Since you got pregnant it’s your responsibility to live with the consequences and keep the baby.

6. Adoption Facts. We share facts about children placed in adoptive homes. We also share facts about children raised with a mother and a father. One fun thing is we show a list of people who have been adopted. There are a lot I did not realize......Here are some.....Charles Dickens, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Reagan, Faith Hill, Halle Berry, Aristotle, Steve Jobs, Nelson Mandela, President Gerald Ford, President Bill Clinton. Interesting, eh?

7. Adoption Language. I feel this is one of the biggest ways we can educate. Karson and I never take offense when someone asks, "So tell me about your kids real parents?" We love talking about our adoption story and we simply answer..."Our children's birth parents..." and then go on from there. We get it a lot and people just don't know how to speak about adoption. In the classes, we teach the kids positive adoption language and negative adoption language. This is great to look over if you ever wondered.

POSITIVE: Placing your baby for adoption NEGATIVE: Giving Up your baby for adoption

POSITIVE: Birth or Biological Parent NEGATIVE: Real Parent

POSITIVE: Making an Adoption Plan/ Choosing Adoption NEGATIVE: Giving your child away

POSITIVE: Child by Birth/ Biological Child NEGATIVE: My Child/ My Real Child

POSITIVE: Finding a family to parent your child NEGATIVE: Putting your child up for adoption

(??????) I remember when I first learned about saying place a baby rather than giving up the baby I didn't really see the difference, but now it is crystal clear and I love when people say it that way. "Giving Up your Baby" is a passive verb. It implies not much went into it. "Placing you baby for adoption" is an active verb. It is a choice that was made with much thought and insight as to what would be best for the child at that time.

8. Things to consider. What would you want in an adoptive family. We let them know that birth parents pick and of course we share about how our children's birth parents found us. A Birth Plan. (When you would want the adoptive couple there, etc.) Level of openess after and before placement. We cover the 3 levels of openess and share that we have semi-open with Beckham's birth family and open with Izzy's birth family. We tell them that there is no right or wrong way to do it. Every situation is different.

*Closed– No contact, birth mother may not even meet the adoptive family or look at profiles.

*Semi-open– Meet with adoptive parents prior to placement. Exchange letters and pictures through the agency.

*Open– Exchange personal information, visits between birth parents and adoptive parents.

9. Adoption Laws. We go over Utah adoption laws briefly. Placement, Paternity, Finalizations, and the Save Haven Law.

10. We love adoption! We close by telling them that maybe they will never be faced with this choice but they might know someone who will or maybe one day they will be an adoptive couple. We express to them the love that we have for our children's birth parents and tell them what remarkable, selfless, mature, and loving people they are. They did what was best in their own situation. Only you know what is best for you. We remind them that without adoption we would not be parents. We love adoption!!!!!!!

They really were attentive...just ignore the kid with his head down in the front row. =)

Church Conversation

Conversation #1

(Karson is giving Izzy a bath)

MOM: "It is time to get out Izzy."

IZZY: "I'll stay in here please"

MOM: "2 more minutes, then we need to get ready for church."

(Izzy immediately starts cleaning up bath toys and singing...)

IZZY: "Clean Up, Clean Up, everybody everywhere.....YAY CHURCH!"

Conversation #2

(At church during the intermediate hymn...Izzy is in the aisle spinning and leading the music...as soon as the song is over she starts clapping and yells, very loudly...)

IZZY: "Yay, We're at church!"

*Yes, we are working on reverence.... :) But I am so happy she loves church so much!

Conversation

Mom: "Good Morning Izzy. Did you sleep good?"

Izzy: (Big Smile) "I Sure Did!"

Deck The Halls

We LOVE Christmas!!!!!! And, yes, we are those people who decorate before Thanksgiving! But I had good reasoning. We were gone all Thanksgiving week and it was so nice to have everything up when we got home. Especially since the week after Thanksgiving is super busy with work. I love the feeling of Christmas. This year is so fun because Izzy is understanding it all. She loves doing her countdown calendars. and has told us she wants Santa to bring her stickers. :) She loves all of the decorations and wants to show everyone that comes over her tree in her room. She says, "Come on guys...Pink Room!" Here is some of the Christmas spirit around our home.

***The House

***The kids have started wearing christmas clothes.

These are hand-me-downs from my brothers twins. (Boy/ girl) I had to put these side by side from when Izzy wore the girl ones....Too cute)

***The Bedrooms

Beckham's Tree

Izzy's Tree

Izzy's nickname is "Peanut" My mom found this ornament

Our Tree

***The Banister and Loft (Red and Gold Tree)

***The Living Room (Nativity Tree)

(Notice the bottom lights went out....GRRRRR)

Matching Centerpiece

***The Family Room (Purple and Green Tree)

I can't believe we have 4 stockings!!!

**The Kitchen

***

Rice Cereal Pro!

We tried rice cereal again this week. Last time we tried he wasn't ready. This time he loved it! He was so ready and it was like he knew just what to do. It is amazing to me how 4 weeks can make such a difference.

Getting all clean

The Rice Cereal Pro....PUSH PLAY