****~~~~ADOPTION DAY~~~****

Finally - here at last!  February 7th, 2011: the day my three littles formally become Werners!

It's been a very long haul to get here, starting when Tiri was 13 months old (before the younger two were even born)...and now she's 7 1/2!  Couldn't even begin to list the trials and tribulations, but they are all in the past now and we are getting ready to move forward together, as a legitimate family, with no further involvement by the myriad individuals and agencies with whom we've had to deal for these six years. 

HAPPY DANCE!!!!

If you're not an adoptive or foster parent you have no idea of how vulnerable you are to attack and how exposed a life you have to lead.  While I completely understand and agree with the need to protect children from further abuse, it is well nigh impossible to provide a 'normal' family life for them when, every week, often several times per week, any and all individuals with the slightest involvement in the case are arriving at your door.  Normally, this is not anything other than a regularly scheduled '30 day visit' but, when so many different people are involved in the case, it feels as though you have a revolving front door.

In addition to the actual visits there is the fact that, available to anyone with the slightest connection to your case, there are stacks and stacks of material all about you and your family available for reading.  I'm not talking about just general descriptions of your home and your parenting abilities, but very personal info.  The adoption questionaire alone is the most invasive document I've ever had to fill out.  How would you like to have to explain, in detail, your first sexual experience?  Yes...I'm serious.  Heaven knows why this is considered important or even relevant to your adoption of children, but it's a required part of the adoption application.  You could refuse to answer, of course, but then you wouldn't be able to adopt....and this sort of thing is multiplied over and over and over again.  It's all there in hard copy and online, supposedly only accessible to those with clearance to read it but you are not the one who permits the clearance.  So you have absolutely no control over who knows what about you and your most personal life. (And we all know just how 'secure' information is....)

Ah well - fortunately, I have nothing I want to hide and I honestly don't give a damn what people think, so I just don't care any more.  The important thing, the one thing that has kept me going through all of this, is that my children are in my home and are finally safe, secure and very happy.  Whatever it has taken to get to this point, it's all been so much more than worth it.

Today. 

Today makes it all worthwhile.  

Celebrate with us!

Later.........

Doing a VERY happy dance!