4 Ways to Thrive Once They're Home

This post is part of the Adoption Journey Series. See previous posts, “Adoption: 3 Ways to Prepare for the Journey” & "Adoption: 5 Funding Ideas that Work!". 

You made it. After all the paperwork, emails, phone calls, times of waiting and waiting and waiting, your child is finally forever home. Now what??

Being home together as a family may be all that you envisioned and expected, but most likely, there may be some challenges and adjustments to work through. Whether that be with your child you just brought into your home or your bio kids. Change can be tough, especially when your new forever child has come from a hard place and may have many emotional walls and culture barriers to break down. The good news? You're not in this alone.

Here are a few resources and ideas for families post-adoption...

4 Ways to Thrive Once They're Home

Find a Support Group. During the transition, you will need godly friends and family surrounding and encouraging you, telling you, "I get what you're going through...We are praying." If your church does not have an adoption support group, talk to other adoptive families and start your own. Also, check with your adoption agency to see if they can connect you with someone in your area.

Attend an Empowered to Connect Conference. Yep, it's that good that we're mentioning it twice. If you can't make a conference before your adoption, find the time to attend after your child is in your home. The insight and wisdom you will receive will encourage you as you parent a child from a hard places.

Read Handbook on Thriving as an Adoptive Family. Packed with practical advice and ideas for families with an adopted child, this parenting handbook is unique in that it provides real-life solutions to common challenges. Bible-based and comprehensive, this Focus on the Family resource addresses the special challenges of adopted children and their parents from birth through adulthood.

Call iCareAboutOrphans.org's Post Adoption Phone line. This ministry of Focus on the Family offers this service FREE for adoptive families! The phone number is 800-A-FAMILY (232-6459) and is staffed Mon – Fri from 8am – 10pm EST by counselors who have been trained by Dr. Karyn Purvis.

What are some other ways that helped your family THRIVE once your child(ren) were forever home? Please join the conversation by commenting below.

Being a Parent is Hard and Exhausting Work

I used to scrapbook quite frequently and the other day I came across the fact that I haven't finished a scrapbook since 2011. No surprise here that my oldest is almost 3, so I believe that being a parent is a direct correlation between the two. When I was a first time parent I wondered what did I do with my time before having children. I actually remember saying, "I wasted it!". Again lately as I look at things unfinished throughout my house and my growing to do list I wonder what do I do with my time. Then I began to think what a daily routine entails in our house and how it is not really that shocking that I have no time or energy for things like blogging, couponing, scrapbooking, reading, and any other non-traditional daily activities. I think it is telling how I have been trying to post this blog for 3 days, and the only time I have is while pretending to nap on my 2 year old daughter's floor while she gets some much needed rest.

A typical day is packed full with helping my husband off to work, taking care of our pets, emptying trashcans, doing the dishes, getting ready for my day, diaper changes, getting my girls ready for their day, breakfast, situating my daycare child into our day, ABC Mouse, snacks, more diaper changes, some kind of activity out of the house (typically a walk to the park), even more diaper changes, lunch, books/story time, nap (which more and more consists of me laying on the floor here hoping when I leave the room she will stay asleep and not wake up)...

(I made it out without waking her... WAHOO!)

... diaper changes (YET AGAIN), snack, free play (including me joining in), feeding my girls dinner, diaper changes (yup another time), my daycare kid going home, working in laundry somewhere up there, going to lift weights and use the treadmill at the gym (while I'll admit really just enjoying the childcare offered there), coming home, giving the girls a bed time snack (if they didn't eat their dinner well), helping the girls feed the pets and get ready for bed, then putting them down for bed, and finally getting to spend a couple hours of alone time with my husband (if I can stay awake).

I can't say I have no free time in a day, but during the free time I do have I feel too tired to do anything productive and just want to play on my phone or play The Sims 3 or look around on Facebook or watch something on Netflix.

With Liberty starting preschool soon I thought maybe being a parent will be easier, but the fast paced life of school schedules, potentially gymnastics, music, dance, soccer, softball or some other extra curricular activity, our children's growing independence/personality, and potentially getting a daycare license and taking on more children I feel I will be in for an even busier life.

Being a parent is hard and exhausting work! I think harder work than most expecting parents realize. I have only been doing this for 3 years, and even though I may not; blog everyday, coupon every week, finish a book in less than 3 months, and ever get anything else done on my to do list; I am happy, love my children, and know I am trying to be a mom my girls will admire and look up to when they have children of their own.

The attached video still makes me appreciate my own mom, and it helps me realize I am a mom that has a very difficult job and needs to cut herself some slack now and again.

Denver Museum of Nature and Discovery Trip

Jason and I decided to take a spur of the moment trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with the girls. To say it was fun would be an understatement!!!! We arrived at 9AM when the museum first opened and stayed until 5PM when they closed. The girls walked most of the time, and we didn't even bring the stroller inside. The girls did so well for not taking a nap. It helped that they had pretty reasonably priced food available for lunch inside the museum. Plus, there was just so much to see... and yes we saw it all, so there are too many photos to explain much more. Hopefully they are self explanatory. LOL!!!!!!