December 14, 2012

Changes Are A Comin'

I have elf pictures for those of you who want to know what Taxi HeyHey and Snowflake have been up to. I will do my best to get them posted this week, but they are a bit out of order due to Alyssa and Allison being placed on the "Naughty List" and the elves not showing up for a few days. No worries, all three girls are currently on the "Nice List" and all is well in our home.

In fact, things are better than well and I am so excited to share the news with all of you...

First of all, Alyssa and Allison will be entering public school for the second half of their kindergarten year. This is something that we have thought about, prayed about, talked about, argued about (with the girls) and eventually come to an agreement that we were all happy with. The girls have begged us to go to public school for awhile now. It's not so much that they think they will enjoy it more, it's simply because it is what they see their friends doing. Neighbor kids get on and off of the bus daily, kids talk about their teachers and friends at dance class and the girls notice that homeschooling isn't the 'norm'. This alone is not what changed our minds. It was however, what made me start to look into our options.

Private school is just out of the question because we, unfortunately, do NOT have $10,000+ to spend on education a year. Sorry, the military does not pay that well and with me not working, it's simply not an option. That brought me to public school. *sigh* I was not thrilled with the idea, but I didn't let that stop me. What I found was surprising. Our local elementary school just so happens to be a top rated school with excellent test scores. After days and days of endless conversation, Johnathon and I set up a tour of the school. I was shocked that as we toured room by room and met teacher after teacher, I was actually liking the school.

We finally talked it through and decided that the girls would finish out their kindergarten year in public school and we would reevaluate our decision at the end of the year. So, our little ladies will no longer be homeschooled as of January 2013. I'm very sad with this decision because I was truly enjoying my time with the girls and homeschooling was going so smoothly. The girls were learning and reading...it was everything I hoped it would be. If it were only up to me, we would continue with that route. However, in order to do what is best for our family and each girl individually, I think they need to experience this for themselves and what better time to do that then in kindergarten!!

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I am writing this and being open with my readers in hopes that I can help at least one other family in their decision to adopt/foster. Please try not to judge us and OUR choice as we are doing what we think is right for OUR family. I would appreciate ONLY kind and encouraging comments. Thanks.
 
A few months ago I dropped the bombshell that Johnathon and I were going to adopt. Well, I figure it's time for an update.
 
We made a promise to ourselves that we would wait 6 months after we returned from deployment to make any major decisions so could enjoy that time as a family. We knew from the beginning that it would be after the first of the year before we made anything 100% with a certain agency. We found a few agencies that we really liked but it always came down to...
 
A) Private Domestic Adoption
or
B) Foster to Adopt through the county
 
There were a lot of pro and cons for each of them. For instance, a private domestic adoption would give us the opportunity to be picky (gender), but it came a cost. Literally! Not only would it cost us an arm and a leg, but most adoptions are open; meaning that the biological parents/extended family would continue to communicate with us. We just weren't sure if that was what was right for our family.
 
I have three sisters who were adopted out of foster care so I have seen first hand how that can affect not only the adopted child, but everyone involved.
 
It was a very hard choice and one that we went back and forth on almost daily.
 
In the end we decided to...
 
are you ready...
 
can you guess...
 
we are going to...
 
FOSTER!! (With the hopes of one day adopting through the foster system.)
 
More details coming tomorrow! :)

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