Adoption Update #3

Ok, so June has come and gone and we did not have either mediation or a hearing like we were supposed to. We were informed that the mediation would be held on July 11th, so we wait again. We have been told that we are to be at the mediation hearing so Jonathan will go as has been the norm for us. He goes, while I watch the baby. We don't have high hopes for this mediation. Let me explain why I don't have high hopes for mediation. Mediation is supposed to show the birth parents what all they have going against them, so that they will then terminate their own rights without having to wait on the judge to terminate their rights. The birth parents actually can ask for visitation, or for cards, pictures, and other things from the time the parents terminate their rights and final adoption by the adoptive parents. Then the adoptive parents can terminate all contact with the birth parents.

I don't have high hopes for this due to the fact that the birth parents in our case would rather blame the judge for terminating their rights then terminating them on their own, because then they would have to admit that they are bad parents (at this time). Since, this has been the case in the past with at least the birth mom, we have a little bit of reason to assume this will be the same this time around.

We know that God is still in control of this situation and believe it or not, we have more people on our side than even I can believe. I will tell you more about that at another time. We are still hoping and praying that everything that is currently going on with the birth parents will come to light with both the judge, the lawyers, and the child advocates. We have had some good news, but as any of you know with CPS that can change very quickly and without warning. Keep us in your prayers as we continue this journey.

Cody's Summer Trip

Well, as we usually do, we had my nephew Cody out for a week at the beginning of the summer. Actually, he was out here even before school was out for us in Houston. This was fantastic, because we were able to go to all the fun events before the crazy summer trips began. We hit some fun and unusual museums, such as the art car museum and we tried to get to the telephone museum, but they were closed the day that we wanted to go.

We of course hit the beach in Galveston, which for us was fantastic this time, because we were able to get to the beach with very few people around us. We tried a new beach this year again. I don't think we have gone to the same beach twice in the five years that Cody has come out. If we would have had the right tools, Cody was going to dig a hole as tall as he was, but unfortunately he only got to about waist height, which is about three feet before it started flooding with sea water. He couldn't figure it out, because as he stated that didn't happen in San Diego, CA, when he was there. We didn't have an answer for him, so if you read this and you know the answer let me know.

Cody was also able to meet the baby boy that we are hoping to adopt and he thought he was cool. (Most popular word for a 13yr old). I think he just liked that he slept through the night, as the last time he was here we had a four month old and a fourteen month old and neither of them slept through the night, or they were up very early.

Another annual tradition is the berry picking which just happens to fall at the same time as his trip out here. We decided to pick not only blueberries but we also picked blackberries. Overall, we had a really good time. I think the only thing that would have made it better would have been if we could have found a scooter park or skate park that allows scooters for him to show off some of his skills.

Wendy's Birthday

We kept my birthday this year a little more low key than Jonathan's. Of course I wasn't turning 40 like he was either, so it was good to be low key. We decided to take a little trip up to Fredericksburg, TX. We had a blast at a little B&B off of the main road by two blocks. Just enough to allow us to have quiet at night, but close enough to allow us to walk everywhere.

We enjoyed a good time, wine tasting, eating out, sight seeing, such as the Texas White House, including the plane and runway that are there. It was a good time to get away. On the last morning we were there, we decided to try this little coffee house a block from our B&B and found the local coffee house cat helping himself to a  little water from the fishbowl on the table. Just some of the local flavor.