Update
Well, I know its been an extremely long time since I have posted, but things have been chaotic. We are parents now, of not one, not two, but three children. Misty is 10, TJ is five, and Kallie is 1. Their names were: Misty J Howard, TJ Howard and Kally Lynn Gyles-Hopper Howard, but when the adoption is final (very very close) it will be Misty Nicole Rhymer, Tanner Jett Rhymer, and Kallie Paige Rhymer.
We were chosen as the adoptive parents for this sibling group from the child welfare system back in April, the 19th to be exact at 330pm. We went to Oregon on May 15 and spent a week in Oregon meeting the children and spending time with them. Oregon is beautiful, and we hope to go back someday to vacation. We had to bring our stroller and car seat with us in the airport, b/c when we would need the car seat in our rental car and the stroller for walking around, because she was only six months old. Mitch and I got to the airport early that morning in Memphis, and we stood in line at Starbucks. We are pushing this empty stroller, and this woman turns to Mitch and says, "so how does your baby respond to all the caffeine in your wife's coffee, don't you know its bad for your baby to have caffeine." Mitch told her that we were adopting a baby, and she turned all red and apologized for being so rude. It was hilarious. It was so funny pushing this empty stroller through the airport. When we had to check it at the gate everyone was like where is your baby. Mitch and I decided to play along and scream at each other, "I THOUGHT YOU HAD HER!!" It was funny. When we got off the plane in Oregon, the children's case worker met us with Kallie and her foster mom, which was a HUGE surprise b/c we were only supposed to meet the social worker. Kally immediately smiled and came to me, so I held her. We left the airport, and went to Misty and TJ's foster home. We played there for a little while, and then took all three kids back to our hotel to go swimming. After swimming, we went to eat at this place called Red Robin. Memphis used to have one, so I was kinda familiar with it. After that, the social worker took Misty and TJ back to their foster home and Kallie and her foster mom went back home, and Mitch and I went back to the hotel to sleep. It was so late, so we slept for quite a while. We met up with Kallie and her foster mom Julie later on that day, and just hung out. The next day we picked up Misty and TJ and went to this place called Huckelberry (I think thats the name), its like a Putt Putt, Chuck E Cheese and video game place all in one, with lasar tag. We played video games, ate lunch, and played lazer tag for hours, then went back to the hotel to swim once again. Then we went shopping at Target and let them pick out a nice outfit for church that evening. We found a congregation, and went. Mitch forgot to pack the formula when he packed the diaper bag, and Kallie spent the entire hour and a half screaming. Nothing would appease her, unless I was walking around, so I spent an hour and a half walking around in circles in the church building. Misty kept coming out of the room to check on me, saying she needed to go to the bathroom. They spent the night with us that night, and the next day we met Julie and all her foster children at the zoo, and spent all day walking around the Oregon Zoo. We got to keep Kallie from that day on and MIsty and TJ had to go to school the next day, so Mitch and I took Kallie to the Japanese Gardens (beautiful!!!!) We had dinner with Misty and TJ that night, and then went swimming again. We had to say goodbye to them that night, b/c we were going home the next day with Kallie. We got on the plane, and I was terrified she was going to be screaming the whole plane ride. But, she slept, she played, and she laughed, she was SO GOOD. The flight attendent brought the captain to meet her once we landed. He said she was so beautiful and such an amazing baby he had to let the captain meet her. She was oogled by everyone we saw, "Oh she is so beautiful", "oh what a sweet baby", "oh what a good baby".
My mom, Greg, brother, sister in law, aunt, uncle, Heidi, April, Nicholas and Gram all met us at the airport. We went back to my mom's house and stayed there for a little while. Then we went home. The next couple of days were a blur. Kallie hated to be put down. Everytime you put her down on the ground she would throw a temper tantrum. I mean a kick down, throw your head back and kick temper tantrum. On Thursday, we had to go back to Memphis to meet Misty and TJ and their two social workers. We let my mom and Greg come to the airport to greet the kids. The kids plane was about five hours delayed, so it was about 8pm when they finally got here. We went and ate at Zaxbys with my parents, and then started the two hour drive home, with Misty talking the entire time. When we got home, the kids were so excited to see their rooms. They ran in and looked at everything, with an occasional "whoa, look at this, this is so awesome". Finally went to bed around midnight, and the social workers came over the next morning from their hotel along with my adoption worker Amanda(also my coworker) and our parent advocate Pat Sartain, also my coworker. It was a whirlwind this past seven months. In July we got a call that we had to get Kallie a DNA test, because her birth mother was saying that her father might be another man. So we had to go through that. I never cried so much in my life. Well, then the lab lost her results, and we had to wait for another one to be scheduled. Finally, the last week in September, the social worker called me, while I was on my way home from work, and said that she got a letter on her desk from the lab saying that this new guy was NOT the birthfather, so we did not have anything to worry about. She said she never thought we had to worry about anything. The guy, when she met him, did not even know when they met, all he knew was that it was hot outside. Which would not make him the father, b/c Kallie was concieved in February, and if he did not meet her birth mother until July, he needed to go back to health class to learn how long gestation is. So, that was solved. Then we get the call that the birth parent's appeal to their rights being terminated has been upheld, so there is nothing holding us back from finalizing the adoption. WOO WOO. So, we have just gotten the list of adoption attorneys, and I called and talked to two of them. We decided on one, and now we are waiting on the paperwork to go through state office and now we wait some more for paperwork and a court date for finalizing!
The kids are great, so well behaved and such wonderful children. Everywhere we go people compliment us on the kids.
Misty is very thoughtful and encouraging and kind. She loves arts and crafts and hates to read. She is more attached to me than she is to Mitch. She does not like school very much, but she has incredibly good grades and a very thoughtful mind. Her and Mitch talk about philosophy often. She is shy and does not make friends easily, and she definately does not want anyone to know she was in foster care. TJ once told her friend that she was in foster care, and she cried for hours and barracated herself in her bedroom. She has not opened up to us about her past, but we are not pushing her to. She is amazingly beautiful, long blonde hair, blue eyes, tall and thin. She loves cats, and loves it when they sleep with her at night. She loves Hello Kitty and shopping. She is gentle with her siblings, and patient and kind.
TJ loves all things superheros, batman being the most awesome. His whole bedroom is decorated in batman, and he loves hot wheels and making people laugh. He loves to tell jokes and make up songs. He made up this one song called Beetle on the window, the beetles pooping on the window. He has his momemts of defiance, where he acts like he is deaf and does not want to listen. He is a bit of a cry baby and whines an awful lot, and he is a little wierd, ok, a lot weird, but he is so loving and affectionate. He loves to "cuddle in". with me. In July, while we were in Atlanta visiting Mitch's parents, we went to this amusement park, and he tripped and busted his chin open. I was so scared, b/c there was so much blood, and Misty was holding his neck like his neck had been slashed, but luckily it was his chin. He got three stiches. He screamed bloody murder when he got the numbing shot in his chin before the stiches. He once put his hand in Mitch's face and screamed "silence", and we have never laughed so hard. He also told me that Orange Juice was very tart, it was u-tarded instead of retarded. So funny.
Kallie is a mess. She is walking now, and being so silly. She sings and dances, and loves to eat. She will eat everything and anything. And lots of it, but she is not gaining any weight. She loves her daddy, and walks around saying dada! She laughs and blows kisses, waves byebye, says cat, does sign language for more and sucks her thumb when its time for her to go to bed. She loves routine, takes two naps a day and sleeps 12 hours a night. She nods her head when you ask her a question, and yesterday she started shaking her head no. In the past seven months, I have probably only heard two sermons, b/c I have to take her to the nursery. She likes to be independent. She loves to look at herself in the mirror and laugh. She gives herself kisses in the mirror. She raises her hands like a football ref when someone says touchdown. She screams bloody murder when she has to leave either Mitch or I. She just now started going to Bible class, about three weeks ago, because she would not stay with anyone else. She still cries every morning when she goes to her babysitter. She kills me when she looks at me with this horrible look on her face, red and crying.
I am going to be updating more and more, because I want to be able to remember what happens in our home. My memory is so terrible, so I am going to write it down to remember it. And to show them when they are older. Hope you like it too.
We were chosen as the adoptive parents for this sibling group from the child welfare system back in April, the 19th to be exact at 330pm. We went to Oregon on May 15 and spent a week in Oregon meeting the children and spending time with them. Oregon is beautiful, and we hope to go back someday to vacation. We had to bring our stroller and car seat with us in the airport, b/c when we would need the car seat in our rental car and the stroller for walking around, because she was only six months old. Mitch and I got to the airport early that morning in Memphis, and we stood in line at Starbucks. We are pushing this empty stroller, and this woman turns to Mitch and says, "so how does your baby respond to all the caffeine in your wife's coffee, don't you know its bad for your baby to have caffeine." Mitch told her that we were adopting a baby, and she turned all red and apologized for being so rude. It was hilarious. It was so funny pushing this empty stroller through the airport. When we had to check it at the gate everyone was like where is your baby. Mitch and I decided to play along and scream at each other, "I THOUGHT YOU HAD HER!!" It was funny. When we got off the plane in Oregon, the children's case worker met us with Kallie and her foster mom, which was a HUGE surprise b/c we were only supposed to meet the social worker. Kally immediately smiled and came to me, so I held her. We left the airport, and went to Misty and TJ's foster home. We played there for a little while, and then took all three kids back to our hotel to go swimming. After swimming, we went to eat at this place called Red Robin. Memphis used to have one, so I was kinda familiar with it. After that, the social worker took Misty and TJ back to their foster home and Kallie and her foster mom went back home, and Mitch and I went back to the hotel to sleep. It was so late, so we slept for quite a while. We met up with Kallie and her foster mom Julie later on that day, and just hung out. The next day we picked up Misty and TJ and went to this place called Huckelberry (I think thats the name), its like a Putt Putt, Chuck E Cheese and video game place all in one, with lasar tag. We played video games, ate lunch, and played lazer tag for hours, then went back to the hotel to swim once again. Then we went shopping at Target and let them pick out a nice outfit for church that evening. We found a congregation, and went. Mitch forgot to pack the formula when he packed the diaper bag, and Kallie spent the entire hour and a half screaming. Nothing would appease her, unless I was walking around, so I spent an hour and a half walking around in circles in the church building. Misty kept coming out of the room to check on me, saying she needed to go to the bathroom. They spent the night with us that night, and the next day we met Julie and all her foster children at the zoo, and spent all day walking around the Oregon Zoo. We got to keep Kallie from that day on and MIsty and TJ had to go to school the next day, so Mitch and I took Kallie to the Japanese Gardens (beautiful!!!!) We had dinner with Misty and TJ that night, and then went swimming again. We had to say goodbye to them that night, b/c we were going home the next day with Kallie. We got on the plane, and I was terrified she was going to be screaming the whole plane ride. But, she slept, she played, and she laughed, she was SO GOOD. The flight attendent brought the captain to meet her once we landed. He said she was so beautiful and such an amazing baby he had to let the captain meet her. She was oogled by everyone we saw, "Oh she is so beautiful", "oh what a sweet baby", "oh what a good baby".
My mom, Greg, brother, sister in law, aunt, uncle, Heidi, April, Nicholas and Gram all met us at the airport. We went back to my mom's house and stayed there for a little while. Then we went home. The next couple of days were a blur. Kallie hated to be put down. Everytime you put her down on the ground she would throw a temper tantrum. I mean a kick down, throw your head back and kick temper tantrum. On Thursday, we had to go back to Memphis to meet Misty and TJ and their two social workers. We let my mom and Greg come to the airport to greet the kids. The kids plane was about five hours delayed, so it was about 8pm when they finally got here. We went and ate at Zaxbys with my parents, and then started the two hour drive home, with Misty talking the entire time. When we got home, the kids were so excited to see their rooms. They ran in and looked at everything, with an occasional "whoa, look at this, this is so awesome". Finally went to bed around midnight, and the social workers came over the next morning from their hotel along with my adoption worker Amanda(also my coworker) and our parent advocate Pat Sartain, also my coworker. It was a whirlwind this past seven months. In July we got a call that we had to get Kallie a DNA test, because her birth mother was saying that her father might be another man. So we had to go through that. I never cried so much in my life. Well, then the lab lost her results, and we had to wait for another one to be scheduled. Finally, the last week in September, the social worker called me, while I was on my way home from work, and said that she got a letter on her desk from the lab saying that this new guy was NOT the birthfather, so we did not have anything to worry about. She said she never thought we had to worry about anything. The guy, when she met him, did not even know when they met, all he knew was that it was hot outside. Which would not make him the father, b/c Kallie was concieved in February, and if he did not meet her birth mother until July, he needed to go back to health class to learn how long gestation is. So, that was solved. Then we get the call that the birth parent's appeal to their rights being terminated has been upheld, so there is nothing holding us back from finalizing the adoption. WOO WOO. So, we have just gotten the list of adoption attorneys, and I called and talked to two of them. We decided on one, and now we are waiting on the paperwork to go through state office and now we wait some more for paperwork and a court date for finalizing!
The kids are great, so well behaved and such wonderful children. Everywhere we go people compliment us on the kids.
Misty is very thoughtful and encouraging and kind. She loves arts and crafts and hates to read. She is more attached to me than she is to Mitch. She does not like school very much, but she has incredibly good grades and a very thoughtful mind. Her and Mitch talk about philosophy often. She is shy and does not make friends easily, and she definately does not want anyone to know she was in foster care. TJ once told her friend that she was in foster care, and she cried for hours and barracated herself in her bedroom. She has not opened up to us about her past, but we are not pushing her to. She is amazingly beautiful, long blonde hair, blue eyes, tall and thin. She loves cats, and loves it when they sleep with her at night. She loves Hello Kitty and shopping. She is gentle with her siblings, and patient and kind.
TJ loves all things superheros, batman being the most awesome. His whole bedroom is decorated in batman, and he loves hot wheels and making people laugh. He loves to tell jokes and make up songs. He made up this one song called Beetle on the window, the beetles pooping on the window. He has his momemts of defiance, where he acts like he is deaf and does not want to listen. He is a bit of a cry baby and whines an awful lot, and he is a little wierd, ok, a lot weird, but he is so loving and affectionate. He loves to "cuddle in". with me. In July, while we were in Atlanta visiting Mitch's parents, we went to this amusement park, and he tripped and busted his chin open. I was so scared, b/c there was so much blood, and Misty was holding his neck like his neck had been slashed, but luckily it was his chin. He got three stiches. He screamed bloody murder when he got the numbing shot in his chin before the stiches. He once put his hand in Mitch's face and screamed "silence", and we have never laughed so hard. He also told me that Orange Juice was very tart, it was u-tarded instead of retarded. So funny.
Kallie is a mess. She is walking now, and being so silly. She sings and dances, and loves to eat. She will eat everything and anything. And lots of it, but she is not gaining any weight. She loves her daddy, and walks around saying dada! She laughs and blows kisses, waves byebye, says cat, does sign language for more and sucks her thumb when its time for her to go to bed. She loves routine, takes two naps a day and sleeps 12 hours a night. She nods her head when you ask her a question, and yesterday she started shaking her head no. In the past seven months, I have probably only heard two sermons, b/c I have to take her to the nursery. She likes to be independent. She loves to look at herself in the mirror and laugh. She gives herself kisses in the mirror. She raises her hands like a football ref when someone says touchdown. She screams bloody murder when she has to leave either Mitch or I. She just now started going to Bible class, about three weeks ago, because she would not stay with anyone else. She still cries every morning when she goes to her babysitter. She kills me when she looks at me with this horrible look on her face, red and crying.
I am going to be updating more and more, because I want to be able to remember what happens in our home. My memory is so terrible, so I am going to write it down to remember it. And to show them when they are older. Hope you like it too.