Posts
I, of course, want what is best for my children. Isn't that what we all want?
The longer I've been a mother, the more I have realized that the "what's best for my children" is not the material things, or the things that most of the America think they need. My kids are happiest when they are outside, when they are experiencing life with family and most of all when we (as parents) are tuned into them and their interests.
In short, you won't see a lot of staged family photos here.
I mean, we try....
I am a writer by trade, but writing has also been a way for me to organize my thoughts and work through my own personal shortcomings. A while back, I wrote and chronicled our life and adoption journey on the blog Living With Three Boys. Our family was financially blessed by this experience in 2012 when I sold most of my blog's content to a publishing house. I kept several of my more personal posts and am excited about sharing those in this space as well.
We are all in this together... that much I know. I hope you will grab a cup of tea and get to know our family as we strive to live our lives chasing pure simplicity!
Blessings,
Brit
We get asked questions often... here are a few that creep up quite a bit!
Are you foster parents?
No. The kids came to us as "kinship placements," which is a very loose term in the eyes of CPS. We have never been paid to have children in our home and, for now, have no plans to become foster parents. It's something we have loosely discussed and it could be a possibility later, but for now we "have our hands full!"
How old are the kids?
We get this question a lot! Since kids age daily, the easiest thing to do is give you their birth dates. In age order they are:
Stone 9/2/06
Cash 2/17/08
Holden 8/20/08
Anna 11/26/08
Yep... that's three kids born in '08, no typos!
Will you have more kids?
We've recently been praying a lot about this. The honest answer is, we don't know. We would, however, add to our family through adoption or work within the foster care system. Or at least that would be the plan. I've learned God has bigger plans for our family than I could every dream, so we'll let Him lead.
Why not any more biological children?
We just feel called to another path. We feel so blessed that our idea of family extends way beyond biology and love sharing our home and hearts with those in need. Since the moment we received our oldest son, our heart was broken for children within the foster care system, we pray that we can continue to reach out in love and minister to children in our home.
Why is there a huge hole in the blog's content?
Oh, you noticed that, huh? Much of my content was purchased in 2012 and after that, I shut the blog down for a while. I just didn't feel like I had much to say and had a huge fear of things feeling overly commercial after the sell. But, I've missed blogging. There's plenty of old content to tell our story, and I feel like the break has given me a few new things to say. So, "I'm baaaack!"
You mention special education services and ECI in your posts, what do you need them for?
Both of the older boys have been diagnosed with Apraxia. Cash just shows signs in his speech, while Stone seems to have Apratic tendencies throughout his body. Because of this, Stone also needs some special assistance with occupational and physical therapy services due to poor muscle tone and sensory processing issues. Information on Stone's most recent diagnosis and our treatment plans can be found here.
What is your family philosophy?
We wrote a family mission statement during our first adoption process. You can find that here. We have also chosen verses for the kids, which can be found here, here and here.
How do you parent?
We try hard to let our kids learn from their own mistakes, but I'll admit it's hard to watch as your kids fail and not jump at rescuing them. We follow a lot of Love and Logic books and agree with many Laissez Faire parenting techniques.
Why do you blog?
I went through journalism school when blogs and social networking were just beginning to emerge. During this time I spent many hours in the classroom discussing the merits and impacts blogs would have. Never would we have imagined the impact and retail value of some of the best mommy blogs. As someone who used to be in the biz, I'm excited to see where it all goes! I'm a writer. For me, blogging is a great outlet and a wonderful way to meet new people, especially those in the adoption and learning difference communities. Above all else, it just feels right!
How do you budget?
We follow Dave Ramsey and use the envelope system, using cash for almost everything. Right now, we are debt free aside from our mortgage and have always been big savers. With the kids attending a private school with tuition, we're currently working to find new ways to save. Budgets are always subject to change and we review ours often.
