First, let me apologize for being a delinquent blogger! Seriously, I never promised to be good at this whole blogging thing. Let’s be honest, I have never been able to keep a journal nor have I even logged a single entry into Elijah’s baby book (yes, he will be 2 in January!). However, I do think it’s fun when I find the time to post halfway interesting entries, and I really love reading others’ blogs! With that disclaimer stated, here’s the latest in the Douthitt household!
No one really wants to hear EVERYTHING that’s happened in the past year so I’ll give you the Cliffs Notes version! Here goes...Elijah turned one in January, we put our home on the market (exhausting with a 1yr old, but I think the cats were worse!), we sold our home AND bought a new one within the span of a week, Elijah’s adoption day was March 18th and that week we also found out that his birth mom was 5 months pregnant with #4 (more on that below!), with a TON of help from friends and family we had a very bittersweet (and tear-filled) departure from our Hershey home, Luke graduated from residency at Hershey as a full fledged anesthesiologist, we celebrated by taking a 12 day trip to Spain (incredible!!), made it home in time to enjoy July 4th in TN, traveled to east TN for a friend’s wedding, moved into our new home in Memphis on July 13, Elijah’s brother was born in Harrisburg, PA on July 26th, I flew up on the 28th, Elijah and I spent 4 and a half months bonding with and caring for him all while living in PA, and December 9th we were given the “ok” to bring the baby home to TN!! How’s that for an update?!
You may be thinking, “Oh, that sounds so lovely...wait! Did she say they brought a baby home?!” Yes, yes I did! Miles is his name (not legally, but that’s what we will change it to eventually), and we couldn’t be happier for him to finally be home with us in Memphis! It was quite a journey bringing this little man home as many of you already know. We could not have done it without the love, support and prayers of so many friends and family. I said on many occasions that I needed more help from our PA friends in the past four and a half months than the entire 4 years we spent there! And, of course, we absolutely would not have even had the opportunity if it weren’t for the Coopers and their willingness to let us move into their basement and totally take over their lives for 4 and a half months!
Next question, “Who are the Coopers?” The Coopers began a similar journey almost 5 years ago when they fostered and eventually adopted Mimi, and then Milo...Elijah’s older 2 siblings. When the opportunity arose to adopt Elijah (remember that crazy story?!), they immediately told us that they had a strong desire for these kids to know one another, and we committed then to keeping this Brady Bunch style family together as best as we could. Well, that call of duty came for all of us this summer when Miles was born!
Miles’ path to adoption is very different from Elijah’s, I should start with that. Elijah was a completely private adoption. Miles, however, was put into the custody of the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) of PA. That alone meant for a long, tedious, paper train process that we weren’t sure would even work out in the long run. However, we were all willing to try! Because the Coopers were residents of PA (remember, we had just moved from Hershey to Memphis!) and considered “kin” to Miles, they were able to take him as an “emergency placement” until further information was gleaned and decisions were made. DCS told us that if I could come and spend as much time with Miles as possible that they would consider us as an adoptive resource if that option became available. The Coopers, having 3 kids of their own, were willing to take in Miles, but they did this with 2 understandings: 1) we (the Douthitts) were the long term adoptive resource and 2) I had to come and help out. So, there we go! I flew up, Elijah joined me a week later, and Luke was able to come for a few weekends visits...we all made it work! It was a bit crazy at times with 3 adults and 5 kids under one roof, but it was absolutely worth every minute!
Now, I really am not legally able to discuss a lot of this process for confidentiality purposes. Miles is currently our “foster” child in the eyes of the state of PA so we are unable to share a majority of his story. But, let me assure you, we could write a best-selling book perhaps even a Lifetime Original mini-series on the events that brought us to where we are today! Many, many lessons were learned and even the mistakes of others made this all work! Not to mention the numerous prayers offered up by so many of you!!
To summarize, I flew up to be with Miles and the Coopers to bond with him and provide most of his care. Elijah flew up a week later so that he could be with me after Luke started his new job in Memphis. The Coopers had a fully functioning basement that wasn’t being used at the time, and we were able to move right in with just a bit of organizing and cleaning. Weeks went on with several delays in court proceedings for various reasons, there were more delays in the search for paternity, then we were finally given a glimmer of hope that Miles may actually be available to join us in TN. That, however, was an entirely different process! Luke and I had to participate in 20+ hours of educational classes as well as complete a home study (all here in Memphis) to become approved foster parents in the state of TN which would allow us to bring Miles home.
So, thus began the TN side of our journey. After contacting several folks here, describing this terribly confusing/unique situation, and literally begging to let us into the soonest class possible, we were given a plan! I flew home for 4 weekends in November to participate in these classes with Luke, the social worker came to our home for visits each weekend I was in town, and we got our barely-settled-into-home ready for inspection! I will now give a shout out to the social workers on the TN side of things...they were incredible! Sure, there were a few natural delays in paperwork, but overall they were more than willing to help us and were very flexible in a typically “rigid” process. Essentially, they had our home study written and approved in about 6 weeks (a process that normally takes 4-6 months!).
So, once we were approved as foster parents in TN, PA was able to let us come home to Memphis on a “visit” with an approved court order signed by Harrisburg’s judge. That is our current status as the case workers in PA work dilligently (we hope!) to wrap up our paperwork so that we do not have to return to PA until Miles’ adoption hearing! Miles is supposed to be in our custody for 6 months until we are allowed to officially adopt him, but we are in no rush as we are just thankful to be home under one roof at this point!! :-)
This entire journey could not have been possible without the help of so many of our friends in PA and our family back home. Our church family and our Hershey friends were amazing! Not only did the Lord teach us an incredible lesson in patience as we waited for His perfect plan to unfold, but He taught me humility in learning that it is okay to rely on the help of others. This would have been impossible to do single-handedly, and I was reminded daily that it was okay to ask others for their help! So, an enormous thank you to everyone to helped (i.e. kept me sain!) in many different ways...too numerous to name!
It was a bit of a whirlwind from that last week in PA until now, the first week of 2012. I literally got a phone call at 12 noon on Friday, December 9th saying that the judge approved us to take Miles to TN. I was packed and on a plane that night at 6:30 and in my own Memphis home by 1am Saturday! Thankfully, Luke was able to come and get Elijah (and his broken collar bone...more on that later) two days before. We had about a week to settle in as a family before all of the holiday hoopla, and now we are home, slowly recovering, and starting to get into a routine! I don’t have much of an update on our paperwork process, but we are praying that things will continue to run smoothly and that we will be able to stay here in Memphis until Miles is formally adopted.
It is a bit crazy with two kiddos 18 months apart, but we couldn’t be happier! Elijah is a great big brother, offering lots of help feeding & burping Miles, even trying to stick his paci in when Miles is screaming (have I mentioned that Miles sounds like a pterodactyl when he screams? Seriously.). They are precious together. Elijah has a special tone to his voice when he talks to “Mulls” or says “hi buh-dee” (hi, buddy). They have even started smiling and laughing at each other in the back seat of the car. Miles is quite different from Elijah...slightly more demanding. :-) He is ravenous - 6oz every 3 hours (even at night still which makes for sometimes sleep-deprived, impatient parents). However, when he is not hungry or overly tired, he is a very smiley, happy kiddo! He is 5 months old now and still hasn’t mastered rolling, but I blame is overly rotund belly. He spits up lots, but again the pudge in the midsection tells us he’s thriving! He is starting to “talk” lots and he likes to be talked to. He is very social! And, he is a pretty awesome little cuddler when he’s in the mood which makes up for any lost sleep or ruptured ear drums.
So, there you have it! Life is grand, and we are so incredibly blessed. The Lord has given us so much to be thankful for, and we give Him praise for putting this little family together! Here are some of my favorite pics from the past 5 months in a totally random order. I have only included one of all 5 of the kids together (trying to respect the Coopers in not plastering their kids all over the internet! Shout out to you, Sarah!) Enjoy! :-)
No one really wants to hear EVERYTHING that’s happened in the past year so I’ll give you the Cliffs Notes version! Here goes...Elijah turned one in January, we put our home on the market (exhausting with a 1yr old, but I think the cats were worse!), we sold our home AND bought a new one within the span of a week, Elijah’s adoption day was March 18th and that week we also found out that his birth mom was 5 months pregnant with #4 (more on that below!), with a TON of help from friends and family we had a very bittersweet (and tear-filled) departure from our Hershey home, Luke graduated from residency at Hershey as a full fledged anesthesiologist, we celebrated by taking a 12 day trip to Spain (incredible!!), made it home in time to enjoy July 4th in TN, traveled to east TN for a friend’s wedding, moved into our new home in Memphis on July 13, Elijah’s brother was born in Harrisburg, PA on July 26th, I flew up on the 28th, Elijah and I spent 4 and a half months bonding with and caring for him all while living in PA, and December 9th we were given the “ok” to bring the baby home to TN!! How’s that for an update?!
You may be thinking, “Oh, that sounds so lovely...wait! Did she say they brought a baby home?!” Yes, yes I did! Miles is his name (not legally, but that’s what we will change it to eventually), and we couldn’t be happier for him to finally be home with us in Memphis! It was quite a journey bringing this little man home as many of you already know. We could not have done it without the love, support and prayers of so many friends and family. I said on many occasions that I needed more help from our PA friends in the past four and a half months than the entire 4 years we spent there! And, of course, we absolutely would not have even had the opportunity if it weren’t for the Coopers and their willingness to let us move into their basement and totally take over their lives for 4 and a half months!
Next question, “Who are the Coopers?” The Coopers began a similar journey almost 5 years ago when they fostered and eventually adopted Mimi, and then Milo...Elijah’s older 2 siblings. When the opportunity arose to adopt Elijah (remember that crazy story?!), they immediately told us that they had a strong desire for these kids to know one another, and we committed then to keeping this Brady Bunch style family together as best as we could. Well, that call of duty came for all of us this summer when Miles was born!
Miles’ path to adoption is very different from Elijah’s, I should start with that. Elijah was a completely private adoption. Miles, however, was put into the custody of the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) of PA. That alone meant for a long, tedious, paper train process that we weren’t sure would even work out in the long run. However, we were all willing to try! Because the Coopers were residents of PA (remember, we had just moved from Hershey to Memphis!) and considered “kin” to Miles, they were able to take him as an “emergency placement” until further information was gleaned and decisions were made. DCS told us that if I could come and spend as much time with Miles as possible that they would consider us as an adoptive resource if that option became available. The Coopers, having 3 kids of their own, were willing to take in Miles, but they did this with 2 understandings: 1) we (the Douthitts) were the long term adoptive resource and 2) I had to come and help out. So, there we go! I flew up, Elijah joined me a week later, and Luke was able to come for a few weekends visits...we all made it work! It was a bit crazy at times with 3 adults and 5 kids under one roof, but it was absolutely worth every minute!
Now, I really am not legally able to discuss a lot of this process for confidentiality purposes. Miles is currently our “foster” child in the eyes of the state of PA so we are unable to share a majority of his story. But, let me assure you, we could write a best-selling book perhaps even a Lifetime Original mini-series on the events that brought us to where we are today! Many, many lessons were learned and even the mistakes of others made this all work! Not to mention the numerous prayers offered up by so many of you!!
To summarize, I flew up to be with Miles and the Coopers to bond with him and provide most of his care. Elijah flew up a week later so that he could be with me after Luke started his new job in Memphis. The Coopers had a fully functioning basement that wasn’t being used at the time, and we were able to move right in with just a bit of organizing and cleaning. Weeks went on with several delays in court proceedings for various reasons, there were more delays in the search for paternity, then we were finally given a glimmer of hope that Miles may actually be available to join us in TN. That, however, was an entirely different process! Luke and I had to participate in 20+ hours of educational classes as well as complete a home study (all here in Memphis) to become approved foster parents in the state of TN which would allow us to bring Miles home.
So, thus began the TN side of our journey. After contacting several folks here, describing this terribly confusing/unique situation, and literally begging to let us into the soonest class possible, we were given a plan! I flew home for 4 weekends in November to participate in these classes with Luke, the social worker came to our home for visits each weekend I was in town, and we got our barely-settled-into-home ready for inspection! I will now give a shout out to the social workers on the TN side of things...they were incredible! Sure, there were a few natural delays in paperwork, but overall they were more than willing to help us and were very flexible in a typically “rigid” process. Essentially, they had our home study written and approved in about 6 weeks (a process that normally takes 4-6 months!).
So, once we were approved as foster parents in TN, PA was able to let us come home to Memphis on a “visit” with an approved court order signed by Harrisburg’s judge. That is our current status as the case workers in PA work dilligently (we hope!) to wrap up our paperwork so that we do not have to return to PA until Miles’ adoption hearing! Miles is supposed to be in our custody for 6 months until we are allowed to officially adopt him, but we are in no rush as we are just thankful to be home under one roof at this point!! :-)
This entire journey could not have been possible without the help of so many of our friends in PA and our family back home. Our church family and our Hershey friends were amazing! Not only did the Lord teach us an incredible lesson in patience as we waited for His perfect plan to unfold, but He taught me humility in learning that it is okay to rely on the help of others. This would have been impossible to do single-handedly, and I was reminded daily that it was okay to ask others for their help! So, an enormous thank you to everyone to helped (i.e. kept me sain!) in many different ways...too numerous to name!
It was a bit of a whirlwind from that last week in PA until now, the first week of 2012. I literally got a phone call at 12 noon on Friday, December 9th saying that the judge approved us to take Miles to TN. I was packed and on a plane that night at 6:30 and in my own Memphis home by 1am Saturday! Thankfully, Luke was able to come and get Elijah (and his broken collar bone...more on that later) two days before. We had about a week to settle in as a family before all of the holiday hoopla, and now we are home, slowly recovering, and starting to get into a routine! I don’t have much of an update on our paperwork process, but we are praying that things will continue to run smoothly and that we will be able to stay here in Memphis until Miles is formally adopted.
It is a bit crazy with two kiddos 18 months apart, but we couldn’t be happier! Elijah is a great big brother, offering lots of help feeding & burping Miles, even trying to stick his paci in when Miles is screaming (have I mentioned that Miles sounds like a pterodactyl when he screams? Seriously.). They are precious together. Elijah has a special tone to his voice when he talks to “Mulls” or says “hi buh-dee” (hi, buddy). They have even started smiling and laughing at each other in the back seat of the car. Miles is quite different from Elijah...slightly more demanding. :-) He is ravenous - 6oz every 3 hours (even at night still which makes for sometimes sleep-deprived, impatient parents). However, when he is not hungry or overly tired, he is a very smiley, happy kiddo! He is 5 months old now and still hasn’t mastered rolling, but I blame is overly rotund belly. He spits up lots, but again the pudge in the midsection tells us he’s thriving! He is starting to “talk” lots and he likes to be talked to. He is very social! And, he is a pretty awesome little cuddler when he’s in the mood which makes up for any lost sleep or ruptured ear drums.
So, there you have it! Life is grand, and we are so incredibly blessed. The Lord has given us so much to be thankful for, and we give Him praise for putting this little family together! Here are some of my favorite pics from the past 5 months in a totally random order. I have only included one of all 5 of the kids together (trying to respect the Coopers in not plastering their kids all over the internet! Shout out to you, Sarah!) Enjoy! :-)
checking out the pumpkins
fun with a reed from the pond
a little lovin' from Aunt Lauren
doesn't seem to bothered to be at an urgent care with a broken collar bone!
baby octopus for Halloween
Mimi, Elijah & Miles
Chubbs!
All 5: Milo, Elijah, Sadie, Mimi & Miles
How incredibly exciting and exhausting all at once! So happy for you guys!
ReplyDelete