Some of the hardest lessons in life, we learn from our children

This was not written by myself or Lamar but by Katie. I'm so proud of her love, strength and dignity!
"This little boy changed my life in just 9 months. He will never know what he did for me. What did he do for me you ask? I learned patience, kindness, how to build Legos, how to play minecraft, and best of all, I learned to love this little boy that was so very broken. Fostering Jamison changed our family for the better.  We are closer now then we have ever been.  I thank The Lord everyday for the many blessings he has given to me.  Jamison is one of those many blessings.  He was not a foster child, he wasn't someone else's little boy, he was just my little brother.  He made me angry, annoyed me but all siblings can relate. I am upset and just heart broken we are losing him, but I have to realize , as does everyone else, that this was Gods choice.  God has a plan for us and all and this is part of Jamison's plan.  We gave him everything when he had nothing.  We brought him into our house and loved him. Now, Jamison will go back to his birth mother and I hope that we have rubbed off on him. Our kind words, Godliness, love for Jesus, our love in general and hope rubbed off onto him. I will miss him dearly and I will never again be able to hear someone bellow "sissy", but at least within these long 9 months that have felt like years, we were able to love this little boy!!!  Thank you Jamison for coming into my life  and changing it for the better.  I will miss you. I love you, Katie

Assistance from a stranger in my times of need

Hope and Healing for Parenting Adopted Children
by Jamie Ivey on Sunday, November 11, 2012
This article is courtesy of HomeLife Magazine.
I wasn't one of those little girls who grew up dreaming of adopting kids from all over the world. My husband, Aaron, and I never talked about adoption before we married, and yet three of our four children are adopted.
After the birth of our first son, Cayden, Aaron and I found ourselves surrounded by families pursuing adoption from China. The church we attended had started an adoption ministry, and we witnessed our peers stepping out in faith to adopt. It was through many conversations with these families that God laid it on our hearts to adopt our next child.
God added Deacon to our family as an infant in November 2005 through domestic adoption, but He wasn't done. Our lives were changed one evening in September 2007 when I was drawn to a photograph on a blog. A missionary woman in Haiti had written a heartfelt post about an abandoned little boy in desperate need of a family. Never before and never since have I felt the tangible movement of God in my heart for a specific child as I did for Amos. It was as if God leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Jamie, this is the son I have planned for you. He will be yours. Trust Me."
Over the next few months God provided ways to begin the process to adopt not only Amos, but also our beautiful daughter, Story, who was born in Haiti in November 2007.
After more than two painful years of the international adoption process, the family finally became complete. Story arrived home in October 2009, and our sweet Amos joined our family in January 2010, just 10 days after a magnitude 7 earthquake devastated his country.
I'm sure people assumed that finally having our four children at home with us were some of the happiest times for our family, but things were not as simple as they might have seemed. On one hand, Aaron and I were thrilled that the long adoption journey had ended, but it was just the beginning of Amos' difficult transition from abandoned orphan to fully accepted and embraced son.
A Rude Awakening
Aaron and I had no idea what would be in store for our family that year. Amos' little four-and-a-half-year-old heart had been through more hurt and disappointment than any child should endure. From birth to coming to our house, all he had ever known was loneliness, isolation, lack of attachment, and abandonment. Children with forms of attachment disorder can struggle deeply throughout their transition to their adoptive family.
During that first year I wondered if we had done the right thing. When Amos would shut down emotionally and cry in his bed for hours, I wondered if we had destroyed his life by taking him through an impossible transition. When he reacted to loving embraces with screams of anger, I wondered if I had ruined our other kids' lives. Would our family life ever be "normal" again (whatever that means)?
Aaron and I have endured many hard times since Amos has come home, and we've learned many things - perhaps the greatest lesson is that bringing a wounded child into a family isn't always as glamorous and smooth as we might hope. Scarred children may bring unimaginable pain into their new family. They may have a void in their hearts that will take years to fix. And in the end, only God can heal their wounds, not us. Our role as parents is to love them well.
I had read numerous adoption books but still wasn't prepared for the rejection that I would feel when Amos was unable to love me back. During our adoption process, I read Lark Eshleman's Becoming a Family, which describes what I have felt so many times over the past few years:
"Your child, when she was removed from her birth mother, experienced a break in normal bonding. Just as when we are rejected by a person very close to us emotionally, the experience can leave us extremely cautious of allowing ourselves to be vulnerable again. So, by virtue of the fact that you are now trying to form an attachment with her, she will try to push you away. Be ready for it. If you are not ready or do not have enough support, you will be confused and hurt by that rejection."
I had read this before Amos came but  how unprepared I was for the emotional rejection I felt as his mother.
When your son whom you have prayed over for years doesn't trust your love, it hurts. When Amos was first home, I would repeatedly tell him that I loved him, and every time his first response was, "Why?" None of my other kids have ever asked me that! They've known it and have felt it from the beginning, but Amos missed out on four years of assurance of his parents' unconditional love. He had no idea why I loved him, and he couldn't trust me, no matter how hard he tried. His heart had been hurt so deeply from a history of abandonment and neglect that he couldn't trust my love. He had no idea how to love me back.
One day while Amos was pushing me away, I realized that I don't treat Amos like God treats me when I push away from Him. God has never left me. He's never forsaken me. He has never treated me as if I were a lost cause. He just keeps lavishing love on me. He keeps whispering His promises in my heart. He keeps leading my paths. He just keeps loving me, regardless of my returning that love.
I have never given up on Amos, but my sinful heart made it hard to continue loving him when he didn't always reciprocate that love. There were days that my heart was weary from trying to love him. My soul felt too heavy to intercede for him and too heavy to understand the pain and sorrow he was going through.
A New Perspective
Amos has been home almost three years now, and God has not only changed his heart but ours through this journey. God has illuminated insecurities, idols of control and comfort, and areas of extreme selfishness as parents.
As I continue to think about the patient, faithful, and unending love God has lavished on me, my love for my children continues to deepen. I'm reminded to view my children as the Father views me. I'm reminded to view Amos through a lens of grace and mercy. As I think about my Heavenly Father's unconditional love for me, I have no choice but to love Amos, regardless of whether he reciprocates that love. So, I will fight for him. I will defend him. I will love him. I will hold him. I will serve him. I will show grace to him.
A Healing Heart
Through God's renewing of my heart, I have seen Amos' heart healing as well. He's more trusting, loving, and confident of my love than ever before. Just a couple months ago, I was tucking Amos in bed and discussing his behavior from earlier in the day. He'd had a hard time obeying, and we were talking through it. Then I told him that even though he disobeyed, I still loved him so much. As those words left my mouth, huge tears swelled from his eyes and began to run down his face.
Amos still struggles to trust my love when he's in trouble. He still tries to perform to make sure I keep loving him and accepting him. But I end every day telling him, "Amos, I love you no matter what you do."
Don't we all want to know that from the ones who love us? Isn't that how God treats us? No matter how much we mess up, He just keeps whispering to us, "Child, I love you no matter what you do."
If you are in the middle of a similar adoption struggle, trust that we serve a big God who is faithful. His desire is for us to parent with strength from Him alone. I've tried to love Amos through my own strength, and I fail every time. I can't do it. I can't take the hurt. Instead, I must surrender to loving Amos with a love I can't evoke. In the end, what Amos needs most is the love of Christ through me.
Ephesians 3:20 reminds us of the great hope we have in the power of Christ's love: "Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us." Friends, God can do it. We cannot. When you are struggling to love, hold tight to His promise: "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians4:19).
God knows what you need, and although it's hard at times to believe, you can trust Him. You aren't alone in your struggle. Seek Him, read literature on parenting hurt children, and find a professional adoption counselor who is committed to your child and your family.
God can heal your wounded child and bring peace to your heart as a parent. He can tame anger, mend tragic pasts, and cure what may seem incurable. May you pray for your child more fervently, love more than humanly possible, and trust that God will do far more than you dare to ask or think.
Jamie Ivey is passionate about following Jesus, loving her husband, talking about adoption, and trying to be the best mom she can be to the four cutest kids in the world.
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Heather S. Otwell
"May the cross of Christ be your only boast, and may you say, with sweet confidence, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" •John piper 

September-December 2012

September through Novemeber of 2012 brought a calm to the house. We were not a normal foster family at this time because we did not have both birth parents involved in the case and during these 3 months, birth mom had been away so we did not have contact with her in any kind of way. J adjusted well during this time and we began to see a broken little boy turn into this amazing little boy with so much potential. We were down to very few tantrums and the things that were being brought out through his actions were "normal" age appropriate things.
A bond was formed between him and Lamar and it was the sweetest thing that I had ever seen. Lamar would be walking in the store with his hands in his pocket and following closly behind him was J with his hands in his pockets as well.
We went through many firsts that we have many happy memories from. In September, we went fishing at West Lake with my parents and he caught a fish. October came a weekend trip to Chicago so we could go to Lego Land, trick-or-treating for Halloween and my mom making him his tiger costume that he wore to bed many nights before and after halloween. November was a big first when it was 70 one weekend and Lamar put the tent up in the back yard and him, J, Katie, Meredith and Becca had a campout. November also brought  his first Thanksgiving and spending the day with all of the Dunkin family.
December brought the Christmas holidays, break from school and our favorite time of year, Christmas! J learned the true meaning of Christmas when Jesus came to this world, born in a manger.
Katie thought we made a lot of progress and then one day we went to Grandma's house and walked by her manger scene and he said "look mom, Its Mary, Joseph and baby Noah"....Ok, so a little confusion on the bible stories.
December also brought a huge change of bringing his birth mom back into his life and ours. I want to say that it was all sunshine and daisies, but it was a huge struggle, and not just for him, but for all of us. In this situation of fostering to adopt or adoption period, you are not only dealing with the child that you are caring for but for all of the attachments that come with he or she. They all come with baggage and it is your job as their current parent to help them work through it. Thank goodness for the classes that we were able to take, but, just like with your own children, they do not all come the same and every child is so different. What worked for Katie does not work for J.
Kids that have been through trauma can hide a lot of things and can get really good at hiding agression. The thing is about it all, you never know when the past will rear its ugly head and come barrling at you with both fists!! Let me tell you, it would come at the worse times and linger for days at at time.
I thought over all that it really could not get any worse emotionally, and then I heard God laughing in the background as he said, " Heather, hold on tight my dear, this is just the beginning".............

How to find your way without a map

I always thought that your specific child ,when they are born,  could hand you the manual that goes with them, to tell you what to do in every situation! Well, we all know that never happens and so you go along raising your children and find out you are helping raise yourself as well. welcome to parenting 101.
You try to prepare yourself as best as you can, but it is never enough.
Katie was so easy as an infant and toddler in so many ways and I did often want to have that experience again and be able to bond with this baby we we receiving so that when they grew there would never be any question as to who was mom. I was not sure what to think when we were asked to take J.
He was turning 5 and every moment of his infancy until now was already taken and fulfilled by a woman whom he knew as mom.  What would this be like in my life? Would we bond, would there be the special moments that we'd share that I could store away in my precious mama memories forever?
What do I do with this? How do you form a bond with a child who already has one? 
Turns out in all reality that was not going to be the issue at all. There were greater things that we had to face. First, there was never a bond that had been formed in the past and a large lack of trust issues. The life he had lived until now was full of inconsistency and him being self-sufficient. I quickly learned that I can tell him until I am blue in the face that I will always love him and be there for him, but its not until I show him constantly that he believes it. So, does that mean in the last 8 months that I have figured it all out?.....To be honest, I wish I could say "oh yes!!!! I have all of the answers to bonding to a 5 year old boy that has called me mom all of 5 minutes! Absolutely not. I've not had to face any of this on my own and am very thankful for that. I've  had to read a lot from other mothers that have been through this and spend a lot of hours on my knees at my bedside in prayer. I have realized that I do not posess the answers to any of this, only my experience of what was and what has come. 
I have had a lot of fear, bumpy days, tears and expectations that have been crushed! I can say today with every fiber in my bones that it has been worth it. 

Utter chaos, major changes and huge blessings

July 18th 11:00am: I was at wal-mart picking up some school supplies for Katie and some things that my grandma needed. Sidebar! Yes, wal-mart, for those of you that know me I'm not a person that spends her time shopping at wal-mart. I don't have anything against the store in general. It's the people that the store attracts. I'm not the type of person who enjoys shopping with people who make you tube for the clothing, or lack there of that they choose to wear or not wear in some cases. Ok, so back to the story. I was up to my elbows in notebooks, folders and every other hot pink school supply when I first heard the sweet sound of Amy's voice. She explained she was from DHS and they had a 4 year old little boy that needed a home. I sat there stunned and then realized what she needed. A home, our home? Boy? 4 years old. What? We have a babies room, a crib. Oh my goodness, what do we do?  Well, of coarse, we said, yes.
It's funny that the path that we choose may not be exactly what we think it should be or going in the direction it should be, but I'm so very grateful that God does! Katie was in Louisiana with David and Julie when he moved in that day. What a journey this sweet little boy had to take. He didn't come with much because he couldn't bring everything he owned. He entered this strange house with strange people and so many fears about the future. But, we adjusted, together. Together we took everyday by every minute and learned a lot of what to do as we went along. Katie joined us 5 days later and chaos ensued. 14 1/2 years of living with not sharing to much, meet 4 year old Jamison who has never had to share! Everyday in the beginning was a struggle, from small fights to knock down drag outs with someone always crying in the end. Thankfully though, God was always there, guiding us and carrying us through all of the trials that we have and continue to endure. The last 2 months have changed us all so much and as we look to the future we see fights, hugs, kisses, hitting, but through it all, God.

Waiting is always the hardest part.......

I always have great memories of childhood thinking back to when David and I would be sitting in our pjs early Christmas morning at the top of our grand old wooden staircase. The anticipation being so much that our little bodies could not handle the excitement and we would burst with laughter and smile. The anticipation of hoping we were good all year and that Santa came and gave us everything we had asked for on our lists. Finally, the Christmas music would start, Elvis singing silver bells, we knew it was time to tear down the stairs and make our way to the living room and our treasures under the tree. I've really had those memories on my mind a lot lately due to the fact that the adoption has turned me into that little blonde girl, in her night gown, waiting for the music to start, so I could claim my treasure. I'm stuck at the top of that beautiful staircase and the excitement is so much at times that my body cannot stand it. These are the times when I cling to Lamar and his amazing assurance that the music will start soon and we can run together and claim our treasure! I yearn for that day to come but once again in this journey, I have to step back and realize that it is not my timing, not Lamar's timing, but Gods timing and his alone that this will happen. So yes, it has gone from the cold winter nights, to the fresh spring days into the stiffing heat of summer but in the midst of it all, I wait for the music to start! Heather S. Otwell

When is enough finally enough

I have to be very careful about the things that I say in this post because I want to protect the people involved as much as I can.
I cannot stand when people have children and treat them like trash and physically, mentally and sexually abuse them. Lamar, Katie and I are so distraught about a family that we know. The children in the family are starved for attention and need love. Their school has called DHS on the parents many times because of bruises on the children, investigations take place and the children are still there. This last weekend was really bad and the police were called to their house. 2 of the kids share a twin bed, 1 kid sleeps on the couch and 1 sleeps in a crate like thing. The house looks like something on horders(this is not first hand information from me but from a neighbor that has been in their house) and their animals have used all of the rooms as a bathroom.
When is enough finally enough where the CPS/DHS steps in and removes the children? All of the weeks that we spent in class listening to similar situations about children and now we hear of one that we know of and it seems that nothing is being done to take care of these children. Please do not think in any way that I am saying anything bad about DHS because that is not my intention at all. My heart is just in a million pieces for these children that need to know what it is like to not be yelled at all of the time, not be slaves to their parents, to know bath times and bed times with being tucked into their own beds and having mommy and daddy reading them bed time stories!
I wish that DHS would make something out of this awful situation but unless it is done shortly, I am writing this with a very heavy heart because they are moving from the house that they are currently in and moving about 45 minutes from the city into the country. God help these children that are going to be out in the middle of no where and no one will be able to see the black eyes, the dirty skin and the hungry look on their faces. My heart breaks