The Next Stop...

Ok, back to the Journey...

So at this point you are probably wondering why C and The Bug ever entered into the foster care system. Well, that too is a complicated story but I will give you an abbreviated version.

C and the The Bug were living with Violet. Violet was C's grandmother and The Bug's great grandmother. C's mother was incarcerated and had been for most of C's life. They lived on the other side of town; in fact they lived in another county. The area they lived was not a desirable area. It is often known for its crime and low socio-economic status. The truth is, given her life circumstances C never really had a shot. She was growing up in an environment that was bound to fail her.

Violet worked nights and then slept most days. When you think of a great grandmother your mind may go to someone in a rocking chair in the corner of a nursing home, but Violet was only in her early 50's. C also had a younger brother "R". R was only in first grade. He also lived in the home along with Violet's boyfriend Tom.

There wasn't much parenting going on and C rarely attended school. She was constantly running away and usually taking The Bug with her. She would leave The Bug in random places with friends, or friends of a friend. The story we got was that C was using drugs and drinking. I am not sure where I stand on this, but that's what we were told.

Violet, I believe thinking she was doing the right thing, filed an unruly petition on C in juvenile court. *DCS had already been involved with the family, as some of C's cousins who had been living there had already been placed in State custody before she was. Soon DCS would come to investigate all of C's runaways and school truancy. When they did start their investigation C was "on the run." This time, she had left Lydia at Violet's house, thank the good Lord. Much to Violet's dismay they removed The Bug that day and placed her in foster care. They could not find C, a pattern that would continue for the next two+ years.

So, on Friday, September 1, 2006, just one week before she would come to live with us, she was placed in a DCS foster home across town.

Around the very same time Seth and I were making the big announcement to our family that we would be adopting. We had made the decision to adopt from China. We sent an email out to our family and close friends and started a private blog on journeytome.com, a common international blog gathering for adopting parents.

Here is a part of the letter that we sent out just a few months before The Bug started making her way into our hearts and home...


Dear Friends and Family~

We are writing you today with a light and happy heart.

As some of you know or may not know, for a looong 2 years now, Seth and I have been battling infertility. After surgery, lots of medicine and numerous unsuccessful fertility treatments, we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. The doctors told us that they can’t explain or understand why we don’t have several children by now. It has been a long, and heart wrenching fight but recently God has made his plan clear to us, and the mystery of “God, why us?” is obvious.

The last several months have led us to a lot of soul searching. We found ourselves at a cross road, carry on with more intensive and very expensive fertility treatment or consider the possibility of adoption. Our hearts have led us to adoption.

I cannot begin to explain the peace we feel in our decision. Every day it becomes clearer that THIS is God’s plan for our family. After reviewing several different adoption agencies and researching differences in domestic and international, we believe we will find our baby girl in China.

With the help of friends and neighbors, we have chosen America World Adoption Agency (www.awaa.org). It is a Christian agency that handles international adoptions from China, Russia, El Salvador, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. It will be a looong journey to get her. Once we get started on the extensive and complicated paperwork we can expect to travel to China in roughly 15 – 18 months to bring her home. That’s quite a pregnancy!! Haha. We are so hoping that we will have her home with us by NEXT Christmas.

Needless to say, we are ecstatic! We will begin the application process as soon as we return from vacation in 2 weeks. We can hardly wait to get started!

Please keep us and our baby, time zones away, in your prayers. Our dream to have children of our own is finally coming true and we are so happy to include you in our exciting journey!

All Our Love,
Katie & Seth

Haaa. If only we knew then what we know now. We truly believed in our hearts this was God's plan for our family. We were so excited. I was running around town getting legal documents notarized and creating a family profile for our dossier. It's crazy to think back then the wait to adopt from China was only 18 months. The truth is, we would still be waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

Here is my darling BUG....





Growing up sooo quickly right before our eyes!




And my crazy Baby Bam climbing in the storage bins in the playroom! He's a CLIMBER!

*DCS= The Department of Children's Services