Adoption: A Family Choice Do Not Copy, Reproduce, Publish, etc., any article, story, picture, etc., from any part of this website, without my permission.

Sandy


A recent picture of Sandy, taken May 2000.

Ok, obviously I am WAY behind in updating our family website. Sandy has grown into a beautiful, young lady. She is in the 4th grade, and a top student. She also love to play soccer, and arts and crafts are one of her favorite things to do. She is quite creative: I went into her room, and she had yarn strings tied from the top of the window, to the top of a book shelf. She decided she wanted to hang up her art creations, but couldn't find the scotch tape to tape them to the yarn, so used bandaids! It really was pretty cute.

Sandy, almost 3 years old. Her favorite friend, her neice, is just 3 months younger, and they love to take turns driving this "big truck." Sandy is the passenger right now.

Sandy is no longer our youngest kid at home...so far. She now has three, yes three, younger siblings, and she is now 9 years old! She is the birth sister of Rita and Roger, but she didn't arrive home to us until she was 14 months old. Her story is a bit frustrating, but typical for situations where drugs become a life style choice. Some handicaps are unavoidable, like Down Syndrome and most forms of Cerebral Palsy and blindness. But...Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Exposure are avoidable handicaps. All one has to do is refrain from drinking during pregnancy and while nursing. It seem obvious to me that it is a form of child abuse, which affects the child for life. My three little ones were exposed to, at least, Cocaine and Alcohol...alcohol having the worst effect on an unborn baby. Anyway, here is part of her story:

A caseworker called to tell us that they went to visit a baby, (the birth sibling to our 2 little ones) and found Sandy on a mattress on the floor, in a filthy apartment. The birthmom had been drinking...cheap wine...and admitted she had been nursing the baby. A baby bottle lay by the tiny baby, filled with 2% milk!! Obviously, the baby was put into a medical foster care.

It is amazing that drugs can become more important than a innocent little baby. This is the first picture we have of Sandy, in her foster home. She was a bit stiff, and startled easily for several weeks. Notice how both of her hands are in tight fists, and her right arm is tightly against her shoulder. Noises bothered her, and her sleep was often irregular. Little by little, with the consistancy of an experienced, loving foster home, she began to blossom. We were granted 2 to 4 hour visitations, once a week, as all the court proceedings were carried out. For whatever reasons, we didn't get to have her home for good, until she was 14 months old. During that time, the state tried to reunify the birth-dad with Sandy. There were requirements, including his not allowing the baby to be in the custody of Ellen. He also had to take some parenting classes, and prove he could care for the baby. The state also contacted birth relatives in another state, to see if they would care for the baby. The Lord worked on this adoption, and I am thankful we were patient. Anyway, Sandy came home, and quickly bonded to us. She is now legally adopted. This precious little smile is from Sandy, while she was still in foster care. I think she was about 4 months old here, and I had just bought the outfit she is wearing. Another picture of Sandy. It seemed that every time we saw her, she was less and less afraid, and smiled more and more. I think the transition into our home was so much easier because we were able to take her to the park, or shopping, etc. each week. She actually only slept in our room (in a portacrib next to our bed) for maybe a week, before sleeping soundly in her own room, across the hall from our room. December, 1999, 2 years old. Sandy loves to wear dresses and wear "butterflies" in her hair. That used to be a bit difficult, because her hair was so baby fine, and quite short. It is so soft and has gentle curls. It is now longer so we can put in 3-4 pony tails. Each year we have a huge family easter egg hunt at our home. We are always hoping for sunny weather, and usually the weather is fine. But, when it's rainy outside, we just have the hunt in our recreation room. It's funny, but each year we always keep finding eggs for several weeks after, even though we just "know" that we have found every last one of them. At Christmas, Sandy was so excited to receive play plates, cups, etc. She loves to pretend she is a mommy, and fixes great "meals" with all the play food that we have. I save empty cans of food (opened from the bottom) for the kids to use. Sandy and her neice riding the "big truck." They are so cute together, and get so excited whenever they see each other. It is so fun to watch them grow up, knowing that they both have warm, loving families. And...how nice it is to have an aunt your age!! Sandy just loves this huge bear. She fell asleep in its arms, on the couch in our living room. Sandy (left) and Rita (right) love to help out in the yard, especially when they get a free ride back from big brother, Doug. Yard work is great for kids, they feel so much pride when they can stand back and see how nicer things look when the leaves are all cleaned up. But...they get the biggest joy from finding bugs, or seeing a new bud just beginning to open up into a beautiful flower. The problem is they often like to help nature, and open the buds themselves. I've had visitors to this page, since May 21, 2000. Go Back to My HOMEPAGE