Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

October 2004

Brooke - 8 years as a nurse

Lexy - 7 months as Piglet

Isaiah (our foster son) - 15 months as Tigger

I loved that I could dress Lexy and Isaiah in coordinating costumes...Brooke refused to take part in that and be Pooh but she was cute all the same!!! This is one of my happiest Halloween memories...Isaiah had come back to us and we had been told that our chances of adopting him were very high and Lexy's case was looking to be in our favor too. A couple of months after this we were devastated when Isaiah left us again...this time forever.

This was also the only Halloween that we have not gone trick or treating. We went to the town Spook Parade in the afternoon (where we took these pics) but by evening Brooke was running a fever and felt miserable so we had to fore go trick or treating that year...Brooke was SO disappointed!

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Way Back When-esday & Wordful Wednesday

Brooke & Kenzie

October 2007

Who would have thought when these two went to the little girls cheer camp only wishing and hoping to someday be cheerleaders that now they would be in their second year of being "real" cheerleaders!

Brooke & Kenzie

September 2009

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Way Back When-esday & Wordful Wednesday

1994

Tomorrow Mike and I will be celebrating our Anniversary...15 years (19 together)!!! This was the photo put in our local newspaper to announce our engagement. This photo, to this day, hangs on our refridgerator as a reminder to us of how far we have come and how in love we were then and still today. It makes me smile every time I look at it :-)

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Way Back When-esday & Wordful Wednesday

September 2007

Brooke, Ashley, Sheila, Tori, Lexy

COUSINS!!!

August 2009

Brooke, Ashley, Lexy, Sheila, Tori

I love that Brooke and Lexy have cousins around their ages. It makes for a good time for all when we get together. And I'm really excited that CJ & Jess are adding one (or two) more cousins to the mix in March!

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Way Back When-esday & Wordful Wednesday

Where it all began...

July 2001

Our Family at the time - Mike, Ronnie, Brooke, MyLinda & Dee Dee

Ronnie & Dee Dee were our very first foster placements. They came to us in May 2001 at 18 mos. old and left in August 2001 back to a mother that repeatedly hurt them and said that she didn't want them. Fortunately we heard that just a couple of months later Ronnie & Dee Dee were pulled from their home again and this time went to adoptions where we hope they found a wonderful loving forever family.

One of the changes for our family this year (that I mentioned in my last post) is that we are closing our foster license (actually I'm writing the letter today). We have fostered many wonderful little ones in our eight years as a foster family, had our hearts broken way too many times and received the greatest gift when we were able to add Lexy to our forever family. We have decided to take the leap out of "foster world" for many reasons but the most obvious to us is that it just feels like the right time. We are glad that God led us to be a foster family and we would do it all over again (not saying we wouldn't want to change the outcome of some things :-)) but now we feel it is time to move on. For me, it will be hard to let go of this portion of our life as I have allowed myself to think of being "foster mom" as part of my identity and to just become "normal mom" is going to be an adjustment but a necessary one. Now we move forward.

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Way Back When-esday & Wordful Wednesday

Wow what a difference a year makes, they're growing up WAY too fast! Both these pictures were taken at Coco Key (a local indoor waterpark in a hotel) on our annual stay in July...we started this tradition last year and the girls love it!

July 2008

Brooke (12) & Lexy (4)

July 2009

Lexy (5) & Brooke (13)

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Way Back When-esday & Wordful Wednesday

December 2007

Lexy (3) & Mike

Lexy and Daddy playing in the snow!

I went back looking for the coldest looking picture I could find this morning! It has been 95+ degrees here for the past several days with heat indexes between 105 and 110...I'm tired of hot!! We're headed to the pool today to try to get some relief from this heat.

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Way Back When-esday & Wordful Wednesday

July 2008

Mike (44), Lexy (4) & Brooke (12)

Daddy and his girls relaxing, watching fireworks after a fun day at World's of Fun. Happy Father's Day daddy!

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

Summer 2007

Papa & Lexy (3)

Lexy is enjoying a bedtime story from Papa. Papa has his own unique way of telling stories...never reading the story but instead making up his own silly version from the pictures. Both the girls have always loved having stories read to them by Papa. This was about the time that every time we would read a story Lexy would beg for us to read it "Papa's way". We love you Papa!

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

Lexy (2) & Brooke (10)

June 2006

I went back looking for a picture of the girls swimming from the past for today to see how much they've changed. This was taken on our vacation in Wichita, I love looking back on our fun times!

Here's a picture of the girls taken a couple of days ago at the pool, wow what a difference!!

Brooke (13) & Lexy (5) - June 2009

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

March 2008

Brooke (11) & Lexy (4)

This was taken during our 2008 spring break trip to St. Louis. We were at The Magic House, in the "static room". This was just one of MANY great family fun things that we did. We took the trip with my best friend Robin and her family and had a GREAT time!

Here's a few more pics of the trip...

All the kids (Kenzie, Brooke, Lexy, Ryan & Molly)

Lexy

Brooke and "Puddin" (our foster baby at the time)

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

Brooke (11) and Lexy (3)

May 2007

When I found this picture this morning I absolutely loved it! I love that the girls are holding hands, I love that they are looking at each other, I love that they are wearing the same thing...I just big puffy red heart it!!! It was taken during a visit to Papa & Grammy's house.

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

Mike (32 yrs) & Brooke (2 days old)

May 1996

This picture was taken on the day we took Brooke home from the hospital. I can NOT believe that it has been almost 13 years since that day! I remember wondering if it was really a good idea to send something so small (okay maybe not too small she was 9 lbs.) and sweet home with two completely overwhelmed, under-rested, scared new parents. Obviously we muddled through okay and if I do say so myself I think we have done a pretty good job of raising us up a good girl so far :-)

Look for my birthday letter to Brooke on Friday.

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

October 1996

Brooke - 5 months

I thought I would feature Brooke again this week as we are heading towards her 13th birthday next week. This one was taken when Brooke was 5 months old. This toy was one of her very favorites...and yes even then she was loving phones...She's asking (more like begging) for a cell phone for her birthday this year because we have been horrible parents and have made her do without one even though "ALL" her friends (well except for Kenzie) have had one for years :-)

As I was looking through pictures this morning to find the one above I found one of Lexy in the same toy at about the same age...

Lexy-2004

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

January 1997

Mike (33) & Brooke (8 mos.)

Wow it is hard to remember Brooke this small...especially since she'll be turning 13 in just a few weeks! She was definately a daddy's girl back then (and still is). Daddy would come home for lunch or after work and Mommy would no longer matter, all Brooke wanted was Daddy's undivided attention! They were constantly laughing and being silly.

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

Lexy - 3 yrs old
April 2007


As I was looking through pictures this morning I came across this one and it just made me smile. I love Lexy's curly piggytails and the determination on her face as she's trying to blow on that dandelion. I remember that day, we were outside playing and I got out my camera and instantly Lexy was in picture mode...she never takes a good picture if it's not her idea so I was thrilled that she was in the mood. Here's a couple more from the shoot...

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

Brooke (9) & Lexy (2)

April 2006 - Easter Day

Wow, the girls look SO different in these pictures, what a difference 3 years can make! Brooke looks so little with her chubby cheeks. And look at Lexy's short curly hair, how cute!!

These were taken at Papa & Grammy's house where we will be spending Easter again this year. And this year is even more special because Papa's birthday is on Easter!

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

November 2002

Brooke (6), Alex (12 mos.), Mike (39)

This picture was taken right before Alex left our home forever. Alex was our foster son (our 4th placement). He came to our home from the hospital at 2 days old. Alex was "our son" in every way possible. He knew us as Mommy, Daddy and Sissy...he had never known another family. We were devestated when a great aunt and uncle came forward to take Alex after we had been asked if we would adopt him. These relatives lived many states away and it took a lot of paperwork and time for Alex to go live with them and was an uncertain situation right to the end. When Alex was 12 1/2 months old, the great aunt and uncle (whom Alex had only seen once) came to our home to pick Alex and all of his belongings up and drove off with our baby...leaving us in tears.

This was the first of many heartbreaks that we have endured as a foster family. It felt like there had been a death, we mourned for a very long time. This was also when we decided that even though we had not planned to adopt, we now knew we were able and would very much like to give the love of a forever family to another child(ren).

We have gone on to provide a loving foster home to many children that needed one in the past eight years. We have adopted one wonderful little girl to add to our forever family. I still think about Alex (and the others) everyday.

What I'm now wondering is what's suppose to be next. A lot of the time, I don't feel like our family is complete yet but recently I have been feeling like our time as a foster family should come to an end...maybe I'm misreading messages or not truly listening to that inner voice... Hopefully soon God will reveal to us what his plans for our future are, whatever they may be.

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

Spring 2005

The Richards Family

Wow, I can't believe this picture was taken four years ago!! We had went to a Parents As Teachers family night where we had a chili dinner and then did some family crafts with pictures. It was a great night...we miss participating in parents as teachers!

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Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday

For Way Back When-esday and Wordful Wednesday this week I didn't go back too far...just to last Saturday at Lexy's 5th birthday party...

Lexy - 5 years old

Date - 3/7/09

Lexy asked for a dinosaur (t-rex) party for her birthday this year. It is nice that she is not as much of a girly girl as Brooke because I get to do different party themes than I did with Brooke. She had 8 guest and they had a lot of fun with dinosaur masks/feet and playing games like pin the dino in the t-rex mouth, dino hatch, hot dino, etc. After her party we took her to the T-Rex restaurant where we ate dinner and then Lexy got to make a t-rex at the build-a-dino in the restaurant. Lexy said she had a wonderful birthday!

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