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Introducing The Favourite Adopted Child

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Joshua August 1994 will always hold a special place in my heart as the month this handsome young man was born to other parents who selflessly gave us the most precious gift of a son.  There are no words that can begin to explain the absolute delight in such a gift; nothing can prepare you for the emotions that surface when suddenly you are offered such a gift.  All of sudden your childlessness is over.  Sure your infertility hasn't changed but you have a child - a child who is yours to love abundantly and forever.  I know we had a child already, our favourite foster child, but for anyone who fosters children you understand that this child who you love unconditionally and pour your heart and soul into may one day move from your care. So a confession - even though I was sold on the idea of adopting a child when I received the phone call to say we had been chosen to adopt this wee man I suddenly had cold feet - actually they were beyond cold - they were frozen solid!  Until t
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Introducing The Favourite Foster Child

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Kristal - "favourite foster child" How adorable was this wee Kristal?  Not too mention how gorgeous I am with that perm! Looking back now I remember just how nervous I was bringing her to live with us.  I know all parents have sleepless nights and a sense of anxiety with a new baby and we were no different.  We felt such a responsibility for this child who wasn't ours.  Kristal was a lot like a 5 month old baby when she came to us - she had no head control, no trunk control, she didn't ever cry, she ate warm dairy products, and it took her an hour to drink a bottle of milk before she promptly vomited it all and the process started again.  When Kristal was two years old  a gorgeous friend offered to babysit so we could have a night out and on that night of all nights Kristal started having seizures.  And so began our journey with epilepsy.  At that time Kristal had a brain scan which revealed she had Lissencephaly Syndrome (affectionately known as Liss) - which
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The Rat On The Wheel

I thought that my blog might take some sort of order - quite possibly chronological - but I think that it will never happen.  This blog, like my life, is going to be messy!  Very messy! Not a lot of order or structure but a heck of a lot of heart!  So for all of you structured and ordered people I apologise in advance! This week we had a HUGE VICTORY.   Yeah I know the word "victory" conjures up a picture of a fight, a battle, quite possibly a war......and that's exactly what this issue has felt like....a WAR.  A war against injustice, a war against policy, a war against stupidity.  It sounds harsh and I am a little reluctant to put these words on paper but I will let you make up your mind. Housing has been an enormous weight on my shoulders for the past 6 months as I have been advocating for Kristal as her rent has seen a huge rise over an eight month period.  The home she has rented for nearly 6 years is fully accessible which has met her needs so well.  Having a home
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The beginning of our journey into fostering, adopting and disability

January 1992 began our family journey into the world of fostering and the world of parenting a child with a disability.  Two months before we saw an advertisement in the local paper reading something along the lines of  "wanted good home for eight month old baby girl with special needs" - well how could anyone not respond to that!  So respond we did and after going through the fostering application and necessary checks this beautiful 10 month old baby came into our lives......and now 27 years later she is still a huge part of our lives. Growing up I thought it would be awesome to get married, have kids of my own, and one day after that was achieved I thought it would be cool to adopt a baby with Down syndrome.  I had a plan that I thought was going to work for me and of course would work for the future hubby!  Along came the future hubby and surprisingly he agreed that he was ok with my plan - must have been true love! On stumbling across the ad in the newspaper my plans ch
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