My Life- it's as fun as puttin' lipstick on a squirrel

Here we are in our third official hurricane season at the Niles household. Well sort of, this is our third summer of being a growing adoptive family. So our normal...is not your normal. you would think by now that we would have this drill memorized. However, just like the pains of childbirth...you forget.  First read this old post and then we will go Back to the Future   Flashback  to July 2012 What does our hurricane season look like you ask? Well, let me tell you the necessary components of a perfect storm in our house. new school year, different school, new outpatient therapist, new med check doctor, braces, fun with family, upcoming trip out of town for Mom, upcoming trip out of town for Mom and Dad and then add a bit of PMDD and yep. there ya go . category 5. So if you read the post I linked into the beginning of this one you see both excitement and trepidation that I felt with the thought of adding a new child into our family. A week ago we were...

Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride. - Bette Davis in All About Eve (1950) So it has REALLY been 3 months since my last blog. I have a great excuse. We have been growing a child. Adopting an orphan. But most of all we have been walking with the Lord. We were called and we showed up. We have learned that we are ENOUGH. We are REDEEMED. We cannot change Ambriel, BUT we can change the way we react to Ambriel. So I will break it down a tiny bit so you can understand what it has been like in the Niles household for the last three months. First some photos...so you really get the picture! Yes. When you parent a hurt child you pull your hair out a LOT...sometimes they pull your hair out. But most of all at the end of the day...you feel like a tornado hit your hometown. Where do you start. Where do you start? I am not a professional....but I play one every day in my very own home. Here is where I start: Cry out to Jesus. Yes. I do NOT call my Mom. I do NO...

OK folks, it has been a while since I last Blogged. Nearly a month. So welcome, Happy New Year and I pray that you all had a great Christmas and were blessed in many ways. Many of you know we are smack dab in the middle of an adoption. We have a 12 year old young lady from VA Foster Care placed in our home and we will adopt her in March 2013. She has waited over 7 years for a forever home. This placement has been awesome, scary, nuts, ridiculous, tiring and super all at once. When accepting a child into your home that comes from a "hard Place" you ask for nothing. You LOWER the Bar- this is the favorite thing I hear at my therapy sessions with a great man who specializes in attachment therapy. What is attachment therapy? well I am so glad you ask.... you see...there is this koala ....just kidding. here is the lowdown: http://attachmenttherapy.com/ad.htm  read that! :) Our dear daughter to be suffered from RAD- which is this: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/reactive...

So many people have asked us how is the adoption going? I think it's going fantastic. Now if you asked the tween we are adopting she would tell you otherwise! A year ago today we were going to " adoption classes" . Today we are 30 days into 180 days of adoption. The trial period if you will. But as soon as the paint was dry on the hot pink walls and the last tote of miscellaneous have nots was moved in it was done. I don't need papers to say I am a Mom. My heart breaks for a child who has been disappointed over and over and over again for 12 years. The abuse/neglect did not end when she was taken from her birth parents, not the first time, nor the second. The hurts continued. In the form of many placements, residential centers, disrupted adoptions because people could not put up with what she put out. Failure after failure after failure. Ball dropped...too many times to count. So here we sit with a grenade. A fine product of the foster care system. Full of anger,...

Notes from the Madhouse: A year ago in March we were blessed to adopt an English Bulldog from the local Animal Shelter. When he arrived he was 37 pounds. With Love, Patience and Time he grew...and became a part of the family! He is now a year older and 67 pounds. Silas does this pose A LOT!  We recently adopted a Guinea Pig named Flossy. Here is Silas checking out his new neighbor! He has never ever ever! lifted his front paws off the ground for anything! But really...this is where I was going. When I came to Christ. I was skin and bones. I had haunted eyes and a rough exterior. (see Silas' before picture) . God has made me a New Creation. Just like Silas looks as though he never spend a night on the street, never starved and NEVER had cigarette burns on places you don't want to know! We did for Silas what God has done for me! I live for his Word and his Love. Silas lives for naps and food and Guinea Pig Kabobs! And belly scratches and little girl hugs! Bryan ...