Where to start?? Well, I guess I could go all the way back to my begining, but that would take a lot of time! ha
A quick summary, I was the oldest of 6 kids. My parents divorced when I was young and they both later remarried. I had some rough years growing up because they didn't get along and put us kids in the middle. I was in public school till 8th grade then my parents put us in a private school where I made some life long friends and had some great experiances! Once I graduated high school, I moved a few weeks later to Peru, South America to teach K & 1st grade. What an experiance!
When I finally came back to the states, I wasn't sure what I was to do next with my life. So I started working at Shady Maple Farm Market while I tried to figure things out, doesn't everyone work there at some part in their life?? At the same time, my siblings and I started hanging out with another sibling group from church, going bowling, to each other's house, etc. Well, this other sibling group had an older sibling that tagged along with us. I knew him because he graduated years before me from the same school and he also worked at Shady. I couldn't figure out why he would hang out with us since he was much older. Long story short, I ended up marrying the guy! Yeah, guess you could say I finally figured out why Kevin was hanging out with us so much!
5 months after we were married, we found out we were expecting our first child. We also bought our first house shortly there after. The pregnancy went well and we were planning on a home birth. At 36wks my midwife became concerned because she couldn't determine the position of the baby and I was measuring just a few centimeters bigger than I should be (I am a small person so she just chalked it up to extra amniotic fluid). So I was sent for an ultrasound to see what was going on. Of course, as first time parents, we were scared since she indicated something could be wrong.
We'll never forget it. We were getting hit with hurricane Floyd and had to drive to Reading for the u/s (my first one as the midwife doesn't order them unless there is an issue). Well, lo and behold we found out we were having TWINS!!! What a shock since I was due in only a few weeks. Long story short, I was induced 2 days before my due date and gave birth to perfectly healthy twin girls, Sarah Elizabeth 5lb 6oz and Susan Esther 6lb 2oz, both 19" and a headfull of black hair.
Obviously having twins didn't deter us from having more kids! Right before the twins first birthday, we found out we were expecting baby #3. Hannah Faith was born 3wks late weighing 7lb 1oz, 19". She looked a lot like her bigger sisters.
When Hannah was close to a year old, I started taking 2 night classes a week for half a year to become an EMT. I've been volunteering as an EMT with New Holland Ambulance for over 6yrs now. I enjoy getting out and helping the public, but boy, I sure have seen and done more than most ever have.
And because we were simply so in love with our kids and wanted more, we found out right when Hannah turned 1, that we were expecting baby #4!! During this time, we knew we needed a bigger house. So we sold our first and moved into our current home only 2 days after Christmas with 6" of snow on the ground.
Erik Matthew made his entrance into the world 2wks late (but on his own, finally mommy didn't have to be induced). It was such a surprise to finally have a boy (we didn't know what we were having with any of them). He weighed 7lb 1oz, 19".
Off and on since Erik has been born Kevin has dealt with his auto-immune disorder, Crohns Disease, which has left him very sick and hospitalized at times. He was in remission prior to us getting married.
Our kids thrived and time passed before we knew it, Sarah & Susan were reaching school age. We felt very strongly that we wanted to homeschool and that's what I've been doing since day 1. I enjoy having the kids with me and seeing their eyes light up when they learn something new.
We've had a few bumps along the way as anyone does. Sarah and Susan were diagnosised with severe bilateral Conductive Hearing Loss and both girls wear hearing aides. (which ironically daddy has this condition and HE needs hearing aides also). Susan also has some growth issues we haven't been able to get a diagnosis for yet. She has seen many different pediatric specialists at Hershey Medical Center and is currently with the world renowed geneticst Dr. Holmes Morton.
Several years ago, we decided to get involved with fostering/adopting in hopes of helping other kids out and maybe expanding our family some more. It has definitely been a roller coaster, both rewarding and challenging at the same time. We got our first placement of a 2 month old boy named Hayden. He was supposed to go back to his birth mom, was up to 2 overnight visits with her after a year in care, but when he was 15 months old, that changed abruptly. His birth mom back slid and she lost her rights to him.
During this time, we received a preadoptive placement of a 12 month old medically fragile special needs boy named Michael (which I will talk about his story another day).
We started the process of adopting both boys, but unfortunately, Hayden continued to go down hill. His Dr and therapists stated he needed special mental and behaviorial help. He was one damaged little boy because of his birth mom and there was nothing we could do for him. He was becoming a threat to the others. We were given a day and a half notice and then he was gone. He had been here almost 2yrs.
As of today, our adoption of Kaleb Michael is almost done. We do plan to continue to foster and are anxiously awaiting another call.
We are celebrating our 10th anniversary in September and our oldest are in 3rd grade already. So much has happened in the last 10yrs it's hard to summarize when writing like this. Kevin is going on 17+ yrs at Shady Maple. Where does the time go???
The only way I can end this is that we have truly been blessed. Yes we have had our fair share of hardships (sometimes more than most people), but that has only made us stronger and more determined to keep pushing on.
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