Sunbeams NEWS

Hey! So you should check out SunBeam's blog!

Can you see your name?!!

I have kept in touch with one of my campers through facebook and I was looking at all of her pics the other day and she was so inspired by me being a counselor (totally kidding) at Oackrest that she was one this summer and I think last summer as well. She is the funniest girl in the world. Her oakcrest name is ROO. Wow how time flies that our campers are now the counselors!! Anyway...Can you see your name on here ANYONE!??!

going private

Hey ya'll, I am going private. I can't seem to find everyone's emails. Could you link it on here, or send it to me michellelewis05@gmail.com. Thanks gals. I have lots to fill in soon enough, but don't have time yet. Talk to you all later!
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BIPH!!!

I need your email or number as fast as possible. Not life or death but really important. Post it please and I will give you a call!
Love,
Flipp

WELLLLLLLL, WHAT DO YOU KNOW...

Hey ya'll....yep, it's Duzz here. It's sure nice to finally be on here but I'm not very good at keeping up with these blog things but I'll do what I can. Thanks Daisy for sharing the photos of Damon!!! Ok, so this is our cute little foster boy Damon! We absolutely LOVE him to pieces. He's been in our home since Sept. 6 & things are looking more in our favor to be able to adopt him....HOWEVER, you can never be too sure with the State because they can change at the drop of a hat. Damon's caseworker has told me she's about 95% sure that we'll get the opportunity to adopt him & I'm praying we do. He seriously is the love of my life! The story behind Damon...I can't share a whole lot & also for Damon's sake, I think I'd prefer to keep alot of it private. I will tell you though, he's been through too much for a 2yr old (just turned 2 on 10/31). He came into the system about March (I believe) and was malnourished. When they (the State) asked us to take Damon in, they warned us that he had 'Attachment Disorder' and that we would be his technically his 4th foster home....the other foster parents struggled with him. Usually, when we were asked to take kids in, I insisted on looking at their files & thinking about it for a few days. When we were called about Damon, I absolutely knew 100% that we just needed to hurry & get him. I didn't have a whole lot of knowledge of his background or anything else but I felt an urgency to go get him. When it all happened, I ended up going on a Saturday to pick him up by myself. The other foster Mom expressed to me how she had so much animosity towards this little guy & how they haven't seen eye to eye from day 1. She told me he couldn't even talk at all & wanted to demonstrate for me...she picked him up & said, "Say Olive." He actually tried to say it & inside I was laughing. I thought it was so cute that he even tried. I mean, seriously...OLIVE? Anyway, the more I talked to her the more urgent I felt to get him in my car. When I asked about his routine...because I didn't want to mix the poor kid up anymore than he already probably felt...I asked what time he went to bed, took naps & if milk was given to him prior to either. She laughed & said, "Why would I give him milk? I don't like it, I don't feed it to my kids, why would I give it to him?" That's when I politely excused us & told her I didn't want to make her late for her meeting. I took Damon what was supposed to be for the weekend & it turned in to being permanent...well, so far. I told Jeff that Sunday night that I couldn't take him back to someone who didn't love him. I called the next day & asked the State if we could just bypass their process for relocating a child into a new home & expressed my concerns as well as my support if we couldn't bypass. Yet again, I was given many words of advice concerning his so called mis-behaviors & how he was probably just in his 'honeymoon stages' of coming into our home. Again, I felt differently & knew within my heart that we just needed to follow the spirit & do what we could. It didn't phase me what they were telling me...good to keep in the back of the mind but I'll tell you, that's where it's stayed too. Damon is so blasted cute. He cracks me up left & right. We laugh lots & lots & lots! We are constantly learning new words & funny things to do...he mimics my Dad's walk to a T...it's the cutest thing ever!!! Anyway, that's the jist of how he came into our home & a few of the so called problems that this little guy has. I've yet to see his 'Attachment Disorder'...anyone who meets him is surprised that they say he has one. For those of you who are wondering what that means....supposedly in a nutshell, he won't allow himself to attach to people or to get close to him. Alot of it is caused from being moved from house to house to house. There's more to it than that but you can look it up if you're interested...it's proper term is R.A.D. but I'll be honest I've only seen MAYBE 1 or 2 signs of it but they've quickly vanished. For a child Damon's age, they usually give the parents 8 months to sort their problems out & then the judge can determine...based off of the parents progress..he/she can extend the time to 12 months & if things keep going well, they can push it 3 more months but that's it. Damon's 8 months is up in December & last week we just went to a review hearing for him....he doesn't go, just us. Anyway, it doesn't look like the parents are doing too well with what they've been given to do & many of the things they have to do, take ALOT longer than 4 weeks...which is when the Permanency Hearing is for Damon's case. We go back to court on 12/1 to hear the judges decision & after last week's meeting for Damon's case....I think his biological Mom is going to sign the rights over....atleast that's what she told me. However, I think the State is still going to push to have the rights terminated. I don't know what's going to happen though....so keep us in your prayers. Just to show you how weird his biological parents are...I asked them the other day where his name came from, only because I had already heard but I wanted to know from them directly. They said (as they were laughing), "We were watching the Omen (is that the correct spelling?) a few weeks before I gave birth & we decided to name him after the child in that show." I told them that was sick & wrong...they thought it was funny. She proceeded to tell me how they induced her (which I also wonder if they requested to be induced on the 31st but she said it wasn't..they're strange though) that when Damon was born, the birth Father made them turn his head around to ensure he didn't have 666 on his forehead. I just looked at her & said, "You've got to be kidding me....he's anything but a devil child...he's the sweetest kid. I can't believe you guys did that to him, that's really sad." They gave him a middle name from the bible....I said, "You mean to tell me you named him a devilish name because he was born on Halloween & because of that show & then you gave him a biblical name, what's wrong with you guys?" Yeah, needless to say, we'll be changing his name if we get to adopt him. That's just the mentality we're dealing with. Anyway, I didn't mean for this to be a novel...like I said before, there's soooooo much to this little guys story but I've only shared a wee bit. Damon is honestly such a crack up....he knows how to say his prayers at night & at meals. In fact, if Jeff is helping him eat & I'm not at the table yet he yells, "Mommmmm, pwyers...Mom, pwyers." and there he is with his arms folded & his eyes squinting just enough so he can still see out of them. He LOVES to sneak up on us & say "BOO!" funniest thing ever! He says "pwease" & "dank you" to everyone whenever he wants something or they help him. He is a HUGE blessing to us & like Daisy said about Heavenly Father...he definitely has helped us come together. I've come to better understand Christlike love & devotion through the eyes of our 2 yr. old & through the things that have gone on around him. There is no greater teacher than that of a child. We're so blessed!!!! Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to put video clips on here & give you a demo of the 'great' things I'm teaching him....like being a monkey on the bunk bed & how to climb in & out of his crib! FUNNY! I love you all! Thanks for taking the time to read this, if you did...& if you didn't, then why are you reading this part? JUST KIDDING! I love you all & think of you OFTEN!!! Have a wonderful day & I'll try to keep you posted with things!!! Thanks for getting me signed on here!!!
Love ya,
Duzz

Will someone please make Duzz a contributor!!!

I just found out that she has a little guy living with her and I had no idea and she said she still is not a contributor or she would have told us all!! So I am sharing the pictures of her cute little Damon but really I feel like she should be the one sharing this awesome news! So to get more details you are going to have to make her a contributor! If you need her email let me know and I will email it to you. Isn't he so stickin' cute?!! He totally looks like their kid! Heavenly Father sure knows what he is doin' up there!

what should I do?

Ok so I need some help. My SIL moved home with her 2db. I am having a hard time with it because she needs constent babying even before this. My MIL house is a mess and she doesn't do anything but sit there. I don't have sympathy for her and her marriage problems and I don't even want to be in the same room with her. She and I had a long talk about all of this a while ago and she doesn't find any fault in her own actions only her husbands. I know this is a lot of info but I don't have anywhere else to turn to. Have any of you had to deal with something like this? What should I do? She and I have struggled since I have been married and sometimes I wonder if I can be in the same room with her this is just making things worse. When I have been there she acts like nothing is wrong and yesterday she asked if I was ok because I looked more stressed than usually. It was all I could do not to just lay it all out right then. Please any advise?

Cricket's Halloween

Here's my cute kiddos on Halloween! Cameron as Robin Hood and Katie as a Witch!