MAPP Class: Week Three

MAPP CLASS
I'll probably find myself saying this as we go through each week but I would have to say that our class this past Thursday was one of the most eye opening classes we've had yet. The topic: Becoming a Loss Expert. We talked a lot about grieving and behaviors that you might see in children that are in foster care and why they have some of the behaviors they do. And while this was the main subject and while we learned how to help children or youth cope with the different stages of grieve we were challenged to revisit and face some of the losses we may of had in our owns lives so that we can better help a child who has faced a loss or even multiple losses. And these losses could range anywhere from losing a loved one, to divorce, to an unexpected illness, to inferility, to miscarriages, to car accidents and to even being abandoned as a child. It turned out to be a bit of an emotional night as one guy shared about his dad being in a car accident almost two years ago and how he dealt with that, another lady shared about her father being diagnosed with cancer, while another lady shared about a pastor she had known all her life in the church she grew up in and after 25 years just up and left and how it really broke her faith apart in many ways...loss can come in many shapes and forms but it's how we deal with it, it's how we process it and it's the things we gain in those losses that shape us to be who God wants us to be and it's those losses and gains that shape us into the parent that we will be to our children and even in our case, the leaders we will be to our students. It was a great class and we walked away gaining a lot more knowledge about children who experience loss. Even through these classes I find myself striving to be a better mom to Emilee. Striving to be more patient with her and striving to always let her know she is loved. While I've always wanted to be the best parent that I can to my child, this class has really challenged me to be the best mom and best role model I could possibly be. Hearing some of these children's stories has literally taken my heart and broke it into a million pieces and all I want to do after that is come home and just hold my sweet child and let her know how loved and what a precious gift she is to me and her daddy.

Scrapbook
The scrapbook is coming along! I think I'm about at the halfway mark with it. I've finished 13 out of 29 pages that will be in it so I'm really hoping by the time the holidays hit I will be finished. Between school, adoption classes/homework, church stuff and just every day life I'm trying to squeeze in as much time as I can with it and so far have been pretty successful in doing that. As promised in the last blog, I said I would post a couple of sneak peek pictures of a couple of the pages so here they are!

This is the first page in our scrapbook of our family. Lisa Stockton, with Stockton Photography, came to the house and took a few shots of us. She did an excellent job and we appreciate her so very much!! There were definitely some great pictures to put in our scrapbook!

These are some pictures of Justin when he was a baby and a toddler. The next page is pictures of Justin as an adult and pictures with Emilee. Wasn't he a cutie? :)

Of course we can't leave our sweet Bella out of the picture!

Last but not least, my work station! Although I've loved putting this scrapbook togehter I'm looking foward to having my table back! Luckily we haven't had any company to where we'd need to use this table!

I guess that about sums it up for now! Later on in the week I'll post our letter to the baby that we had to write and turn it. Justin wrote most of it and it is simply precious. Can't wait to share it with you! Thank you all for your continued prayers! God is working in our hearts and lives daily and we can't wait to continue to see how all of this unfolds...especially after the holidays end and we get closer to getting a new addition to our family!

Blessings!!