We got USCIS approval yesterday!  WooHoo!!

Our Story – part 4: Placement #2 & #3

My sister starting having trouble in her life and her children were removed by Children Services in Toledo.  This was the same two nephews we had back in the beginning, except now there were 3 more added to that family.  The last time we had them, because of how hard it was, we said we would NEVER take them again if things got bad a 2^nd time.  Of course, after praying and knowing what God wanted us to do, we said yes to the three younger ones.  Jaylie, Julia and Joshua came to live with us the beginning of February 2011.  That was a crazy adjustment.  We went from 4 kids to 7!  Because of their ages, it was so much more difficult.  We had two almost 2 year olds and two almost 3 year olds in the house now.   My two older nephews went to live with my dad. 

We had visits at our house every other weekend.  I really wanted this to work and for my sister to get better and for the kids to move back home with her.  I wasn’t sure I could handle this many children for long.  It didn’t work out with the older kids at my dad’s for reasons I can’t really get into, but they were moved to an aunt’s house on their dad’s side of the family.  We had to set up visits with the siblings and their aunt decided that she would take all 5 kids to keep them together.  I did not think it was a good idea, but the kids did need to be together.  The social worker decided to have weekend visits at their aunt’s house on a trial basis.  After two weekends, I couldn’t get their aunt to schedule another.  Thank God they didn’t move them without the trial. 

Fast forward a few months…My oldest nephew was struggling with the place he was living.  He didn’t fit it and was becoming depressed.  In September, the aunt called Children Services and said she could no longer handle the two boys!  I didn’t know what to do.  We had already turned our office into a bedroom to make room for the three little ones.  We put our selfish thoughts out of our head and decided to trust God to provide for us!  We took Joey and Jacob the end of September 2011.  Their room was made out of a room we were going to use as a spare bedroom.  Except for the extra food, there was not a lot of adjusting.  They are really good kids.

When we built our house, the plans had a formal dining and living room.  We decided to close off both of those rooms and put doors on them instead of the open walk ways that were in the plan!  God knew to prompt that!  Both of those rooms are bedrooms now.  We are so thankful for some of the changes we made in our house plans.  We added on to the garage.  Had we not, our 15 passenger van wouldn’t fit in it.  We added a larger pantry which is much needed now.   We upgraded to an 80 gallon hot water tank!  Huge blessing now!

So, after trying to work a case plan, my sister and the kids’ father, never got to a point where the kids went back to them.  There were many lectures and fights that I’m not proud of between my sister and I. I was so frustrated because I didn’t think we could adopt them and I didn’t want them split up!  Foster care is one thing, adoption is another.  Financially, I thought it would be impossible.  It was amazing to watch my God move mountains for us!

Our Story: Part 3 - Transition

Now that we made the decision to adopt, it was time to get our house back on the market.  We needed space!  We purchased land before our oldest son was born with hopes of building a new house by the time he started school.  We thought that would be a perfect time.  God’s timing is so much better than ours.  We had tried to sell our house before and just couldn’t get a bite on it.  Darrell and I both felt that God was saying it wasn’t the right time.  Now that we were going to have Austin and Alex permanently, we needed more space.  We had moved them to Madisyn’s room and moved her to share with Mason until we could sell our house and start building a new one.

We were so confused about everything going on.  We started to doubt our decisions and started questioning whether we made the right choice to start the adoption and if we would be able to sell our house and handle the stress of building a new one.  We decided to ask our Pastor to pray with us.  Pastor Tom prayed with us at church after service and prayed that we would get our answer as soon as that very day.  When we got home there was a message on our machine!  We finally got an offer and started looking for a place to rent.  God’s perfect timing again was reassuring us every step of the way.

We knew it would be a pain to move after we closed on the house and then move again when our house was built, but we had no choice.  We couldn’t afford two house payments if our current house didn’t sell while we were building.  We couldn’t take the chance.  We had prayed and hoped that we could rent our house, but never asked the buyer.  I guess we just figured that if he was buying the house, he would want to move in. 

The guy that put the offer on our house actually stopped by to introduce himself and brought his sister by to take a look at it.  He was looking forward to retiring and moving in.  We told him we were building a house and had put a deposit on another smaller house to rent while we waited for our house to be built.  A few days later, or maybe weeks, I can’t quite remember, he stopped by in the evening again.  This time, he apologized for stopping by so late, but he was driving and really felt he was supposed to stop.  He offered us the opportunity to rent our house from him!!  Amazing!!  Our rent was a little cheaper than our house payment!  God is good for sure!

We had prayed and prayed that if it was in God’s will for us to build a house that He would let us use it to further His kingdom!  We prayed as a family on our vacant lot before the house was built that He would use us for His glory!  We had no idea that He had BIG plans for us.  Our house was finished and we moved in November 2010.  Our 2^nd placement came to live with us on February 3, 2011.  We hadn’t even unpacked everything.  God’s timing is PERFECT!  This placement was personal!

Our Story: Part 2 - Placement #1

We had a vacation planned for June, so we actually were not put on the list to receive kids until the end of June.  We got a call right away for a little boy.  We were excited to accept!  We were supposed to pick him up on a Monday, but he was blessed with grandparents that were willing to keep him instead. 

In July, we were asked to take two little boys, ages 1 ½ and 3 ½.  They were removed for neglect.  Our house at the time was small and we had it arranged to take a boy and girl.  We checked with Mason, our son, to make sure he wouldn’t mind sharing a room with two little ones.  He said he was OK with it so we accepted the placement.  Austin and Alex came to live with us July 2009.  They were wound up!  The first week we had them, they were getting up at 4AM!  I guess that was their lifestyle for most of their short lives.  Plans to reunite failed after many attempts.  After having them for over a year, we were asked to make the decision whether or not to adopt.

It was a hard decision and one we really weren’t planning on making.  We just wanted to be foster parents.  So we prayed and prayed that we would hear God and listen to what His plan was for our life.  I prayed that the sign would be as clear as water.  I told God that my reasoning gets in the way a lot and it would be great if He would just send someone to me and tell me this is what I should do, someone who didn’t know we were faced with this.  I really needed a clear sign.    

I got exactly what I prayed for.  I received a call from Pauline Strauss one day.  She is the lady that ran the Tuesday night Bible study I used to participate in before our placement.  She was just calling to see how I was doing and was wondering how the boys were and if I still had them.  She told me how lucky they were to have us.  That was it.  This was my sign!  

Darrell and I made a list of the “why’s and why not’s” to adopt.  ALL the reasons not to, were pure selfishness.  We believe that God put those boys in our house for us to keep and that everything in our lives up until that point and even after, has been preparing us for where we are today.  We decided to go ahead with the adoption.

Our Story - Part One: Becoming Foster Parents

It all started at the end of 2008.  I was sitting in church on a Sunday morning and had a sudden thought pop into my head.  It said…”you should be a foster parent”.  Totally not related to the service and not something that I thought about doing at all!  I quickly pushed that thought right out of my head!  You see, we had temporary custody of my nephews a few years before that and it was an awful experience.  Without going into details, just know that it put a tremendous strain on my family, especially our marriage.  So much so that I wasn’t sure we would pull out of it.  However, God is good and we got through it with HIS help and I really thought I would never go through that again!  Little did I know we needed to go through that so we would be prepared for the future that God had in store for us.

For about a month after that day in church, the thought just kept coming back.  It didn’t help that it was the month that a local radio station advertises an auction that they do for Foster kids in our county.  I decided I would tell someone and realize how crazy it was and block it out for good.   I started talking to a friend and during the conversation I said I don’t know any foster parents to even talk to about all my questions.  THAT DAY I met a foster parent.   It was someone I already knew, I just didn’t know that she was a foster parent and had adopted her daughter through foster care.  The amazing thing is that I only found this out because I overheard a conversation she was having with someone else.  Now I start thinking that this is more than just a coincidence.  I decided to mention it to Darrell, thinking he would say absolutely not, and knowing that God would never put us in a situation that would hurt our marriage I could finally get rid of this now overwhelming feeling.

I get home from work that day and had to run right back out for something.  Before I lost my nerve, I told Darrell to remind me when I get home to tell him something.  He kept asking what it was so quickly I said I really feel like we should look into foster parenting.  He looked at me and said, “if it’s something you feel strongly about, we’ll talk about and look into it”.  WHAT??  This is not at all what I expected to come out of his mouth!   At that moment I thought, OK God, I get it.  I’ll look into it.

January of 2009 we signed up and started pre-service classes to become foster parents.  We were the only couple out of about 11 that were not signed up to adopt.  We were in it strictly to do foster care.  The classes were awesome.  At times I found myself wishing we would have taken them before we had our bio kids.  After the classes, the home study process started.  So much paper work was involved.  I started to doubt our decision and drug my feet on a few things.  The final item we needed was our life insurance information.  I needed to call our finance guy to see what the details of our policies were.  I just kept forgetting or running out of time to actually call him.  One day, I get home from work and there was a message on my machine from him.  Another God moment!!  I never called him!  I hadn’t talked to him in probably over a year.  He was just calling to see how we were and if we needed anything.  OK God, I get it….I’ll get moving!  We finished up everything and got our license in May 2009.

What first sparked our interest in Caleb

I first saw Caleb's picture a few years ago and immediately thought he looked so much like our then foster son, Alex. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for kids with Down Syndrome because of watching our neighbor's little girl with Down Syndrome grow up across the street from us. I remember thinking how I wished we would have been able to afford to adopt him then. At that time, we had just moved into a brand new home and were in the process of adopting our two foster sons that we have had since 2007. Here is the picture! You'll have to excuse the lotion on Alex's head. He was supposed to be napping. You can tell by the look on his face that he knew he made a bad choice. hahaha!

Welcome Back

Wow! I haven't blogged since 2011. I look at my last post and see that it was about how our life had changed and we had 7 kids and how we couldn't believe it. Ha! We now have 9 and are in the process of adding one more. I just love God's sense of humor. Stay tuned for the rest of the story!

Never in my life have I ever believed that I would have a house full of kids. As a matter of fact, there was a time when I said I would never have ANY!! I was the oldest and spent more time than I wanted watching my 3 siblings. Now we have seven. It's been trying at times, but then someone smiles or does something funny and I'm reminded that they are such blessings to me. They have been given to me, even if for a short time, to allow me to bless them, which in return blesses me.

So much emotion and change has gone through our home in the last year. We built a house, decided to adopt, take on 3 more kids! I have a feeling this is not the end of the changes. I definitely have a stronger faith in my GOD! I am depending on HIM to get me through each day and guide me through all the decisions that I need to make!!

JESUS BRING THE RAIN

This song keeps running through my mind!! I picked up 3 little precious ones last week. That brings the total children in our house to 7!! We have two of our own (ages 11 and 9), two we are in the process of adopting (5 and 3) and now 3 more foster kids (2, 1, & 1). The situation with our new additions is very personal. They are my nieces and nephew. I’m asking for prayers for them, their two older brothers who are staying w/ my dad and pray their mom (my sister). She really needs to be able to clear her mind and focus on helping herself so she can finish raising her children to be the adults they are meant to be.

I also found out that my aunt passed away last night. Please pray her husband and children to find peace with this!

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

I can't believe I have been away from this blog for soooo long. I can't even begin to update everyone on the many changes our family has been through. I'm just going to post a copy of our Christmas letter and hopefully that covers everything!

I hope that everyone has had a blessed 2010. This year has brought so much to our family. I’m not even sure where to begin. I always go back to read the last couple Christmas letters to see how far we’ve come. It’s funny to me how some things turned out just as we imagined they would. However, I really love to see how some things are so different than we had planned, but exactly how God had it planned.

It’s amazing to me how God planted an idea in my head and my first interpretation of what He was asking has turned into so much more. Little by little we have received clear direction on what decisions we needed to make. Most of you know that a little over a year ago we had two little boys placed with us through foster care. In last year’s letter we told everyone that it was planned to reunite them with one of their biological parents. We honestly believed that would happen. Well, they are staying with us. We get to adopt them! It should be final some time in 2011.

I struggled so much with this decision. Not because we don’t love these boys, but because I wasn’t sure what we could handle. Keeping a foster child for a year or so is difficult, but parenting them for the rest of our lives scared me. I just wasn’t sure we were up for that kind of commitment. After all, it was not part of OUR plan. I had a hard time trying to figure out what God was placing before us. I was talking to my brother in law on the phone one day about the situation (Darren, you didn’t know you played a part in this, did you?). I said that I wanted God to send a stranger to me to tell me what to do so I would know the answer was coming from him and not me. After our conversation, I was encouraged to stop trying to figure out what God wanted and ask Him to clearily show me in a big way!

With in a few days, I received a phone call from someone at church I hadn’t heard from in almost a year. She invited me to a bible study and said that she felt I would be blessed from it. The first day of the study the speaker made a comment that changed our life. She talked about making decisions based on what God can do, not what you can do. My whole fear with deciding to adopt was all about me and what my family could handle. I think this was God telling me that all would be OK and we needed to do this. So, this time next year, we will legally have four kids instead of just two. What a blessing we have received!

More blessings this year: We built a house and moved in November. We love it. We have a ton more space! We have been waiting to build this house for 12 years. We bought this lot right before we got pregnant with Mason and have just been waiting for the right time. Mason and Madisyn started their new school right after Thanksgiving and seem to like it.

Mason played baseball again, but that was his last year. He decided against playing in 2011. He started playing the clarinet and his band teacher said he’s a natural. We are in the beginning of basketball season. Mason was able to play for Newark even though we moved out of the district. Darrell is not coaching this year because he has so much going on around home. Mason is now a green belt in karate, but is taking a break until after the first of the year.

Madisyn is still playing soccer and is great at it. She has so much energy! This is definitely her thing! She is such a help with the boys. Madisyn loves to help take care of little ones. She’s helped me a few times in the nursery at church too.

Austin and Alex fit right in our family. They are great with our busy schedule. They love to be on the go, which is good, because that’s usually how it is around here. Both are doing well at preschool and are taking swimming and gymnastics at the YMCA.

Darrell and I are both still working at the same places. Darrell spent all of the summer and most of the fall at our new house while it was being built. I spent most of the summer running kids around and taking care of things at home! We are really looking forward to a little down time. We are on the list to take another foster child, so who knows how much down time we will get! It all depends on what God has in store for us! We are excited to see where he takes us in 2011.

Everyone, please, have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!

Love and Blessings,
The Maas Family,
Darrell, Angel, Mason,
Madisyn, Austin and Alex

So much has been happening here!! We finally have a scheduled ground breaking to begin construction on our house!! We should be starting this Thursday. We are praying for the weather to cooperate. There have been lots of storms and rain here over the last week. A temporary construction driveway has to be installed before we dig and if the rain doesn't let up, we may miss our date.

Bigger news: we are asking for anyone who reads this blog to pray that God will guide us in a very important decision we are facing. We have had two foster sons for almost a year now. "Our" plan was not to adopt, but to be a safe place for kids to stay until they were able to go back home with their parents. Nothing about this placement (which is our first) has been the textbook example. We brought the boys home, there was really not an adjustment period. Except for the fact that they didn't sleep much, they are very "normal" boys. No emotional, physical or academic issues. They are super smart kids.

Anyway, we really had high hopes for their parents. They both were doing so well at first and I thought for sure that the boys would end up back home. Unfortunately, the state has filed for permanent custody. We have some time to figure out what to do, but we have to start thinking about a decision. I can think of very logical reasons that are for and against adopting. I just want to make sure we are following God's plan, not ours. Please, please, please, pray for God to make His decision so clear to us that we cannot deny that it's His decision, not ours.

Thanks and many blessings to all,

Angel

Easter Egg Hunt

We had a great time at an Easter Egg Hunt today at church. A few weeks ago we were asked to pray about invited someone to church and instantly my boy's birth parents came to mind. I knew it would be an awkward situation and kind of hesitated on it, but I also knew I needed to do it. I talked to our SW and she said it would be OK to ask them. I called and invited them to the egg hunt and to church tonight (We've been going to our new Saturday service). They both showed up and we had a great time.

They said they may not be able to make it to church tonight because of gas prices and they just don't have much money. I am really debating on calling back and offering to give them a gas card. I know it was stressed in our classes to not offer money because it opens the doors up to be taken advantage of, so I'm struggling with what to do. I don't have a whole lot of time to think about it.

I really think that they are both very nice people, they just have to learn to deal with life. I'm really praying for them to make it!! I'm hoping that we can involve them more and more in what we do with the boys. I think this will help everyone when they get to go home, including me. I think if I can see how much they love the boys and how much they are trying, it will help me let the little ones go when it's time. I felt my heart soften a little today!!

Blessings,
Angel

Things are moving right along with the house. We are hoping to break ground mid May and be moved in before Christmas. We are so excited to have more space. We also made a big decision and told our social worker that we are willing to take another child. While we are here, we can only take a baby because of space issues, but once we move into our new house, we will take an older child, or two, who knows what God has planned for us.

I have really been thinking about our little one's parents. We were asked to really pray about inviting someone to church at our service a few weeks ago. Instantly their mom and dad came to mind. So, I asked the social worker about it and she seemed to think it would be OK. I called mom today. She said she would go. We have an egg hunt at church and we invited her and she was very interested. I'm a little afraid because I know it's going to awkward, but I think it's a step we need to make. We will invite her every Saturday or Sunday and even if she is only coming to see the boys, I hope she will really hear what's being spoken.

Please be in prayer for her.

Blessings,
Angel

I feel like I have neglected this blog, not that I have many followers, but still. I have been using Facebook more to keep in touch with family and friends. It's a lot easier to jot something down, a thought here, a thought there.

Sometimes I just want to write w/out everyone I know reading it, so here are my thoughts: I have had a stirring inside me for a few weeks now. I'm not sure what it is. I have a feeling that God is preparing me for something and it scares me because I'm not sure what it is. I feel a strong desire to seek him, but I'm not sure what I need. Please pray for knowledge!! I hate the unknown!!

Many Blessings,
Angel

I found out today that my little boys will be seeing mom and dad together tomorrow. They have only seen her a few time since they were placed with us back in July, but have been seeing dad on a regular basis for awhile now. Mom has decided that she has to get it together for her little ones. I've been praying for this and I'm supposed to be happy about it, right??? Then why did my stomach dropped while reading the email from the CW?

My head and my heart are fighting right now.

Claiming a Foster Child on Tax Return

Has anyone else had issues w/ this?? My two FSs were placed w/ me in July!! I just miss claiming them by a few weeks. Even though they still are living with me now. They have only seen BM twice since they have been with me. Even though I have been paying a portion of daycare for most of the year, I still can't even claim that because I cannot claim them as a dependent!!! I'm frustrated!! The sad thing is I don't think either parent had a job during 2009, so they will probably not be claiming them either.

Pictures from October

I think I'm allowed to post these because it doesn't show their faces.
Mason and Madisyn posing on a pumpkin
Big A playing in the corn box
Little A playing in the corn box

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

I hope everyone had a great CHRISTmas. We did. It was tiring, but we enjoyed visiting with family and friends. Mason and Madisyn are not so happy that school is back in session though. Our little foster boys had a great time. They fit right in at all four Christmas get togethers. It was probably a little overwhelming for them, but I think they still had a great time.

Now we have to begin our home building process. I still have mixed feelings about it. I will be so glad to get out of our tiny house and have room to move, but at the same time, I know that it will be a long stressful process.

I emailed our sales rep over the weekend to let her know that we are ready to get things rolling and didn't get the quick response that she had been giving me. I called yesterday and found out that she is no longer there. This new person is the 3rd rep that we've had in about a year. It makes me a little nervous. I don't know if this is normal or not for that industry. It sure is frustrating though.

Don't forget to visit my AVON site. The link is on the right side of this blog. And remember, 50% of all profits made from online orders will be donated to help a friend with an international adoption!!!

Many Blessings to all,
Angel

Fundraiser for a Friend

Hello everyone.

Some of you may know that I have started selling AVON to earn a little extra money to help with the big cost of building a new home. I have also decided to help a family in need at the same time. I have been following the Blog of someone for quite sometime and her writings have been a blessing to me. She is in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia and needs to raise money to help pay for the huge cost. I am willing to donate 50% of all of my profits from internet orders to her. Please read her story at www.overthemoonwithjoy.blogspot.com, then consider making a purchase on my website at www.youravon.com/angelmaas. There is also a link on the right side of my blog. We have been blessed in so many ways over the years, it's our turn to give back.

Blessing,
Angel

I hope everyone had a very blessed Thanksgiving. Ours was pretty uneventful. With all of our family out of town, we just have a little dinner here at home. Mason was probably the most excited about a Turkey dinner. Unfortunately, Wednesday night he started throwing up and did all night until about 7:30 Thursday morning. Poor kid. He was so tired after all that, he slept until almost 3 in the afternoon.

I scrubbed the bathroom and washed sheets until dinner was ready. What fun that always is. We put up our second set of bunk beds and moved bedrooms around so we have 2 kids in each instead of 3 and 1. I think it will work out better and it's just until we get our house built next year.

We went around the table and said what we were Thankful for. All of us are most Thankful for God and our family. Our 3 1/2 year old FS was most Thankful for marshmallows though. He cracks me up.

I was up bright and early this morning and braved the crazy crowds at the stores. I think I have all my shopping done. I did it all today. I went to 6 different stores and still managed to get home a little after lunch time.

Enjoy this Thanksgiving break giving praise to God for all your blessings and enjoy this time with your family.

Blessings to all,
Angel