12-21-09

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Wow it is hard to believe this year is almost over. Donavan is now 18 months old. I can't wait to see him and Chris Christmas morning!!! Well we are signing final adoption papers on Donavan after 1-5-10. It should be that week. FINALLY!! He has grown so much.. He is in to everything. After signing it has to be filed in Columbia than we put in for the final adoption court date in Charleston which should be done in about a month or so after recieving the papers back from Columbia. It has been a long journey to get to this point with him!! Well got news today from Chris's adoption worker she is getting things together like pulling our homestudy and preparing the pre-adopt papers for us to sign on CHRIS!! Chris is a wonderful 12 year old. He tries so hard. I so want so many things for him out of life far more than what he went through his first 12 years. He absolutely loves detail with models. He is working on a model airplane that Aunt Pat brought him. It is made of wood and very delicate. It has given him a run for his money!! Which says alot. Of course we feel there is a 3rd child somewhere for to also adopt. Not sure what God will send whether a girl or a boy. Somewhere along the line we would like a girl to adopt. Just not a crazy one(ha ha ha) Well Darrin is still going through so much since the surgery. It seems as though it has been an extreme up hill battle. He has had so many set backs. I have so respect and love for him. I am not sure the path God is laying out for Darrin and our family other than the kids. However as much suffering as this year has brought and set backs God has given us a loving family, support from our parents, and loved ones like Aunt Pat, along with others. I am unable to discern the path God is taking Darrin which in turn effects us as a family but Somewhere, Somehow, God has above and beyond we could ever dare to think or imagine ahead of us. He is good and has not failed us. Please continue to pray for us. Love you all more than you know! Dobin

10-30-09

Good morning everyone. Just wanted to give a quick update. We had court yesterday @2:30pm. The judge ordered to terminate the unknown father. YEAH!! There was a little bit of confusion reguarding the waiving of the 35 day grace period after the hearing. So it looks like as of right now we will have to wait the 35 days before proceeding. However God knows what is in our best interest and we have been brought this far by God. After the 35 days we meet with Donavan's adoption worker and sign finally adoption papers. Then we take it to our lawyer and he will request a final adoption hearing through Charleston County. Which usually only takes a couple of weeks. They are much quicker!! As of right now it looks as though it maybe the first of the year before the adoption is finalized not sure though. You have to always take into consideration God's plan. Well I can't stay long. Mom, Donavan, and I are going to the Holiday market at the Collisuem today. Wanting to leave by 8am. Anyone who knows me; knows I absolutely love the holidays and everything about it!!! Please continue to pray for us and Darrin's healing. It is taking much longer than expected and unprecedented! Chris is doing great. We are trying to work to get his grades up. He got so far behind last year. He tries so hard. I'll try to get some pictures posted over the weekend!! Love all

10-28-09

Well it is hard to believe it has been 6 months since I posted last. For those who did not know we cut our budget alot and one of those was the internet. I do not do alot with it however I did miss it none the less. Well tommorrow is the last TPR court for the unknown father of Donavan. We have already signed preadopt papers back in June. They are pushing for the Judge to waive the 35day grace period so we can go ahead and sign finally adoption papers and request a hearing for the final adoption. So hopefully God will allow us this blessing to flow through. Alot has happened since last posting. Darrin was hurt really bad on the job back in May. He had a multilevel spinal fusion with titanuim plates in his neck done back in August. Today we see his neurosurgeon. I trully do not know how that will go but God is faithfull!!!! Zack returned home in July. I do miss him but he does call about every other week. He also comes and spends the weekends with us every now and then. We have a new member to our family and he arrived in June. His name is Chris. He is twelve. He is doing wonderful and Donavan loves him to death!!! What is amazing he looks just like Darrin and myself. Most know Donavan is adopted but assume Chris is our bio-son. Isn't that Ironic!! It is amazing what people will assume by just a glance when Donavan is more our son in bonding. Love them both very much though. Mom is doing ok. She has had multiple eye surgeries with in the past month also. One an emergency which occured while we had to go to GA. for funeral. Darrins aunt pasted. Not sure how much sight if any mom will get back. Hopefully enough to read with. She does love her books. Mike my dad did a wonderful job taking care of her. Well I guess that is enough for right now. I'll post again with other info later. Please continue to pray for us!! Love Dobin

4-27-09

Hi everyone!! Well Darrin's birthday was this weekend. It was on Sunday but we celebrated Saturday. Mom, Mike, Cheryl, and George all came over. We cooked a big pot of Frogmore Stew. Then had cake and presents. Darrins is officially 43 years old now. Today was the goodbye visit for the bio-mom to see Donavan and she did not show. I must say I have mixed feeling about it. We had sent word that if she wanted to write a letter to Donavan when he was much older if it was appropriate we would give it to him. I wanted him to be able to ask questions and find answers when he got older. I know how it feels not to know or be able to ask. However God allows everything to happen for a reason. This is probably far better in someway for him. The next thing was I wanted her to have closer. Darrin and I talked about it and he said she come to terms that day at court and it was probably far harder to try and see him again. That is that! I did find out that the paperwork has been submitted for the TPR court hearing request which will probably take a week or two before we know the court date. It could be in May or June. They are already publishing for the John Doe which has to be done for 3 weeks. After the TPR hearing we wait for the 30 days even though it is on a John Doe. Then we can petition for a court day to finalize the adoption. I have to say it will be weird not going on Mondays anymore for visitation after doing if for 10months. I think mom and I will still make it to the Coffee Shop for a routine social event! ha ha! Well Zack is doing great. We are still waiting for notification for a court date for him to return home. Not sure if his worker has it submitted yet. Savanah is a handful. It will be another week or so before they put in the paperwork for a court date for her to go home. She is starting to make progress though. Donavan is finally starting to take to her a little bit. Well that is about it. Please continue to pray for us. We have alot going on and a big load with many other things other than just this. So all the prayer you can give will be very appreciated!! Love you all. Dobin

4-16-09 Court Update

Well we got back from court not to long ago. Shall I say God's glory shined brightly. Court was about 45 minutes late which turned out to be God's direction. The bio mom showed up 10 min. late for court. Right before we were to go in she pulled Donavan's foster worker to the side for about 10minutes. She relinquished her rights today in court!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She will have one goody bye visit supervised by DSS. As of today her rights are permenantly terminated!! I can't stay Its busy so I will post again in a day or so. Please continue to pray we still have to termninate the unknown father's rights!! Love you all

4-13-09

Hey everyone!! Wow it is hard to believe Donavan turned 10months Saturday. Would you like to know what his first word was? DA DA and he knows who that is!! Well I am hoping to start to be able to update more. Zack is doing absolutely great. I will surely miss him when he finally goes home. He has grown so much and is starting to have that teenage look now even though his birthday isn't til Nov. His parents just finished the last thing they had to do(I'm pretty sure they passed) If so he will probably go home the first or mid May. He has been with us 9months and you definitely get attached! Well here is the last with Donavan: We have a PPH Hearing at 3pm this Thursday before a judge. This is the first step in terminating rights. Dss is going to request the judge to suspend all visitation, terminate rights, and terminate all services to bio mom. It is very favorable!!! In fact the social worker already has most of the paperwork filled out to request the TPR Hearing one the order is in on Thurs. from the judge. Then we wait for about 2-4 weeks for the next hearing. Once that is done and the judge terminates rights there is a 30 day period then we have our lawyer start the process with getting a court date for the adoption finalization. While we are waiting on the 30 day period after the judge orders the termination is when we meet with Donavan's adoption worker and sign the adoption paperwork we have to take to our lawyer. Sound like a lot yet it is very nerve racking I must confess because each step is contingent on the other! Savanah our 6year old little girl is making progress. She will be with us a few more weeks. It sounds as though Zack and Savanah will leave about the same time. Well that is about it for right now. I'll try to post after the hearing Thursday to let everyone know how it goes. Please pray for us this is a very critical important step in getting started. Love to you all!!!

3-9-09

I know it has been a few months since my last post. God really had me stay kind of quit here lately. I hope all is doing well!! please keep us in your prayers they are planning to file the TPR in Donavan's situation next week. Please please keep us in your prayers!!! Zack is doing great!! yes we still have him. He has changed alot here lately going from the little boy to that teenager look. Zack has grown a head taller than myself!! Well we also have a 6 yearold little girl named Savanah now. She will be home from school here in about 2 miniutes. She is a true drama queen. God did so well putting her here and just working so well. (Other than brother sister stuff!! ha ha) She gives Zack a run for his money! She came Monday a week ago. Well that is about it right now. I'll post some recent pictures!

1-10-09

Sorry it has been so long since I posted. Life has been busy around here. I only have a few minutes this morning to post. Donavan is back a sleep; Darrin and Zack are hunting this morning. They should be back here very shortly. Our Christmas was wonderful. It was our first Christmas with children and God truly blessed us. Darrin is doing well (I will fill everyone in later on his spinal stenosis diagnosis). Well Zack is doing fine. He finally finished up his homebound tutoring afterschool this past week from missing so much from his surgery in October. He is very proud his grades are back up again. He has been such a joy to us and especially Darrin. Donavan is growing so fast. He will be 7 months old tomorrow. He truly has a personality. It amazes us to watch him. He loves Zack very much too!! Well the latest on Donavan: They decided to wait until March to pursue termination due to a delayed court date for biomom's treatment plan. She stil visits on and off however she still has not cleaned up her life yet. Her brother did move down and her mom is suppost to be down in Feb. I must say I'm not too comfortable with that. However I know God is good and faithful. He has all of this. Well I'm sure most are feeling the pressure of the economic downfall going on. Please know you are all in our prayers. We also ask you to keep us in your prayers. Darrin and I are facing alot with finances right now and the added pressures from Donavan's situation. Yet God keeps telling me to keep the faith and trust Him!!! Well Darrin and I are going to our first Foster Care Association meeting today. We are joining and we also get some of our training with them. Donavan will be going with us. He is still to young to know what they are speaking about. Zack will be spending several hours with mom today.(pray for her!!! ha ha ha) She loves him to death!! Zack was able to spend a few nights out at Darrin's parents over the holidays! He had a blast. Well got to go and get ready. Love you all!! Dobin