If at first you do not succeed…try, try, try again. You learn that phrase as a kid and it resonates. Your gaining life experiences so these minor obstacles so in most situations the problem can be easily overcome. With each successful hurdle jumped your kid self's confidence rises. The more life experiences you have the easier it is to avoid these obstacles. Until one day you run into a problem as an adult that you have no life experience in. You hit a proverbial wall that seems so high that you have no idea how to traverse it. Jumping doesn’t work. Free soloing this wall has failed. Going through it isn’t an option. You are stumped.
Road to River (Aka Ripley Oliver) Part 1
Grant and I want a child. Grant and I can’t have a child naturally. We have tried…repeatedly. However, we have recognized our physical limitations.
We attempted adoption and that was a complete mess. Finding an agency, doing the training, smiling, babysitting scared kids (respite care), telling the agency what we are looking for, and being provided the complete opposite was beyond frustrating. Telling the agency we want to adopt the child and being told that you are nothing more than a glorified babysitter was even worse. We were told the goal of fostering is reunification. Never mind the trauma the parents have caused, the visitation that opens old wounds, and the inability to discipline the children because they have rights. Did you know you can’t pick a child up who is trying to light a fire in public? Found that out the hard way.