I figured you would want to know a little about my family and how adoption has fit into our lives. First, I will introduce you to myself. My name is Katie. I am 37 years young and a mom of 6! I have worked in Early Childhood Development for the last 20 years. I currently work as a curriculum manager for 4 childcare centers. I am very passionate about Early Childhood Education and even more so since adopting our son. It is absolutely fascinating to me how much of a child's development is completed by the age of 5. Having said that, I work very hard every day making sure to positively impact development for every child in my care. Besides kids, I spend my time writing, painting and, whenever possible, catching up on reality TV madness {hope this doesn't take away all of my credibility!}.
I can’t start telling you about the rugrats, until I tell you about my husband, Shawn. Shawn is the best thing to ever happen to me. I met Shawn 20 years ago when I worked with his mom at a day care center. I like to say the day I met him I knew I was going to marry him, I just didn’t think it would take me 2 years to get him to tak e me on our first date.
Me and My Bae
Our first date was to see the movie
Armageddon and that night was the first night I thought “I might marry this
guy”. Exactly one year later, to the
date, we were married. I was 9 months
pregnant with our first child when we took our vows. How scandilicious! It was a very
unconventional way to begin our lives together, and one that I would not
recommend, but it worked out magically for us.
Of course, it worked out because that was God’s plan all along.
Shawn works crazy long hours providing for
our family. He also is a stand up
comedian. He performs clean comedy and
does it all to bring smiles to people’s faces.
He started an organization called, Stand Up for KY which puts on comedy
shows for local families in need. He
even put on a comedy show at a homeless center during the holidays. He works this hard so that I can work only part
time and be home to be a super hands on mom {“super” is a far reach but, you
know, a little embellishing never hurt anyone}.
Even with all of these hours, he still is the most present father to all
of our kids. He makes sure every one of
them feels they are loved, special and the most important person in the
world. I am not saying the guy is a
saint but I pretty much am going to assert that he is by far, the best husband
and father a girl could ever wish for.
2 years after the “Golden Child” arrived, we welcomed our sweet Emma Rachel into the world. She is the kindest and most gentle soul I have ever known. She cares deeply about other people and is intent on changing the world. She is beautiful inside and out. Everyone she comes in contact with, leaves a little bit better for knowing her. Emma is currently in her sophomore year of high school. No telling where her future will take her!
3 years later we welcomed our Kiley Grace. This girl came into the world calm as a cucumber, her eyes wide open to take in all the sights and sound of her new world. That is how she has continued living her life. She is my spitfire full of sass, charm and an extraordinary amount of empathy. She is a born leader and brings kindness to all who meet her. Kiley has just started middle school and is already making a name for herself. I don’t know what she will do in the future but if I had to guess, she would become a teacher.
4 years after Kiley Grace, we went to Bonnaroo. 9 months later Dylan was born! He is almost prophetically, a little rockstar. He is the definition of charming. Everyone who meets Dylan falls in love with him. He is the very best cuddler and still asks to snuggle in the big bed. He has a devious streak that can get him into trouble and his energy is hard to keep up with. He was one of the best little gifts we have received. He is in 2nd grade this year.
2 years later, I met Keegan. Keegan would become our 5th addition to our family. But, I had no idea at the time. Keegan enrolled at the Daycare Center that I was a director at when he was 2 years old. I knew him for about a year before he came to live permanently with us. There has never been a doubt in our minds that God did some wily trickery to place him with us. His adoption was truly divinely inspired… but, more about that later.
Our very last addition {and will most likely be our very last J} is our Lucy Kate. She was our very big surprise. She was unexpected but never unwanted. She was born last April and has brought more joy than we could have ever imagined into our family. Throughout my pregnancy I was very worried, mostly how Keegan would deal with this change. As I will share in our blog, he has been diagnosed with RAD, and the thought that we were bringing a tiny, vulnerable baby into our home, scared me to death. Not surprisingly, God had his almighty finger on our lives yet again. Keegan is her favorite sibling. He is so gentle and loving with her. She has been a bandaid to some of his pain. That has been the most unexpected and most beautiful miracle of our little Lucy.
So, there you have it. I have introduced you to everyone of my crazy
family members. Throughout the reading
of this blog, I will introduce you to other characters, but these are the most
important. These are the reasons for
every breath I take each morning. They
are the reason I rise to greet the day.
They are the very reason I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that God
exists. He has seen fit to bless me with
these angels. I will never know why, but
I will always be so very thankful. I am
unworthy to be their mother but I work everyday to make sure each of them knows
that they are loved more than they can possibly imagine.
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