Continuing Education of the Adoption Process

Well my previous update talked about the word "nurture". In really thinking about the word, I must be honest, I realized how deficient my nurturing skills were with my three grown children. The bad thing is, you can't go back and do it all over again. The good thing is, God gives wisdom. Nurturing can and does extend to even our grown children. I'm so thankful we have a God of redemption and forgiveness.

Today, we had two more continuing education classes for our adoption process:

1. SIDS, Shaken Baby Syndrome, Early Childhood Brain Development, Health & Safety Issues.
2. Transportatin Safety for Children Training

I won't go in to all the details, but I can tell you this - if you are going to be a parent, or if you are a new parent - INVEST YOUR TIME IN PARENTING CLASSES! Don't make the mistake of thinking it's all about on the job training! Education is PREVENTION! Things you'd never think of in everyday life are brought to your attention. It's amazing what I am learning, and I've raised (realizing now, how by the grace of God that really was) 3 grown children - and have been introduced to ideas, even now, I've never thought of.

NEWSFLASH!!!!!! BIG OLE WIVES TALE!!!!!!! DO NOT LET YOUR BABY SLEEP ON IT'S STOMACH - learn this motto - FRONT TO PLAY, BACK TO SLEEP! The statistics on SIDS are staggering - oh, your child won't suffocate on it's own spit up, another wives tale!

Have a plan for frustration when you bring your baby home! Oh, there WILL be days/nights they have fits of uncontrollable screaming that would even make a saint go nuts! Who are you going to call, to give you a break from the blood curdling, hours long screaming? A ten minute break can give you a fresh and softened heart to endure the situation.

WOW, cannot begin to tell you how much we learned about car seat safety! Heck, I thought - buy the car seat, pop it in - and wa la! We are good to go! Boy was I mistaken! What kind of car seat do you need, how is each one supposed to be installed, when to move shoulder straps, where to put it in the car, stress fractures, it goes on and on - If you want to know where you can go, to get your installed safety seat looked at and certified - check out http://www.safekidsgreaterhouston.org/ - for a location you can go to, just to make SURE your child is as safe as they can be.

When we left class today, we were given a wonderful book: Fields of the Fatherless by C. Thomas Davis. I'm almost through with it and plan to give my blog rating to the book tomorrow.....until then - if you are in Houston, enjoy this fantastic weather and be blessed!