Forever, For Always, No Matter What

Catholic Adoption & Home Education Blog

About Us

Welcome!

We are a catholic, homeschooling family of eight.  All of our children joined our family through International Adoption.    A quick overview of our family is as follows:

Jacob, Russia, age 14, home 2001   •  Jonah, Russia, age 12, home 2004

Sarah, S. Korea, age 11, home 2005  •  Anna, Caribbean, age 11, home 2009

Leah, S. Korea, age 9, home 2006   •   Levi, Caribbean, age 8, home 2009

Family Photo

Photo Credit 

I typically blog about Homeschooling, Adoption and Fitness and how our faith intersects with all of those subjects.   I like to post about resources that are helpful to me as a homeschooling mom and as a mom committed to being fit and healthy.  Of course, adoption is a part of our everyday, so naturally I write about adoption too.  
Here are a few of my most popular posts:

5 Homeschooling Stereotypes we Ruin

5 Homeschooling Stereotypes we Ruin

9 Things will Never do as a Homeschooling Mom

9 Things I will Never do as a Homeschooling Mom

10 Things Every New Homeschooler Needs to Know

10 Things Every New Homeschooler Needs to Know

 

Catholic Posts:

Taking Young Children to Catholic Mass
Taking Young Children to Catholic Mass

First Holy Communion Prep

First Holy Communion Resources

Adoption Posts:

Healthy Eating and Your (Adopted) Child

Healthy Eating and Your {Adopted} Child

Adoption & Homeschooling

 

Adoption & Homeschooling

Moving to Florida

You can read about our latest adventure – our family move from Michigan to Florida!



I typically post 2-3 times per week.  I love blogging and sharing, however my main priority is wife, mom, and teacher.



I’d love to connect via Twitter, Facebook or via e-mail jensdunlap @ gmail.com



For more information about our family, you can read our adoption story here.


Adoption FAQ’s

 

Kids Pier
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions we get about our family and adoption in general:
1. Are they real brothers and sisters?
We know you are really asking is if they are biologically related.  The answer is yes and no!  A couple are and a few aren’t.  They are “real” siblings though, not due to a shared biology, but rather shared experiences.  They will grow up together, sharing the same parents, the same mealtime conversations, the same vacations, and the same ordinary, everyday life.
2. How old were your children when they joined your family?
Jacob – six months
Jonah – nine months
Sarah – 16 months
Anna – 5 years
Leah – two weeks shy of her first birthday
Levi – 2 years
3. Do they know they were adopted?
Believe it or not we still get this question!!  Yes, all the children know that they were not born to the particular mom and dad with which they cursos de programación online.  They all know that they were born in different countries.  We celebrate adoption, we laugh about adoption, we sometimes cry about adoption, and frankly sometimes it makes us downright mad, but the key is that adoption is always something being discussed in one form or another.  The questions aren’t always easy but they are always encouraged.
4.  What happened to their real parents?
We know what you mean to ask is what happened to their biological parents.  For the most part we are very open (obviously!) and willing to talk about adoption.  When you are a transracial family it is pretty hard to keep it a secret!  However, when it comes to information about our children’s birth families it is a different story.  Birth parent information is private, not a secret, but personal information that is for our children to know and not for us to broadcast.  It is their story to share not ours.
5.  Why did you choose Russia? (or Korea, or the Caribbean)
Because that is where our children were!  Choosing a country to adopt from, or domestic adoption, or foster care adoption is an intensely personal decision.  There is no “best” choice, only the situation that works best for your family.  So many factors affect which adoption route is best for your particular situation at any given time.  My advice is to lay it before the Lord, research, pray, investigate, talk to others, and be open to what and where God is leading you!
6.  How do you maintain their cultural identity?
We do what we can to instill a sense of pride in the country that they were born in, as well as the country they now live.  We do that by reading books, celebrating feast days of certain saints, cooking different meals etc.  However, the truth of the matter is that Bob and I are not Russian, Korean, or Vincentian.  We are believers, and believe that God placed these particular children in this particular home, “…but you received a spirit of adoption…the spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15-16).  God chose them to be raised in a christian-catholic home and for us that is the most important “cultural identity”.