Monday, December 19, 2011
From Our Family To Yours...
May God Bless and keep you during this coming year- and May you all have a Very Merry Christmas!
P.S. We did not send out a Christmas Card this year- It was a hard decision as this is the first time in 17 years we did not send one out- Thank you to all of you that have sent us cards- they are hanging in my living room for all to see!! Looking forward to sending our cards out next year! Again, Have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Happy 6 Month Birthday Elle's
God will Bless and keep you always precious girl- Happy 6 Month Birthday
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Who Text's and Take's Picture's in Church Anyways?
ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!
O.K. so the whole texting is because our church nursery has us leave our phones on vibrate so they can text if they need us to come get our child..........although I did text my friendDeb once cause when I walked into church I caught a glimpse of how cute her hair looked but did not have a chance to tell her......AND our pastor did ask us to greet one another..........so I greeted my friend via text while in Church!
Today was the first time I have taken a picture in Church (during the service)- I looked over at Ryan and Ellie (she usually goes to nursery but sat with us today) and could not resist- Thank goodness we were sitting in the back so it did not draw any attention.......Such a precious pic!!
The rest of the pictures were taken this week randomly-
Hope your Sun. is going great!!
Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!
O.K. so the whole texting is because our church nursery has us leave our phones on vibrate so they can text if they need us to come get our child..........although I did text my friend
Today was the first time I have taken a picture in Church (during the service)- I looked over at Ryan and Ellie (she usually goes to nursery but sat with us today) and could not resist- Thank goodness we were sitting in the back so it did not draw any attention.......Such a precious pic!!
The rest of the pictures were taken this week randomly-
Hope your Sun. is going great!!
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| laughing........... |
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| Can you believe the size of that Cinnamon Roll!! It was Delicious |
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| Ellie 25 Weeks Old |
Monday, December 5, 2011
Opening up about Open Adoption
This afternoon as I was sitting in my living room, letting Ellie roll around on the ground while I did some paper work, I noticed that she was getting pretty fussy- She has not been big on afternoon naps the past couple of weeks but has instead gone to bed around 6 p.m. sleeping until around 7:30 a.m. (she still wakes up to eat at least once if not twice during that time- I am usually sitting on my couch at 2 and 6 a.m. waiting for my precious girl to finish her bottle).......I picked her up and started to feed her the last of her bottle thinking that she may be hungry- As she ate, we sat and started at each other......my eyes are filled with tears as I type out this part of the blog post- We were staring at each other with adoring looks in both of our eyes- she would stop drinking every once in awhile to give me a big smile and then would go immediately back to eating and staring- She fell asleep doing this (the fussing was because she was tired)- I used to stare at my boys the same way, usually when they were sleeping...I would try to memorize everything on their little faces.....I would see features of both Matt and I and be in amazement that part of Matt and part of me was shown for the world to see on our beautiful boys-
One of the many things I love about having an open adoption is that I get to know about Ellie's biological History- I have spent time with Elle's birth mom Heather, asking her questions, getting to know her- I get to look into my adoring daughters eyes and stare in amazement at how similar she and Heather's eye's are- I get to study Ellie's features and place them with physical features that I have seen in Ellie's own biological family- If someone would have told me that I would be staring at my daughter placing her features with anyone's other than mine or Matt's before we went through our adoption process, I would have been intimidated- thoughts like 'if she does not biologically resemble Matt or I, how will Matt and I explain it to her?' 'What will love feel like when you are not biologically connected?' etc.. would have been reeling through my brain-
When I look into my daughter's eyes, when I trace the tip of her nose, when I hold her fingers in mine, when I see her short little pudgy legs I don't see one single thing that resembles me BUT my heart beats out of my chest with a love that is indescribable- When Ellie and my eyes meet it is that of a bonded biological mommy and daughter the only difference is that both of our hearts are bigger because God has allowed a space for her biological family without taking any of the room that was meant for the bonding and/or love of Ellie to our family-
We are blessed
Open Adoption is a beautiful thing!
One of the many things I love about having an open adoption is that I get to know about Ellie's biological History- I have spent time with Elle's birth mom Heather, asking her questions, getting to know her- I get to look into my adoring daughters eyes and stare in amazement at how similar she and Heather's eye's are- I get to study Ellie's features and place them with physical features that I have seen in Ellie's own biological family- If someone would have told me that I would be staring at my daughter placing her features with anyone's other than mine or Matt's before we went through our adoption process, I would have been intimidated- thoughts like 'if she does not biologically resemble Matt or I, how will Matt and I explain it to her?' 'What will love feel like when you are not biologically connected?' etc.. would have been reeling through my brain-
When I look into my daughter's eyes, when I trace the tip of her nose, when I hold her fingers in mine, when I see her short little pudgy legs I don't see one single thing that resembles me BUT my heart beats out of my chest with a love that is indescribable- When Ellie and my eyes meet it is that of a bonded biological mommy and daughter the only difference is that both of our hearts are bigger because God has allowed a space for her biological family without taking any of the room that was meant for the bonding and/or love of Ellie to our family-
We are blessed
Open Adoption is a beautiful thing!
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
This Week In Pictures :)
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| Made Matt's mom's Honey Wheat Bread |
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| My dog Oklie was groomed (Thank you so much L.)- What a cutie with the bow!! (so funny that she is laying on Eli's Bible- Holy Dog!!) |
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| Ellie started eating baby food 2 times a day this week (she was at once a day)- She also turned 24 weeks old on Sat. 12/3 |
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| Matt's mom |
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| Elle's helping her Auntie Rhonda decorate Matt's parents Christmas Tree |
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| Ryan helping decorate the Christmas Tree Skirt |
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| Oh Eli Ben! |
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| 21 Days till Christmas :) |
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| Matt purposely closing his eyes- I think he's annoyed- hee! |
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Sharing Past The Shame Of Being Scared
This is another post that was saved in my blog archives- I didn't share it at the time because I am ashamed to say I was scared.......scared that I would come across as someone who thinks that EVERYONE should adopt because Matt and I adopted- Like I am an over zealous adoption pusher- Honestly, I believe that adoption is a calling- A calling that God himself puts on your heart- one that you will know- If you do not feel called to adopt then it is not for you- God will call you to another way to give of yourself......... Our family has been SO SO blessed by adoption- I will say that if adoption is something that you have 'questioned' or have wondered about- follow thorough will that wondering and get educated about it- talk to someone who has adopted, talk to a birth mother, read a book, etc... because from my heart to all of yours.......Adoption is amazing :) Hope that your Tues. is going great!
I read the below blog post (found at THIS BLOG) and really wanted to share with my blog readers- I keep typing and erasing this sentence because I can not find the right words to introduce the post below- I'll let you go and read it for yourselves :)
Steph
_____________________________________________
reckless abandon
I wrote this post one year ago. My friend, Kathy (who is in Eastern Europe right now adopting her adorable little boy), suggested that I repost it since today is the beginning of Orphan Awareness Month. So I made a few changes to the original post and here goes...
~~~~~~~
It’s Orphan Awareness Month.
Again.
Another month set aside for the church to show orphan-related videos, hear testimonies relevant to adoption and orphan care, and to present sermons where orphans are [possibly] mentioned.
I must confess. Many times I ask myself, What’s the point of it? Is having another time set aside to create an awareness of the orphan crisis even worth the effort? Is it? Will it make a profound difference?
Will is it really?
Perhaps I have become somewhat cynical or weary of the battle that rages for the lives of millions of children, or frustrated that help seems so slow to come, or desperate to see more and more who are willing to go. I don’t know. I only know the sinking feeling that I feel each time I look into the faces of our four adopted children and cannot help but remember the millions who are left behind. The ones who are literally without hope, without life.
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| credit: all photos from google |
Yet sadly, we wait.
We wait for God to speak to us in an audible voice, telling us to “GO!” Sometimes He does that audible voice thing, you know.
We wait for the perfect job to come along. Orphan care demands a whole lot of money. How can we possibly afford another mouth to feed?
We wait for the bills to be paid—can’t be taking on more than we can handle.
We wait for the larger house—because adding children requires a large house.
We wait for a few kids to leave the nest before we add more—can’t be having too many children in the home now, can we?
We wait for confirmation with the perfect Scripture to drop into our spirits as a sign that we need to act now.
We wait...for someone else to go.
We wait, we wait, we wait.
And while we wait—they perish. The statistics are staggering. I can’t even look anymore.
This is the horrendous reality...
Why do we find every reason under heaven and earth why we should not go? The Bible is as clear as daylight—“...care for the widows and the orphans.”
It’s a lot like missions. My heart aches when I see how many churches don’t have a fabulous missions department. God’s Word says to “Go into ALL the world and make disciples of all.” It’s a command! It’s non-negotiable. We're meant to be sending and supporting missions all over the globe. Taking care of the orphans is a command too. We’re commanded in His word to care for them—however that may look.
But still we wait for “the call” to come. Kind of like, “I am SO glad Mrs. Jenkins is called to lead children’s church, because that is DEFINITELY NOT my calling.
Ouch!
God hardly ever calls us to do things for Him when everything in our lives is just grand. He never calls us to walk on water when our circumstances are sweet. When I look in the Bible, I see people doing things for the Lord in the midst of impossible circumstances. Tougher than what my circumstances have ever been in my entire life. Yet, they did it. In obedience. The Lord commanded them--and they went. They accepted the tough task that lay before them—come what may. They never asked the Lord for a re-commission.
So why in the world do we? What makes us so different to the people God gave us to learn from in the Bible?
Why are there so many uncared for orphans in the world when we’re commanded to care for them?
We would be wealthy if someone paid us every time we have been told that we were “called by God” to adopt our four children who have special needs. Or for the many people who have told us that “There is no way we could do what you do.”
I disagree.
You know what that does? It diminishes God’s sovereign power to do the impossible through each one of us, His people. Comments like that tell the Father, “Sorry, God, but you don’t have enough power to give me the ability to parent a child who struggles in life.” “So sorry, God. Just go and call someone else.” “Oh God, and that mission field thing? There is no way I could ever do that!”
That’s perilous ground to walk on.
God’s power is absolutely made perfect in our weakness. When He commands us to do something, He equips us with everything we need to fulfill the calling with excellence. Even people like us--ordinary sinners saved by grace who are just average Joes. He does it for His glory! To make Himself famous in the earth. It has absolutely nothing to do with us. Everything God does is for His glory, not ours.
I believe with all my heart that God is raising up an army of crazy people to do the ridiculous. Many believe we are living in the end times. We agree! We sense that more than ever God is looking for those who are willing to do the impossible. Just WILLING! God is seeking out those who will serve Him with reckless abandon, no matter where that takes them or what He tells them to do in this life.
Will it be easy? Heck, no! He never promised us an easy road...ever!
We said yes to the Lord a very long time ago. We'll go where He sends us and do what He tells us to do...because really, our lives are not our own.
Reckless abandon for the sake of His orphans...simply because they so desperately need US.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Ranting about weird creepy stalker guy
I typed this blog post in May of this year (2011) but did not post at the time for several reasons- We were not only right in the middle of our adoption process but my nephew Jess was coming over by himself for a visit (he is Eli's age) and I did not want to worry his parents- I came across it tonight while cleaning out my blog and read through it- Just to fill in the blanks, the creepy stalker guy is named Mitchell Osborne- I actually saved his picture on my computer (I got it off of 1 of his MANY facebook profiles) along with several other pieces of identifiable info in case we ever hear from him again it will be easier to pass on to the police..............What a creeper!
Last March (10') our house phone rang in the middle of the night- I let it go to our machine and woke up just enough to hear our machine click on with our message- The machine clicked off without a message being left- Immediately my cell phone started ringing- I jumped out of bed and grabbed it- thinking that it must be an emergency and somebody close to us needed to get in touch.................
The phone was completely silent except for somebody breathing into it-
That March night started the first of hundreds of late night phone call's with someone breathing into the phone-
I didn't take it to seriously for the first month or so- I really just thought it was somebody being very foolish with a prank they were taking to far- We would unplug our house phone cause this person would call for hours if we didn't (always early morning hours)- I was leary of turning off my cell phone cause we needed a way for people to reach us if needed- If my cell phone and our house phone was off they would call Matt's cell phone-
Always doing the same thing- If Matt answered they would hang up immediately- If I answered they would sit on the phone and breathe.
It finally escalated to the point that I called our phone company and asked them to put a trace on our phone- They said that this person had to call a certain number of times before they would consider it harassment and put a trace on the line- The first night after I called the phone company this individual met the 'harassment' quota- The phone company also advised that I call the police.
The police started keeping track of how much he was calling- They also obtained the phone records from the phone company to get this person's phone number- The police were very evasive as to if it was a cell phone or a land line- but finally said that they believed it was a cell phone- I asked that they figure out what cell towers were pinging (were they local or not) so that we could know what we were up against- The police would not as they said that it was infringing on the rights of the individual (SERIOUSLY??) and that they would only find out what cell towers were being used if a crime was committed-
The calls kept escalating and the months drug on- This person's number was always blocked on our cell phone's- so we could never get the number- along with not being able to get the number I was personally getting very weary of how persistent this individual was-
One night the calls were so much we shut every phone we had in the house off- After we shut off the phones I could not sleep so I got up and flipped on my computer- I thought I would cruise through face book to wind down and hopefully fall asleep again.
As my face book page came up I saw I had a new message- It was from a man I did not know named ***** telling me he knew my name, where I lived, and what church I went to- I also saw that a face book with my name (but no picture) had been created and was requesting to be friends with my friends- It was a good learning lesson to me to keep all of my face book info on private (only some of my info was private at the time this happened).
I FREAKED OUT! I was in the detective's office first thing the next morning- Crying, telling him that he had to do something cause I felt SO unsafe. The detective advised me to change my cell number, we had the phone company block any calls from the number this person was calling from on our land line, and my face book went to completely private. The detective also gave me the assurance that he would call the individual (whom they had identified but would not give me any info about) and warn him that if he called me again the police would get involved.
The phone went silent- all subsided..........a year passed
Last night (5/18/11) I got a text from one of my friends that I used to go to church with- she said that an individual was trying to get in touch with me and had contacted both she and her husband multiple times to try to get my phone number- they told this individual that they did not feel comfortable giving it out but would let me know and give me his phone number (which he left with them)-
I also got a call last night from another friend saying that some guy (same guy) called them asking for my number-
The name he left was the same name of the person that tried to contact me on face book last year-
******
My heart is unsettled- I am trying not to be worried- My initial reaction is that I am completely peeved-
HOW DARE HE INVADE MY PERSONAL SPACE-
I wrote the above on 5/19/11- Today is 5/27/11
Yesterday morning I got a call from one of the people this gentleman has been calling to try to get a hold of me- This individual told me that ***** had called him yesterday morning saying that he is 'on island' and wanted to get in contact with me- He said he is staying at Best Western in **** - He called from a new number (other than the one he used before)
I called the hotel and asked to be connected to his room- The operator didn't miss a beat as she sent me through- I hung up once the phone went to a ring (ringing his room) and then promptly got out of my car and threw up-
Matt and I went to see the detective that worked the case last year- The detective seemed to take it very serious that this gentleman was 'on island' and made a visit to the hotel yesterday afternoon- **** was not in his room- (where the heck is he??) and the detective was going to let the front desk know that he wanted to get into contact with him- The detective assured me that he would be back to check this out tomorrow.
Last night I had a really hard time sleeping- I finally grabbed my Bible and put in under my pillow- I am CLINGING to Psalm 34:7 and Psalm 91- Thank you Lord that you have this situation completely under control!
______________________________
Yesterday after I updated this blog post I got a call from the Detective working the case- He said that he was able to make contact with the gentleman and the gentleman admitted to contacting me last year and admitted to trying to get a hold of me recently but denied 'stalking' and said that he just wanted to come visit where we live- He likes dinosaurs and a certain dinosaur movie that he liked was filmed here- The detective advised him to not have contact with me and sent him on his way- From the detective's point of view he did not fit the 'stalker profile'- and because this gentleman had not physically touched me nor has he made any physical threats there was basically nothing they could do (meaning the police)- I could file a 'no contact' order so that if he were to try to ever contact me again he would be arrested (yes please!!)-
I also learned that he had taken an ATV tour that comes right up to the ranch we live on- He was on the tour Thurs................
The detective ended with 'He (stalker) feel's like this is a misunderstanding and would like to talk with both of you (Matt and I) to get this straightened out'..........My husband was all over that- not having me go along but definitely Matt wanted to put a name with a face and chat 'man to man' with this gentleman.
The meeting was set up for this morning (5/28)- It lasted about an hour and from Matt told me this gentleman is 25 and from what he told Matt, he is obsessed with Dinosaurs- This Dinosaur obsession sparked his interest in where we live (again, because of the movie filmed here). Shortly after Matt and I moved here I googled our place to see what was out there on it- I made the mistake of commenting on a blog with both my first and last name (never ever ever do that ladies- it is in the top 'no no's' to keep yourself protected from stuff like this)- I did not realize that my name was going to post but when it did I just figured 'oh well'-
He got my name off of that site and because of some mental health issues he has (OCD) he became obsessed with finding a way to contact me-
From what I can piece together from here- He found me on face book and was able to view my profile picture (which is no longer available to the public to view- only my friends) and my 'likes' (which I have also since put on private)- one of my 'likes' was my church here in Hawaii- I think he was so consumed with contacting me he created a face book page with my name and tried to be-friend my friends and ask about me- He then googled my name and found my maiden name and was able to piece together some of my family members (whom he said he tried to contact)- His obsession was quickly moving from Dinosaurs and the place we live to me-
Matt believes that his physical condition (bum leg, bum eye, puny) makes him not a physical threat but more of a 'cyber bully' and phone 'threat'-
Before Matt met with him we spent a greater part of the night turning his antics around on him- following him on face book, my space, and just the general web- we were able to find his face book account and follow that to several 'alias' face book accounts he had created (I saw the one he used to contact me)- etc... We learned quite a bit about him to determine what proper precautions we needed to take and so that Matt, while talking to this gentleman could confront the issues head on with proof-
Matt, in a physically 'non-confrontational' way was able to alert some family members he has traveled to the Islands with about the issues at hand and have a man to (puny) man talk with this stalker gentleman- Set some very healthy boundaries and get some closure so that we can all move on!
I have learned some healthy boundaries as well- with putting my name out there on the web- and pictures- and just general info- I understand that we live in a society that is computer generated and it is not possible to protect myself completely and that I still have to go on living- but simple steps of making sure my face book info is set to private, not putting my last name on blog posts, etc... can go a long way in protection-
I hope that as I end this blog post tonight- this will be just that 'the end' of ever having to deal with this type of issue again-
Ending on a good note- our adoption stuff is moving along!!! We are so excited and if you notice the new little device I added to this blog- it is a count down to our adoption day :) WHOOP WHOOP-
Last March (10') our house phone rang in the middle of the night- I let it go to our machine and woke up just enough to hear our machine click on with our message- The machine clicked off without a message being left- Immediately my cell phone started ringing- I jumped out of bed and grabbed it- thinking that it must be an emergency and somebody close to us needed to get in touch.................
The phone was completely silent except for somebody breathing into it-
That March night started the first of hundreds of late night phone call's with someone breathing into the phone-
I didn't take it to seriously for the first month or so- I really just thought it was somebody being very foolish with a prank they were taking to far- We would unplug our house phone cause this person would call for hours if we didn't (always early morning hours)- I was leary of turning off my cell phone cause we needed a way for people to reach us if needed- If my cell phone and our house phone was off they would call Matt's cell phone-
Always doing the same thing- If Matt answered they would hang up immediately- If I answered they would sit on the phone and breathe.
It finally escalated to the point that I called our phone company and asked them to put a trace on our phone- They said that this person had to call a certain number of times before they would consider it harassment and put a trace on the line- The first night after I called the phone company this individual met the 'harassment' quota- The phone company also advised that I call the police.
The police started keeping track of how much he was calling- They also obtained the phone records from the phone company to get this person's phone number- The police were very evasive as to if it was a cell phone or a land line- but finally said that they believed it was a cell phone- I asked that they figure out what cell towers were pinging (were they local or not) so that we could know what we were up against- The police would not as they said that it was infringing on the rights of the individual (SERIOUSLY??) and that they would only find out what cell towers were being used if a crime was committed-
The calls kept escalating and the months drug on- This person's number was always blocked on our cell phone's- so we could never get the number- along with not being able to get the number I was personally getting very weary of how persistent this individual was-
One night the calls were so much we shut every phone we had in the house off- After we shut off the phones I could not sleep so I got up and flipped on my computer- I thought I would cruise through face book to wind down and hopefully fall asleep again.
As my face book page came up I saw I had a new message- It was from a man I did not know named ***** telling me he knew my name, where I lived, and what church I went to- I also saw that a face book with my name (but no picture) had been created and was requesting to be friends with my friends- It was a good learning lesson to me to keep all of my face book info on private (only some of my info was private at the time this happened).
I FREAKED OUT! I was in the detective's office first thing the next morning- Crying, telling him that he had to do something cause I felt SO unsafe. The detective advised me to change my cell number, we had the phone company block any calls from the number this person was calling from on our land line, and my face book went to completely private. The detective also gave me the assurance that he would call the individual (whom they had identified but would not give me any info about) and warn him that if he called me again the police would get involved.
The phone went silent- all subsided..........a year passed
Last night (5/18/11) I got a text from one of my friends that I used to go to church with- she said that an individual was trying to get in touch with me and had contacted both she and her husband multiple times to try to get my phone number- they told this individual that they did not feel comfortable giving it out but would let me know and give me his phone number (which he left with them)-
I also got a call last night from another friend saying that some guy (same guy) called them asking for my number-
The name he left was the same name of the person that tried to contact me on face book last year-
******
My heart is unsettled- I am trying not to be worried- My initial reaction is that I am completely peeved-
HOW DARE HE INVADE MY PERSONAL SPACE-
I wrote the above on 5/19/11- Today is 5/27/11
Yesterday morning I got a call from one of the people this gentleman has been calling to try to get a hold of me- This individual told me that ***** had called him yesterday morning saying that he is 'on island' and wanted to get in contact with me- He said he is staying at Best Western in **** - He called from a new number (other than the one he used before)
I called the hotel and asked to be connected to his room- The operator didn't miss a beat as she sent me through- I hung up once the phone went to a ring (ringing his room) and then promptly got out of my car and threw up-
Matt and I went to see the detective that worked the case last year- The detective seemed to take it very serious that this gentleman was 'on island' and made a visit to the hotel yesterday afternoon- **** was not in his room- (where the heck is he??) and the detective was going to let the front desk know that he wanted to get into contact with him- The detective assured me that he would be back to check this out tomorrow.
Last night I had a really hard time sleeping- I finally grabbed my Bible and put in under my pillow- I am CLINGING to Psalm 34:7 and Psalm 91- Thank you Lord that you have this situation completely under control!
______________________________
Yesterday after I updated this blog post I got a call from the Detective working the case- He said that he was able to make contact with the gentleman and the gentleman admitted to contacting me last year and admitted to trying to get a hold of me recently but denied 'stalking' and said that he just wanted to come visit where we live- He likes dinosaurs and a certain dinosaur movie that he liked was filmed here- The detective advised him to not have contact with me and sent him on his way- From the detective's point of view he did not fit the 'stalker profile'- and because this gentleman had not physically touched me nor has he made any physical threats there was basically nothing they could do (meaning the police)- I could file a 'no contact' order so that if he were to try to ever contact me again he would be arrested (yes please!!)-
I also learned that he had taken an ATV tour that comes right up to the ranch we live on- He was on the tour Thurs................
The detective ended with 'He (stalker) feel's like this is a misunderstanding and would like to talk with both of you (Matt and I) to get this straightened out'..........My husband was all over that- not having me go along but definitely Matt wanted to put a name with a face and chat 'man to man' with this gentleman.
The meeting was set up for this morning (5/28)- It lasted about an hour and from Matt told me this gentleman is 25 and from what he told Matt, he is obsessed with Dinosaurs- This Dinosaur obsession sparked his interest in where we live (again, because of the movie filmed here). Shortly after Matt and I moved here I googled our place to see what was out there on it- I made the mistake of commenting on a blog with both my first and last name (never ever ever do that ladies- it is in the top 'no no's' to keep yourself protected from stuff like this)- I did not realize that my name was going to post but when it did I just figured 'oh well'-
He got my name off of that site and because of some mental health issues he has (OCD) he became obsessed with finding a way to contact me-
From what I can piece together from here- He found me on face book and was able to view my profile picture (which is no longer available to the public to view- only my friends) and my 'likes' (which I have also since put on private)- one of my 'likes' was my church here in Hawaii- I think he was so consumed with contacting me he created a face book page with my name and tried to be-friend my friends and ask about me- He then googled my name and found my maiden name and was able to piece together some of my family members (whom he said he tried to contact)- His obsession was quickly moving from Dinosaurs and the place we live to me-
Matt believes that his physical condition (bum leg, bum eye, puny) makes him not a physical threat but more of a 'cyber bully' and phone 'threat'-
Before Matt met with him we spent a greater part of the night turning his antics around on him- following him on face book, my space, and just the general web- we were able to find his face book account and follow that to several 'alias' face book accounts he had created (I saw the one he used to contact me)- etc... We learned quite a bit about him to determine what proper precautions we needed to take and so that Matt, while talking to this gentleman could confront the issues head on with proof-
Matt, in a physically 'non-confrontational' way was able to alert some family members he has traveled to the Islands with about the issues at hand and have a man to (puny) man talk with this stalker gentleman- Set some very healthy boundaries and get some closure so that we can all move on!
I have learned some healthy boundaries as well- with putting my name out there on the web- and pictures- and just general info- I understand that we live in a society that is computer generated and it is not possible to protect myself completely and that I still have to go on living- but simple steps of making sure my face book info is set to private, not putting my last name on blog posts, etc... can go a long way in protection-
I hope that as I end this blog post tonight- this will be just that 'the end' of ever having to deal with this type of issue again-
Ending on a good note- our adoption stuff is moving along!!! We are so excited and if you notice the new little device I added to this blog- it is a count down to our adoption day :) WHOOP WHOOP-
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