Giving families the disney magic-If possible

[HappyLawyer]

I just did a post it and it made me think about my life. I am the poor kid who grew up worked hard and made a success of it. I feel for all the children in the world that will never have the experience of disney or a vacation period, all the travels i do now i had no opportunity as a child. I adopted my daughter when she was 2 1/2 now she is 8 we take her to disney every 2 years, we spend about 2 weeks there, she is one of 10 children and only 2 others were adopted into a family that can afford to take vacations. Since my mom was poor she did not go to disney as a kid and never got the magic i make sure she goes with us each and every time and i try to make it more special for her then my daughter, i know i waste a lot of money on the next trip in 2006 but we only live once, Each time i am at disney i meet so many adoptive parents, i love intorducing myself as an adoptive parent to them. Some of the families are obvious different races our is not my dtr and myself are both black, do we have any other families out there with adopted children. Share your thought on how special it feels to take them to disney.

I replied to another post and made me think about all the children who will never get to go to disney or travel anywhere. I just think it is a very special thing. I do plan to have 1 child, i don't think anyone can get me to go through labor more then once so we better have twins and i would like to adopt more children maybe 2 more, i cannot afford international adoption so i am a foster parent and God will give me what God sees fit i suppose. Anyway cherish all the moments good or bad and keep enjoying disney (despite the rate increases-lol)

 

[HappyLawyer]

i just really wanted to say how special it is the 53 people have read this thread and no one has any comment, thanks to you all.

 

[aec]

Thanks. your post really puts things into perspective!

 

[HappyLawyer]

thank you for taking the time to acknowledge it

 

[mjmcca]

I do cherish teh time i spent at WDW with my oarents when the 3 times i went with my mother andhte 1 time i was lucky enough to have both of my parents with me. They are now gone. I take my children as often as i am able to give them memories to cherish too.

 

[ebarj1098]

I'd like to comment. My sister has a "sorta" adopted daughter. She is actually her God Daughter, but she has full custody of her, with NO real parental rights. Her real mother doesn't want her so she has lived with my sister for 12 years now. She calls my sister Mom and her real mother "the woman". My sister works for a church and really has no money, but she gets my niece to special concerts and to WDW when possible. (We are going in June!) My sister would like to adopt or be a foster parent, but doesn't really see it happening, as a low-income single parent. I think it is important for all families to try to do these special family trips. I nearly come to tears thinking about how special WDW will be for my two DS. Just thought I'd share!

 

[HappyLawyer]

tell your sister it is not about the amount of money she makes, they will come in and look at the quality of her home, if she could look and see if there was some type of state assistance with the adoption expenses, she is doing an awesome thing

 

[mom4graceandlogan]

Hello Happylawyer!!!!! Guess what? I am an adoption attorney and plan to adopt myself in the next 2-3 years. I love your thread! I never got to go to Disney as a child and have great pleasure in getting to take my almost 4 year old daughter and am planning to take my one year old daughter later this year. I am the first person in my family to go to college, much less go on big vacations. I have two biological daughters. My husband and I are huge foster parent advocates and plan on adopting at least one possibly up to three children (maybe a sibling group) over the next five years. I work part time and do all types of adoptions(private, international foster care, independent, relative etc.) but foster care are my favorites. I do free consultations for anyone who will listen to me speak about the advantages(and disadvantages) of foster parent adoptions. State agency adoptions are my favorite. I used to represent the state in termination proceedings. I would say 1/2 of my state agency adoptions are disney fans, many are season pass holders, most stay at Fort Wilderness. ( we live in N. Georgia). My husband and I had planned on adopting possibly before we had biological children, but fate (and a big surprise) had other plans for us. Now we are waiting until our youngest is 3 until we take foster parent classes. You are absolutely right about income not being an issue for state adoptions. Much assistance may be available if people just ask. When we are blessed with an adopted child, we will be celebrating the adoption at Walt Disney World without a doubt.

 

[HappyLawyer]

Hello Happylawyer!!!!! Guess what? I am an adoption attorney and plan to adopt myself in the next 2-3 years. I love your thread! I never got to go to Disney as a child and have great pleasure in getting to take my almost 4 year old daughter and am planning to take my one year old daughter later this year. I am the first person in my family to go to college, much less go on big vacations. I have two biological daughters. My husband and I are huge foster parent advocates and plan on adopting at least one possibly up to three children (maybe a sibling group) over the next five years. I work part time and do all types of adoptions(private, international foster care, independent, relative etc.) but foster care are my favorites. I do free consultations for anyone who will listen to me speak about the advantages(and disadvantages) of foster parent adoptions. State agency adoptions are my favorite. I used to represent the state in termination proceedings. I would say 1/2 of my state agency adoptions are disney fans, many are season pass holders, most stay at Fort Wilderness. ( we live in N. Georgia). My husband and I had planned on adopting possibly before we had biological children, but fate (and a big surprise) had other plans for us. Now we are waiting until our youngest is 3 until we take foster parent classes. You are absolutely right about income not being an issue for state adoptions. Much assistance may be available if people just ask. When we are blessed with an adopted child, we will be celebrating the adoption at Walt Disney World without a doubt.

That is so awesome, i am a big advocate also, my goal is to take over te department of children and family services here in il, one day hopefully, we are the first generation of grandcildren to graduate, all except the two 8 year olds, and te 1 year old grandchildren are college graduates-i am the only to accumulate multiple degrees -ha ha-hope my sis is reading this

 

[blestmom]

Anyway cherish all the moments good or bad and keep enjoying disney (despite the rate increases-lol)

Thank you for the beautiful post, and for the positive message!

 

[sandyluvsdisney]

I think there are so many things that kids don't get to see or do, i went to Disney as an adult, my parents couldn't affort to send me anywhere either, and of course i fell in love with it, and now that i have my DD i plan to take her as much as i can.
This thread make us think of the blessing that we have around us and we take for granted and sometimes we don't even notice how blessed we truly are.

 

[lemondog]

Thanks for your post!!! We are also adoptive parents. Our 3yo was adopted from Russia at 6 months of age, we also have biological twins who are 10-months old. My DH grew up one of 6 kids, without a lot of money. They never, ever took a family vacation. I was more priveleged, I guess. We took several trips to WDW as a kid, as well as other places.

Since he never had family vacations he doesn't see the value of them. I, on the other hand, want so badly to give our children what I had -- the memories that come from family vacations. But he doesn't see it. I have convinced him we need to go to Disney. Like you said we only live once. I want to see the magic in my children's eyes -- and his too! I hope they all find it just as magical a place as I do.

Angela

 

[Deesknee]

I think what you do is trulymagical.
My parents could never afford to take myself or my brothers either. We now usually take my mother with us. Seeing her face is almost as special as seeing my kids faces.

God bless you and all you do.

 

[HappyLawyer]

I think what you do is trulymagical.
My parents could never afford to take myself or my brothers either. We now usually take my mother with us. Seeing her face is almost as special as seeing my kids faces.

God bless you and all you do.

i understand, it is so funny cuz my mom always asks me how much did all this cost, and i tell her it cost a dollar did i get a good deal or what, i love watching her rund back and forth to the coasters, she did her best for me, now i want to give her many happy memories

 

[tigger1963]

Happy,

I gotta say, I like your "dollar" idea. We're taking my mom to WDW for the first time this spring. I've mentioned elsewhere on this site that she was a single mom who took us to Disneyland every year (albiet with packed lunches). We looked forward to it all year long and it instilled a real love of the Disney experience. She just retired, so she's finally got the time to come along with us. All her kids and their families are going to meet up and spend 10 days together for her first trip to WDW. She's been hounding me on what it will cost and what she needs to pay, and I keep saying "you paid your part about 35 years in advance". From now on I think I'll just tell her it cost a dollar.

 

[KAC2005]

My brother and I are taking our foster brother to WDW in July. He is 8 and he came to stay with us when his dad was ill and is now staying with us pemenantly because his dad died. When we were there last year he didn't go as my mum wanted us to have a holiday on our own, but we missed him and realised how much he would have enjoyed it! I really can't wait to take him, he's been excited out of his mind since we booked and we've still got six months to go. Although he can't read (he has learning difficulties) he likes to sit with us and look at the DIS boards. He likes seeing all the photos!!

KAC

 

[HappyLawyer]

My brother and I are taking our foster brother to WDW in July. He is 8 and he came to stay with us when his dad was ill and is now staying with us pemenantly because his dad died. When we were there last year he didn't go as my mum wanted us to have a holiday on our own, but we missed him and realised how much he would have enjoyed it! I really can't wait to take him, he's been excited out of his mind since we booked and we've still got six months to go. Although he can't read (he has learning difficulties) he likes to sit with us and look at the DIS boards. He likes seeing all the photos!!

KAC

well you tell him at disney he will have no time for any type of reading only fun fun fun

 

[Disfreek]

I do have to comment on this post as well. My parents could not afford to take us on vacations when we were growing up. Dad worked & mom stayed at home with us. WE went as a family in 1985. My mom & dad have both passed away and even now when I go to Magic Kingdom or Epcot I remember all of the fun we had on that family vacation to WDW.

I think that is one of the reasons we have gone so many times. I want my children to experience the Disney Magic.

 

[all4fun]

HappyLawer, I found your post to be very touching. That is so great that you're a foster parent and have adopted. I especially love your last comment about only being pg once. That made me laugh.

We are very blessed and have taken our neices and nephew to WDW. Next week we're taking the youngest sibling (9yr old neice) on her first trip. We're so excited for her. I just can't wait to see the look on her face when we get there. She is really excited. I feel so fortunate that we are in a position to be able to do that. (Plus, she'll help us entertain our 20 mos old ds - yes we do have ulterior motives!)

Cheryl

 

[Madi100]

My parents got divorced when I was ten years old. That first summer my mom saved money and flew us out to California. We stayed with family, but she took us to Disneyland. She said it would probably be the last time she could ever afford it. She was right. She got remarried a year later, and we couldn't afford to ever do any "big" vacations. There were five kids in the family then. Last January when we went we took my mom and we paid for most of her trip. She did some babysitting a few evenings, but it was just an excuse to get her to go with us. She loved Disney World, and I think that some day in the near future I'm going to have to take her back, just her and I.