The Lahmann Family
There are 3 of us living at home these days: Mom (Wilda), 18 year old, Danielle (who prefers to be called Dani) and 11 year old Maddie, who has lived with me since September 2013 and whose adoption is now final! Maddie has severe cerebral palsy, is non verbal and tube fed. We would really like to add another child to our family with similar needs, aged 12 or under.Things we like to do!
I have 10 grandchildren and expecting #11 late spring 2017! Four of them have Cerebral Palsy, three are in wheelchairs and two have feeding tubes. One of them is adopted. I have lots of experience with children of varying special needs.
Mom stays home full time. She has always had a love for children and cannot imagine life without children in the home. She also does freelance writing from home and has been published in Guideposts and Angels on Earth as well as numerous online publications. She likes to dabble in "arts and crafts" projects.
Danielle has social anxiety and attends weekly counseling for this. She was adopted from foster care at 2 years of age. Dani is a homebody, but she also enjoys swimming in the nearby pool, spending time with her cat and caring for her chickens. She attends Classical Conversations (a weekly homeschool enrichment program) which she enjoys. Recently she has a boyfriend and is looking for her first job. With the family, she enjoys attending the annual county fair and we all enjoy movies. She keeps busy on her computer and creating unique works of art.
Maddie has cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus. She also has a seizure disorder and scoliosis. She has a shunt and a feeding tube and has grown by leaps and bounds since coming in to care. She loves music and listening to others around her in conversation. She is a happy, easy going child. |
Where we live!
We live on 22 acres with 2 small ponies, goats, chickens, ducks, cats, dogs and 3 potbellied pigs. Extended family members live nearby and we are a great support system for one another. We live near the TN River and Pickwick Landing where we visit frequently for picnics and time on the playground.
We have a large, newer manufactured home with 4 bedrooms, AND a bonus room/nursery off the master bedroom and 2 full bathrooms. We enjoy watching comedy sitcoms together; TVLand with the old shows is probably our favorite and more recently, The Middle has become a favorite of ours. Maddie likes to listen to music on her CD player in her room and she listens to Sprout on TV. We have a theater nearby, a skating rink and a bowling alley. There is also an arcade with miniature golf and paintball, laser tag and go karts within 10 minutes of where we live. Mom and Maddie watch local church services on Sundays on TV (Love and Truth Church); this is the same church that Mom used to work in the nursery (6+years). Presently Dani chooses not to attend church services.Past experiences
Mom, Wilda, along with her late husband, Randy, provided foster care for children in the state of Oregon from 1987-2002. She parented 100 children, many with special needs including drug and alcohol exposure, cleft lip/palate, feeding issues, failure to thrive, mental health issues, neurological disorders, language dyspraxia and more. She also worked for the State of Oregon Services to Children and Families where she interacted daily with foster children and their foster/adopt and bio parents. (Four of her 7 children were adopted through the foster care system and one was a private domestic adoption). |
Support
We have a great support system! Daughter and her family live just across the pond; her inlaws are next door to me, and both families completed foster parent training through Youth Villages in order to become respite providers for any children placed in my care. Our family has just enough structure to outweigh any chaos in our lives. We are not a rigid, by the book, sort of family. We are free to be just who we are and accept one another for our differences. In fact, we rejoice in those differences! We enjoy keeping busy and would like to make positive differences in the lives of others. It is my desire to help children reach their fullest potentials and in the process of that, to show them unconditional love and support.We can do it!
I am mature enough with life experiences to have learned how to handle challenges and setbacks; I am committed to all of my children and any children who may come to think of me as their Mom. My dream is to provide a nurturing home for medically fragile children who might be deemed more difficult to place. |
