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Post by sparklymouse on Sept 28, 2012 13:53:42 GMT -5
^ that is one of my least favorite parts of an otherwise decent book. i've said all this before, but when my family adopted it took five years, and my sister and i (both minors) had to do several interviews, and the agency even asked us (so they would have the answer on paper) how we really felt about getting a new baby. we literally had to give our approval before we could move forward. that any adoption agency would drop off a baby with a family that isn't prepared for a baby, without even speaking to the family except in secret, screams negligence. This confuses me a bit. I hope it wasn't quite that literal. I call bs on not getting to adopt a child because the one you have already doesn't want a sibling!
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,270
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Post by oldhickory on Sept 28, 2012 19:22:57 GMT -5
obviously we were much older and wouldn't say no out of jealousy, like andrew or karen might. but having someone in the family who doesn't want a baby (and those feelings are strong enough that they would voice that to the agency), that usually means there are better candidates. i wouldn't think someone very young would have to voice approval, but i was 15ish when the process began and if i'd said "i don't want a baby, find another family" that would have been a huge red flag.
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Post by zoar3 on Sept 28, 2012 19:39:18 GMT -5
^I've said this before but I think before adopting anyone, the Thomas-Brewers should have taken the care and time to become a newly blended family. However long that may have taken. At that point, with everyone's consent, Watson and Elizabeth could have begun looking into the adoption process. I have to admit I do wonder if W and E had approached their kids (at any time) like normally should happen about possibly adopting what their reactions might have been. I really don't see both Sam and Charlie immediately embracing the idea, although had Charlie been allowed to age, even by this book he should have been 18. In any case, the kids' should have had a voice from the get-go. I still do admire your family for adopting, Oldhickory. I'm glad you were able to be part of the process.
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Post by candykane on Sept 28, 2012 20:30:24 GMT -5
I remember Watson and Elizabeth asking the kids, in a very vague way, how they'd feel about another child being around. Then Sam or Charlie asked if Elizabeth was pregnant. She said no, but then she never bothered to tell them WHY she was posing the kid question. Were they supposed to just guess the truth?
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Post by zoar3 on Sept 28, 2012 21:42:44 GMT -5
^I think they really were. In "Stoneybrook" time (as real as that can be) Watson and Elizabeth had been married almost one year (this is the 2nd to last book of the first year of 8th grade). There had only been 2 Kristy books (#11 and #20) between the wedding and this one. We know from #20 that Kristy didn't feel as though her new family had yet melded. IDK, again I applaud the TB's for adopting. I wish how they did so had been better thought out. As the Emily storyline was written, I would have much rather read about Dee expecting #9. All these many moons later I still feel gypped in "Christmas Chiller" when Mary not a new baby was the big news.
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Post by Honeybee on Nov 17, 2012 18:50:05 GMT -5
Re-read this again. I'm surprise the older kids, didn't get the hint. That their mom & their step-dad is thinking about adopting baby. Their mom, told them she's not pregnant. Only two other options is surrogate mother or adoption.
I love reading the carnival part. Any carnival, we went to. You have to drive get there. Their was no walking distance carnival, were we lived, when I was kid.
Been fun to read a chapter, where Social Worker came to the Thomas/Brewer house, unexpectedly. Karen & Andrew are fighting. Kristy trying break up a fight. Elizabeth, making dinner for her big family. Waston, just got home from work. Wants 10 minutes to himself. Charlie & Sam watching sports. Cheering at the tv. cause their team won. David Michael chasing Shannon across the kitchen floor from the muddy backyard. Yelling at the poor dog. The cat is hissing anyone goes by him. That will be too funny to read. The Social Worker, can take one look and run out the door. Tell the adoption agency. No the Thomas/Brewer not fit to adopt any kids, let alone another pets.
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Post by sparklymouse on Nov 17, 2012 19:44:55 GMT -5
I love reading the carnival part. Any carnival, we went to. You have to drive get there. Their was no walking distance carnival, were we lived, when I was kid. We usually just have the summer fairs every July with all the farm/4-H stuff in one part and the carnival stuff in the other. A few years ago this "carnival" randomly popped up in the grocery store parking lot. It had like 5 different rides, maybe a small concession stand, and looked sketchy as hell. It was really how I pictured the carnival in the book to be even though everything is always shiny and perfect in Stoneybrook.
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Post by zoar3 on Jan 19, 2014 21:40:18 GMT -5
What a great and fun book. I love how Kristy throughout was doing her best to make sure everyone in the BSC was involved in all the planning and felt apart of it. I still love reading all about Sudsy's and smile when Jamie got the balloon for Lucy, he is so sweet. My absolute favorite part will always be, "Give Me a Comb, where the buffaloes foam. Where the dear and the antinope pay...." Love it and might make that my signature on here. The Emily part is still out of the blue to me and not very filled in, in detail. I would have enjoyed hearing more about Watson and Elizabeth's adoption choice and them including their children (already present in their family) in it! And, always, the Mimi foreshadowing just breaks my heart. I'll have to read about her in happier times, soon. I do still love the surprise of how much closer Kristy seemed to her in this one and wish we had gotten to read about Kristy and Mimi spending more time together. Anyway, now I really, really want pink cotton candy and it would be fun to take kids, maybe not 21 at once to a carnival and get to experience the fun from their eyes. I'll pass on the haunted house though. Merry Go Round or Train is more my speed and preference.
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Amalia
Sitting For The Braddocks
Her Original Point of View
Posts: 3,664
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Post by Amalia on Jan 19, 2014 23:23:07 GMT -5
I wish that Kristy's extended family made more appearances.
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Post by Honeybee on Jan 19, 2014 23:42:22 GMT -5
^Yeah, will be fun to read more of Kristy's extended family.
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Post by booboobrewer on Jan 19, 2014 23:43:41 GMT -5
I do still love the surprise of how much closer Kristy seemed to her in this one and wish we had gotten to read about Kristy and Mimi spending more time together. Agreed! That would have been sweet.
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supprazz
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,106
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Post by supprazz on Jan 24, 2014 9:28:49 GMT -5
I really think Elizabeth could have involved Watson in the kids lives more before getting engaged, and explored the adoption idea more instead of being impulsive with it. For someone close to the kids before Watson got in the picture, I really think it sounded like she chose him over them in the beginning though he is a good guy and a good catch.
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Post by wenonah4th on Jan 28, 2014 15:32:00 GMT -5
we dont' know for sure how long Watson and Elizabeth considered adopting before they started moving on it.
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Post by greer on Jan 28, 2014 16:10:35 GMT -5
Well, they didn't date for very long before they were married, so not that long.
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Post by wenonah4th on Jan 28, 2014 19:18:41 GMT -5
Still, it may have been something they talked about even before they got married.
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