Not Today

My house is looking so good. Curtains hung, new door knob installed, washed the dogs bed, and Cleaned my Closet!!! Not sure how much more of this I can do. Thought my nesting had come to an end at 5:30. Got a call asking if I could do one or two, one year olds. I said I could do one. They are separate cases so it wasn't splitting up a sibling group. I said we would love to and it didn't matter boy or girl. Called back shortly before 6 and asked about other kids in my home and if I stayed at home. Went to Camilles orientation, knowing I could be home in a flash if needed. Phone rings at 6:15 and we are not getting the baby. Ugh. Girls and I are so disappointed. CPS doesn't know what a great deal they lost. The baby would have had 3 awesome mommies in this house. Probably what happened is there was a family with fewer kids that they thought would be better. Fortunately we know better. Hearts are sad but we know that God has a plan. We're just having to be patient to see the plan take shape. Prayers tonight for the families & the one year olds. Continued prayers for the kids that will come our way.

Still No Call

Still no calls, well none for official business. My CK case manager did call & ask if we would do respite care for another foster family over Labor Day weekend. Listened to the story of the family and couldn't say no. I said the only reason we couldn't would be if we have our own kiddos placed in our home by then. So unless something changes we will have. 2,3, and 4 year old visit for 3 nights. Anythings possible for 3 nights! We are hoping that Todd's parents are coming that weekend. Not sure if I should tell them about our possible visitors.I'm sure we will be able to use the extra hands! Maybe Sandy won't read this :)

First day of school

The start of another school year. 8th, 5th, and 2nd. Seems impossible. All were eager to get back. Camille was a little grouchy but got everyone to school on time. Added to our morning Bible study. Another good thing about getting back into our school routine. I love getting our day off with family breakfast & Bible study. This year I bought everyone a journal. They are to use them to write the bible verse for the day, any prayer concerns, then I'm wanting everyone to concentrate on doing acts of kindness in their everyday lives. Love it that we are also studying the book if Acts. God's timing is amazing. Won't be long and we will have made it thru the entire bible.

Relief & Regret

I sit on the sofa with a sigh of relief or perhaps a sigh of regret. The last 2 days have been continued fun with the kids. Even managed to get the 2 younger kids rooms deep cleaned today. Socks sorted, outfits ready & matched up for school. Madeline did her own or rather kept her door closed and locked to make me think she was working. Anyway, all seemed to be in order, then came the call. Only it was for 3 kids. I swore to myself I wouldn't do 6 kids again. All girls, ages 2,4, & 5. Ugh. We've been waiting so anxiously for this call. I said I needed to talk to Todd. He doesn't say no. That's usually my sign. Called back to get more information. Where was I on the list? First one they called, last one? Turns out I was the list. I shouldn't have even been on there since I'd told them to bury the fact that I could take 3 kids. They are smarter than that. Then I'm told the younger 2 are boys not girls. She wants to know if that changes things. I want to say heck yeah it does. There goes my princess parties. Camille & I had just tucked away about a million dress up dresses today. Guess lil boys will dress up too. After gathering more information, I said yes. Heart was racing thinking of what I needed to do to get ready. Excited. Nervous. Got the next call that the 2 year old has a digestive disease. And though it pains me to even say it, I have to say no. I would be at my limits with 6 kids but trying to care for special health needs wouldn't be fair to any of the children, particularly to me. And so I sit with a sigh of relief and a sigh of regret. Last thing she says is "I'll talk to you soon.". I sure hope so.

How can we serve

I thought that this week would drag on forever. I mean how many more movies or activities can we possible fit in. Turns out that we are concentrating on community service. Yesterday Lucas, Camille & I braved Walmart for grocery shopping. Monday morning is a pretty good time. A young mom with the smartest baby was in line behind us. Everything that I said to the mom made the baby laugh. Baby is 4 months old & so precious. We continued to talk. I asked if it was too personal if I loaded her groceries onto the check out. She was holding baby in the good ole snuggle. Turns out it wasn't too personal. Lucas then loaded the bagged groceries & took them to her car & unloaded. We exchanges numbers & hopefully will get together. Did I mention they attend our church? Love new friends, love seeing my sweet Lucas help others without rolling his eyes. He has the sweetest serving spirit.

Coaxed Madeline out of bed today & she went & helped Camille's former kindergarten teacher. I figured anyone that has a 3 month old, 2 year old, and 5 year old can use a lil extra help. I stayed and helped for a bit, too. Once a teacher, always a teacher. Gotta love bulletin boards the best.

We received a call yesterday but it was for a 11 year old girl with a significant sheet with facts about her and her family. I guess a case manager we have worked with before requested us. CK person who called then wondered if the CPS case manager was my friend or foe. Interesting thought. First and foremost are my kiddos. CK said they are seeing a lot of severe cases like that right now in addition to large sibling groups. Still praying and waiting for the kids we will get to welcome into our home. Enjoying the final week with the hatched kids. Wondering how we can keep up with our serving tomorrow!

Prayers for all who are suffering

Prayers going out for a dear friend who is beginning her courageous battle against breast cancer. A possible 10 hour surgery tomorrow. Thankfully she is armed with the love of Christ.

We continue to wait for our foster care call. We went on the list on Thursday and this is the longest we have waited. Camille asked if we could just call in to get a kid. Not quite that easy. I figured that maybe the foster care business is slow, which would be a good thing. Maybe our world is getting it's act together. Then I open the newspaper and find that isn't so. I turn on the news and the shallow faces of Somalian children appear. Suffering of the children is the absolute worst.

We are blessed with a refrigerator that is always full of food, a house with A/C, and hearts that are trying to do God's will. So many blessings, I can't wait to share them with our next foster care kids.

For a few hours, he says

A huge week of blessings. Thursday we got to go see the baby. He is now 3 1/2 months old. He has grown so much but still so tiny. We took turns passing him around. Adoption hadn't gone through yet but it looks more and more likely that birth mom's rights will be terminated. I know we will probably never have such a blessing as a newborn with such a sweet spirit.

Friday I got a call from J's foster/hope to be adoptive mom. He is doing great. Still talks about us but has transitioned so nicely into their home. No surprises there.

Friday night I got a call from A's mom & today we got to go meet them at McDonalds and saw Z and KK, too. Camille was beside herself with excitement. We made a mad dash to Kohls this morning for back to school outfits for all 3. I snuggled with each of them in my lap as much as I could when they weren't running & playing with Camille & Lucas. A has grown at least a couple inches. She is doing so great. So confident. Grown up so much. She wants to come visit at our house. KK & Z looked tired. He had a really bad runny nose. I wanted to just hold him the whole time. He acted like he didn't feel good. His mischievous sparkle was missing. When it was time to go KK started crying cause she didn't want to leave. Z started crying because I think he was confused as to whom he was leaving with. I said no tears equals no presents. Tears were dried and we went and got presents for them to take home and open. Hugs and kisses and we went our separate ways. My fam & I in the suburban that gets washed after church every week. Camille tucked into her booster seat. They got into their truck. No boosters, no car seats, just one bench seat for all 5 of them. On one hand I feel so spoiled by all that we have. On the other hand I am so frustrated that those precious children weren't riding safely. A's moms car is broken down, her tooth is swollen with infection, but A will have the shoes she wants when she starts school. So good to see all of them. What a blessing they have each been to me. I told Todd maybe we should just have all of the kids come to us. He smiles and says that would be great for a few hours.

My kids, the slackers

Not sure how my great intentions don't always work. I thought my big motivation speech about following thru with allowance by being able to automatically transfer the money from my account to theirs would be a huge incentive. I never have cash so the allowance thing has never really worked out. Well, sent them off to begin their chores with simply their rooms. I got the entire downstairs cleaned, laundry going, old magazines sorted, lunch fixed, and what did they do? Not much. Slackers. After a different tone with my speech at lunch, this one not being recorded, rooms & all chores are now complete. Laundry all finished, just needs to be put away tomorrow. A sense of accomplishment.

Hung my favorite pics of the kids over the years in my bedroom. Love seeing the sweet children they once were. Had one extra frame that I need to get a current picture of them in. I went ahead & hung it to see my spacing. Todd asks if that's my foster husband and son in the picture. Nice.

Case manager called today. When I saw her name pop up my heart did a little skip & I considered not answering, but I did. She was just checking in. I told her to let us get thru ortho & physicals & then we'll be ready. Or as ready as we can be.