"Stability, stability, stability. They don't have it on the inside so they crave it on the outside."
Quote from Katie Bettendorf on blog post October 30, 2007 Read the Bettendorf's blog here. (Note: I don't agree with all their opinions, but she does give food for thought. )
This made me think of Logan. He seems to need more reassurance and more advance notice of any change or deviation from routine.
We're still here - just busy :)
Junior is still with us. He's a very happy baby. He has the cutest giggle. He's doing well. He's got some delays, so he will be starting Early Childhood Intervention soon.
We're not sure how long he will be here. He has some family who is interested in taking care of him, and they are working through the homestudy process. If they are approved, he will leave pretty soon probably. If they are not approved, I think Junior will be here for a while so his parents can work out what they need to. I hope to know something either way soon, maybe by the end of the month?
The other kids are doing well, too. Star is talking so much more now. DH said tonight it was a mixed blessing. We love to hear her expressing herself, but it means she's growing up. :(
We got an 8 month old boy on Monday, 5/4. He's doing well with us. He's generally a happy baby. He has the cutest smiles and giggles. He sleeps through the night, which is a blessing to us The goal is reunification with his parents, so we don't know how long we will have him. It might be a couple months; it might be more than a year.
Sorry it took me so long to update - when a child first comes it is really crazy with all the paperwork, getting clothes, bottles, caseworker visits, etc.
I am getting discouraged waiting for the next child. I am trusting that God knows who and when. The child that needs our home must still be in his or her current home. That's hard to think about. All I can do it pray for the children in bad situations, and for God to prepare our family.
I am listening to the song "While I'm Waiting. You can listen to it on you tube.
We got a call yesterday. A 6 year old girl with a medical problem. I did some research on the medical problem, and then tried to call my husband. He had accidentally turned his phone off, so it took me 45 minutes to an hour to be able to talk to him. When I called back, the girl had already been placed with someone. So, it was not meant to be. It gave us some motivation, though. We are re-doing one of the bedrooms. It was supposed to be done by February, but everything goes slower than anticipated. It has actually stalled for a while while other projects were tackled. But, this reminded up that we need that bedroom to be finished soon. It is now our top priority project for this weekend.
I heard the block hit Logan's head.
Me: Star, did you hit Logan?
Star: No
Me: Star, did you hit Logan?
Star: No
Me: Star, did the block hit Logan?
Star: Yes
This was a recent conversation at my house:
Charlie: Whose tummy was Daddy in?
Me: Grandma's
Logan: And I was in Grandpa's tummy, right?
Me: No, you were in another mommy's tummy.
Logan: Whose?
Me: I don't know her, but then you came to live with us.
Logan: Yeah! And then I went to Home Depot and was adopted and now I am a (our last name)!
I got my garden in yesterday. Everything is planted, now I'm hoping it will all grow well. I have not had much success before, but I think I have planted too late, and the plants just fried in our heat here. I started pretty small - just a 7 by 3 plot. I am using the square foot gardening method. I planted tomatoes, beans, peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini.
We are officially open for foster kids. Placements are down now. I'm hoping and praying that's because less kids are being abused - wouldn't that be wonderful!! So, we've been open for a almost a month and have not gotten a call yet. The last two times were had an opening, we got a placement the day we were open. So, this is new territory for us. But, I am happy and content with the children we have, and they certainly keep me busy, so I am not unhappy with the wait.
We were talking about Valentine's Day coming up. Charlie said, "Are we going to have a party for Valentine's Day?" I said, "I don't think so." He said, "Well, in the book we got from the library, they had a Valentine's party at school. You always say home is our school. So, we need to have a party at our school!" :lol:
Star is potty trained, at just over 2. We are really happy, of course
We don't know where she got the word, but her word for telling us she needs to go is "maboo." It's really cute.
Today we had a combined birthday party for Star and Charlie. They had a lot of fun. Charlie especially has been counting down the days for about 2 weeks. But, this morning all the kids could sense the excitement and they were literally bouncing off the walls waiting for friends to come. We had a small party. We had invited 2 families, each with 3 kids around the age of our kids, but one family was sick and unable to come. We had a pinata, ate 2 cakes, and opened presents. Star had a strawberry cake, and Charlie requested a chocolate cake with a green transformer. I frosted the cake in green frosting, and Daddy drew a transformer in black decorating icing. Not professional looking, but Charlie was thrilled. Everyone had a great time.
I knew it had been a while since I blogged, but I did not realize it had been 2 months! Things are going well here. We have 3 kids at home now: Star, Logan, and Charlie. No foster kids since October. We took a break because of a trip we took over Christmas. We visited my family for 3 weeks. Taking a foster child out of state requires court permission. Normally, it is not a big deal, but 3 weeks is a long time to be gone, and it's doubtful that a court would have approved it. What do you do then? So, we held off on placements until we got back. Right now, placements are down about 50%, so I don't know when we will get our next foster child. Less placements is hopefully a good thing - hopefully it means less kids are being abused. God knows when the next child will come, and He already has that child in mind. Right now, I am working on loving the kids I have (precious gifts they are!) and working on a schedule. I have a routine for our days, but I am playing around with a more detailed schedule. So, we'll see what happens with that.
Charlie has seen a few foster kids come and go. Logan staying was not something he was open to at first. He actually said, "I'm ready for Logan to go to a new family" and "I don't love Logan." It was something we talked with him about and prayed about. We did not want Logan to hear those words, but also we wanted Charlie to be able to express his feelings. But, yesterday I was in the kitchen while Logan and Charlie were in the dining room. Logan said to Charlie, "I love you." Charlie said, "I love, you, too." I was so happy! It still brings tears to my eyes.
Logan is now officially ours!
It was a long day, but a fun one. We left fairly early because the county where he is from is near our old house. It took us about 2 hours. We went to the CPS worker's office to sign some paperwork officially placing him in our home for adoption. (He was only an adoptive placement for a few hours, but it was paperwork that had to be done.) We then went out to lunch. We wen to a buffet place, which the kids loved. Then, we headed to the courthouse. It was National Adoption Day, so that court was doing nothing but adoptions all day long. We were told our time was 2:00, but to be there at 1:30. There were a lot of people waiting, and not real order, so we waited for a long time. The kids did very well considering the wait. We did run into Logan's previous foster mom. She was adopting a child that day as well! When it was finally our turn, it was 2:30. Both my husband and I answered a bunch of questions, then our caseworker and the CPS caseworker answered questions, and then it was pronounced. He was officially ours! We took a picture with the judge and then headed to the celebration. National Adoption Day is supposed to be a big deal. Last year, this county clocked off the block in front of the courthouse and had a fair. This year, they had 2 clowns and some sandwiches in a room near the court. It was a little disappointing, but the kids still enjoyed it.
Oh, and our lawyer told us the day before that the court had called and said Logan's file was not there. They lost his file! Thankfully, since it was their mistake, they took her copies and continued with the adoption as scheduled. I am so glad I did not know that before. It would have been so stressed. God watched out for us.
Tomorrow Logan will officially be ours! It does not seem real. But, everything is set up now; we just need to show up and sign lots of papers! I'll update again after the adoption.
Logan will be part of our family in a few short weeks, if everything goes as planned. Yeah!
We're just waiting for the court date at this point. We are planning an adoption party at the end of the month. We talked to another friend who adopted her daughter, and she had some great ideas. We are going to ask people, rather than bringing gifts, to bring a children's book that was special to them as a child and write an inscription inside. I think that's a great idea that will be very special to him. We're also going to ask our pastor to do a child dedication at the party. You are not allowed to do a child dedication or baptism while a child is in the state's custody, so this is something we have been waiting for. We are very excited to have him officially join our family!
The baby stayed with us exactly 2 months, and then wen to live with a family member. The family member sent a present and card to us, thanking us for caring for the baby. The card was very Christian, which made me very happy. I hope the baby is doing well now.
Logan just recently turned 3 years old! He had a blast at his party. The kids' best friends from our old house came over for the party.
Star is so cute, and soooo busy. She is into everything. She definitely keeps me on my toes.
CJ is in AWANAs, and really enjoys that. I have both the boys learning the Bible verses, and they are doing well with that.
The other night DH and I had to go to a training class. (We have to go to a certain # of them per year in order to keep our foster care license.) I told the kids where we were going and who was going to come babysit, etc. I guess the only other time Logan has heard "training" was in the context of "potty training." So, he asked all night about our "potty training." Yikes! Not a good mental picture. :lol: I'm very glad all we really did was talk about was discipline!
We've had a baby for a week now. He came to us on 8/1. He's 3 1/2 months old. He's really cute, of course. He's been a really good baby, which is a great introduction to fostering babies. We don't think he will be here long, though. So, we're just enjoying him while we have the chance.
We are a family that has opened our home to foster and adoptive children. Follow our journey along the way...
Kids currently in our home:
"Charlie" - boy born in January 04 (bio)
"Logan" - boy born in Oct 05 (adopted)
"Star" - girl born in January 07 (bio)
"Junior" - boy born August 08 (foster)
The goal is reunification with his parents, so we don't know how long we will have him. It might be a couple months; it might be more than a year. 
