Ramblings

Whew, I survived today.

I greatly enjoyed watching Vaida today.  She greatly enjoyed getting into the cabinets.  It is all new to her, Benjamin has slowed down on emptying the cabinets.

Our pumpkin eater is coming along but I couldn't get to it today. It is slow going.

I am almost done with the bathroom upstairs but didn't get to it at all today.  Also, I am updating Benjamin's bedroom but didn't get to that either.  I need to hang some curtains in the girls room and several other small projects but didn't get to any of them. My laundry pile needs a zip code of it's own but I didn't touch it. Need I discuss the dishes?

Instead of housework, I held babies, changed babies, visited with Kassi, made a bowl of fruit for Kathy and worked with the girls.

At 3pm the other kids came in the door from school and I didn't get anything else accomplished with my day except for a few phone calls and a cooked dinner (chicken helper, peas and garlic bread). Some days meals are simple, some days more elaborate and healthy.

The other girls are here so currently we have 5 girls between the ages of 8 and 10 under our roof. The girls played upstairs for a long time in our dress clothing.  Anthony stayed away, smart boy.  He said it was too many girls and asked why we always had girls for respite. Sometimes we get boys but they are always younger.

My husband hasn't made it home yet. (It is 8:30ish pm here).  He left after work to get Sarah and take her to dinner.  We haven't seen her since the floods.  He had a hard time getting to her and then getting out to a place to eat.  Many roads are closed.

I am sitting here writing but I still need to make a few more phone calls.

I talked with several folks today.....

I had a local foster parent contact me with a problem.  It involves moving a foster child.  There is reason to move this child, safety of her existing children.  Her friends are judging her decision.  They are not foster parents, they really don't understand the problem.  They just believe that she should sacrifice all for the foster child.  I am not big on moving foster kids myself.  However, there are certain reasons in which I would and a big one is safety of the kids. This foster parent is hurt by the reaction of her friends and their inability to understand the place she is in. She wants to foster teens but has younger children in the home. She has a huge heart and wants to help a child. She is learning how to manage the requirements of DSS, the hurt of the children, the connections with biofamilies, working with the schools, finding therapists she never dealt with before and dealing with the negative perceptions of family and friends. Sometimes it is easiest to talk with someone who has been there, done that. I hope that I was helpful.  I told her that I trusted her judgement and that if she felt that the child needed to be moved for the safety of her other children then she needed to do it. The fact that she is hurting over this decisions tels me that she does have compassion and that it is hard when there are limits on what we can do.  I prayed with her that the child would be placed in a home that would be better prepared to help the child.  Sometimes we have to know our limits.

Speaking of limits, we have been told that Benjamin's biomom is expecting again. This will be her 5th child.  If they pull the child they will call us since we have a sibling.  We have agonized over whether we would take placement or not. Our mind tells us to have the child placed in another home. Our heart is waffling.  I just don't know. I am quite busy with our 5 in the home and soon we will have another grandbaby.  Going to activities with one toddler is doable.  A toddler and a baby plus 4 would really set us back.  Besides, dang, we are getting old. I did however, put a little bug in the foster moms ear from yesterday.

I talked with our lawyer.  Everything is finished and he has requested a court date.  We are getting close.  Really close. As in really, really close.

Yes, it was a full day, a good day, and we survived it.

All my kids are in bed and sleeping. I am heading off to go and gel in front of the TV, I enjoy HGTV and Criminal Minds. Hope everyone had a great day.