Negligent

Yep, that's me. I haven't written in here for over a week. Bad Mommy ;)

Today was our new guy's first visit with the bio Mom. It went as well as can be expected. Tomorrow we get to meet Dad. Yippee. I guess we're going to be alternating weeks, so he'll have one visit a week. I shutter to think about what will happen when the reunification caseworker gets into the picture. He already has two TSS's, one mobile therapist, one behavior specialist, one physical therapist, one speech therapist, and from what we can count -- three caseworkers. This is one expensive child!

Things are going well. He is making improvements here, from what we've been told. Of course, we have nothing to compare it to. But we'll take the compliments.

Next week the agency is checking out the potential kinship (i.e. family) placement. I'm crossing my fingers that there will be some red flag that comes up that indicates that he can't live there. But until then, we'll just have to bide our time. He'll be with us for at least a couple more weeks. If this family thing doesn't work out, then we'll be taking care of him for at least six months. I finally broke down and bought the wagon. That will help get us out and about, though I think tomorrow we'll be driving up to the toddler playground! That's one steep hill to get up with a kid in tow!

These are some of the better days of being a foster parent. Let's just hope there are plenty of them to keep me going. I will be heartbroken if he's got to go. But let's not think of that just now. We'll just be happy for the two weeks we've had so far and take it a day at a time. That's all a foster parent can do.

On a cute note, my husband stepped up to the plate and took care of tonight's duties. This gave me a chance to get some work done on the computer (I work from home, but haven't accomplished much the past couple weeks--can't imagine why). He took the little guy out to get our fishing licenses and then gave him a bath and put him to bed. He got to bed a little late and didn't get his teeth brushed or get a bedtime story, but there are worse things in life. My husband said he needed a checklist so he wouldn't forget (to his credit, he was the one that realized what he had missed--I didn't have to quiz him). I can certainly do a little checklist. In fact, we're getting the scheduling icons soon, I hear :) Fun!

It's a Boy!

Well, the judge made the decision to place the little boy in protective services, so C came to our house on Thursday night. We were pleasantly surprised to see that he was much more verbal than we had anticipated. He has adjusted well. He started back to preschool yesterday, and his TSS will start coming again this afternoon.

I am thrilled to have a little boy in the house again. It looks like he might be staying for at least six months. I hope so! My husband has even taken to him. It's easy to do--he's extremely lovable and willing to give kisses and hugs. When he sees us after it's been awhile, he greets us with a big smile, a "Hello", etc.

Thanks be to God for His perfect plan and His perfect timing. We are looking forward to seeing how this little guy develops over the coming days!

To Be Continued...

Well, we got the call today. And in a strange twist of fate, the hearing has been given a continuance, and will reconvene tomorrow afternoon. Truthfully, the timing would be better for us to add to our family tomorrow. That gives my husband and I the evening to spend some time together (something we didn't get to do last night). And that would also mean that I wouldn't need to be alone with a new kid until next week, given the fact that our daughter has off school on Friday and then we have the weekend.

My biggest concern at this point is the dog. She's not real great with strangers. I'm sure she'd come around to the kid, as she has in the past. She seems to have a higher tolerance for little people. But given that there will be support professionals in and out of the house on an almost daily basis, well, that could get tricky. But I'm sure with some training she'd get used to that, too. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm tempted to take a nap, but then again--the more tired I am tonight, the more chance I'll have of getting better sleep!

I'll give you the update tomorrow when I hear. Thanks for your thoughts, support, and especially your prayers :)

Keep on Keeping On....

So, after I had JUST called the school district back to call and tell them that I can substitute on a regular basis again (thinking we wouldn't get a call from Children & Youth anytime soon), I got a call from Children and Youth. As we all know by now, a call doesn't necessarily mean a kid. The hearing is tomorrow.

The child in question is a little boy -- age 4. He has some developmental delays, which frightens my husband almost to the point of saying "no". Quite frankly, it scares me, too. But I have worked with kids all across the spectrum, and I am not afraid of this particular diagnosis. My husband is worried that we won't be able to handle it. I tell him, if that's the case, that's what we say. Of course, he's not used to this. He likes to start things and see them through to completion. Failure is not an option. He says it's not fair to a kid to take them and then have to decide that they can't stay. I think it's not fair to not give the kid a chance in the first place--especially based on preconceived notions that may or may not be true.

So tomorrow morning I expect to get a call to tell us if our life is going to be turned upside-down. I feel relatively calm, though it's pervading my thoughts. In church, we've been talking about serving the people in the "margins". The people that go largely unnoticed. To touch the untouchables. I believe that this might just qualify as such a case. I know that we have a lot of skills that could benefit a child with this specific set of issues. But my husband has a case. No parent really ASKS to get a child with developmental delays or medical diagnoses, etc. But what a privilege to be able to CHOOSE these kids -- despite their imperfections.

My greatest hope is that we can ALL fall in love with this little guy and give him the consistency and structure that he needs. Fortunately, he has several support services already lined up. So that's a good thing.

I guess now all I need to do is get to bed and go to my meeting tomorrow with my cell phone fully charged. The hearing is midway through my meeting, and I've prepared all necessary parties of the possibility of my leaving to get a kid. YIKES! I'll keep you posted, as always.