Four to Six...days, weeks, or months

When we took Belle we said we would take her until the end of spring break which was four days away. Then we said we would keep her until her first court date which was six days from when we first took her. We were then told her case would go on until at least May which would be about six weeks. Today we were told it is looking more like four to six months. I kind of had to laugh at the numbers. What we agreed to do for four days has turned into a half year journey. Such is foster care. Belle is such a sweetie and we enjoy her. We are glad to keep her; although I think Davin and I are both questioning our sanity at this point. It is interesting that cases that seem easy sometimes become complex and complex cases sometimes become the easy ones. Pray for our sanity and our ability to parent three children at once.

Overhelmed

Not by the kids. The kids are doing great but I have a crazy week this week and I am just worried about how it is all going to get done. 

Tomorrow I have a faculty meeting until 5:30. Tuesday Belle's caseworker is coming over in the evening. Wednesday our once a year safety eval is taking place at our house. That means she will be looking in every nook and cranny in the house and garage to see that we are up to code on our safety issues. It is just such a pain because I can't hide any messes anywhere because she will see everything. I have a WILDTREE food prep party on Thursday that I have to shop and prep for before Thursday. I'm not sure when that is going to get done. Maybe Thursday after work but that will make for a long day and will make the party less fun. Friday is Macy and Alea's sleepover party and on Saturday afternoon we have to go to Davin's families house for Easter.

If I didn't take off 2 1/2 days last week (E was sick a day and a half and I had a personal day on Friday) I would probably try to take a day off this week to get stuff done. As it is we have our ESOL testing going on this week so work will be crazy busy too. 

Happy 10th Birthday Alea!!

Alea turned 10 yesterday. We had her family party at our house. We had a Muppets theme. I think Alea had a great time.

Today after church we went out to dinner with Macy and her family to Red Robin. I think we have gone to Red Robin with the girls on Alea's birthday since at least kindergarten. They are getting so big.

This Friday they are having their annual joint birthday party. They are having another hotel sleepover party. We are taking donations for the animal shelter this year instead of presents.

Hair

Belle is African American. When we started this journey I was scared we would get an AA girl and that I would have to figure out the hair thing. Let me tell you...it has been a journey. I tried a few things the first week and a half she was here. They didn't last long. At the end of the first full week with us I took her to an AA salon. They put corn rows across the top of her head and then straightened the back. I like natural hair on AA girls (which is not straightened). The straightened hair didn't look good for very long either. I left the corn rows in and did twists in the back of her hair to give her a twist out for two days. Last night I did a better job of putting twists in her hair (this is called a protective style) and this morning it still looked great! Yea! This hair style is my best yet. It is getting easier. It is kind of fun. I use to feel sorry for my friend Korienne because of how long it would take her to do her girls' hair on the weekend but now I realize that even thought it may take an hour or two to fix her hair you don't have to touch it (fix it, wash it, etc.) for days...even up to two weeks or more if the style looks good. It is so great to just have her get dressed and brush her teeth in the morning and she is ready to go to school. (Google twists and twist outs to see what I am talking about.)

Party of 5

Over Spring Break we received over fifteen calls for placement from DHS. There were so many kids coming into care and so many foster families out of town on vacation. We said we would take a child for the week of spring break. We took a little 5 year old girl on Wednesday of spring break (after saying yes to several other placements that didn't end up coming to our house for one reason or another). We thought she might go home the next week Tuesday so we went ahead and kept her into the next week. It turns out they extended the case and DHS said she will stay in care until at least May. We decided we didn't want to send her to another home (she was in another home for two days before she came to us) and she is such a sweet girl that fits in very well with our family so we are keeping her until she goes home or until DHS says otherwise. I have given her the Facebook nickname of Belle because she had such a southern accent when she came to us. She also has such great manners. She called us Ma'am and Sir in the beginning. Whenever she talks to me or asks a question she starts with Ma'am. The only thing we had to work on was saying thank you when someone tells her how cute she is. She was saying, "I know". Too cute. She is such a smart girl. She can tie her shoes!!! She knows her numbers, shapes, colors, letters, and letter sounds. She is very ready of kindergarten in the fall. (She just turned 5.)

Now she calls Davin, Mr. Daven or Dad. She calls her mom, Momma. The other day she accidentally called me Momma and apologized. I told her she could call me whatever she wanted. (I was trying to get her to call me Miss Jenny instead of Ma'am.) She said, "Well, I already have a Momma...maybe I could call you mom." Talk about melt my heart. She now calls me Ma'am when she wants to ask a question or tell me something, and she calls me Mom when she needs something. She will occasionally call me Miss Jenny.

I emailed her caseworker this week to ask her about enrolling her for swimming lessons and if there was a chance she would be here that long. Her caseworker said to go ahead and enroll her. Who knows how long she will be here but we are all getting along really well. I took her to my school on Friday (I had a personal day) and her her screened for kindergarten and filled out the paperwork for her to start kindergarten. She was so excited to hang out in one of the kinder classrooms for a little bit. She knows she will go to my school IF she is still living with us and that she will go to a different school if she is with her Momma.

You would think that having three kids wouldn't be a shock to me since we said we would take them but just about daily I look around and think, "How in the world did I end up with three kids?" Being outnumbered does make a difference for sure. My brain is just always going. I didn't realize it until we got a babysitter last weekend and Davin, Alea and I went to dinner and a movie. We were sitting at dinner and I commented on how quiet it was with two less kids. Then I thought that wasn't true because the kids are quiet (I often have to have Belle repeat herself because she can be very soft spoken). I realized it was my head that was quieter. I wasn't thinking about how I needed to cut up someone's food, if I needed to make the baby a bottle, if someone was falling out of their chair, etc. It is just mentally quieter with two less kids. Davin agreed that it was quieter in his head too with only one kid.

Welcome to being a Party of 5 I guess.