Friday, January 27, 2012

Frustration sets in

Well I must admit , feeling a little defeated today. Samantha continues to have episodes with racing heartbeat, disorientation, shaking, and hyperventilating. Foster care will have to be put on hold until we figure this out, as I am not sure what we're up against here. I called the Dr office yesterday to see if anyone could give me any test results for her and the secretary said , although the Dr had read all test results, the nurse was busy and they were short -staffed so it would be today before I got a call. Still waiting for that call. After a bad episode at school I called to see if the Dr could see her today, but he could not. At this point we are not sure if  the episodes are caused by heart or seizure or something else. At first they said anxiety , but I am having a hard time accepting that the level of anxiety in her life would cause something this extreme. So if anyone has any advice or is experiencing anything similar please let me know. Right now I am extremely frustrated at the lack of concern from her Dr. office, extremely concerned about Samantha, and very upset that when we are so close to opening our home for foster care and possible adoption, that has to be put on hold now too.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

foster update

Time for an update on the foster care situation.  We have had so much stress come our way since the decision we made to become foster parents, that we wonder about being under spiritual attack. Between trucking laws becoming more ridiculous all the time, finances being affected because shipping rates are lower, and the mystery illnesses of Samantha these last couple of months, it's starting to get a little discouraging! However we have NOT given up on the whole process. Not yet. Perhaps we thought about it for a moment. But Lee seems to be strong when I am weak and vice versa. No question God put us together as a couple, so we are trusting God to open our home for foster care, heal our child, and make sure the trucking company does fine too. I got an email from Cristal (our teacher in foster care classes) and after asking a few more questions (I guess the half a day she spent here wasn't enough) , she finally said our assessment was done and forwarded on to the next step in the process. Now we wait to hear from Washington county DHS and schedule our final walk-thru and paperwork training. In the meantime Lee and Haley plan to get their physicals Friday and Sam, Sierra , and I got ours last Friday. We all have a TB test scheduled next week and then we will be done with medical requirements. I was a little worried Samantha would not pass , but the Dr. assured me they were just looking to make sure she was not someone who would be harmful to or contagious to a foster child, so she passed. I have also started the very fun process of shopping for clothes for a boy! Now we don't know what size he's gonna be yet, so mostly I have been buying at thrift stores and ebay. But I have a start on closet stocking with various items from size 18 months to size 12.
This will be the foster closet

and OK admittedly I have a little work to do in the socks and underwear department but those are not things I will buy used!

So that's our update for now. And I will very excitedly post when we get the call from DHS that we can finish and open! In the meantime please pray for our family, foster children, and buisness. 
Thank you !

Monday, January 16, 2012

THE BIG SCARE

Well I thought I had a challenging week before, but this week topped it by far.  Tuesday night Samantha had an episode where her heart was beating way too hard and fast, she was hyperventilating, shaking all over, having numbness in her arms and hands, and basically scaring her mom to death! My first thought was I will drive her to the ER. About halfway to 412 my next thought was I need an ambulance. She was in the seat beside me barely breathing and gasping for every single breath. So some wonderful first responders, and soon after, an ambulance met us at Kings River Store that night. Now when you are scared to death that there is something very seriously wrong with your child, seeing that first wonderful first responder is the best thing ever! Just knowing someone is there with you that probably knows more about what to do than you do is extremely helpful. After the ambulance came, and she had oxygen, and her heart rate had returned to , well not normal but much better, they said it would be safe for me to drive her to the ER myself and save a huge ambulance bill. (Nice guys, I appreciate that). So I took her on to the ER where they did testing that showed absolutely nothing except that she was anemic. So they diagnosed her with anxiety attack and said to follow up with her regular Dr. We saw Dr. Embry on Friday and he said , although anxiety attacks are likely, he wanted to do further testing. So he ordered a heart monitor for her to wear (we are still waiting on that to arrive via fed-ex), and did an asthma test and more blood work. (also still waiting on all those results). Meanwhile she is having about 1 episode a day, sometimes 2. The doctors taught her how to breath when they happen so they are only lasting about 5 -10 minutes now instead of a few hours like the first one. Prayers are appreciated , and if anyone has any helpful advice please feel free to comment! And never take your first responders, paramedics, and school nurses for granted!
 

Friday, January 6, 2012

WHADDA WEEK!!!!

Sometimes you just gotta say whadda week and go on....... and for those of you out there that would think ages 12 and 15 are too old for home haircutting...think again.
The best it got
what it usually turned into!    
And this little experiment required a trip to the Kingston salon where Misty saved the day..er...the hair. Admittedly she needed a haircut anyway! 

Then we continued on with stranded trucks waiting for loads that could not be found, and a husband coming home empty from Colorado (which is not profitable at all). 
Then there was the day that someone was trying to send me a fax, except they kept sending it to the phone line. Eventually i got them to send it to the fax line ...what I did not manage to do was get them to cancel the original fax sent to the phone line. This resulted in the phone ringing every 30 seconds (literally) for about 2 1/2 hours. I was about to go insane. The teething baby I was caring for that day was the least of my problems!
Actually I now have even more sympathy than before for Mr. teething baby because I was at the dentist today. I went in at 8:30 for what was supposed to be a simple wisdom tooth extraction. Problem ..part of the root did not come out.  Bigger problem dentist tried for about 2 hours to dig it out. Biggest problem root is still there. And numbness is quickly wearing off (which is good in a way because there was a small chance he had damaged a facial nerve). Trust me nerves are all working fine!!!! PAIN!!!  Note to self--when someone says take a pain pill BEFORE the numbness wears off they are not kidding. Follow dr orders on this one!

"knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience" James 1:3

Sunday, January 1, 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Well originally this blog was intended to write about, and share our journey to foster care and possible adoption. However, with it being the new year, and time to make changes and all, and also with things happening sooooooooo slowly on the foster care front, I have decided to make it a weekly blog of our life! Of course it will still include all foster care updates, but I won't have to wait 6 months between happenings to post stuff!
 First some highlights from 2011:
1-We are now the parents of  12, 14, and 15 year old girls. They are all growing up way too fast for my liking. We are now discussing such things as which college they want to attend and what future career path they should be on.  
Good thing I had these kids young or I would really be feeling old right now!!!
2- We adopted Otto , the best puppy ever created, and continue to love Sadie (the grouchy dog), Scooter (the snuggler), and Munchkin (the watchdog)
3-We gave a home to 3 orphan deer. One of which we lost due to internal blockages (RIP Dolar). That was probably the saddest thing that happened in 2011.
On a brighter note Reno and Janie are very healthy and thriving. (And we now know what supplements to give them to prevent blockages).
4-We continue to run Porter Trucking and I feel like we have finally found some pretty good drivers, while we are not getting rich, we are making a decent living and I get to work at home still!!!! (HUGE plus!)
5-My sister FINALLY announced she is expecting her first baby!!! (EXCITING) And it's a boy! And I cannot wait to hold him and spoil him! 
6-My husband continues to be the most amazing man I know, with whom I am happy to share this journey called life.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!
And for the days events...Working on getting Reno to walk on a leash!
 All leashed up and ready to go. Love him.
 Little wild Janie deer. She refuses to walk on a leash. REFUSES.
 Reno is getting pretty good at his walks. I'm very proud. (We've only been at this for about 9 months!)
I don't know what this is. But Reno found it on our walk thru the yard and apparently it's YUMMY!!!!