Monday, April 23, 2012

WOW

WOW! My life has become a whirlwind of excitement! My nephew Braden made his grand appearance into the world last Sunday, April 15th...(yes my accountant sister had her first child on tax day!) AND HE IS WONDERFUL!
As for the foster kids,
J has become increasingly aggressive and confused. We took them to another foster home for the weekend so we could host a rock crawling event for Lee's birthday. The other foster mom said they were the most hyper kids she'd ever seen, and she has a birth child with ADHD. J gets in trouble at preschool almost every day. The first calls I get from school are PRE-school. I can only imagine what regular school will be like if things don't change. Ironically, even though he gets in a lot of trouble, he LOVES preschool. We started counseling and the "123 magic" program that the counselor recommended. So prayers are appreciated while we deal with new challenges every day.
K is doing pretty well. She's a bit confused and a big copy-cat of big brother, but she's quickly getting to where she needs to be socially and academically.
Sometimes the frustrations are intense , but so is the cuteness. Like today we stopped by to see my mom at work and K and J were "helping" clean windows. Now they were getting more prints on the windows than off, but the effort was there! They also help (and I use the word help loosely) sweep, mop, and vacuum the house! They are learning to pray before we eat. J can say a whole prayer it goes like this...every time..".Dear God, Thank you for food. In Jesus name Amen." Doesn't matter if he's praying in church or at the dinner table, this is his prayer! K mumbles a few words and says Amen....but sometimes she does it before every single bite! (She's very thankful sometimes lol)
It's difficult, yes. But nobody ever said it would be easy. The things worth doing rarely are. The thing that bothers me perhaps the most, even more than the behavior issues, is the fact that  if  I had a dollar for every person that has already told me it's time to give up on these kids, I could probably retire right now.  

Monday, April 2, 2012

Chaos VS Cuteness

WOW!!! I must admit foster parenting is MUCH harder than I thought! We have moments of cuteness mixed in with moments of chaos and there's NEVER a dull moment....EVER. My patience is being tested like never before!  But just when I am about to reach the end of my rope, they do something cute. because even though the chaos never ends, neither does the cuteness! Here's some examples:
1- I walk in the bedroom and K has emptied her ENTIRE dresser of clothes out on the floor. I ask her why she did that and she sweetly replies "I was looking for socks"
2- Breakfast turns to chaos when K spills on her clothes, strips down and runs across the table in her undies.  All while I am on the phone trying to conduct buisness.
3- But they are getting it slowly. after about 20 times of saying "K you're too big for Ty's baby swing, get out of it" I catch her in it again. Before I can say anything she looks at me and says (in her sweetest voice) "I too big" and gets down.....
4- And they behaved well enough in the bank that the ladies gave them stickers!!! Then while I was watching the road in the minivan , they placed the stickers on my sidewindows!
5- J wanted to help water the animals so I explained that we only spray water in the water buckets not on people or animals. First he sprayed the deer bucket til it was full. Then he sprayed water in the chicken bucket til it was full, then he sprayed the neighbor boy, and then he sprayed me. Not just a little, I was soaked. And J was in time-out. Haley did seem to enjoy the show from the trampoline where she was jumping, as she was laughing hysterically when we got back up to the house! I told J what he did was not funny and she must be laughing at something else!
6-K walks in the office and grabs the picture of Lee that I keep on my desk and says "Look it's the best daddy ever"  (If only she knew this daddy was about ready to pull his hair out !)
7-Church is an all-out circus in our pew, as it seems to be a new experience for J and K. Quiet is hard for them. Being still is even harder. Sitting down for more than 5 minutes is hardest of all.  We established a new rule ---If we have to go outside and get a time-out in church then we dont play on the playground after church---This new rule caused K to scream all the way home last night "I NEED THE PARK".
I find myself saying unexpected things all the time such as "that's not a ball it's a potatoe" and "we dont dance in the bathtub, we sit", and " the kitchen cabinets are not for climbing on".  Actually the only reason I had time to even blog was because K decided to watch Mickey Mouse for a few minutes and I was on hold with the fuel card people !