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.  

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 ! 
 


 

THE KIDS ARE HERE!!!!!

Well it finally happened. We have foster children. Yes children...as in more than one. One boy & one girl to be exact. Referred by my good friend Amanda Cousins to her case worker, we got a call . It was Friday afternoon. All our children were spending the weekend with their other parents for spring break. We were planning a kid-free weekend and Saturday date night . I was on my way to the grocery store. And then we got the call. A sibling group of 2 needs a foster home immediately. So we talked and decided to take them. I was asked to meet a caseworker at DHS and pick them up since I was close to town. I wait in the office for what seems like forever then she brings in 2 of the most adorable, hyper kids I have ever seen! I have learned a few things about foster parenting already:
1--Nobody thats sane does it
2--Kids may not come to you scared and crying , they may come to you bouncing off the walls and into everything
3-Bedtime can be crazy
4- Grocery shopping can be much crazier than bedtime
5- Some kids are afraid of nobody and when you tell them to hold on to the cart and dont let go ,so you don't lose them in the store, it may not be YOUR cart they grab onto.
6--A three year old can climb a wall...a straight up and down wall or bathtub side
7--There is no good answer for "Where's mommy"
8--Pull-ups are very absorbent, but not so much that they will absorb a washing machine full of water if one is accidentally washed. It will explode. All over your load of clothes. And it will be near impossible to clean out of the washer. 
Good news I no longer need a diet or exercise plan. Cause I don't have time to eat or rest any longer. LOL  Love these kids though. Tomorrow...we attempt church with fosters!

EXCITING TIMES!!!!!

 In preparation for the lady from DHS to come and approve our house for foster care , I once again cleaned everything to the extreme! I locked down anything sharp or remotely toxic. I cleaned out the deer pen and chicken coop, Scrubbed everything that can be scrubbed in the house, got laundry caught up, kitchen clean, and then i cooked dinner, and then I cleaned the kitchen all over again, swept, mopped, vacuumed etc.
Well the DHS lady showed up yesterday and officially opened our home for foster children.  She didn't look at the animals at all, she took a quick walk around the house and handed us a binder. Now instead of impatiently waiting to be open, I am impatiently waiting for a phone call to accept a child. Did I mention patience is not my strong suit? 
Nonetheless we have a lot to be excited about in the very near future.
#1---hopefully we will be adding a foster child to our family very soon
#2--My nephew Braden is about ready to be born! 
Waiting for both calls any day now!!!!! 
Anyone care to guess which call I get first?
 

The BABY shower!!!!!

I have learned several things while preparing a baby shower for my sister. I had a lot of fun planning it , so I am passing on my new knowledge to all of you readers out there. Yes all 3 of you ! LOL 
#1- Ducks can float in water-colored punch (although not constantly upright!) So if you do one of these watch for occasional drowning duckies!

#2 Ducks fit on a cake nicely too.(they stayed upright here!) And for those of you who assume I had the talent to make this cake...I did not...It's a Harps! Of course don't expect Harps to have it done on time or anything.......but thats another story!

#3 Ducks can even fit right in a diaper cake! (Thank to April for this one)

 #4- If life throws a curve at you in the middle of the planning...friends and family show up to help make it all happen! (Again, Thanks April, and thanks mom too)

#5- If you plan a baby shower from 2:00-5:00, but find you're done at 3:45 and everyones started leaving...you should still expect a 4:00 to 4:30  crowd ! LOL ....My apologies to the after 4:00 people for having locked the doors, but I did enjoy our visit outside!

#6--if you have the party at Carroll electric..you WILL sweep, mop, take out the trash, and clean windows and doors before leaving if you want your deposit back! And if someone leaves prints on the glass door 3 separate times after they were cleaned ...you clean them again!  This is the point I am glad I had children, as they came in very handy for #6. 

#7-- The amount of help (with the party), support (for my sister), and welcoming excitement (for baby Braden) makes it so worth it!!!!

And just in case my sister kills me for posting that last picture, know that I love you all!!!!! And thanks for reading! (and by the way sis you're so cute pregnant!)

a week of excitement! (good excitement for a change)

Well we have all tests results in and everything is normal (except of course my daughters symptoms). But I'm not that frustrated anymore cause we did rule out brain tumors!! (big relief) along with some other bad stuff. What IS going on? Nobody seems to know. But she seems to be getting better with a few diet changes, so I am feeling better too! If it doesn't go away we will be sent to Little Rock, but I am hopeful it will go away before our next appointment in 6 weeks. Since all bloodwork and MRI, CT ,xrays, and EEG are normal we feel better even with no definite answers.
Since it seems Samantha does not have anything life-threatening ...onward with the foster care program! We have our final home study (at least I think it's the final one) on March 19th. So now to get the house ready (again). We will be taking no more than one child at a time until we have definite answers or Sam 's symptoms are COMPLETELY gone, however. But still that's something to bring excitement around here!
My nephew is due in just 5 weeks so Saturday is the big baby shower (and my first attempt at being a hostess). It's a rubber duckie theme and pictures will be posted soon after the event!
 

This is a test, only a test

Well Samantha and I went to bed at 6pm Sunday evening in an effort to get some sleep. Unfortunately neither of us was able to go to sleep so it was more like rest, until about 9pm when she fell asleep. Then I woke her up at midnight to prepare for a dr ordered sleep deprived EEG. On the prep sheet they gave us it said "Patient must stay up from midnight Sunday until the EEG test is performed" It also said "patient must bring a driver for sleep deprived EEG " This concerned Samantha because she thought they meant a driver who was NOT sleep deprived. I assured her it didn't say that, it only said bring a driver, so I could be sleep deprived too. LOL. We spent the first 2 or 3 hours cleaning the girls closet and room...FUN! Than Sam decorated things for the baby shower we plan to throw my sister in a couple weeks. About 4ish we decided we needed help staying awake so we let the dogs come upstairs, and shortly thereafter Haley woke up and joined us (um the dogs might have had something to do with that too). That was wonderful cause I dozed off while Sam did Haley's hair, Cause Sam wasn't allowed to use anything on her own hair before the test, so she felt she could not possibly start a day without putting tons of products in hair, so she used Haleys hair instead. At 6ish we got dressed and ate breakfast and left for Washington Regional. A little after 8 we were called back to a room where they stuck 23 electrodes on Sam's head, and flashed a stobe light in her eyes for a few minutes, followed by telling her to hyperventilate, then finally they wanted to test her sleeping. Sleeping was not a problem for her at that point so they got the tests they wanted. No results were shared with us at all. 
Than we stopped by Subway for a drink and snack before heading to Mana for ther MRI. She was extremely nervous about the MRI as she is a bit claustrophobic , and I was not allowed back with her on this one. But she made it through fine and was told that Dr Moon likes to read his own results , so again no information was given to us. I did briefly meet a boy and his grandma in the waiting room going through much the same thing we are, so it was somewhat comforting to know we are not alone in this, and we had a nice visit while waiting for Sam to come out. Then we came home and I attempted to work a little (bad idea) I messed up a few things which I corrected this morning, and now we wait. Our appointment with Dr Moon is March 6th , which seems like an eternity away right now. And so we wait. And if anyone knows anyone going through anything similar feel free to share this blog, cause any and all information and/or support is welcome right now!