Precious Moments

Let's start with a confession... I Love Magazines!!!! While laying in bed the other night I came across a little blurb about a family that tries to spend the occasional evening "unplugged". This means no computer or TV... you get the idea! They talked about how it promotes healthy interactions and all sorts of other benefits. Having a 1, 2, and 3 year old I rely on the TV for sanity even though we do not have cable. Putting in a movie = instant babysitter for when you have to make lunch/dinner or clean a bathroom really quick. I do not like or promote this idea, but it has become a necessary evil, UNFORTUNATELY! I decided to give the "unplugged" concept a short trial run last night and I am so glad I did!!!! Here's how it all went down... Jeff came home from work and the kids were still napping, so we seized the moment and hung out on the couch and chatted. The Princess was the first to wake up so I went and grabbed her and sat back on the couch with her and fed her some chips. Jeff and I continued chatting until "the Boyz" woke. This is typically when the TV goes on so I can make dinner... NOT TODAY!!!! I asked Jeff to bring down the portable CD player and got some VeggieTunes playing and the games began!!!! There was singing, dancing, and all sorts of general mayhem... FABULOUS!!!!! After dinner was done we brought out the Play-Dough and continued enjoying one another's company. Dessert was FF Cranberry-Orange Muffins (but the kids call them cupcakes). I had to run out for a meeting while they were in the oven, but I am satisfied knowing that for a few hours my kids and husband felt like the center of my universe. We only get these moments once we might as well cherish them!!!!!!!!

Princess P~ Positive Changes

I am going to take you all back a bit so that you can understand a small bit of this case. Be careful, I'm gonna talk about the Lord and might even sound a little crazy, but I assure you I am only moderately crazy! WINK!

The day I goth the call from Princess P's social worker telling me her tribe had found her a home out of state still seems a bit surreal for several reasons. The main reason is that when you get this little bundle and spend all day caring for it you begin to think of it as yours. This is not all bad, but when you hear they may be moving "your" baby you've had for 10 months to a different state it comes as quite a shock. Thank God for the subtle ways he worked to prepare my heart for "the phone call". For example, why had I developed such a passion for worship music that sparked me to create a worship play-list on my computer, and why did I just need to listen to it the morning I got the dreaded call? I literally answered the phone and had to tell her social worker to hold on while I turned down the music. You may say coincidence... I say DIVINE preparation for what was in store! I remember looking at Princess P and telling her "You were never ours, even if you had been born to us you would still belong to Jesus." At that moment a wave of peace came over me. God is so gentle and the grace and peace he provides in the midst of the storm are amazing. Jeff and I took her to church knowing we were going to surrender P to His will similar to Abraham and Isaac. This was no easy task, I struggled and my emotions were all over the place. I started to cry the moment I walked in the sanctuary doors knowing the Lord needed to have His way and yet I was struggling with my will at the same time. We went forward for prayer (something that still freaks me out and I grew up around it) and were immediately surrounded by friends and loved ones. Our Pastor's wife prayed with us and her prayer was so incredibly accurate it opened my eyes to some things. Once again I was so aware of a deep sense of peace. I'm not saying I don't still battle occasional fear, but deep inside I know God's perfect will will be done in this situation and that we will all be OK.

As things stand (based on today's conversation with the SW) both out of state homes have fallen through and we can't help but be a bit hopeful. P's tribe can still come in with a home placement, but I have the same comfortable confidence that the Lord will have His way no matter what.

The Blues

Jeff called me this morning and when I asked him how he was doing he admitted he was feeling a bit down. I wanted so badly to give him some good news like I'd found $100 under the bed, but I had nothing. So much for lifting up my husband when he was feeling down.

Shortly after talking with Jeff I got a call from "adoption support" for Tot's upcoming adoption. I've heard horror stories about this portion of the adoption process. The woman I spoke with was very kind and ultimately worked very hard to get us all she could. While it wasn't what I had hoped for it was at least something. The next step is working with the lawyer and getting our court date for the adoption. We are so close I can feel it! I thought this was exciting, but when I called Jeff to fill him in he didn't seem to cheer up... this was one tough case of the blues!

Princess P came home from a visit with her parents and I called her social worker to give her some information about the visit. During our conversation we began to talk about her case a bit. Now Princess P has been in our care 11 months today and her case is moving towards termination of parental rights quite rapidly. If she becomes free to adopt we would love to have the opportunity to adopt her, but it has seemed unlikely due to the fact she is 1/2 Native American and Jeff and I just aren't. Her tribe has been actively seeking native placement for her since they learned TPR was imminent. They found a home in Montana, but that fell through somehow, so they started looking at a home bio mom suggested in California. There are some "concerns" about this California placement, so they could potentially be back to seeing us as an available option. Things change so rapidly we aren't going to count our chickens before they hatch, but this was good enough news to pull my sweet hubby out of his battle with the blues. Please be praying with us that Princes P gets to stay with us. God is her "Divine Protector" but we would like to be part of the process as well.

Spud~ Full Up!

I've chosen to skip to current events. Between getting Princess P and now here are the highlights...

~We had some dear friends for an eight week stay during the months of May and June... the state was a hoot to deal with for this short adventure! Remember sometimes you just gotta be tough!!!!!!!!!

~Tot's bio-parents have lost their parental rights and we are weeks from adoption. HOORAY!!!!!

~Princess P turned 1, learned to crawl, walk, and now RUN!!!!

~The Holidaze were plagued by sickness... ear infections, and the croup! I get tired just thinking about it!!!!

~Princess P's case has taken a turn we are not at all excited about and it's likely she will be moving to Montana or California some time this year because she is native and we are not. We are praying hard against this move!!!!!

~We just got another little guy Spud (2 1/2)... he has a sweet smile, a gentle spirit, and a mo-hawk that gives Spud the title of "best haircut in the house"!

Jeff and I are still enjoying being foster parents even with 3 kids ages 3 and under. Today was check-up day for Tot and Princess P. Tot got 2 shots and enjoys showing me his "owies". He is in the 98th percentile for height and weight... BIG BOY!!! Princess P escaped shots today, but enjoyed the echo she found in the exam room! Try talking to your new pediatrician with a 1 year old shouting because it sounded cool... Thank God Jeff was there with me!!!! I LOVE YOU HONEY!!!!!! You pretty much ROCK!!!!!!

Princess P~ My 22 Pound Cake!

Here is the story that happens all too often. Kids are removed from their unsafe situation and they have no place to go, so they spend the day at the DSHS offices passed around to whatever social worker is available at that moment. They hang out either at the social worker's desk or in the visit rooms intended for when children are there visiting their bio-parents. Please understand I am not against this practice, in fact I am glad it's not against policy. This is not a line of work where you can predict what will happen, and sometimes you just have to do whatever works in order to keep at risk children safe.

On April 9, 2009 I got the call I had been hoping for... it was a call from Tot's social worker asking us to take a baby girl. Now, Jet was going to be moving any day to live with his 1/2 brother and his 1/2 brothers dad who loves Jet like his own son. We were just waiting for dad's fingerprint results to come back before the big move took place. That being said, when Tot's social worker called me and asked me if we could take a little 5 month old baby. I started asking questions and discovered that baby girl was at the office and J (Tot's social worker) was holding her just like the situation I described above. I of course said "yes" and waited patiently to meet this little girl. Jet had just arrived home from a visit with his bio-mom and I found out that Jet's visit supervisor had seen and held this little bundle. Both J and the visit supervisor mentioned this little girl's super chubby cheeks, but in my wildest dreams I could not have imagined these cheeks! Princess P arrived at my door and I was in shock! Now I had seen chunky babies with chubby cheeks, but wow, I had never seen them like this! That afternoon, after discovering the price of formula, I made Princess P a WIC appointment. It was at this appointment that I discovered that Princess P weighed 22 pounds. Now it's a bit alarming when one this age weighs this much. It can impact their ability to roll over, crawl and walk, not to mention put them at risk for diabetes, but you don't put one this young on a diet. You gave them their regular feedings and then wait for them to grow in to their weight. In the meantime, you kiss yourself some sweet little chubby cheeks!

Jet~ So Sick

Jet had not been with us very long when he got sick. We were eating dinner one evening and I was really watching his breathing. He was working too hard to breathe for a little boy. I took him in to the walk in clinic that evening and his oxygen level was low and he was doing lots of coughing. Now as a foster parent you are limited in what you can authorize medically. They were wanting to x-ray Jet's lungs to see if he had pneumonia. I called the after hours hot line to make sure that was ok for me to authorize an x-ray and they said yes. There was no sign of pneumonia in the x-rays so they gave poor little sick Jet a nebulizer treatment and some oral steroids to take right away. They sent us home with a nebulizer, prescriptions for albuterol, and strict instructions to give Jet a breathing treatment every 4 hours for the next few days. Jet and I spent the next couple of nights on the couch and love-seat getting very limited amounts of sleep. Well, he just slept through the treatments, but I had to get up and I love my sleep!

Because of Jet getting sick I wanted to know a bit about his medical history. His social worker told me to feel free to send mom a note to the visit letting her know about Jet's illness and getting any allergies he may have and so on. This was the best thing I could have done. Mom and I now had a way to discuss Jet and his care. I think mom was very thankful for this as well. While mom may have her issues and struggles she truly loved her little boy.

Jet~ Breakthrough At Last

As day 3 with Jet started to come towards the end of the business day I got a phone call. Things had fallen through with the family member that was going to take Jet and they wanted us to keep him until they could get things sorted out. A foster family always has the right of saying "no" when a situation is not a good fit for the family and I was so tempted to exercise that right. I expressed my concern over Jet's sleep habits and general emotional state. The state worker that I spoke with was very sympathetic and offered suggestions to help me out, but honestly I had tried them all and bedtime was approaching rapidly. I told them that Jet could stay and then I mentally and emotionally prepared myself for battle.

It was a Wednesday night (I remember it like it was yesterday) and typically that means church. I was exhausted and Jet was doing no better, so church was not going to happen for us. I decided we needed to try music in Jet's room but we didn't have a portable CD player, so I sent Jeff to Target for one. Like I said I was ready for battle! 8o'clock came and I set up the CD player and grabbed some worship CD's and my book. I put Tot to bed and then put Jet in his crib. I got the CD going and got comfortable on the queen sized bed that was in Jet's room and I started to read. Seeing me in the room Jet was more comfortable laying down, but he was still whimpering and restless. What happened next may make some of you uncomfortable, but I am committed to honesty here. I hadn't gotten more than a paragraph into my book and I got the strongest impression that I needed to pray for little Jet, and not just pray but do some spiritual battle for PEACE to come to this little boy's heart. Truly, I just wanted to read, but I chose to obey and God blessed my obedience. I prayed over Jet that in spite of the chaos surrounding his life God would grant him PEACE, PROTECTION, and a POWERFUL FUTURE. I claimed him for Jesus and declared that what the Devil meant for harm, God would use it to crush the Enemies back. I finished my prayer and began to read. I finished one page and noticed that Jet was fast asleep. I turned out his light and went downstairs totally in awe of what God had just done.

From that night on we experienced breakthrough. We never saw another 2 hour crying jag that broke our hearts. Oh, Jet woke up 2 or 3 times a night for the next week or so, but he always was calmed immediately and fell right back to sleep when I would quietly walk in the room and lay on the queen sized bed. He quickly became an amazing sleeper and eventually moved back into the room with Tot.

Jet~ The Non-Sleeper

That first night I remember sitting on the couch with Jet and running my fingers through his spiky hair until he fell asleep on my lap. We took both Tot and Jet upstairs and went to put them in their cribs and Jet woke up. Both cribs were set up in Tot's room and for this I was going to pay that first night. We said prayers with both the boys and tucked them in. I could see Jet tuning up to start to cry, but I assured him he was safe and told him that it was time to go to sleep. As soon as I walked out of the room and shut the door Jet started to cry. Now I had sympathy for his situation, but I also was tired, so I planned to wait 10 minutes before going back in there to see if he would just cry himself back to sleep. Little did I know this little boy had the ability to be persistent... really persistent. 2 hours later Tot is sleeping soundly in his crib and Jet is still screaming. I have exhausted every trick I know to help him. I had rocked him, sang to him, ribbed his back, and sat quietly next to him holding his hand each time I would go to leave the room the screaming began. After I realized there was nothing I could do I finally went to my bed just sat there telling myself I CAN DO ANYTHING FOR 2 DAYS. Jet woke up a couple more times that night and each time I tried to comfort him, but he just cried for a couple of hours. One thing was for certain, Jet's crib needed to be moved into the other bedroom.

Night 2 was much like the first, but at least Jet couldn't wake Tot with his screaming. Both Jet and I were exhausted! He had dark circles under his eyes, but he was still persistent... in fact he had learned a new trick. Jet realised that as long as he was laying down and screaming he had a greater chance of accidentally falling asleep so... little Jet stood in his crib linked his arms over the rail and this way when he fell asleep screaming he would wake up the second he relaxed enough for his knees to buckle. Let me just tell you by that following morning I was so tired and emotional I could hardly see straight, and I suspect Jet was too. He now had a permanent sad face to attach to the dark circles under his eyes. It was enough to break your heart.