The boys had their annual Christmas piano recital this afternoon. Micah struggled a bit today, but I think he still did well. I started taking photos of him and forgot that I meant to be filming him until his first song was almost over. So that song is missing. Nathanael had a piece that was a bit of a challenge for him, but that's good for him. We still can't get him to keep his fingers curved....one day hopefully! He did really well on his hard song. His teacher had to switch songs on him last minute, so he only had a week and a half to work on his second song, but he got it. Luke actually joined in on the recital this year. He does not take piano lessons; he still takes guitar from John. However, our piano teacher has a version of We Three Kings that is a piano trio and she thought it would be fun if all three boys did it together. Luke was game, so they learned that. It warms my heart to see all my boys on the bench playing together. I am very proud of all my little musicians. I'm hoping to get Hannah started on something this coming year. Here is the recital footage. :) (Note- These embedded videos don't seem to play on many smartphones and some tablets. If you are having trouble viewing, please go to the website on a desktop computer or laptop.)
Joy to the World (duet with his teacher) he's playing the melody most of the time and the higher stuff)
Christmas Ballade (This was the challenging one. It is a combination of a Christmas song and a popular classical piece. Look for his sigh of relief at the end..lol)
Santa Claus is Coming to Town (duet with his teacher- he's playing the melody most of the time and anything high you hear)
We Three Kings (Nathanael on the low notes, Luke playing a harmony line, and Micah on the melody)
Monday, December 19, 2016
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
The story behind round 2
I mentioned there was a story behind our second placement. The children are no longer with us. They actually only wound up staying with us for a couple weeks. We don't have a placement of our own right now, but are currently providing respite care for another family. If you are not familiar with respite, it is when one foster parents agrees to care for another foster parent's foster children. Caring for some foster children can be a really hard job and sometimes a foster parent needs a break to avoid burnout. There are also times when you want to go out of state for a vacation or to visit people, but are told the children need to remain in the state due to their situation. At times like these, many people would call grandma to watch the kids or see if they could trade care with some trusted friends. But you can't do that in foster care. The children have to be with another licensed foster parent (and if you can't find one, you don't get that break.) So that is where respite comes in. We took an emergency respite placement last month that was just for a weekend. The foster parents had experienced the death of a parent and needed to attend the funeral and be able to grieve. So we cared for their 2,1, and 8 week old foster children. Everything went well, so they asked us if we would watch the kids again for a week in December so they could go out of state and visit family. We agreed and the kids are here right now. It's been fun to have little ones this time, even though it's been very busy here! We are really enjoying have a baby to snuggle and all my kids like to entertain the toddlers and make them laugh. My kids have been so helpful, and I don't know if things would be going as smoothly without their help. And somehow we are still managing to do our schoolwork too!
So now for the story. We had a several week break after our first girls left. For two of those weeks, we asked not to be called, but after that we felt like we were ready to accept more children. Three weeks went by with no phone calls for kids we could take. We had previously scheduled a visit for the second week of October with some missionary friends of ours. They are in the US itinerating for a year and were planning to come this way and wanted to see us. We wanted to see them, but we also wanted to see if there would be local churches and friends who might want to be involved in their ministry. We had originally thought our first set of sisters would still be here when our friends visited, so we had made arrangements for them to able to stay elsewhere. John's grandparents have a house called the Blessing House. It's purpose is to be a place available to God's use and to be a place that is so filled with the presence of God that you are blessed just to step foot on the property. So one of the things they thought it might be used for was to be a place for missionaries and pastors to stay in when they needed rest. Since our friends are doing the work of the Lord, we asked John's grandparetns if they might be able to stay there and they said yes. It was nice for my friends to be able to have some private space, as they have been staying with family and in hotels (they have four kids too). So even though we didn't have a placement, we went ahead with the plan of them staying in the Blessing House while they were were. That turned out to be God's hand. The day before my friends were scheduled to leave, we got a call. It was for a group of 4 kids who needed a home. We are licensed for up to three, so we can't take four. However, I did offer to take the 3,4, and 5 year olds if no one could take all four. They told me they were going to keep my name on the list and see if they could find someone who would take all the kids. I received a call a couple hours later thanking me for being available but notifying me that they had found someone else. I was glad that the kids would be able to stay together, and we carried on with our plans for the evening. A local church was hosting a dinner for my friends and my friends were going to share about their ministry while people ate. We all went and started eating dinner, but then I got a frantic call. The voice on the other end said that family that had planned to take the four kids was no longer able to do so and asked if I was still available to take the little three. I said that I could and mentally planned to leave immediately so I could go home and get the house set up. But then I was asked another question. Could I please take the 10 year old too, just for the night? The social worker had actually been en route to the foster home with the children when that home fell through. They had driven a couple hours and she was in tears because now she had nowhere to take the kids. (It was 6:30pm by this time.) I told them I wasn't allowed to take 4 because I didn't have the bed space that was required by the state, but that one of my boys would be happy to sleep on the floor and let the 10 year old have a bed if that would be ok. The lady I spoke with did not know if that was allowed, so said she'd check and call back. (DHS is very particular about beds.) Meanwhile, I let my friends know what was going on and told them that I needed to leave right away. Because they were not staying with me, I was free to take this placement last minute. I told them the situation with the 4th child and they both offered to take one of my kids to spend the night with them at the Blessing House if that would help. When DHS called me back, they started asking me if there was anyway I could not have any children on the floor because they really couldn't do that. I interrupted and let them know that my oldest was going to leave and spend the night with my friends so I had beds for all four kids now. The supervisor yelled, "Hallelujah!" They said they would send them all over tonight and try to find a home for either both of the boys or just the 10 year old the next day. So I left my oldest with my friends and my other three kids and I ran home to prepare. One of the girls that would be staying with me arrived with a freshly stitched lip, as she had fallen at school that afternoon and busted her lip open. During the night, she pulled out all the stitches. In the morning, I let her social worker know and I was told to take her back to the ER. My friend was not allowed to stay with my foster children, but she did offer to come to my house and watch my kids. That way I could take 4 kids with me instead of 8. My friend and her husband delayed their departure just to help me and I was so grateful. So I took the four children to the ER while my children stayed with my friend and then my friends left town after I got back. Later that afternoon, a home for the two boys was found that was only ten minutes from me. I was glad for this, as it meant the other foster mom and I would be able to get the kids together to play often. The boys left around 6 and then we settled into life with the 5 and 3 year old. We had been told they would likely stay 3-6 months, but as I mentioned, they actually wound up leaving after only 16 days. This was a surprise to us, but we are learning that nothing is a concrete in foster care until it actually happens.
Looking back, I was once again amazed at the hand of the Lord over this placement. He brought friends that normally live halfway around the world into my little town just when I would need some help. They weren't staying at my house, as they have previously, but God placed them in a private home. This would not only be a blessing to them, it would also allow me to take this placement and help these kids so that they didn't wind up in the shelter. I would not have been able to say yes had my friend's family of 6 been staying at my house. There just would not have been space. I was also able to send my son with them for the night. I am extremely careful about who has my children overnight and there are not very many people I would let my kids spend the night with. However, I have known this couple for over ten years and I trust them completely. I have a depth of friendship with them that I have not yet had time to build with people here. So not only did they take my son for the night, but then my friend also provided childcare for me while I was at the ER with the other children. What a blessing that was! God is showing me that when I say yes to those in need, even when it's outside of what I planned to do, He's got my back. He will help me to care for these children, even if he has to bring in people from another continent to help!
So now for the story. We had a several week break after our first girls left. For two of those weeks, we asked not to be called, but after that we felt like we were ready to accept more children. Three weeks went by with no phone calls for kids we could take. We had previously scheduled a visit for the second week of October with some missionary friends of ours. They are in the US itinerating for a year and were planning to come this way and wanted to see us. We wanted to see them, but we also wanted to see if there would be local churches and friends who might want to be involved in their ministry. We had originally thought our first set of sisters would still be here when our friends visited, so we had made arrangements for them to able to stay elsewhere. John's grandparents have a house called the Blessing House. It's purpose is to be a place available to God's use and to be a place that is so filled with the presence of God that you are blessed just to step foot on the property. So one of the things they thought it might be used for was to be a place for missionaries and pastors to stay in when they needed rest. Since our friends are doing the work of the Lord, we asked John's grandparetns if they might be able to stay there and they said yes. It was nice for my friends to be able to have some private space, as they have been staying with family and in hotels (they have four kids too). So even though we didn't have a placement, we went ahead with the plan of them staying in the Blessing House while they were were. That turned out to be God's hand. The day before my friends were scheduled to leave, we got a call. It was for a group of 4 kids who needed a home. We are licensed for up to three, so we can't take four. However, I did offer to take the 3,4, and 5 year olds if no one could take all four. They told me they were going to keep my name on the list and see if they could find someone who would take all the kids. I received a call a couple hours later thanking me for being available but notifying me that they had found someone else. I was glad that the kids would be able to stay together, and we carried on with our plans for the evening. A local church was hosting a dinner for my friends and my friends were going to share about their ministry while people ate. We all went and started eating dinner, but then I got a frantic call. The voice on the other end said that family that had planned to take the four kids was no longer able to do so and asked if I was still available to take the little three. I said that I could and mentally planned to leave immediately so I could go home and get the house set up. But then I was asked another question. Could I please take the 10 year old too, just for the night? The social worker had actually been en route to the foster home with the children when that home fell through. They had driven a couple hours and she was in tears because now she had nowhere to take the kids. (It was 6:30pm by this time.) I told them I wasn't allowed to take 4 because I didn't have the bed space that was required by the state, but that one of my boys would be happy to sleep on the floor and let the 10 year old have a bed if that would be ok. The lady I spoke with did not know if that was allowed, so said she'd check and call back. (DHS is very particular about beds.) Meanwhile, I let my friends know what was going on and told them that I needed to leave right away. Because they were not staying with me, I was free to take this placement last minute. I told them the situation with the 4th child and they both offered to take one of my kids to spend the night with them at the Blessing House if that would help. When DHS called me back, they started asking me if there was anyway I could not have any children on the floor because they really couldn't do that. I interrupted and let them know that my oldest was going to leave and spend the night with my friends so I had beds for all four kids now. The supervisor yelled, "Hallelujah!" They said they would send them all over tonight and try to find a home for either both of the boys or just the 10 year old the next day. So I left my oldest with my friends and my other three kids and I ran home to prepare. One of the girls that would be staying with me arrived with a freshly stitched lip, as she had fallen at school that afternoon and busted her lip open. During the night, she pulled out all the stitches. In the morning, I let her social worker know and I was told to take her back to the ER. My friend was not allowed to stay with my foster children, but she did offer to come to my house and watch my kids. That way I could take 4 kids with me instead of 8. My friend and her husband delayed their departure just to help me and I was so grateful. So I took the four children to the ER while my children stayed with my friend and then my friends left town after I got back. Later that afternoon, a home for the two boys was found that was only ten minutes from me. I was glad for this, as it meant the other foster mom and I would be able to get the kids together to play often. The boys left around 6 and then we settled into life with the 5 and 3 year old. We had been told they would likely stay 3-6 months, but as I mentioned, they actually wound up leaving after only 16 days. This was a surprise to us, but we are learning that nothing is a concrete in foster care until it actually happens.
Looking back, I was once again amazed at the hand of the Lord over this placement. He brought friends that normally live halfway around the world into my little town just when I would need some help. They weren't staying at my house, as they have previously, but God placed them in a private home. This would not only be a blessing to them, it would also allow me to take this placement and help these kids so that they didn't wind up in the shelter. I would not have been able to say yes had my friend's family of 6 been staying at my house. There just would not have been space. I was also able to send my son with them for the night. I am extremely careful about who has my children overnight and there are not very many people I would let my kids spend the night with. However, I have known this couple for over ten years and I trust them completely. I have a depth of friendship with them that I have not yet had time to build with people here. So not only did they take my son for the night, but then my friend also provided childcare for me while I was at the ER with the other children. What a blessing that was! God is showing me that when I say yes to those in need, even when it's outside of what I planned to do, He's got my back. He will help me to care for these children, even if he has to bring in people from another continent to help!
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Round 2!
Well, we once again have some new little friends. There is another cool story of God's sovereignty involved, but I don't have time to type it up right now. So for now, I just wanted to let you know that we have two young sisters here (ages 3 and 5). Please keep them in your prayers.
Also, we got to visit our previous foster daughters yesterday. It was so good to see them and we were all excited to spend some time together. Unfortunately, John had to work, so he missed out on this visit. The kids and I went and picked up the girls and took them to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate the youngest one's birthday. Since Chuck E. now offers gluten free pizzas, a great time was had by all! It sounds like they and their mother are doing really well. When our current girls go back home, we may go pick the girls up and bring them home with us for a weekend if it works out.
The harvest is well under way now. John is almost finished harvesting his field. Please pray for his safety, as well as the safety of Grandpa and Ray. They (and all farmers) are working with some potentially dangerous equipment.
More to come soon on all that God has been doing in our lives this past week......
Also, we got to visit our previous foster daughters yesterday. It was so good to see them and we were all excited to spend some time together. Unfortunately, John had to work, so he missed out on this visit. The kids and I went and picked up the girls and took them to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate the youngest one's birthday. Since Chuck E. now offers gluten free pizzas, a great time was had by all! It sounds like they and their mother are doing really well. When our current girls go back home, we may go pick the girls up and bring them home with us for a weekend if it works out.
The harvest is well under way now. John is almost finished harvesting his field. Please pray for his safety, as well as the safety of Grandpa and Ray. They (and all farmers) are working with some potentially dangerous equipment.
More to come soon on all that God has been doing in our lives this past week......
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Summer Piano Recital
I forgot to share these videos with you from the June piano recital. This recital happened the night after I was first contacted about the girls. We left the recital and went to test drive the Suburban and the girls came less than two days later. So it was a crazy whirlwind of a weekend! Here is the footage from their recital.
Micah plays Ode to Joy:
Nathanael plays Harvest Festival:
This next song is kind of special. This is a waltz that Nathanael wrote himself and it is his first time performing his own song in public. He called it N's Waltz.
This last one is a duet. You may recognize the song from last year's summer recital. At that time, Nathanael played the secondo part and his teacher played primo. This year, Micah was determined to learn the song to play with his brother. I really did not think he'd be able to do it, as it is way above his level of playing. But determination goes a long way and he got it. It took some work for Nathanael as well, as the primo part is harder than the secondo. We were so proud of them. So Nathanael plays the primo part this time, and Micah plays secondo. Micah is the youngest student that his teacher has ever had play this song. It's called Diabelli March. I love hearing them play this together!
Luke is still taking guitar lessons from John. He is growing in his abilities as a guitar player, but he doesn't have recitals. I'll get you some videos of him playing and post them in the near future. Hannah has not started any music lessons yet.
Micah plays Ode to Joy:
Nathanael plays Harvest Festival:
This next song is kind of special. This is a waltz that Nathanael wrote himself and it is his first time performing his own song in public. He called it N's Waltz.
This last one is a duet. You may recognize the song from last year's summer recital. At that time, Nathanael played the secondo part and his teacher played primo. This year, Micah was determined to learn the song to play with his brother. I really did not think he'd be able to do it, as it is way above his level of playing. But determination goes a long way and he got it. It took some work for Nathanael as well, as the primo part is harder than the secondo. We were so proud of them. So Nathanael plays the primo part this time, and Micah plays secondo. Micah is the youngest student that his teacher has ever had play this song. It's called Diabelli March. I love hearing them play this together!
Luke is still taking guitar lessons from John. He is growing in his abilities as a guitar player, but he doesn't have recitals. I'll get you some videos of him playing and post them in the near future. Hannah has not started any music lessons yet.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
We're ok
After my last post, many are wondering how we are doing. We are doing ok. We still miss the girls, but we have been able to talk to them on the phone a few times and that has helped. The first week was the hardest. They didn't call that week like they had told us they would, so we weren't sure if their mom was upset with us or if we would ever get to talk to them. But now that we have talked to them a couple times, that worry is gone. We still feel their absence and John and I are still being thrown for a loop when we are out and trying to count 7 kids to make sure we have everyone. You only get to 4 and then you freak out for a second until you remember. That will probably take awhile to get used to. Little things are still catching us off guard. Thankfully, the last time I talked to their mother, she let us know that she talked to the staff at the place she's at and they said that because we are the girls' DHS approved foster family, we have permission to come get them anytime we want. We can pick them up and take them out and visit and then bring them back. So we have a plan to go up there on the 15th and take the girls to Chuck E Cheese. The youngest one turns 2 on the 14th, so it will be a birthday celebration. The Chuck E Cheese in that city has gluten free pizza and cupcakes, so we'll all be able to enjoy ourselves. We are very much looking forward to seeing them again.
It's been two weeks now since they left. We took a little break from school, but we are back at it full swing now. We got the yard under control and cleaned up. It's been a little messy because John had a big project going on over the summer. We bought a swingset awhile back that had a lot of rotten wood. We got a really good price on it, but John had to rebuild a lot of it to make sure the frame was sturdy. This required buying wood from the store, planing it down to the right size, rounding the corners, staining it, and then drilling the holes for the hardware on each piece he rebuilt. It took A LOT of time! But he wanted to do it this way because he wanted to use this as a project to teach the boys woodworking skills. I must say it worked. They all know a lot more than they did at the beginning of the summer. They got to the point where John could say, "While I'm at work today, I want you to take apart the slide, clean it, sand all the wood down, and then stain it. If you get that done, I'll attach the slide to the playset when I get home." And they'd do it! So it's been slow going, as the children are always our priority and the playground only gets worked on if there is available time. But it's finally up and they have been having fun playing on it. The only things left to do are to fix up the fort that goes on top of the monkey bars and attach the big twisty slide to it, as well as build the roof for the main section. Here are some pics:
The other thing that really needed to get done was giving the garden some TLC and doing some canning. As I said, the children are the priority, so there hasn't been a lot of free time for things that take hours and hours to get done (like homemade spaghetti sauce). So we froze a lot of stuff and planned to deal with it as we could. After many hours in the kitchen, I'm finally caught up. I have my homemade bone broth stocked up again, a year's worth of homemade spaghetti sauce (we eat spaghetti once a week), lots of strawberry jam from our very first year of having berries (made with honey instead of sugar), salsa, lots of frozen peppers and okra, dried peppers, and homemade chili powders. John also pickled some okra and made half of that spaghetti sauce. I'm working on getting some of the pumpkins pureed now, but thankfully they will keep for awhile. So that's what I have been up to.
I've also been working on taking the continuing education courses necessary for our foster care license renewal, as well as for my group exercise fitness certification (still teaching Zumba through it all). That stuff can take up a lot of time, so now that I know how busy life can be with extra kids around, I decided that I'll knock out what I can when I don't have extra kids here (especially while we were on the school break).
I have been absolutely exhausted since the girls left. I was really tired while they were here, but even more so after they left and that surprised me. I thought I'd be less tired after they left. I do think a good amount of my exhaustion was related to constantly pouring myself out for them and their mother. I have done some research and talked to some others and I think that has lead to adrenal fatigue. I totally fit the symptoms. So I am taking some natural supplements to help correct that and they are already making a difference. I am also working on getting lots of rest.
John is harvesting now. Things have been going smoothly for the most part, so that's always nice. We're still praying the price of corn goes up. That's the crop he has this year and the corn prices are really low right now. The boys have been taking turns going to work with him on Saturdays. They just love that. What boy wouldn't love riding in the combine? This one certainly enjoys it. :)
Over the summer, we had Micah officially tested for dyslexia. I have had suspicions for several months, but wasn't completely sure. I have been praying about what I was seeing in him because I didn't know what it was. Dyslexia is so much more than I ever realized, and he had many of the symptoms. There were things I had seen and taken note of, but had not realized were all related and that they pointed to dyslexia -things like difficulty learning to tie shoes, continually writing capital letters in the middle of words (beyond second grade), and lots of ear infections as a child. I wouldn't have put those things all together. He has the classic letter and number reversal issue too. But God is faithful and he began putting certain people and events in my path that opened my eyes. He even brought us a wonderful lady who was willing to test him at a discount because the testing is out of our price range. The diagnosis is moderate to severe dyslexia. I already knew it before we had the official results, but actually hearing it from a professional still hurt my heart. And it's nice knowing that yes, this is what we are dealing with. So now I can tailor my teaching to fit his needs better. This lady also does dyslexia tutoring, but never once pushed her services on me. She truly just wanted to help us. She was such a Godsend. She highly recommended a special reading and spelling program that I could do at home with Micah. She said it was set up for people without dyslexia training to use at home on their own. I think she automatically knew that as a homeschooler, I was going to want to help him myself. Lol! But she told me that most teachers are not taught about dyslexia. It is not a part of the education courses at most US colleges. So I'm not any less prepared to help him through this than a certified teacher. In fact, I know more than many of them do because of the amount of research I've done and the number of workshops I have attended. That was nice to hear. She is part of a movement to make a course in dyslexia a part of every college's teacher education program, as one in five people have dyslexia. Sadly, many go undiagnosed and just think they are stupid their entire lives. Each level of the program she told me about comes with a training dvd. So right now I am working on getting through the training so we can start the program. I have read so many wonderful testimonials online about this program on a variety of websites, so I am excited to use it. It's supposed to be one of the best and it is what is used in many dyslexia tutoring centers. We actually watched some trial lessons online when I was trying to figure out what I was going to do and Micah asked me to please use this one because he liked the trial lessons. He keeps asking me if I'm doing the training yet, because he's eager to get started! So it's a journey as I try to figure out the best way to help him, but God is so faithful and He knows the needs of my child. Just as he did for another special needs learner of mine, God has been showing me what to do and how to do it. He did, after all, create Micah and therefore knows him and his needs better than I do!
So that's the update for now. We are back in the "pot" for foster placements now, but who knows when the next child or children will come. I'll let everyone know when we have new friends again.
Sorry I didn't post a lot of photos this summer. I can't put anything with the girls' faces online and most of my pictures from the summer have them in them.
Ok, back to my training dvds.......
It's been two weeks now since they left. We took a little break from school, but we are back at it full swing now. We got the yard under control and cleaned up. It's been a little messy because John had a big project going on over the summer. We bought a swingset awhile back that had a lot of rotten wood. We got a really good price on it, but John had to rebuild a lot of it to make sure the frame was sturdy. This required buying wood from the store, planing it down to the right size, rounding the corners, staining it, and then drilling the holes for the hardware on each piece he rebuilt. It took A LOT of time! But he wanted to do it this way because he wanted to use this as a project to teach the boys woodworking skills. I must say it worked. They all know a lot more than they did at the beginning of the summer. They got to the point where John could say, "While I'm at work today, I want you to take apart the slide, clean it, sand all the wood down, and then stain it. If you get that done, I'll attach the slide to the playset when I get home." And they'd do it! So it's been slow going, as the children are always our priority and the playground only gets worked on if there is available time. But it's finally up and they have been having fun playing on it. The only things left to do are to fix up the fort that goes on top of the monkey bars and attach the big twisty slide to it, as well as build the roof for the main section. Here are some pics:
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| Oh yeah....lookin' fine. |
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| Taking the slide apart---daddy homework assignment |
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| Ta-da!! |
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| No need to go to the zoo to see monkeys.... |
The other thing that really needed to get done was giving the garden some TLC and doing some canning. As I said, the children are the priority, so there hasn't been a lot of free time for things that take hours and hours to get done (like homemade spaghetti sauce). So we froze a lot of stuff and planned to deal with it as we could. After many hours in the kitchen, I'm finally caught up. I have my homemade bone broth stocked up again, a year's worth of homemade spaghetti sauce (we eat spaghetti once a week), lots of strawberry jam from our very first year of having berries (made with honey instead of sugar), salsa, lots of frozen peppers and okra, dried peppers, and homemade chili powders. John also pickled some okra and made half of that spaghetti sauce. I'm working on getting some of the pumpkins pureed now, but thankfully they will keep for awhile. So that's what I have been up to.
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| These are only a few of our peppers. Our peppers went nuts this year, which was exciting for us because we've never had a good crop before. |
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| We froze this goodness back in June and finally made it into jam last week. |
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| This is only some of it! |
I've also been working on taking the continuing education courses necessary for our foster care license renewal, as well as for my group exercise fitness certification (still teaching Zumba through it all). That stuff can take up a lot of time, so now that I know how busy life can be with extra kids around, I decided that I'll knock out what I can when I don't have extra kids here (especially while we were on the school break).
I have been absolutely exhausted since the girls left. I was really tired while they were here, but even more so after they left and that surprised me. I thought I'd be less tired after they left. I do think a good amount of my exhaustion was related to constantly pouring myself out for them and their mother. I have done some research and talked to some others and I think that has lead to adrenal fatigue. I totally fit the symptoms. So I am taking some natural supplements to help correct that and they are already making a difference. I am also working on getting lots of rest.
John is harvesting now. Things have been going smoothly for the most part, so that's always nice. We're still praying the price of corn goes up. That's the crop he has this year and the corn prices are really low right now. The boys have been taking turns going to work with him on Saturdays. They just love that. What boy wouldn't love riding in the combine? This one certainly enjoys it. :)
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| Selfie by Nathanael |
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| Micah taking a moisture level reading for dad on some harvested corn. | . |
Over the summer, we had Micah officially tested for dyslexia. I have had suspicions for several months, but wasn't completely sure. I have been praying about what I was seeing in him because I didn't know what it was. Dyslexia is so much more than I ever realized, and he had many of the symptoms. There were things I had seen and taken note of, but had not realized were all related and that they pointed to dyslexia -things like difficulty learning to tie shoes, continually writing capital letters in the middle of words (beyond second grade), and lots of ear infections as a child. I wouldn't have put those things all together. He has the classic letter and number reversal issue too. But God is faithful and he began putting certain people and events in my path that opened my eyes. He even brought us a wonderful lady who was willing to test him at a discount because the testing is out of our price range. The diagnosis is moderate to severe dyslexia. I already knew it before we had the official results, but actually hearing it from a professional still hurt my heart. And it's nice knowing that yes, this is what we are dealing with. So now I can tailor my teaching to fit his needs better. This lady also does dyslexia tutoring, but never once pushed her services on me. She truly just wanted to help us. She was such a Godsend. She highly recommended a special reading and spelling program that I could do at home with Micah. She said it was set up for people without dyslexia training to use at home on their own. I think she automatically knew that as a homeschooler, I was going to want to help him myself. Lol! But she told me that most teachers are not taught about dyslexia. It is not a part of the education courses at most US colleges. So I'm not any less prepared to help him through this than a certified teacher. In fact, I know more than many of them do because of the amount of research I've done and the number of workshops I have attended. That was nice to hear. She is part of a movement to make a course in dyslexia a part of every college's teacher education program, as one in five people have dyslexia. Sadly, many go undiagnosed and just think they are stupid their entire lives. Each level of the program she told me about comes with a training dvd. So right now I am working on getting through the training so we can start the program. I have read so many wonderful testimonials online about this program on a variety of websites, so I am excited to use it. It's supposed to be one of the best and it is what is used in many dyslexia tutoring centers. We actually watched some trial lessons online when I was trying to figure out what I was going to do and Micah asked me to please use this one because he liked the trial lessons. He keeps asking me if I'm doing the training yet, because he's eager to get started! So it's a journey as I try to figure out the best way to help him, but God is so faithful and He knows the needs of my child. Just as he did for another special needs learner of mine, God has been showing me what to do and how to do it. He did, after all, create Micah and therefore knows him and his needs better than I do!
So that's the update for now. We are back in the "pot" for foster placements now, but who knows when the next child or children will come. I'll let everyone know when we have new friends again.
Sorry I didn't post a lot of photos this summer. I can't put anything with the girls' faces online and most of my pictures from the summer have them in them.
Ok, back to my training dvds.......
Sunday, September 18, 2016
A piece of my heart......
A piece of my heart left today. In an unexpected turn of events, our little ladies have gone back to their mother on short notice. The plan concerning them has changed many times, but all of the plans had at least the older two girls staying for 3-6 more months. So we didn't really see this coming. This is the part that I didn't really want to deal with. It's the part that's kept me from saying yes to this ministry for years. My kids are devastated and John and I are pretty sad too. These girls are awesome kids. They quickly worked their way into our hearts and they fit right into our family. We truly love them. We have endeavored from the start to think of them like they were ours and to treat them as our own. There was no " foster kids" and "my kids." They were all my babies. The hard part of that is that when they leave, it feels like your children have left you. There is a noticeable hole. But none of them are really mine anyhow, even the ones birthed from my body. They are all the Lord's and He will do as He sees fit.
My girls were excited to be with their mom again. They have been here for 3.5 months now and haven't even seen their mom in a month. They were counting down the days. Meanwhile, their excitement was causing pain in the hearts of the four who share my last name. Those four were dreading this day. The girls are sisters to them. They have loved being with them and it's been a big play party all summer. Hannah has not always enjoyed sharing her stuff or her parents, but she has enjoyed having sisters around. I have been preparing them for this day since the beginning, but nothing truly prepares you for the first time it actually happens. I told them that this is part of the sacrifice that God is asking us to make in order to minister to the little ones who need to know his love. Then some words came out of my mouth that did not come from my brain. I told them that God understands our pain even in this and He has been there. He had to let his son go. His son wasn't going to a good situation either, but He had to let him go in order to make a way for man back to God. And we have to let our kids go in order for more kids to be able come here and learn of God's love for them. They got it. They are seeking to do what God has called them to do, even when it hurts. Their parents are seeking the same. We all just want God's will to be done.
It's bittersweet. They do need to be with their mama and we are glad for them that they are reunited. It is hard not knowing how things will turn out. They aren't going back to the best of situations. But they are the Lord's and so we entrust them to God's care. He loves them more than we do and He will watch over them. Please keep the girls and their mama in your prayers.
Pray for us too. This is really hard. We are going to take a few days off from school and a week or two off from fostering. We have some things around here that have been neglected that it will be nice to have time to do (like cut the grass--sorry neighbors!) Then we will reevaluate how everyone is doing. If we're doing alright, we will go back to being open for placements within our original age range of 0-3. But I don't know what God has in store, so you never know when he may ask us to be available for his use in a way we were not expecting, as He did in this situation. So we will see where He leads. We do not regret taking in these three at all, not even a little bit. They are awesome little girls and they are hungry for the truth. We have had more opportunities to speak truth and show love than we ever imagined and we are thankful for that. Their hearts were definitely like fertile ground and I pray that the seeds we planted will grow to produce a harvest of righteousness in these girls and their mom. I pray they will not need to re-enter foster care, but if they do, they are welcome back here at anytime.
I know several people are wondering how the school thing was going, as I had expressed some fear about that. I did ask for permission to homeschool and was denied. So I registered them
for public school. Things were going pretty well, although it's only been a few weeks since school started. They both loved their teachers and were making friends and fitting in. They were happy there. The teachers and I had great communication and I have no complaints about them. I'm still not a morning person, so one of the hard things for me was getting up at 6 so the girls could meet the bus at 7. The amount of requests I was getting to volunteer for something was also a little annoying. Having to deal with a completely different system was tricky at times. For example, they do math very differently in the schools here than the way I learned and the way I teach my children. So I had to try to figure it out before I could help with math problems. But in general, things were going well. Do I plan to take in more school aged kids? Not unless God asks me to.
One of the hardest things for me was losing our vacation this year. We always vacation the week of Labor Day. Things are much cheaper that week because most kids are back in school and it is considered the off season, but the weather is still warm. We didn't even put it together right away that having kids in public school would mess with that. But then I had asked to homeschool and thought they would say yes because my social worker and the girls' mom were both on board. So we thought we might still get to go and take the girls. But I was not given an answer until the week before school started and it was too late then. I tried to find something to do over Labor Day weekend, but I couldn't find anything fun and affordable. Accommodations for this many people on a holiday weekend are very pricey. So John took his week of leave the week the girls started school and did stuff around the house. I am not a "staycation" person. Staying home is NOT a vacation to me. I like to get away from the house. This house is my workplace. I prefer to go somewhere else for a vacation....somewhere where my to do list isn't staring at me. When John stays home, he's left his workplace behind. It's not so for me. We've been on vacation every year since we've been married, so giving this up to get up at 6 am for the bus was and still is extremely hard for me. I know some people never get to go, but when you are used to going annually, it's hard to give that up. We can't go now. John is about to start harvesting. He's already back to working Saturdays for the season and he is not supposed to take vacation time during the busy seasons of planting or harvesting (which we knew going into this). He will be busy until December now. So the opportunity is gone for the year. But I'm trying to be ok with it. It's one of the many unexpected sacrifices God is asking us to make for his kingdom, and I want to say yes to his call. Oh, how I wish you could at least see the ocean from somewhere near here. I miss it so badly. But, the girls are worth all the sacrifices. Knowing I will see them in heaven one day because the Lord allowed me to lead them to Christ is worth not having a vacation and getting up early and all the other things too. And I'm also thankful for the chance for my kids to see mom put her faith into action even when it hurts. I want them to see a mom who lives what she says she believes. I want that to encourage them to do the same.
We will miss you, girls. XOXOXO
Saturday, July 9, 2016
How's it going?
This is the question we keep getting recently. Everyone wants to know
how things are going and if we are surviving. I am happy to answer that
question, but first I want to say something. If you want to ask a
foster parent how things are going, please do not ask them in front of
the children. Ask in private later on, keeping in mind that we may not be
able to answer some questions. I have had too many people make comments
right in front of the girls and I wish people would think before they
speak. I even had someone say, "I can't believe they gave you THREE!!"
My girls were standing right behind me when she said that. These types
of comments can be damaging to the children. I do not want them to feel
like they are a burden that I am just trying to survive. We wanted to do
this and we welcome whomever the Lord wants to send here. We are happy
to be a part of their lives. I know there are several who think we're
nuts for taking in three when we already have four (but those people
thought we were nuts for considering more than we already had in the
first place). So to answer the question... we're doing really well. This
is going better than I could have hoped for and I can see the hand of
God all over this situation. We have not had any major issues and
everyone appears to be adjusting well. We are not overwhelmed or about
to stress out. We are not second guessing whether or not we should have
done this. We know this is what we are to be doing. There is definitely
extra work now, and I do feel the weight of that, but I cast that weight
on Christ and I receive his strength and his peace.
The girls have been here for four weeks now. We have all had time to get to know each other and start adjusting to a new normal. It's been an adjustment to get used to having a toddler around again. I keep doing things like forgetting to bring the diaper bag or a sippie cup along or forgetting to check her diaper often enough. It's been 5 years since I had a 1 year old around! We have gone back to living our lives around afternoon naptime because you don't want to mess with the nap! Naptime is when I am able to get a few things done, like garden work or dinner prep. In the beginning, I was forgetting to allot time for getting her ready to leave the house. I'm used to telling everyone to get ready and they all get themselves ready. So we were really late for things the first week. Those who know us well know that we struggle with punctuality to begin with, so this did not help! But we are starting to get a new "groove" and I am able to get out of the house on time again (most of the time).
The kids all get along really well with each other most of the time. We have issues, of course, but they are ones that I would consider common to all children and are issues we were already dealing with in our children prior to starting foster care. My daughter is overjoyed to finally have girls around the house. For the first time in our family, the girls are outnumbering the boys. Of course, with girls come some emotions that we have not been used to dealing with. Those have been an adjustment. I'm not used to so many people crying over every little thing or the world needing to end when someone gets a scrape. I've gotten into the habit of offering an ice pack more often than is needed. It's a nice little placebo for people who are wanting me to do something about their perceived life threatening injury. *eye roll* The boys are also getting along well with the girls and all my children are glad we opened our home to them.
There have been many ministry opportunities in this situation. Both girls are hungry for the truth and love our morning devotions and often want me to read extra Bible stories. They are also enjoying our nightly family prayer time and have already grown in the way they pray. Both of the older girls expressed a desire to become Christians, so I was able to talk to them more about what that really meant and then I was able to pray with them to surrender their lives to Christ. They are enjoying learning about God's way of living and have been very open to doing things differently than they have before. Our house is more strict than what they are used to, and I had been worried about that, but they have been surprisingly ok with that. I cherish this opportunity that I have to mentor and shape some additional little lives for the kingdom of God. Prayerfully, future generations of their family will grow up differently than what has been going on in the family lines. I do not know how long I will have with these girls, but I am trying to make the most of every opportunity that I have with them. What has been a pleasant surprise is how many opportunities I have had with their mom to speak truth and life to her. She is listening and I see God pursuing her (and I told her so). We have spent literally hours talking and she has been so open. Pray for me every time I speak that I speak God's words to her and not my own.
Now that we are settling into a routine, we are starting to get back into life. We kind of dropped off the planet for a bit. We are going more places and enrolling the girls into activities. The oldest one has started taking piano lessons and I am about to put them into swim lessons with Hannah as well. Yes, I am still teaching Zumba. I had five classes a week when they came here, but thankfully that has been scaled back. My wonderful babysitter has offered to help me when I need help, as part of her own desire to minister to others. She went with us to the zoo a couple of days ago and it was much easier having a second person there to help with the children. (The girls had been asking to go.) She has also offered to come help if I need to go grocery shopping. God has been providing for my needs like this in many ways and it's been really cool for me to watch Him at work.
Please keep praying for the girls, their mom, and our family. The baby and the oldest sister are currently sick and the baby is miserable at night. She was up every hour last night. Please pray for their healing and that I stay healthy (most of the other kids have already had the bug). We appreciate the prayers!
The girls have been here for four weeks now. We have all had time to get to know each other and start adjusting to a new normal. It's been an adjustment to get used to having a toddler around again. I keep doing things like forgetting to bring the diaper bag or a sippie cup along or forgetting to check her diaper often enough. It's been 5 years since I had a 1 year old around! We have gone back to living our lives around afternoon naptime because you don't want to mess with the nap! Naptime is when I am able to get a few things done, like garden work or dinner prep. In the beginning, I was forgetting to allot time for getting her ready to leave the house. I'm used to telling everyone to get ready and they all get themselves ready. So we were really late for things the first week. Those who know us well know that we struggle with punctuality to begin with, so this did not help! But we are starting to get a new "groove" and I am able to get out of the house on time again (most of the time).
The kids all get along really well with each other most of the time. We have issues, of course, but they are ones that I would consider common to all children and are issues we were already dealing with in our children prior to starting foster care. My daughter is overjoyed to finally have girls around the house. For the first time in our family, the girls are outnumbering the boys. Of course, with girls come some emotions that we have not been used to dealing with. Those have been an adjustment. I'm not used to so many people crying over every little thing or the world needing to end when someone gets a scrape. I've gotten into the habit of offering an ice pack more often than is needed. It's a nice little placebo for people who are wanting me to do something about their perceived life threatening injury. *eye roll* The boys are also getting along well with the girls and all my children are glad we opened our home to them.
There have been many ministry opportunities in this situation. Both girls are hungry for the truth and love our morning devotions and often want me to read extra Bible stories. They are also enjoying our nightly family prayer time and have already grown in the way they pray. Both of the older girls expressed a desire to become Christians, so I was able to talk to them more about what that really meant and then I was able to pray with them to surrender their lives to Christ. They are enjoying learning about God's way of living and have been very open to doing things differently than they have before. Our house is more strict than what they are used to, and I had been worried about that, but they have been surprisingly ok with that. I cherish this opportunity that I have to mentor and shape some additional little lives for the kingdom of God. Prayerfully, future generations of their family will grow up differently than what has been going on in the family lines. I do not know how long I will have with these girls, but I am trying to make the most of every opportunity that I have with them. What has been a pleasant surprise is how many opportunities I have had with their mom to speak truth and life to her. She is listening and I see God pursuing her (and I told her so). We have spent literally hours talking and she has been so open. Pray for me every time I speak that I speak God's words to her and not my own.
Now that we are settling into a routine, we are starting to get back into life. We kind of dropped off the planet for a bit. We are going more places and enrolling the girls into activities. The oldest one has started taking piano lessons and I am about to put them into swim lessons with Hannah as well. Yes, I am still teaching Zumba. I had five classes a week when they came here, but thankfully that has been scaled back. My wonderful babysitter has offered to help me when I need help, as part of her own desire to minister to others. She went with us to the zoo a couple of days ago and it was much easier having a second person there to help with the children. (The girls had been asking to go.) She has also offered to come help if I need to go grocery shopping. God has been providing for my needs like this in many ways and it's been really cool for me to watch Him at work.
Please keep praying for the girls, their mom, and our family. The baby and the oldest sister are currently sick and the baby is miserable at night. She was up every hour last night. Please pray for their healing and that I stay healthy (most of the other kids have already had the bug). We appreciate the prayers!
Friday, June 10, 2016
New Friends
The day we have been preparing for and praying about has finally come. We have some new friends at our house. We are not sure how long our little friends will be staying with us, but it could wind up being quite awhile. We had decided that we mainly wanted to take one child, but would be willing to take two if there was a sibling group that DHS was having trouble keeping together. So when I received a frantic call from an acquaintance on Saturday night begging me to consider taking in three little girls she cared about that had been removed from their home, I wasn't really thinking it was going to be a situation for us. Plus, this is not normally the way things happen. I was told it is highly unusual for someone to recommend a foster family to the social worker and then for that placement to actually happen. Usually, they search out their own families. The girls range in age from 1 to 8. But as this lady spoke, my heart was stirred. I said I would pray but that I didn't think I could do it. We were not licensed to take in three kids. Also, I had just promised another foster family that I would watch their two foster babies while they went on vacation for a week and I couldn't leave them hanging. I also did not have the right bed set up for big kids. I had cribs and toddler beds and two of these girls would need twin beds. Not only that, I have four kids already and I didn't really think we could fit in three more. But one of the biggest things was that I drive a Honda Odyssey and it only seats 7. There is no way I could fit 9 of us in there. But I know that God sometimes blows the mind with the things He asks of us, so I never want to say no without praying about a situation first. So, I said I would pray and I said I would be willing to talk to the social worker and get more information. I texted a foster mama friend and asked her to please pray. I prayed (John was at work) and I told the Lord that if he wanted us to do this, I was going to need that 9 passenger Suburban our family had been praying for (mentioned in a previous blog post) and I was going to need the money for it and I was going to need it by tomorrow. I also needed to know how to fit them all in here. I got a picture in my mind's eye of how to fit in three more kids. I needed to take Hannah's twin bed and put it in our nursery. There was already a crib in there and if I took out the exersaucer, recliner, and baby swing a bed would fit. Then I needed to get a set of bunk beds to put in Hannah's room. Since these were all girls, one of them could share a room with Hannah. So I told the Lord I needed a set of white bunk beds too. Then my friend texted me back and surprised me.
"I just had the thought pop into my mind that I am supposed to take the little boys you promised to babysit (she had no foster kids in her house at the moment) because you are going to have those girls."
John came home from work and I filled him in on all that was going on. I told him what my friend had said and he replied, "I just had that exact thought as you were talking." Then he told me that he was open to this idea. He's always been the more open one. I am the one that has been very hesitant to have school aged kids. I am a homeschooler in both senses of the word. I was homeschooled and I now homeschool all my kids. As such, the public school system is unfamiliar territory to me and that makes it scary. I don't know how it works and I have enjoyed not being tied to its' calendar and rules. You can't homeschool foster children, so taking school aged kids commits me to using the school system. This has nothing to do with my thoughts on schools today or anything of that nature. I know the school here is supposed to be a good one. It's really more the unfamiliar territory thing that makes me hesitant. I also have been afraid that in keeping my children home, but sending off the foster kids that they may feel rejected. Will they feel like I keep my "real" kids home with me and send off the ones I don't love as much? Will they understand that it has to be that way? Will they understand why they have to come home and do homework while my children get to play? I don't want to cause any rejection issues for kids who are already hurting. So taking in babies and toddlers kind of avoids all that.
I continued to pray. I told the Lord I would do it if he wanted me to but that the thought of it scared me. After the kids were in bed (this all happened last Saturday evening), John decided to get on Craigslist and look at vehicles. He had been watching for months for a 9 passenger Suburban and had not seen one listed. We hadn't realized they are not very common. So imagine his surprise when he gets on Craigslist and sees that a 9 passenger Suburban was just listed less than one minute from the time he entered his search query. That kind of blew both our minds. We decided we would go look at it the next day. We went to church the next morning and as I got ready to go I said, "Lord? Three more?? Do you really think I can handle this??" Immediately Philippians 4:13 came to mind. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." The pastor talked about communion and Christ pouring himself out for us. He asked, "Who is Christ asking you to pour yourself out for today?" Okay, Lord. I hear you. My mind was spinning. I asked a few girlfriends of mine to pray. On the way home, I had a conversation with the girls' social worker and got some additional information. We set up an appointment to go see the Suburban at 7pm. After lunch, we were talking about how we were going to pay for this vehicle. John had finally sold the rest of his soybeans from last year, and after all the expenses he had some money left over. This money was placed in his business account and set aside for farming expenses this year. He told me he would need it and to not even think about it. So we haven't thought about it.....so much so that he didn't even remember what was in there. I should mention here that on Saturday, John's monthly business bank statement had arrived in the mail, but he had not yet looked at it. As we sat around discussing the Suburban, he mentioned that he did have some money but he didn't have what was need to cover this purchase entirely and he didn't know how we'd cover the rest. He couldn't remember exactly how much was in there. He suddenly remembered his statement and decided to go look at it. His eyebrows raised and he said, "Oh. I have more than I remember having. Not sure why I have this amount in here, but I do have enough to cover this." So it was decided that since the van was worth more than this Suburban (it's an '04), we could make the purchase now and then sell the van to replenish the account. John wondered if the seller would take a business check from people he didn't know anything about and decided to bring the statement along as proof of sufficient funds.
Nathanael and Micah had a piano recital (future post coming) that afternoon and after that we made the 90 minute drive to go see this vehicle. We prayed along the way. We both had peace about buying it, so we did. The guy was ok with taking our check because he said he would just hold the title until the check cleared and once it did, he would mail it to us. So we drove home with this:
Well, that was one major item covered. Oh, and I had it within 24 hours of telling the Lord I'd need it tomorrow. So now I had my babysitting covered and I had a vehicle that could hold the kids. It was all happening so fast. We both felt like we were supposed to do this.However, there was still the issue of not being licensed to take in three kids. On Monday morning, the social worker was able to talk to some people and use a loophole in the law that allowed them to give us special permission to take in three kids, since we did have the amount of space they require for 7 kids. Another check on the list. I located a set of bunk beds on Craigslist that I thought would work for us but wasn't sure how we'd pick them up because John works pretty late this time of year and I can't fit a bed and my four kids in the same vehicle. The same foster mama friend texted me that if I needed to do anything, she could come stay with my kids. Okay. So she came over and Luke and I went and picked up the beds. That was the last big check on the list. So by Monday night, all major items were covered for us to take in these girls. So much happened in 48 hrs that I couldn't believe it. But there was now no doubt in my mind that we are supposed to have these girls.
They came on Tuesday evening. Their mama and the social worker were with them. (I had given permission for her to come along.) Everyone was nervous and didn't know what to expect. But mom was so thankful to meet us and know that her kids were with a Christian family. She thanked me so many times. (Remember, I was made aware of this situation by someone I know who is close to this mom. So mom had already been told about our family and that the girls would definitely be safe and well cared for with us.And she knew that it is normally very hard to place three kids together. Sibling groups often have to be split up.)
Things are going really well. These little girls are well behaved and I haven't had an issues with them that are uncommon to all children this age. The 1 yr old is super cute and friendly and absolutely adores John. Actually, you can tell that they are all enjoying having a daddy in their lives and everyone is excited when John comes home from work. The 1 yr old wanted him to rock her to sleep the first two nights. She cried when I tried! I had to run out pretty late that first night after everyone was finally asleep and make the 30 minute drive to Walmart to get them some basics. They didn't have much clothing with them and much of it didn't match or was the wrong size. They didn't have enough undergarments to make it a week without washing and they didn't have any long pants or jeans and there wasn't much that could be worn as church clothes either. It was like Christmas here the next morning when I showed them what I had bought them. The older two are feeling much more comfortable already and all 7 kids are getting along really well. The oldest one is a big kitchen helper and always asks to help me with every meal. Unlike my daughter, she doesn't get bored and want to run off halfway through the job. Speaking of my daughter, Hannah is over the moon excited to finally have some girls here. For the first time in our family's history, the girls outnumber the boys! The one Hannah shares a room with is only 4 weeks older than Hannah. These two are already peas in a pod and you would think they had known each other for years. As for me, I'm doing ok. I am not overwhelmed but I do feel the additional responsibility. And it's an adjustment to have a toddler around again. But we are doing alright. I need to figure out a new routine and am having to figure out how long it takes us to do things now that there are so many of us. Getting ready for church should be interesting for this family that already struggles with being on time for things.
Please keep us all in your prayers as we adjust. Please keep their mama in prayer as well. I cannot share anything about her, but she needs clear direction and for the Lord to move in her life so she can have her girls back. She does love them, I can tell. She really misses them and she calls every night at bedtime. Tomorrow we will have our first visit with her. I'm not sure how the children will react when it is time for mom to leave, so pray for that too please.
I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post and I don' think I can post photos, but I will try to keep you as updated as I am legally allowed to. Thank you for your prayers!
"I just had the thought pop into my mind that I am supposed to take the little boys you promised to babysit (she had no foster kids in her house at the moment) because you are going to have those girls."
John came home from work and I filled him in on all that was going on. I told him what my friend had said and he replied, "I just had that exact thought as you were talking." Then he told me that he was open to this idea. He's always been the more open one. I am the one that has been very hesitant to have school aged kids. I am a homeschooler in both senses of the word. I was homeschooled and I now homeschool all my kids. As such, the public school system is unfamiliar territory to me and that makes it scary. I don't know how it works and I have enjoyed not being tied to its' calendar and rules. You can't homeschool foster children, so taking school aged kids commits me to using the school system. This has nothing to do with my thoughts on schools today or anything of that nature. I know the school here is supposed to be a good one. It's really more the unfamiliar territory thing that makes me hesitant. I also have been afraid that in keeping my children home, but sending off the foster kids that they may feel rejected. Will they feel like I keep my "real" kids home with me and send off the ones I don't love as much? Will they understand that it has to be that way? Will they understand why they have to come home and do homework while my children get to play? I don't want to cause any rejection issues for kids who are already hurting. So taking in babies and toddlers kind of avoids all that.
I continued to pray. I told the Lord I would do it if he wanted me to but that the thought of it scared me. After the kids were in bed (this all happened last Saturday evening), John decided to get on Craigslist and look at vehicles. He had been watching for months for a 9 passenger Suburban and had not seen one listed. We hadn't realized they are not very common. So imagine his surprise when he gets on Craigslist and sees that a 9 passenger Suburban was just listed less than one minute from the time he entered his search query. That kind of blew both our minds. We decided we would go look at it the next day. We went to church the next morning and as I got ready to go I said, "Lord? Three more?? Do you really think I can handle this??" Immediately Philippians 4:13 came to mind. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." The pastor talked about communion and Christ pouring himself out for us. He asked, "Who is Christ asking you to pour yourself out for today?" Okay, Lord. I hear you. My mind was spinning. I asked a few girlfriends of mine to pray. On the way home, I had a conversation with the girls' social worker and got some additional information. We set up an appointment to go see the Suburban at 7pm. After lunch, we were talking about how we were going to pay for this vehicle. John had finally sold the rest of his soybeans from last year, and after all the expenses he had some money left over. This money was placed in his business account and set aside for farming expenses this year. He told me he would need it and to not even think about it. So we haven't thought about it.....so much so that he didn't even remember what was in there. I should mention here that on Saturday, John's monthly business bank statement had arrived in the mail, but he had not yet looked at it. As we sat around discussing the Suburban, he mentioned that he did have some money but he didn't have what was need to cover this purchase entirely and he didn't know how we'd cover the rest. He couldn't remember exactly how much was in there. He suddenly remembered his statement and decided to go look at it. His eyebrows raised and he said, "Oh. I have more than I remember having. Not sure why I have this amount in here, but I do have enough to cover this." So it was decided that since the van was worth more than this Suburban (it's an '04), we could make the purchase now and then sell the van to replenish the account. John wondered if the seller would take a business check from people he didn't know anything about and decided to bring the statement along as proof of sufficient funds.
Nathanael and Micah had a piano recital (future post coming) that afternoon and after that we made the 90 minute drive to go see this vehicle. We prayed along the way. We both had peace about buying it, so we did. The guy was ok with taking our check because he said he would just hold the title until the check cleared and once it did, he would mail it to us. So we drove home with this:
Well, that was one major item covered. Oh, and I had it within 24 hours of telling the Lord I'd need it tomorrow. So now I had my babysitting covered and I had a vehicle that could hold the kids. It was all happening so fast. We both felt like we were supposed to do this.However, there was still the issue of not being licensed to take in three kids. On Monday morning, the social worker was able to talk to some people and use a loophole in the law that allowed them to give us special permission to take in three kids, since we did have the amount of space they require for 7 kids. Another check on the list. I located a set of bunk beds on Craigslist that I thought would work for us but wasn't sure how we'd pick them up because John works pretty late this time of year and I can't fit a bed and my four kids in the same vehicle. The same foster mama friend texted me that if I needed to do anything, she could come stay with my kids. Okay. So she came over and Luke and I went and picked up the beds. That was the last big check on the list. So by Monday night, all major items were covered for us to take in these girls. So much happened in 48 hrs that I couldn't believe it. But there was now no doubt in my mind that we are supposed to have these girls.
They came on Tuesday evening. Their mama and the social worker were with them. (I had given permission for her to come along.) Everyone was nervous and didn't know what to expect. But mom was so thankful to meet us and know that her kids were with a Christian family. She thanked me so many times. (Remember, I was made aware of this situation by someone I know who is close to this mom. So mom had already been told about our family and that the girls would definitely be safe and well cared for with us.And she knew that it is normally very hard to place three kids together. Sibling groups often have to be split up.)
Things are going really well. These little girls are well behaved and I haven't had an issues with them that are uncommon to all children this age. The 1 yr old is super cute and friendly and absolutely adores John. Actually, you can tell that they are all enjoying having a daddy in their lives and everyone is excited when John comes home from work. The 1 yr old wanted him to rock her to sleep the first two nights. She cried when I tried! I had to run out pretty late that first night after everyone was finally asleep and make the 30 minute drive to Walmart to get them some basics. They didn't have much clothing with them and much of it didn't match or was the wrong size. They didn't have enough undergarments to make it a week without washing and they didn't have any long pants or jeans and there wasn't much that could be worn as church clothes either. It was like Christmas here the next morning when I showed them what I had bought them. The older two are feeling much more comfortable already and all 7 kids are getting along really well. The oldest one is a big kitchen helper and always asks to help me with every meal. Unlike my daughter, she doesn't get bored and want to run off halfway through the job. Speaking of my daughter, Hannah is over the moon excited to finally have some girls here. For the first time in our family's history, the girls outnumber the boys! The one Hannah shares a room with is only 4 weeks older than Hannah. These two are already peas in a pod and you would think they had known each other for years. As for me, I'm doing ok. I am not overwhelmed but I do feel the additional responsibility. And it's an adjustment to have a toddler around again. But we are doing alright. I need to figure out a new routine and am having to figure out how long it takes us to do things now that there are so many of us. Getting ready for church should be interesting for this family that already struggles with being on time for things.
Please keep us all in your prayers as we adjust. Please keep their mama in prayer as well. I cannot share anything about her, but she needs clear direction and for the Lord to move in her life so she can have her girls back. She does love them, I can tell. She really misses them and she calls every night at bedtime. Tomorrow we will have our first visit with her. I'm not sure how the children will react when it is time for mom to leave, so pray for that too please.
I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post and I don' think I can post photos, but I will try to keep you as updated as I am legally allowed to. Thank you for your prayers!
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Calls?
Many have been asking if we have gotten any placement calls yet. The answer is yes. We have gotten two calls so far. Both times DHS was trying to locate families for children out of the age range we said we were able to parent. One call was for a sibling group of several teens and we just aren't able to do that at this stage of life. So we have had to say no both times. I know there is someone (or several someones) specific out there who is supposed to be here. I know God has a plan for our foster care ministry and He prepared us at the right time so that we are able to be available for those specific children. He did the same with Hannah's adoption. We needed to be ready and waiting in advance because the call came suddenly and in an unexpected way. So although the kids and I race to the phone every time it rings, we will wait patiently for God to fulfill His plans. I will let you know when we have a little visitor.
Friday, May 13, 2016
January - March '16
Please excuse my typos when I write. I do know how to properly write a
sentence......except for comma usage, that is. Those little buggers have been a thorn in my flesh for decades. My problem is that it's usually 2am when I am writing these
posts, so my brain isn't working at full capacity. I never seem to have
time to write during any other point during the day. I'll give you four guesses why.....
I now jump every time the phone rings, but we have not wound up with any placement calls yet. I still need a convertible car seat in case we have a toddler, but other than that we are ready and are just waiting. Actually, I do have a convertible seat, but it expires in July. I'm praying the Lord provides something else by then. Hopefully, it will be something unisex because the one I have is very pink. I do have infant seats, just not the kind for toddlers. I have to take a spending break for a bit. There were several things we needed to get/ do to prepared for foster children and it's all adding up very quickly.
We've celebrated 4 out of our 6 birthdays already this year. Micah turned 8 in January. We aren't really doing big parties anymore, so on Micah's birthday we had a game night. My birthday kiddos also get a special breakfast and the dinner of their choice. He wanted loaded nachos with his special dairy free cheese.
He got a couple new games for his birthday as well as some other things.
We really miss being able to go to Georgetown Cupcakes (TLC's DC Cupcakes), so I decided it was finally time to learn to replicate some at home. So for Micah's birthday, I made gluten free, mostly dairy free chocolate lava fudge cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. They were actually really good and I think that if I just gave you one, you wouldn't realize it was a special cupcake unless I told you. It's actually really bad that I know how to make these now, because I am tempted to whip some up more often than I should. Micah loved them and we had a fun day celebrating his birthday.
This boy is getting too big. The week before this it was his turn for what we call "A Date with Dad." He wanted to go hunting with John. They didn't get anything, but he enjoyed going and can't wait to go again next season.
In February, we all experienced our first Iowa caucus. I got to help count the ballots. We took the kids with us. It didn't go the way I wanted it to go, but I'm still glad I went.
We also went to our first concert as a family. We went to Winter Jam, which is a Christian concert with multiple acts. Tickets are only $10, but are first come, first served. You wait outside in the cold in long lines and are not guaranteed a seat. We were not impressed, for the most part, and won't bother going next year.
We also celebrated Hannah's 6th birthday. Yes, you read that right. She is 6 already!! Say what? (She's missing a bunch of teeth!)
Grandma Sharon was in town the weekend before Hannah's birthday, so we celebrated a couple days early. Hannah chose pizza for her dinner and she requested caramel brownies in lieu of cake.
We played games with grandma and opened gifts.
Then on her actual birthday, we played hooky and went to the zoo. This little girl LOVES animals. It's really a shame that she's allergic to several of them. She also got the bike she had requested. She wanted a "big girl bike, with a basket and a kickstand and no training wheels." It was really hard to find, as most bikes her size still come with training wheels and therefore do not need kickstands. But John finally found her one and she loves it. This girl has been riding without training wheels since last summer.
We also celebrated Nathanael's half birthday at the end of the month.
We started work on daddy's new office space. This house has 4 bedrooms. John and I are in one, Hannah is in one, and all three boys share a room. We were using the fourth room as our home office space, since we lost our den/office with this move. In order to use this bedroom as a foster care bedroom, a new space had to be found for John's office. I prayed and the Lord gave me a vision of how to make it all work. Our downstairs consists of a bathroom, the boys' room, our storage room, and then the rest is a big open space. We were using this as a school room and a playroom. The space is actually big enough that the Lord showed me we could wall off the school room area and make it into our new office space and still have lots of playroom space left. We weren't really using it as a school space anyhow. We have found we prefer to haul all our books upstairs and work in the living room and dining room. So we weren't going to miss the space downstairs. Here is how it used to look.
March was a whirlwind! We finished up the foster care classes, finished our final paperwork, and had our final homestudy visit. We also finished up the new office and then I repainted the old office and had fun setting it up as a nursery.
We decided to go with a cubicle rather than a room. It makes it a lot easier, as you don't have to deal with permits and codes this way. Here is the finished product. It's been working out really well and the kids still have tons of playroom space to play in. It's a big sacrifice for John. He lost peace and quiet in the office, since he's now in the playroom without real walls. He also sometimes has to stop his music (and if you know John, you know there is always music in the background) so the boys can practice piano. But he was willing to do it for the foster children that will come and I know God will bless him for that.
Here is the only photo I could find of the old office before. It's from when we were just moving in. We had John's computer, our bookshelves, our file cabinet, and our printer in there.
I really didn't want to paint, but this room was so dark that I just felt like I had to. I want to offer a light and happy looking room to a child who is going trough trauma.
Here are some after photos of the nursery. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.
Our church hosted a sumo wrestling event mid-March and the boys really enjoyed that.
I sang "Redeemer" at my church. They don't really do much special music at my church, and I am not sure why. I am the only one that I know of that has sung specials there in the almost two years we have been attending. I prayed the Lord would use it to minister to people and He did. I got so many comments that day and every Sunday since then.
We decided that we would continue our new tradition of celebrating a Messianic style Passover. I know there are some who would be highly offended at this, but we decided to celebrate Passover on Easter Sunday, even though the actual date was not for several more weeks. I know you can't just move holidays around, but when Jesus rose from the dead, it was during Passover and there is so much significance to that. I feel that our Passover celebration is most fitting on the day we celebrate Christ's resurrection, so that's how we will continue to do it. We also used homemade Resurrection Eggs this year to remind the kids of everything leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. (http://www.southernsavers.com/diy-resurrection-eggs-1). I made gluten free Resurrection Rolls for Easter breakfast. These rolls were pretty cool. You wrap the dough around a marshmallow and then you bake them. During the cooking, the marshmallow melts and they are hollow when you bite into them. The tomb is empty; He lives!
We also continued our foot washing tradition. We do secret things for each other to bless one another and leave a footprint when we are done. Here someone had taken out the recycle for Hannah, which is normally her chore. This is something my mother started with my siblings and I and I have enjoyed keeping it alive.
I made homemade matzo this year, so that I could keep it gluten free.
I apparently forgot to take any photos of our Passover meal and celebration. Oops.
So that is my update for the first three months of the year. We were crazy busy during those months and are glad to now be on the other side of them!
I now jump every time the phone rings, but we have not wound up with any placement calls yet. I still need a convertible car seat in case we have a toddler, but other than that we are ready and are just waiting. Actually, I do have a convertible seat, but it expires in July. I'm praying the Lord provides something else by then. Hopefully, it will be something unisex because the one I have is very pink. I do have infant seats, just not the kind for toddlers. I have to take a spending break for a bit. There were several things we needed to get/ do to prepared for foster children and it's all adding up very quickly.
We've celebrated 4 out of our 6 birthdays already this year. Micah turned 8 in January. We aren't really doing big parties anymore, so on Micah's birthday we had a game night. My birthday kiddos also get a special breakfast and the dinner of their choice. He wanted loaded nachos with his special dairy free cheese.
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| Aunt Bekah sent a big box of gluten free cookies, which he shared. |
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| Micah and Daddy on their hunting date |
In February, we all experienced our first Iowa caucus. I got to help count the ballots. We took the kids with us. It didn't go the way I wanted it to go, but I'm still glad I went.
 |
| Waiting for the caucus to start. |
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| Watching the concert |
We also celebrated Hannah's 6th birthday. Yes, you read that right. She is 6 already!! Say what? (She's missing a bunch of teeth!)
Grandma Sharon was in town the weekend before Hannah's birthday, so we celebrated a couple days early. Hannah chose pizza for her dinner and she requested caramel brownies in lieu of cake.
 |
| She was blessed that we actually had a few warm days in Feb and she was able to enjoy her bike. |
We also celebrated Nathanael's half birthday at the end of the month.
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| 9.5! The double digits are almost here! |
We started work on daddy's new office space. This house has 4 bedrooms. John and I are in one, Hannah is in one, and all three boys share a room. We were using the fourth room as our home office space, since we lost our den/office with this move. In order to use this bedroom as a foster care bedroom, a new space had to be found for John's office. I prayed and the Lord gave me a vision of how to make it all work. Our downstairs consists of a bathroom, the boys' room, our storage room, and then the rest is a big open space. We were using this as a school room and a playroom. The space is actually big enough that the Lord showed me we could wall off the school room area and make it into our new office space and still have lots of playroom space left. We weren't really using it as a school space anyhow. We have found we prefer to haul all our books upstairs and work in the living room and dining room. So we weren't going to miss the space downstairs. Here is how it used to look.
 | ||
| Here is the school room space. The doorway on the right leads to the upstairs. |
March was a whirlwind! We finished up the foster care classes, finished our final paperwork, and had our final homestudy visit. We also finished up the new office and then I repainted the old office and had fun setting it up as a nursery.
 |
| This is dad's right hand man. He is always right up under John if there is a project going on. |
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| Me too! |
We decided to go with a cubicle rather than a room. It makes it a lot easier, as you don't have to deal with permits and codes this way. Here is the finished product. It's been working out really well and the kids still have tons of playroom space to play in. It's a big sacrifice for John. He lost peace and quiet in the office, since he's now in the playroom without real walls. He also sometimes has to stop his music (and if you know John, you know there is always music in the background) so the boys can practice piano. But he was willing to do it for the foster children that will come and I know God will bless him for that.
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| We put up a baby gate instead of a door. |
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| It's a tight fit and we are still figuring out the exact way we want everything, but it definitely works. I haven't hung John's photos and awards back up yet, but will do that soon. |
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| It's a music room/office. |
Here is the only photo I could find of the old office before. It's from when we were just moving in. We had John's computer, our bookshelves, our file cabinet, and our printer in there.
I really didn't want to paint, but this room was so dark that I just felt like I had to. I want to offer a light and happy looking room to a child who is going trough trauma.
 | ||||
| See how dark this room was? |
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| Painting over the dark colors |
Here are some after photos of the nursery. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.
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| This is taken from the doorway just like the "before" office photo above. What a difference! |
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| This is my favorite part. If there is any one thing I want the kids to know while they are here, it is this- Jesus loves them. |
Our church hosted a sumo wrestling event mid-March and the boys really enjoyed that.
Then came Resurrection Sunday! I love to dress up my babies. :) I will continue to do it as long as I can get away with it.
I sang "Redeemer" at my church. They don't really do much special music at my church, and I am not sure why. I am the only one that I know of that has sung specials there in the almost two years we have been attending. I prayed the Lord would use it to minister to people and He did. I got so many comments that day and every Sunday since then.
We decided that we would continue our new tradition of celebrating a Messianic style Passover. I know there are some who would be highly offended at this, but we decided to celebrate Passover on Easter Sunday, even though the actual date was not for several more weeks. I know you can't just move holidays around, but when Jesus rose from the dead, it was during Passover and there is so much significance to that. I feel that our Passover celebration is most fitting on the day we celebrate Christ's resurrection, so that's how we will continue to do it. We also used homemade Resurrection Eggs this year to remind the kids of everything leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. (http://www.southernsavers.com/diy-resurrection-eggs-1). I made gluten free Resurrection Rolls for Easter breakfast. These rolls were pretty cool. You wrap the dough around a marshmallow and then you bake them. During the cooking, the marshmallow melts and they are hollow when you bite into them. The tomb is empty; He lives!
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| Eating our rolls before heading to church |
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I apparently forgot to take any photos of our Passover meal and celebration. Oops.
So that is my update for the first three months of the year. We were crazy busy during those months and are glad to now be on the other side of them!
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