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:

Oh yeah....lookin' fine.

Taking the slide apart---daddy homework assignment

Ta-da!!

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. 

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.

We froze this goodness back in June and finally made it into jam last week.

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. :)

Selfie by Nathanael

Micah taking a moisture level reading for dad on some harvested corn.

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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.......

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

 

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! 

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!