Today went great. We woke up late (after 7!) and had breakfast, medicine, baths, and then played. We took a trip to Wal-Mart and grabbed lunch to bring home.
We watched movies, played, and had a good time. It's not all roses, and they are definitely trying to test us in little ways, but nothing bad. J tried to only eat sweets today, but once he found out there was no ice cream until an HOUR after dinner, he went ahead and ate the spaghetti.
T has been really emotional, clingy, and wanting to be picked up A LOT. After two back surgeries I am willing to tell her OK a few times, but definitely not all the time.
I have watched too much PBS and Noggin today... :-)
After dinner, Matthew and I made another movie night with the Little Mermaid, and the kids cuddled up and we all laughed at the funny parts. The grown ups even did a little singing!
Tonight's bedtime was a little harder, as T was not in any mood to be happy about having her own room, and cried for a solid half hour about her desire to sleep on the couch. I finally convinced her to lay down and I would come check on her in two minutes to see how good she was doing. I waited about 5 minutes and she was fast asleep, a good 30 minutes before I had hoped they would be asleep! J gives us no problems as long as he can play his game, which I am OK with since he is on vacation from school.
Tomorrow is 2009! I can't believe it! Matthew has to work and I am not sure that we will be doing more than what we did today, since I am coming down with a mega-sore throat.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
It's Official!
Well, today was THE DAY.
I took the day off from work and ran all of my errands. We went and watched my nephew's basketball practice last night and brought my sister home to spend the night. So, I had her to go around with me today and do all of my little things.
We went to J & T's foster family and picked up a carload of stuff.. with much more (I'm told) left to bring over. We unloaded, sorted, put away all of the clothes and toys. It was so exciting.. and I was so nervous. I cleaned the house... again.. and it did make me feel better.
When Matthew came home we picked them up from daycare and got to talk to the lady there for a while, which was nice.
T wanted to be held, and whispered to me "we are going to be your parents now", which was the most precious thing ever! J said he was coming to live with us now. What joy!
We ate a quick and easy dinner at McDonald's (yes, we are awful.. but they have been begging to go since we met them!) and they got out a lot of energy on the playground. We came home and played with all of the toys, some old, some new, and some T kept saying.. "I have this at my house!", to which I replied, "yes, that's exactly where I found it!" I guess she was still a little confused about it all.
We did her breathing treatment and Matthew and J hung out and had ice cream while me and T headed to the grocery store. We even made a song for the occasion:
We're going to the grocery store, doo dah, doo dah
We're going to the grocery store, oh the doo dah day!
When we got home and unloaded the car it was PJ and toothbrush time, and then off to their rooms. It was still only a little after eight, so I told them to play in their rooms and then go to bed when they were sleepy.
After only one round of "we need water" they were silently playing away by themselves, in their own rooms.
I checked in at nine and T had climbed into bed and was already fast asleep. J was in the bed with his light off, but was still playing with his little handheld v-smile game. I could not have asked for a better first day!
I took the day off from work and ran all of my errands. We went and watched my nephew's basketball practice last night and brought my sister home to spend the night. So, I had her to go around with me today and do all of my little things.
We went to J & T's foster family and picked up a carload of stuff.. with much more (I'm told) left to bring over. We unloaded, sorted, put away all of the clothes and toys. It was so exciting.. and I was so nervous. I cleaned the house... again.. and it did make me feel better.
When Matthew came home we picked them up from daycare and got to talk to the lady there for a while, which was nice.
T wanted to be held, and whispered to me "we are going to be your parents now", which was the most precious thing ever! J said he was coming to live with us now. What joy!
We ate a quick and easy dinner at McDonald's (yes, we are awful.. but they have been begging to go since we met them!) and they got out a lot of energy on the playground. We came home and played with all of the toys, some old, some new, and some T kept saying.. "I have this at my house!", to which I replied, "yes, that's exactly where I found it!" I guess she was still a little confused about it all.
We did her breathing treatment and Matthew and J hung out and had ice cream while me and T headed to the grocery store. We even made a song for the occasion:
We're going to the grocery store, doo dah, doo dah
We're going to the grocery store, oh the doo dah day!
When we got home and unloaded the car it was PJ and toothbrush time, and then off to their rooms. It was still only a little after eight, so I told them to play in their rooms and then go to bed when they were sleepy.
After only one round of "we need water" they were silently playing away by themselves, in their own rooms.
I checked in at nine and T had climbed into bed and was already fast asleep. J was in the bed with his light off, but was still playing with his little handheld v-smile game. I could not have asked for a better first day!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Never-ending ground beef.
We had a really fantastic day today. Slept in, had breakfast, playtime, watched cartoons, bathed, went out to lunch to Chik-fil-A, played at a playground, and then came home. Matthew and J went out for ice cream and some groceries, we all settled in to watch Lilo & Stitch and had popcorn. It was way too good to be true...
We had homemade tacos for dinner tonight. I've now seen the meal twice.
We were doing so good tonight! The kids were in their beds by 7:30 and asleep a little before 8.. and no one was asleep on the couch, or crying.. a feat!
So, after chores and watching some non-cartoon TV, Matthew and I headed for bed around 8:30.
Poor J could not stop coughing. We had two little sick kids this weekend, and the chest congestion was just not getting better, and they were being medicated routinely.
So, when I heard a "Miss Samantha!" from across the hall, I knew I was in for trouble. I am just very thankful that Matthew had not fell asleep yet. J had vomit billowing out of his mouth like the scene in the horror movie where bugs or something creepy fly out of someone. Up his nose, in his ears, and with his poor little head resting in a pool of yuck. It touched every piece of bedding, and every piece of clothing.
Matthew got him into the shower, I got started on the massive pile of laundry. Thank goodness for the vinyl mattress protectors I had bought at Wal-Mart.
Our nice big front loading washer is crappy on a tiny twin comforter! I was so dismayed at the lack of cleaning it did! I had to wash that booger twice!
Another load for the pajamas, sheets & pillowcases. Two more loads for the pillows. 5 loads to do! I am waiting on my 4th right now.
We moved J to the couch, where he could get elevated. We sat together for a while when I was changing over the loads and watched Mr. Magorium. He fell asleep, then T woke up and came in there and woke him up.. ick. For once she goes to sleep in her own bed, and then gets upset to find J on the couch (where she wanted to be). So, I put her back (yes, there were tears) and I lay down on the bed beside her, and it only took about 3 minutes until she was out and I could go back to doing chores.
There were little pieces of yucked-up taco-ground-beef all over the tub, the bathroom floor, the laundry room floor, the inside of the washing machine, the inside of the dryer, the lint trap.. goodness! How could two tiny tacos from dinner find their way into so many places?!?! I've been picking up yuck-ed up food for over an hour.. tiny, microscopic pieces of beef.
Finally, everyone is asleep. The disadvantage of having a tee-tiny house is that every time you breathe, you run the risk of waking someone up!
But, these sheets don't wash themselves.
We had homemade tacos for dinner tonight. I've now seen the meal twice.
We were doing so good tonight! The kids were in their beds by 7:30 and asleep a little before 8.. and no one was asleep on the couch, or crying.. a feat!
So, after chores and watching some non-cartoon TV, Matthew and I headed for bed around 8:30.
Poor J could not stop coughing. We had two little sick kids this weekend, and the chest congestion was just not getting better, and they were being medicated routinely.
So, when I heard a "Miss Samantha!" from across the hall, I knew I was in for trouble. I am just very thankful that Matthew had not fell asleep yet. J had vomit billowing out of his mouth like the scene in the horror movie where bugs or something creepy fly out of someone. Up his nose, in his ears, and with his poor little head resting in a pool of yuck. It touched every piece of bedding, and every piece of clothing.
Matthew got him into the shower, I got started on the massive pile of laundry. Thank goodness for the vinyl mattress protectors I had bought at Wal-Mart.
Our nice big front loading washer is crappy on a tiny twin comforter! I was so dismayed at the lack of cleaning it did! I had to wash that booger twice!
Another load for the pajamas, sheets & pillowcases. Two more loads for the pillows. 5 loads to do! I am waiting on my 4th right now.
We moved J to the couch, where he could get elevated. We sat together for a while when I was changing over the loads and watched Mr. Magorium. He fell asleep, then T woke up and came in there and woke him up.. ick. For once she goes to sleep in her own bed, and then gets upset to find J on the couch (where she wanted to be). So, I put her back (yes, there were tears) and I lay down on the bed beside her, and it only took about 3 minutes until she was out and I could go back to doing chores.
There were little pieces of yucked-up taco-ground-beef all over the tub, the bathroom floor, the laundry room floor, the inside of the washing machine, the inside of the dryer, the lint trap.. goodness! How could two tiny tacos from dinner find their way into so many places?!?! I've been picking up yuck-ed up food for over an hour.. tiny, microscopic pieces of beef.
Finally, everyone is asleep. The disadvantage of having a tee-tiny house is that every time you breathe, you run the risk of waking someone up!
But, these sheets don't wash themselves.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Weekend visit!
We've been able to arrange a longer visit this weekend, and we will have the kids until Sunday after lunch... WooHoo!
I am so happy :-)
I am so happy :-)
Thursday, December 25, 2008
presents!
We had a wonderful time with Matthew's parents, exchanging gifts, and snacking on good food :-)
Matthew got a ladder, suspenders, a wooden rosary, and the most awesome croc work shoes ever! We both got a heater blanket, and it is great.
I was given three bracelets! A handmade beaded bracelet from my Mother-in-law, and a Holy Family Rosary bracelet, and a Pandora bracelet (ooooh, aaaaah, I'm already addicted!). I am now all bling-ed out!
I also got some books on adoption, and an adoption pendant, neat-o!
Here is me bragging on my bracelets:
Merry Christmas!
Midnight Mass was excellent, and we are so happy to have gone! It will probably be our last for a couple of years, since this was our official "last Christmas without kids"! 2009 will bring two new members into our family, and we are so blessed! How exciting...
For the longest the two kid's bedrooms remained closed, and now it is so wonderful to walk through the house and have the light pouring through their windows and lighting up the rest of the house.
Matthew left out early to find a store open. I needed to stay here and take care of things, and we still needed a few things. He is so sweet. Can you believe everything was shut down? I thought for sure there would be some store open. Oh well, we will pick things up in TN as we go to do Christmas with his parents.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Overnight
Tuesday after work I went and picked up our kids (J & T) at daycare. It was so great to see them so soon after our last visit and know that this whole transition thing is moving right along. They are so awesome!
We came home and played, colored, watched Stuart Little, ate, took medicine, read one book six times (at their request, and with J reading the entire book each time.. so smart!), and decided on bed arrangements (which changed over the course of the night). They stayed up a little later than I had planned (10:00!), but everything was still kind of new and they could not stop talking :-)Have I mentioned how great these kids are? I stayed up and did laundry, dishes, and straightened up.
At 3:30 a.m. I heard some talking and went to the kitchen to find both of them sitting very happily at the kitchen table, coloring in their coloring books. They said they were not sleepy and wondered what was for breakfast! I told them they could color for 5 minutes, and then back to bed, which they did without question. Ten minutes later and they were once again in dreamland.
Matthew had to work today so he was gone at 6:40 a.m. and the kids were up and at the table by 7:15. We ate a good-sized breakfast, Apple Jacks, eggs, and bologna (just J). Baths, clothes, medicine, teeth brushing, and out the door! We went to Chick-fil-A and played at their indoor playground, (which they loved) to kill some time, and then they had to go home again.
I cannot wait until Friday night when we get them again! Poor Matthew had to leave so early this morning he missed out on a lot of the fun, although he told me this morning he was excited to help more on Friday/Saturday. It's getting harder now to fill the time in between visits... :-( I guess we are just getting attached, it's so very easy with them.
I am not certain about what the next few weeks will hold. Right now we are still letting the kids get comfortable with knowing us and the house, pets, etc. They think we are just babysitting, which it best for now.
Please join us in praying for them and for the family they will be leaving. I know that we will be keeping in contact with them for their sake, since they have a biological sister staying behind, but it is going to be really rough on our two.
(I did ask around and apparently it is OK to put pics of foster kids on blogs, with precautions, YaY! - but they are down due to request)
We came home and played, colored, watched Stuart Little, ate, took medicine, read one book six times (at their request, and with J reading the entire book each time.. so smart!), and decided on bed arrangements (which changed over the course of the night). They stayed up a little later than I had planned (10:00!), but everything was still kind of new and they could not stop talking :-)Have I mentioned how great these kids are? I stayed up and did laundry, dishes, and straightened up.
At 3:30 a.m. I heard some talking and went to the kitchen to find both of them sitting very happily at the kitchen table, coloring in their coloring books. They said they were not sleepy and wondered what was for breakfast! I told them they could color for 5 minutes, and then back to bed, which they did without question. Ten minutes later and they were once again in dreamland.
Matthew had to work today so he was gone at 6:40 a.m. and the kids were up and at the table by 7:15. We ate a good-sized breakfast, Apple Jacks, eggs, and bologna (just J). Baths, clothes, medicine, teeth brushing, and out the door! We went to Chick-fil-A and played at their indoor playground, (which they loved) to kill some time, and then they had to go home again.
I cannot wait until Friday night when we get them again! Poor Matthew had to leave so early this morning he missed out on a lot of the fun, although he told me this morning he was excited to help more on Friday/Saturday. It's getting harder now to fill the time in between visits... :-( I guess we are just getting attached, it's so very easy with them.
I am not certain about what the next few weeks will hold. Right now we are still letting the kids get comfortable with knowing us and the house, pets, etc. They think we are just babysitting, which it best for now.
Please join us in praying for them and for the family they will be leaving. I know that we will be keeping in contact with them for their sake, since they have a biological sister staying behind, but it is going to be really rough on our two.
(I did ask around and apparently it is OK to put pics of foster kids on blogs, with precautions, YaY! - but they are down due to request)
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Fun at Work
My favorite Christmas present is this little game given to me by my Nephew. It is my favorite game when we played the Wii Carnival games. He was so thoughtful to buy it for my desk, and I have been amusing myself for days!
Monday, December 22, 2008
You know you're getting old when...
You know you're getting old when...
you try on 20 pairs of shoes and end up buying a pair of easy spirits!
Christmas Meme
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
gift bags.. simple, easy. but for kids, paper.. because it is fun!
2. Real tree or Artificial?
fake tree!
3. When do you put up the tree?
shortly into December
4. When do you take the tree down?
after Epiphany
5. Do you like eggnog?
Not me, Matthew does though.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
NKOTB stuff.
7. Hardest person to buy for?
Whoever's name I draw at work.
8. Easiest person to buy for?
Family.
9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes. I didn't dig it out this year though.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mailed.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
can't remember.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Home Alone
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Whenever I find something!
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Duh, yep..shhh...
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
those white choc. covered oreos.
16. Lights on the tree; colored or white?
either
17. Favorite Christmas song?
it was o come, o come, Emmanuel, but not now! (long story)
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
family home(s)
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? yes, from the song.
20. Angel on the tree top of tree or a star?
either.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
eve!
23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
i like my ceramic birds from belk, but they did not make it to the tree this year.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
dressing.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
energy!
26. Who is most likely to respond to this?
hmm.. Niki?
gift bags.. simple, easy. but for kids, paper.. because it is fun!
2. Real tree or Artificial?
fake tree!
3. When do you put up the tree?
shortly into December
4. When do you take the tree down?
after Epiphany
5. Do you like eggnog?
Not me, Matthew does though.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
NKOTB stuff.
7. Hardest person to buy for?
Whoever's name I draw at work.
8. Easiest person to buy for?
Family.
9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Yes. I didn't dig it out this year though.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mailed.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
can't remember.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Home Alone
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Whenever I find something!
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Duh, yep..shhh...
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
those white choc. covered oreos.
16. Lights on the tree; colored or white?
either
17. Favorite Christmas song?
it was o come, o come, Emmanuel, but not now! (long story)
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
family home(s)
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? yes, from the song.
20. Angel on the tree top of tree or a star?
either.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
eve!
23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
i like my ceramic birds from belk, but they did not make it to the tree this year.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
dressing.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
energy!
26. Who is most likely to respond to this?
hmm.. Niki?
Time with the kids
Friday we went and met the kids, and their current foster parents. We were very impressed, they were all so nice and made us feel really comfortable in a situation that could have been very awkward.
Saturday we slept in, cleaned the house, and had the evening with Matthew's parents. It was a great day, and I finally got to see Mamma Mia.
Sunday we went to Mass, came home and changed quickly, and went to pick up the kids.
Right now, they were told that we were going to "babysit" them, since they don't know us. I am fine with that, because it will let us get to know them without them being upset right away about the move.
They were both sweet, well behaved, personable, and we could not get over them! Each one is such an interesting little person. We played games, watched a movie, played outside, and went out to eat. We really had a good time together.. I am so excited!
Saturday we slept in, cleaned the house, and had the evening with Matthew's parents. It was a great day, and I finally got to see Mamma Mia.
Sunday we went to Mass, came home and changed quickly, and went to pick up the kids.
Right now, they were told that we were going to "babysit" them, since they don't know us. I am fine with that, because it will let us get to know them without them being upset right away about the move.
They were both sweet, well behaved, personable, and we could not get over them! Each one is such an interesting little person. We played games, watched a movie, played outside, and went out to eat. We really had a good time together.. I am so excited!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Everything went great.
Met the foster parents (who are really cool), and the kids (who are really wonderful). It wasn't nearly as awkward as I had imagined!
Everything went great, we were given a ton of information from big to small, and get to have them for awhile on Sunday!
YaY!!
Everything went great, we were given a ton of information from big to small, and get to have them for awhile on Sunday!
YaY!!
Here comes the Lord..
showing me the way.
After my afternoon rant yesterday about being blindsided, I found this article on the front page of FoxNews website this a.m., right there staring at me when the page loaded...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,469928,00.html
He proved my point. Catholic priests can't tell people's confessions... but every other church can!
God does have a way of letting you know how you are doing, doesn't he?
After my afternoon rant yesterday about being blindsided, I found this article on the front page of FoxNews website this a.m., right there staring at me when the page loaded...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,469928,00.html
He proved my point. Catholic priests can't tell people's confessions... but every other church can!
God does have a way of letting you know how you are doing, doesn't he?
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Getting Kids!
The caseworker is handing off the info. on us and the current foster mom (so we can contact each other independently), and we now have a tentative schedule to work with.
It all starts this weekend! Fingers crossed!
We also know that the oldest has Asperger's, so I am trying to read-up and get ready!
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/WELCOME/conditions/asperger.html
It all starts this weekend! Fingers crossed!
We also know that the oldest has Asperger's, so I am trying to read-up and get ready!
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/WELCOME/conditions/asperger.html
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Prayer intentions for a busy week
This week has already been rough, and it is only Tuesday.
The gutter people (the same ones who missed our last appointment months ago) called last week to apologize, wanting to give us another appointment, and a good discount for our put-out-ed-ness. With the economy and jobs the way they are, I said "OK" because people need their jobs, even the guys who drive out to do an estimate.
So, yesterday evening I waited. The appointment came and went. Matthew went to RCIA at church, and I addressed more Christmas cards. They never came or called to explain why... second and final time I will humor any of these companies.
Not that I was even thinking about buying a roof or gutters from these people, but I know that the estimate was free, and I was curious.
Also, with this crazy economy, the last thing a business wants to do is fail to show, and they did.
Tonight we do Christmas with my family.
Wednesday night is church and house cleaning.
Thursday night we have company and Matthew is cooking (a ton of)food for his work.
Whew.
I'm not even going to imagine what this weekend will bring, but hopefully some news about the kids!
Yesterday I talked to my sister and my nephew still had a really bad double ear infection, which has been going on for a long time now. He has to go to a specialist and may get tubes in his ears (at 11!). Poor guy.
This morning I talked to Mom, and my sister had to go back to the ER again. She had damaged her chest wall from the coughing, and was in an insane amount of pain and immobility. She got another shot, more meds. Please pray for my family, and also A Thorn, who lost her babies.
The gutter people (the same ones who missed our last appointment months ago) called last week to apologize, wanting to give us another appointment, and a good discount for our put-out-ed-ness. With the economy and jobs the way they are, I said "OK" because people need their jobs, even the guys who drive out to do an estimate.
So, yesterday evening I waited. The appointment came and went. Matthew went to RCIA at church, and I addressed more Christmas cards. They never came or called to explain why... second and final time I will humor any of these companies.
Not that I was even thinking about buying a roof or gutters from these people, but I know that the estimate was free, and I was curious.
Also, with this crazy economy, the last thing a business wants to do is fail to show, and they did.
Tonight we do Christmas with my family.
Wednesday night is church and house cleaning.
Thursday night we have company and Matthew is cooking (a ton of)food for his work.
Whew.
I'm not even going to imagine what this weekend will bring, but hopefully some news about the kids!
Yesterday I talked to my sister and my nephew still had a really bad double ear infection, which has been going on for a long time now. He has to go to a specialist and may get tubes in his ears (at 11!). Poor guy.
This morning I talked to Mom, and my sister had to go back to the ER again. She had damaged her chest wall from the coughing, and was in an insane amount of pain and immobility. She got another shot, more meds. Please pray for my family, and also A Thorn, who lost her babies.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Weekend pains
Friday I came home from work and had our phones sitting on the front steps waiting! I am so super happy to be having a new phone! Matthew is excited too, and we spent Friday evening having dinner with Matthew's parents, and figuring out our new gadgets.
Saturday morning my car door was frozen solid :-(
I made it to the women's prayer group promptly at 8 a.m., but I had to do a little passenger seat acrobatics to climb over into the driver's side. Those type of things don't come too easily when your back has been as messed up as mine.
After church I cam home and cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, sorted out the toys, made the beds and "recovered" from Thursday night.
Matthew spent the day with his parents, helping them with a project. I did enjoy having some time to myself, enjoy the quietness, and catch up on some TV.
Sunday morning we inadvertently slept too late, ugh. We spent all day watching TV, eating, and playing with the animals.
We are fixing to leave to go eat dinner out.. and grocery shopping afterwards.. how romantic! Haha
Saturday morning my car door was frozen solid :-(
I made it to the women's prayer group promptly at 8 a.m., but I had to do a little passenger seat acrobatics to climb over into the driver's side. Those type of things don't come too easily when your back has been as messed up as mine.
After church I cam home and cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, sorted out the toys, made the beds and "recovered" from Thursday night.
Matthew spent the day with his parents, helping them with a project. I did enjoy having some time to myself, enjoy the quietness, and catch up on some TV.
Sunday morning we inadvertently slept too late, ugh. We spent all day watching TV, eating, and playing with the animals.
We are fixing to leave to go eat dinner out.. and grocery shopping afterwards.. how romantic! Haha
Friday, December 12, 2008
Sleepy Me
The morning went really well. I changed and had T2's clothes on her before she even woke up. T1 woke up whiny and a little bit of "where am I?". Matthew set T2 up with sprite and T1 with Lucky Charms, which she requested last night. I think she ate one spoonful.
Her leg still hurt, and I carried her out to the car. They were sleepy (of course) on the way to the daycare, and T1 told me she wanted to come back to our house to play with Play-Doh again.
All in all, we went through about 14 hours of two kids in various states of confusion and illness.
I called Mommy J this morning and told her about T1's leg aches. Turns out T1 has some sort of skeletal problem and has special shoes (and I didn't notice them).
Which reminds me that to be prepared next time, we will have to stock our medicine shelf with children's medicine, because we have none.
I made it to breakfast with my co-worker and am completely sleepy today.
:-}
Oh, and all day I was humming these notes.. after lunch it dawned on me to write them down, then I kept working out the timing, and realized I was humming the bass part of a favorite song of mine.... I found the tabs online, how funny.
G----------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------2---2---2----
E---2---2---0---2---2---0---5---5---5---------------0
Her leg still hurt, and I carried her out to the car. They were sleepy (of course) on the way to the daycare, and T1 told me she wanted to come back to our house to play with Play-Doh again.
All in all, we went through about 14 hours of two kids in various states of confusion and illness.
I called Mommy J this morning and told her about T1's leg aches. Turns out T1 has some sort of skeletal problem and has special shoes (and I didn't notice them).
Which reminds me that to be prepared next time, we will have to stock our medicine shelf with children's medicine, because we have none.
I made it to breakfast with my co-worker and am completely sleepy today.
:-}
Oh, and all day I was humming these notes.. after lunch it dawned on me to write them down, then I kept working out the timing, and realized I was humming the bass part of a favorite song of mine.... I found the tabs online, how funny.
G----------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------2---2---2----
E---2---2---0---2---2---0---5---5---5---------------0
It's 4:25
... and since T2 went down at 11:25.. she has had one 5 minute session of sleep-crying, and at 4:00 a major need-to-walk-around-the house-and-cry session.
At midnight I put T2 in the toddler bed, and slept in the twin.
... both of them are now back in the big bed... and I am going to get the last 15 minutes of my night sleeping on the twin..
;-/
At midnight I put T2 in the toddler bed, and slept in the twin.
... both of them are now back in the big bed... and I am going to get the last 15 minutes of my night sleeping on the twin..
;-/
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Asleep
Well, our first venture into fostering was trying, but not spirit crushing.
I picked T1 up at the daycare (really nice, btw) and the car seat and diaper bags, etc. She didn't know that I was I coming for her. In fact, this 4 yr. old only met me and knew I was taking her away in my car. Yikes! There were a lot of tears on the way home, to say the least.
When I told her that I had a husband, his name was Matthew, and he would be cooking dinner for us, her reply was "I am scared of him".
Once we pulled into the drive and he met us with a grin, she piped up from the backseat "I'm not scared of him!" Good, I thought.
She loved the room, the toys, and pretty soon Mommy J was there delivering T2. We had a good chat, (this woman is going through so much with 5 toddlers and 1 in the hospital, please pray for them all) and T1 showed Mommy J our place. She was happy, I was proud, and I was glad to let Mommy J know they could come over again.
T2 was in a horrible amount of pain. She was delivered to us straight from the Dr.'s office and had an ear infection with, well... pooping issues. She was a crying, congested mess.
I sent Matthew to the store, I had forgotten to buy another gallon of milk.. darn it. T2 settled down a little, but I got my first diaper changing experience quickly over with and realized there was not enough diaper ointment in the world to relieve that type of child-related-poop-rash pain, oh and no baby wipes were sent.. so Matthew had to go back to the store. T2 was also not to eat any food. That was rough. He picked up some Gatorade, she liked it.
T1 was fine, and good about playing with the toys, eating dinner, and generally wanting to talk about the next day and when she would see Mommy J again. Mommy J had already told me how both of them are frightened of abandonment... and here they were left in my house and did not know me from anything or anyone.
The night was filled with innumerable reassurances that tomorrow would bring them back to their normal routine, and Mommy J.
T2 finally found a small snow globe and the ever-so-interested kitties, and got past her constant wailing.
By bedtime, pajamas were on, a very quick wash-off, and they were playing confined to the bedroom. Matthew and I played for a long time with them in their room, and then we told them goodnight. T1 said she was scared (and I would have been too!) and T2 just wailed and wailed.
This was a little after 8:30. I read them a book, took T1 to the potty, and had them back in their beds.
No sleep. Just crying. I kept peeking in to make sure bed assignments were being obeyed, and at 10:00 I looked in and found T2 wedged in between the wall and T1's bed. "Sisser stuck" said T1. Matthew came in and rescued dear, lungs-which-have-no-end T2.
I brought her into our bedroom and did another massive diaper change,tried to rock, bounce, and dance her to sleep. It worked.. for a few minutes. Basically, in the end I laid her down on the big bed and just let her cry it out. She was asleep by 10:18. Hard asleep.
T1 was still sitting up in her bed looking around the room, so I banished Matthew to the "boy room" and set the girls in our bed, together. They are very sweet together.
T1 stayed up until 11:25! She said her leg hurt too much, and couldn't get comfy... yeah, I know what that's like.
I looked her over and no swelling, bruising, bites, allergic reaction, so I just sat with her until she fell asleep. She said it was the "broke bone" so maybe she has had her leg broken in the past.. who knows.
So, now I have T1 & T2 in the bed, Matthew in the 3rd bedroom, and I guess I will stay up all night.. haha.
What a day!
I picked T1 up at the daycare (really nice, btw) and the car seat and diaper bags, etc. She didn't know that I was I coming for her. In fact, this 4 yr. old only met me and knew I was taking her away in my car. Yikes! There were a lot of tears on the way home, to say the least.
When I told her that I had a husband, his name was Matthew, and he would be cooking dinner for us, her reply was "I am scared of him".
Once we pulled into the drive and he met us with a grin, she piped up from the backseat "I'm not scared of him!" Good, I thought.
She loved the room, the toys, and pretty soon Mommy J was there delivering T2. We had a good chat, (this woman is going through so much with 5 toddlers and 1 in the hospital, please pray for them all) and T1 showed Mommy J our place. She was happy, I was proud, and I was glad to let Mommy J know they could come over again.
T2 was in a horrible amount of pain. She was delivered to us straight from the Dr.'s office and had an ear infection with, well... pooping issues. She was a crying, congested mess.
I sent Matthew to the store, I had forgotten to buy another gallon of milk.. darn it. T2 settled down a little, but I got my first diaper changing experience quickly over with and realized there was not enough diaper ointment in the world to relieve that type of child-related-poop-rash pain, oh and no baby wipes were sent.. so Matthew had to go back to the store. T2 was also not to eat any food. That was rough. He picked up some Gatorade, she liked it.
T1 was fine, and good about playing with the toys, eating dinner, and generally wanting to talk about the next day and when she would see Mommy J again. Mommy J had already told me how both of them are frightened of abandonment... and here they were left in my house and did not know me from anything or anyone.
The night was filled with innumerable reassurances that tomorrow would bring them back to their normal routine, and Mommy J.
T2 finally found a small snow globe and the ever-so-interested kitties, and got past her constant wailing.
By bedtime, pajamas were on, a very quick wash-off, and they were playing confined to the bedroom. Matthew and I played for a long time with them in their room, and then we told them goodnight. T1 said she was scared (and I would have been too!) and T2 just wailed and wailed.
This was a little after 8:30. I read them a book, took T1 to the potty, and had them back in their beds.
No sleep. Just crying. I kept peeking in to make sure bed assignments were being obeyed, and at 10:00 I looked in and found T2 wedged in between the wall and T1's bed. "Sisser stuck" said T1. Matthew came in and rescued dear, lungs-which-have-no-end T2.
I brought her into our bedroom and did another massive diaper change,tried to rock, bounce, and dance her to sleep. It worked.. for a few minutes. Basically, in the end I laid her down on the big bed and just let her cry it out. She was asleep by 10:18. Hard asleep.
T1 was still sitting up in her bed looking around the room, so I banished Matthew to the "boy room" and set the girls in our bed, together. They are very sweet together.
T1 stayed up until 11:25! She said her leg hurt too much, and couldn't get comfy... yeah, I know what that's like.
I looked her over and no swelling, bruising, bites, allergic reaction, so I just sat with her until she fell asleep. She said it was the "broke bone" so maybe she has had her leg broken in the past.. who knows.
So, now I have T1 & T2 in the bed, Matthew in the 3rd bedroom, and I guess I will stay up all night.. haha.
What a day!
Wow-ee Thursd-ee
The GE appliance repairman left, gave me a few suggestions and said to call again if it doesn't fix the problem. He said our vent hose is all squished at the back of the dryer and because our new dryer is SO MUCH SMARTER THAN THE BOTH OF US (haha) it knows that the hose's capacity is small, and will not heat. The fix? A $3 90degree hose thingamajig to plug our existing vent hose into. WOW. And I missed 3 hours of work for that?!
I received a call today that DFCS needed a respite care for tonight for 2 little girls, T1 & T2, aged 4 and 1.
I, of course, said yes. I called Matthew on lunch break and was on board also.
I will pick them up from daycare (meeting one of the foster parents to hand off car seats, diapers), so I am going to leave work a little early, clean out my car, and pick up some age appropriate food. I hear macaroni is all the rage with 1 yr. olds (I had to ask).
Any suggestions?
I received a call today that DFCS needed a respite care for tonight for 2 little girls, T1 & T2, aged 4 and 1.
I, of course, said yes. I called Matthew on lunch break and was on board also.
I will pick them up from daycare (meeting one of the foster parents to hand off car seats, diapers), so I am going to leave work a little early, clean out my car, and pick up some age appropriate food. I hear macaroni is all the rage with 1 yr. olds (I had to ask).
Any suggestions?
Why Comcast isn't the best
MY E-MAIL IS UNRELIABLE.
I tried last week to forward myself something from my comcast e-mail to my work email... twice. Both times Comcast says it sent successfully but I never received it at work.
This morning Matthew had an e-mail from a lady at church, and she also sent it to me. I never got it. My name is clear as day on his e-mail, and I should have gotten it.
I called Comcast to explain, and they had me speak to two people before they wrote me off and said they had to get with someone on the "national level".. like this is some secret spy network.
Ugh!
So, unreliable e-mail sucks!
And if any of you have been waiting on an e-mail from me, a continuing conversation, and I haven't responded.. I probably have.. but who knows if you've gotten it!
The dryer repair man is here... YaY!
I tried last week to forward myself something from my comcast e-mail to my work email... twice. Both times Comcast says it sent successfully but I never received it at work.
This morning Matthew had an e-mail from a lady at church, and she also sent it to me. I never got it. My name is clear as day on his e-mail, and I should have gotten it.
I called Comcast to explain, and they had me speak to two people before they wrote me off and said they had to get with someone on the "national level".. like this is some secret spy network.
Ugh!
So, unreliable e-mail sucks!
And if any of you have been waiting on an e-mail from me, a continuing conversation, and I haven't responded.. I probably have.. but who knows if you've gotten it!
The dryer repair man is here... YaY!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
trying to listen today.
Isaiah 40: 25 - 31
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25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hid from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Daily Readings
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25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hid from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Daily Readings
Plans for the kiddos
Finally, I spoke with the kid's caseworker this morning. We will be set up with a meeting soon just with the current foster parents. We will get "question and answer" session, without the kids. That is what we are waiting on right now. The caseworker will be e-mailing me at work the details.
She did want to ask that we keep the kindergarten-er in his school for the year. That's fine.. he will be going through enough changes to have to deal with changing schools midstream. So, he goes to Battlefield. We will have to get buddy-buddy with someone (I'm going to start searching for someone at church) who will take him in the mornings. I read the school website and there is no before-school care. They will not let any kids in the building prior to 7:15. And here Matthew and I have to leave no later than 7. Oh well, here is where we will begin trusting the Lord to help out on all of the minute details. We will definitely be forming new relationships with other parents, teachers, and hopefully finding some trustworthy friends to help us grow our support system.
She attends a day care that picks him up from school and then we would just pick both of them up from day care.. sounds easy enough.. I hope it remains so!
What the caseworker told us to expect is a really fast, yet slow, transition. Which means we will get to meet them, spend increasingly longer time with them, do overnight stays, and then become fully responsible for them before school starts again in the spring.. that is January 7th!
Okay, all I know for now.
She did want to ask that we keep the kindergarten-er in his school for the year. That's fine.. he will be going through enough changes to have to deal with changing schools midstream. So, he goes to Battlefield. We will have to get buddy-buddy with someone (I'm going to start searching for someone at church) who will take him in the mornings. I read the school website and there is no before-school care. They will not let any kids in the building prior to 7:15. And here Matthew and I have to leave no later than 7. Oh well, here is where we will begin trusting the Lord to help out on all of the minute details. We will definitely be forming new relationships with other parents, teachers, and hopefully finding some trustworthy friends to help us grow our support system.
She attends a day care that picks him up from school and then we would just pick both of them up from day care.. sounds easy enough.. I hope it remains so!
What the caseworker told us to expect is a really fast, yet slow, transition. Which means we will get to meet them, spend increasingly longer time with them, do overnight stays, and then become fully responsible for them before school starts again in the spring.. that is January 7th!
Okay, all I know for now.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Because I needed a good smile
Baby, you've been going so crazy,
Lately nothing seems to be going right.
So low, why do you have to get so low?
You're so...
You've been waiting in the sun too long.
Cheer up!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Water Leak, Emergency Room, and Pot Luck Dinner
Friday I came home to a puddle in the kitchen. The ice maker supply line had failed (3rd time! Matthew found a tiny little puncture.. who knows where that came from..) so off we went to Lowe's for a metal hose (pricier, but I was promised no more puddles.)
Friday night I get a call from Mom to go to the ER, my Sister had gotten really ill at work. So, a little after 10:45 I was at the ER. Everything was OK, and I was home by 1. I saw an honest-to-goodness coyote on the way home, though. It scared me because it was in the middle of the road and I slowed down thinking it was a doggie. Nope, just a wild animal looking for small domestic animals to feed on.
Saturday (see below post) was great, but tiring.
Sunday we went to Mass and then the parish pot-luck dinner. It was so good and Matthew made a cornbread.. yummy. We sat with a lady from the ProLife group and her family and another couple we just met and had an excellent time.
After that we came home and cleaned up a few areas and left for Sale Creek. We spent time playing Jenga on the Wii with my nephew (it is so HARD!)and eating leftovers, and making a trip to Dayton.
It was a good weekend, but too short.
Friday night I get a call from Mom to go to the ER, my Sister had gotten really ill at work. So, a little after 10:45 I was at the ER. Everything was OK, and I was home by 1. I saw an honest-to-goodness coyote on the way home, though. It scared me because it was in the middle of the road and I slowed down thinking it was a doggie. Nope, just a wild animal looking for small domestic animals to feed on.
Saturday (see below post) was great, but tiring.
Sunday we went to Mass and then the parish pot-luck dinner. It was so good and Matthew made a cornbread.. yummy. We sat with a lady from the ProLife group and her family and another couple we just met and had an excellent time.
After that we came home and cleaned up a few areas and left for Sale Creek. We spent time playing Jenga on the Wii with my nephew (it is so HARD!)and eating leftovers, and making a trip to Dayton.
It was a good weekend, but too short.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
The Tree is up.
It is up, after all. Matthew did 95% of the decorating today because I had the worst pain all afternoon.
Everything looks really nice, and he even decorated the outside landing. I will post pics of that tomorrow night if I remember.
This morning we had a great time at church meeting with the Pro-Life group and had a wonderful speaker from the archdiocese. We are so excited about this ministry and all of the possibilities. We also enjoyed a great lunch and fellowship with really wonderful people.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Approved, at last
... and now we wait to hear back from the kids' case worker.
and in my mind their case worker is Juno from Beetlejuice...
and in my mind their case worker is Juno from Beetlejuice...
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Just a Thursday
I am going to have to buy The Nativity Story DVD, I watched it last year, and now all I want to do is see it again.
Last night went really well. We went to church, had a good conversation with our friend who is the secretary, turned in a form I have been forgetting about, made Confession, and stayed for Mass. Father cancelled the Eucharistic Adoration, but it is OK because we will have one Monday for the Holy Day and also for pro-life. We met a nice older lady who needed a ride home, and she only lives about a half mile from us.
We are still just completely bummed that everything is moving so slowly at DFCS. Right now we just don't know what all is going on, and when, when, when. At this rate I honestly believe that we won't get to see the kids until after Christmas, so all the gifts we have stowed away in the attic will become birthday presents. :-(
A lady at work was asking me about Netflix. I totally love them! Unfortunately I cancelled ours when Matthew lost his job, and right now I am not wanting to add ANYTHING to our outgoing expenses until we can settle down with a good budget and factor in the kids. But I can not wait to get back to Netflix.
I began a book I bought at McKays, The Intelligencer. It is really fast-paced and although it seems crime-mystery oriented, I am drawn in by the historical context.
I got to talk to Michael last night, who I have not seen since the HS reunion. We are such busy people! Hopefully we can see him and Jennifer tonight, if not this weekend sometime.
I got an e-mail from ticketmaster this morning, both Robin Williams and George Lopez are coming to Atlanta in the Spring and oh how I would just LOVE to go. We will see.
It is rainy today, but not too cold.
This weekend we have a pro-life meeting, and if it is not too rainy and wet we need to mow to chop up all of these leaves on our yard. The neighbors have been raking theirs into the ditch and burning them, but they have to do it every week.. I don't want to spend that much energy on it, so we are waiting until all of our trees have shed their leaves, and then we can get it over with in one day.
I had an interesting drive home yesterday. I ride with my c0-worker and she seems to be a moving target for other people's road rage. We got cut off by this woman in a truck, and almost hit, so my friend honked her horn. This lady slams on her breaks trying to get us to hit her, opens her door and leans out screaming and cussing, and then when the light turned she went very slowly just to make us mad. Some people's behavior is just appalling! What is wrong with society? Of course I'm going to honk at you if you nearly hit me, because apparently you didn't see me in the first place, sheesh! You have to watch out for the crazy drivers.
Matthew is finally getting better, and getting past his crud-flu-cold-sickness. He just has this empty cough now. My poor nephew and sister are still sick, although with pneumonia and respiratory problems, which are certainly painful.
Luckily, having just gotten the stomach bug a month ago and a small sore throat, I have managed to avoid the brunt of it, but as my friend Niki pointed out to me, when we get kids we will be exposed to much more, so I am going to try and be faithful to a vitamin regimen.
My back has been trying to hurt again. Not a backache, but that twinge I get when my disc is beginning to rupture again. Right now it is just momentary, when I make certain moves or walk for long periods. It has not gotten to the point that I can't lift my legs or have any pain down my sciatic nerve.. yet. And I also cannot afford to be out of work nor have another surgery. So, I am taking matters into my own hands and I replaced my roll-y, swivel-y chair at work and traded down for a stationary basic chair that I won't be prone to twist around and roll across the office in. That was where I was hurting the most, pushing away from the desk with my legs, and twisting. So, now I have the ugliest chair, and have to get up a lot more instead of gliding around my office, but it is working. I am also going to try (yet again) to lose some poundage. Last night I had brown rice and tuna fish for dinner.. yummy.
I am ready for snow.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Advent underway
We missed going to Mass Sunday, the beginning of Advent. Matthew was still sick, we both slept in late, and all in all I feel very horrible about missing Mass.
We haven't even bought an advent candle/wreath set for the new house to place on the table... and I really have no excuses other than the fact that I was so looking forward to having children in our home for the start of this beautiful season, and I am a little disappointed.
Tonight, however should be awesome.
We have Confession, Mass, and then an hour of Eucharistic Adoration, which is such a powerful gift.
I have been excited all day!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Monday, what the hail
Today was cold, wet, and dreary.
After work Matthew and I went to GameStop and looked for kid-friendly video games. We picked up a few cheap clearance ones to kind of test out.
Came home, Matthew set up "testing" and I made an Apple crumble.
It began hailing and the dog let me know very quick he was not going outside during that. I sneaked (is snuck not a word?) out and took a pic of the garbage can lid, just because.
Here are some random pics from tonight. Yeah, I re-arranged the living room.
I see you, Toodles!
Icy Trash
Invisible Patchey
Annoyed Nermal
So Intense!
A little rusty, Matthew?
Wader, showing off her peg leg.
Wader is sleepy.
My Mom got me this, ain't it sweet?
Apple Crumb
Recipe Scribbles
Geez these bangs need trimmed!
After work Matthew and I went to GameStop and looked for kid-friendly video games. We picked up a few cheap clearance ones to kind of test out.
Came home, Matthew set up "testing" and I made an Apple crumble.
It began hailing and the dog let me know very quick he was not going outside during that. I sneaked (is snuck not a word?) out and took a pic of the garbage can lid, just because.
Here are some random pics from tonight. Yeah, I re-arranged the living room.
Icy Trash
Invisible Patchey
Annoyed Nermal
So Intense!
A little rusty, Matthew?
Wader, showing off her peg leg.
Wader is sleepy.
My Mom got me this, ain't it sweet?
Apple Crumb
Recipe Scribbles
Geez these bangs need trimmed!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Black Friday and the Mountain
Friday morning (not too early) I met my sister after she left work and we went shopping, to the Kmart for the doorbuster toys. I bought plenty of goodies, and we went for breakfast and to start our journey up the mountain to visit Matthew at work.
It was a nice drive, and the place where Matthew works has the best view (although my pic doesn't do it justice).
We left the mountain and went to a few more shops, clothes, toys, crazed ToysRUs terrorists, etc. We had a good day.
Matthew at work
Matthew at work
A Pool on the 3rd floor!
Matthew's Work
Us on the elevator
The view from the dining area
Dining Room
Me and Stefanie (she is invisible)
Random car parked illegaly at the gas station. I have a close shot of their plate :-)
It was a nice drive, and the place where Matthew works has the best view (although my pic doesn't do it justice).
We left the mountain and went to a few more shops, clothes, toys, crazed ToysRUs terrorists, etc. We had a good day.
Matthew at work
Matthew at work
A Pool on the 3rd floor!
Matthew's Work
Us on the elevator
The view from the dining area
Dining Room
Me and Stefanie (she is invisible)
Random car parked illegaly at the gas station. I have a close shot of their plate :-)
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Stopping By
to let everyone know I had a fun day. Woke up early, made a huge batch of cheeseball (dip), a 2 layer cake, and cookie bars.
Went to Moms and had a huge meal. My aunt and cousin were there also, and we played pinochle.
Took off with my sister to Red Bank and delivered platefuls of food to my nephew's great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother.
Met Matthew at his parent's house and had an excellent dinner with his family and grandmother.
Visiting, Driving, Eating, Laughing.
Tomorrow......... shopping with my Sister and visiting Matthew at work!
Went to Moms and had a huge meal. My aunt and cousin were there also, and we played pinochle.
Took off with my sister to Red Bank and delivered platefuls of food to my nephew's great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother.
Met Matthew at his parent's house and had an excellent dinner with his family and grandmother.
Visiting, Driving, Eating, Laughing.
Tomorrow......... shopping with my Sister and visiting Matthew at work!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thanksgiving, a four day weekend!
Yeah, I am so excited to have a 4 day Holiday weekend! Here are my plans:
Tomorrow 3 a.m. wake up, clean house, bake cakes, make cheese balls, pack up green bean casserole ingredients. Head to Mom's around 10 a.m. Chill out, eat, and spend time with family.
4 p.m. leave and meet Matthew at his parents' (he has to work, wah!) eat again and visit with the family. :-)
BLACK FRIDAY Get up early, get adrenaline pumping, meet Sis and hit the shops! No money? Who cares! Let's go!
Saturday - sleep, relax, finish West Wing Season 2 DVD marathon?? :-)
Sunday - Church and relishing my last day of the weekend.
Today was a good Wednesday. It was my last day to work, so it was payday, that is nice, getting $ two days earlier than normal. Work was excruciatingly long and tedious. The end of the month weeks are normally crazed, but a short end of the month and it seemed people lost their minds. I worked over long enough for Matthew to come off the mountain and pick me up, and then it was adios!
Matthew did the sweetest, most thoughtful thing for me today and I just have to shout it to everyone. He asked one of the Brothers at Alexian to draw me a bookmark, which is what one of them does for a hobby. He remembered my favorite flower, and even added his own original sentiment to it and had him write a personalized message just for me. It says "you are a blessing and a gift" and if I hadn't been on a high dosage pain killer I would have broke down and cried right there in the car when he gave it to me. It was the best gift ever and I hope I am able to keep it forever.
Matthew and I went shopping for a few last minute fixings and ingredients and then settled in to start West Wing season 2.
The dog settled with his new chew toy, and all was well.
Tomorrow 3 a.m. wake up, clean house, bake cakes, make cheese balls, pack up green bean casserole ingredients. Head to Mom's around 10 a.m. Chill out, eat, and spend time with family.
4 p.m. leave and meet Matthew at his parents' (he has to work, wah!) eat again and visit with the family. :-)
BLACK FRIDAY Get up early, get adrenaline pumping, meet Sis and hit the shops! No money? Who cares! Let's go!
Saturday - sleep, relax, finish West Wing Season 2 DVD marathon?? :-)
Sunday - Church and relishing my last day of the weekend.
Today was a good Wednesday. It was my last day to work, so it was payday, that is nice, getting $ two days earlier than normal. Work was excruciatingly long and tedious. The end of the month weeks are normally crazed, but a short end of the month and it seemed people lost their minds. I worked over long enough for Matthew to come off the mountain and pick me up, and then it was adios!
Matthew did the sweetest, most thoughtful thing for me today and I just have to shout it to everyone. He asked one of the Brothers at Alexian to draw me a bookmark, which is what one of them does for a hobby. He remembered my favorite flower, and even added his own original sentiment to it and had him write a personalized message just for me. It says "you are a blessing and a gift" and if I hadn't been on a high dosage pain killer I would have broke down and cried right there in the car when he gave it to me. It was the best gift ever and I hope I am able to keep it forever.
Matthew and I went shopping for a few last minute fixings and ingredients and then settled in to start West Wing season 2.
The dog settled with his new chew toy, and all was well.
$5.00 Shoes
What a great deal those $5.00 K-Mart shoes were!
Tuesday went slowly.
I was sick and cramping all day and ready to come home and do nothing.
Matthew came home and was still suffering a lot with his cold.
He took off to a meeting at church and I watched Survivor on the DVR.
Overall, it was a slow moving evening full of pain relievers and TV, kinda sluggish.
This morning I woke up about every 2-3 hours being sick and hurting. Thank the Lord I just have to get through today and then I can relax all 4 days of the long holiday weekend.
I was so sick last night that I kicked off my shoes in the bedroom, which I NEVER do, they always go in the closet, but I was so out of it (and medicated).
I would like to think that Toodles tried to carry them to the closet for me, but for some reason decided to play, and quietly, stealthily, and now I'm just going to go back and get new $5.00 shoes. I had been forgetting to get him a fresh rawhide.. so he made his own. What a deal.
Tuesday went slowly.
I was sick and cramping all day and ready to come home and do nothing.
Matthew came home and was still suffering a lot with his cold.
He took off to a meeting at church and I watched Survivor on the DVR.
Overall, it was a slow moving evening full of pain relievers and TV, kinda sluggish.
This morning I woke up about every 2-3 hours being sick and hurting. Thank the Lord I just have to get through today and then I can relax all 4 days of the long holiday weekend.
I was so sick last night that I kicked off my shoes in the bedroom, which I NEVER do, they always go in the closet, but I was so out of it (and medicated).
I would like to think that Toodles tried to carry them to the closet for me, but for some reason decided to play, and quietly, stealthily, and now I'm just going to go back and get new $5.00 shoes. I had been forgetting to get him a fresh rawhide.. so he made his own. What a deal.
Monday, November 24, 2008
FOSTER CARE STATISTICS
FOSTER CARE STATISTICS
Currently, there are approximately 513,000 children in foster care in the United States. It's estimated that 114,000 are eligible for adoption.
In 2005, about 51,000 children were adopted from foster care.
68% of parents who adopt from foster care are married couples, 27% are single females, 2% are unmarried couples, and 3% are single males.
Median age of child in foster care: 10.6 years.
Race/ethnicity of children in foster care: 41% Caucasian, 32% African-American, 18% Hispanic, and 1% Asian; 8% other.
The average child in foster care goes through three different placements and stays in the system for nearly 29 months.
Each year, about 20,000 children age out of foster care.
Currently, there are approximately 513,000 children in foster care in the United States. It's estimated that 114,000 are eligible for adoption.
In 2005, about 51,000 children were adopted from foster care.
68% of parents who adopt from foster care are married couples, 27% are single females, 2% are unmarried couples, and 3% are single males.
Median age of child in foster care: 10.6 years.
Race/ethnicity of children in foster care: 41% Caucasian, 32% African-American, 18% Hispanic, and 1% Asian; 8% other.
The average child in foster care goes through three different placements and stays in the system for nearly 29 months.
Each year, about 20,000 children age out of foster care.
3 day workweek!
This weekend was too short! After working half a day on Saturday I went shopping at Kohls and the bookstore next to it, and then drove up to my parent's house, where I got to spend a few hours with some of my favorite people.
I had sent my Nephew some model cars and a book thru Amazon and they had arrived. It goes to show you I have no idea about model cars, because only one of the two I had gotten was an actual model he could build. The other was just some collectible car, but that is okay, he collects those too.
Matthew had to work all day Saturday so when I arrived home we had leftover chinese take out for dinner and just relaxed at the house.
He has a head cold right now, so he didn't feel like doing much.
Sunday we went to 11:00 a.m. Mass and had the Rite of Welcoming. Matthew's guy was there, but my girl didn't show. :-( I will have to call her today and see what's going on, hopefully her family is OK and she just forgot about the ceremony.
After church we went and ate a small lunch out and then came home to work on the chores list. Matthew was getting worse and I felt horrible too, and we cut our chores list drastically and just spent some time watching West Wing DVDs and eating soup.
I did manage to give Toodles a bath, which took all of the remaining strength out of me, but he is a clean doggie now.
Matthew is off from work today since he has to work Thanksgiving Day, so maybe he will get healthier from the down-time.
I am praying today to hear from DFCS on our approval and what happens next. I am also praying for all of my friends and family and their intentions.
I had sent my Nephew some model cars and a book thru Amazon and they had arrived. It goes to show you I have no idea about model cars, because only one of the two I had gotten was an actual model he could build. The other was just some collectible car, but that is okay, he collects those too.
Matthew had to work all day Saturday so when I arrived home we had leftover chinese take out for dinner and just relaxed at the house.
He has a head cold right now, so he didn't feel like doing much.
Sunday we went to 11:00 a.m. Mass and had the Rite of Welcoming. Matthew's guy was there, but my girl didn't show. :-( I will have to call her today and see what's going on, hopefully her family is OK and she just forgot about the ceremony.
After church we went and ate a small lunch out and then came home to work on the chores list. Matthew was getting worse and I felt horrible too, and we cut our chores list drastically and just spent some time watching West Wing DVDs and eating soup.
I did manage to give Toodles a bath, which took all of the remaining strength out of me, but he is a clean doggie now.
Matthew is off from work today since he has to work Thanksgiving Day, so maybe he will get healthier from the down-time.
I am praying today to hear from DFCS on our approval and what happens next. I am also praying for all of my friends and family and their intentions.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Saturday, still waiting.
Apparently it almost takes as long for DFCS to approve families as it does to actually take the requires courses. Ugh. A little disappointed everything flew by and now we are left waiting. I did get in contact with them though, and apparently our lady had been out, and now the director was out, etc. etc.
I am off to work this morning, gotta make some $ to fling at Wachovia, LOL. Matthew is going to work too, and has Monday off instead, so right now I am waiting on the shower.
And the post office stinks at tracking packages!
I am off to work this morning, gotta make some $ to fling at Wachovia, LOL. Matthew is going to work too, and has Monday off instead, so right now I am waiting on the shower.
And the post office stinks at tracking packages!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Free Dr. Pepper!!!!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,455744,00.html
you have to print the coupons on Sunday though!
you have to print the coupons on Sunday though!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wachovia has NO customer service
In climbing out of being behind on almost everything in our name, I am currently seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
The last things to get back to speed this month is my car and both sets of student loans.
The student loan people are gracious and understanding, and we have no problem. I have a Wells Fargo Student loan an Edfinancial (both of us).They call a lot, but are genuinely nice.
So, today I sent a partial car payment by mail, mainly because Wachovia's website only allows you to pay the exact amount due (rip off!). So, I put my envelope in the mail, and attach a nice little letter telling them the balance will be caught up next week. I also picked up the phone and called their customer service peeps to make certain we were all on the same page.
The lady was so rude! She went off on how partial payments were unacceptable, and transferred me to the "arrangements" department. That lady was nicer, but very abrupt and highly judgemental. All from a company who went belly up just two months ago, and they wanted to give me slack about my stuff.
I would like to think that if that was my job, I would treat everyone with an equal amount of respect and kindness. Maybe they are all ill over possibly losing their job to whomever bought Wachovia out.
Definitely not my best encounter with faceless, unkind people.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
9 more days!
Although Matthew has to work, and no one knows what is going on for meal plans, gatherings, etc. I am still getting excited!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tomorrow never knows what it doesn`t know too soon
Ive taken that title from Oasis. It is very fitting for this week, as we are all in limbo, waiting to hear things, completely dependent upon other's actions.
Trying to take our minds off of everything, last night we went to ToysRUs (yeah, that was such a distraction!) and then went to visit Matthew's Mom. Then we headed off to RCIA class and then home to some hungry, disdainful kitties and one happy dog. I did my now-routine list of chores and went to sleep. Woke up at 1 a.m. and here I am blogging in the middle of snoring animals and an unusually quiet Matthew.
As far as Mondays go, this one wasn't the absolute worst ever, but it felt "funny" all day.
This weekend I spent driving around with my sister, went thrift store shopping in Dayton and I got a few toys for the kids and a great collection of kid's books. I also snagged a replacement copy of an Oasis album that I lost years ago. We had to wait for them to find it in their "we keep all cds in one giant bin behind the counter so you can't steal them, but it takes 30 minutes to locate them once purchased" kind of way, but well worth it. If only I had more time, I could have filled shelves with the great book deals! Books are always exciting.
While in the great state of TN, I brought back my Mom Saturday night to see the house, spend the night, and generally get some catch-up quality time since she has been so uncharacteristically shut-in since her accident. I would probably be sick If I couldn't drive myself this long!
She liked the kid's bedrooms, settled in and we (graciously, but not without comment) let her commandeer the TV and watch the Alabama game. I would like to think of my house as a no football zone, but we were o-kay ( we went out to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things).
Sunday morning Matthew and I went to Mass and then we headed to Soddy, where Matthew dropped off my Mom and myself for a baby shower (this is me = slightly depressed) and then he went to help diagnose my Sister's mystery smell emanating from her central heating.
We all met back up and Matthew and I took off to pick up a few things and finally back to the house where we relaxed and prepared for this week of waiting.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Way to go, Father!
Wednesday night we had our first Pro Life meeting at St. Gerard's. It was so nice, and we had a great turnout of people I just know are going to be blessings to Matthew and I!
Here is an article I found most relevant today:
MSNBC.com
Priest: No communion for Obama voters
Priest says it's because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion
The Associated Press
updated 6:45 p.m. ET, Thurs., Nov. 13, 2008
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."
The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.
"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.
"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exits constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."
Risking their immortal soul
During the 2008 presidential campaign, many bishops spoke out on abortion more boldly than four years earlier, telling Catholic politicians and voters that the issue should be the most important consideration in setting policy and deciding which candidate to back. A few church leaders said parishioners risked their immortal soul by voting for candidates who support abortion rights.
But bishops differ on whether Catholic lawmakers — and voters — should refrain from receiving Communion if they diverge from church teaching on abortion. Each bishop sets policy in his own diocese. In their annual fall meeting, the nation's Catholic bishops vowed Tuesday to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights.
According to national exit polls, 54 percent of Catholics chose Obama, who is Protestant. In South Carolina, which McCain carried, voters in Greenville County — traditionally seen as among the state's most conservative areas — went 61 percent for the Republican, and 37 percent for Obama.
"It was not an attempt to make a partisan point," Newman said in a telephone interview Thursday. "In fact, in this election, for the sake of argument, if the Republican candidate had been pro-abortion, and the Democratic candidate had been pro-life, everything that I wrote would have been exactly the same."
Conservative Catholics criticized Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004 for supporting abortion rights, with a few Catholic bishops saying Kerry should refrain from receiving Holy Communion because his views were contrary to church teachings.
Some say move is too extreme
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said she had not heard of other churches taking this position in reaction to Obama's win. A Boston-based group that supports Catholic Democrats questioned the move, saying it was too extreme.
"Father Newman is off-base," said Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats. "He is acting beyond the authority of a parish priest to say what he did. ... Unfortunately, he is doing so in a manner that will be of great cost to those parishioners who did vote for Sens. Obama and Biden. There will be a spiritual cost to them for his words."
A man who has attended St. Mary's for 18 years said he welcomed Newman's message and anticipated it would inspire further discussion at the church.
"I don't understand anyone who would call themselves a Christian, let alone a Catholic, and could vote for someone who's a pro-abortion candidate," said Ted Kelly, 64, who volunteers his time as lector for the church. "You're talking about the murder of innocent beings."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27705755/
Here is an article I found most relevant today:
MSNBC.com
Priest: No communion for Obama voters
Priest says it's because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion
The Associated Press
updated 6:45 p.m. ET, Thurs., Nov. 13, 2008
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."
The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.
"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.
"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exits constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."
Risking their immortal soul
During the 2008 presidential campaign, many bishops spoke out on abortion more boldly than four years earlier, telling Catholic politicians and voters that the issue should be the most important consideration in setting policy and deciding which candidate to back. A few church leaders said parishioners risked their immortal soul by voting for candidates who support abortion rights.
But bishops differ on whether Catholic lawmakers — and voters — should refrain from receiving Communion if they diverge from church teaching on abortion. Each bishop sets policy in his own diocese. In their annual fall meeting, the nation's Catholic bishops vowed Tuesday to forcefully confront the Obama administration over its support for abortion rights.
According to national exit polls, 54 percent of Catholics chose Obama, who is Protestant. In South Carolina, which McCain carried, voters in Greenville County — traditionally seen as among the state's most conservative areas — went 61 percent for the Republican, and 37 percent for Obama.
"It was not an attempt to make a partisan point," Newman said in a telephone interview Thursday. "In fact, in this election, for the sake of argument, if the Republican candidate had been pro-abortion, and the Democratic candidate had been pro-life, everything that I wrote would have been exactly the same."
Conservative Catholics criticized Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004 for supporting abortion rights, with a few Catholic bishops saying Kerry should refrain from receiving Holy Communion because his views were contrary to church teachings.
Some say move is too extreme
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said she had not heard of other churches taking this position in reaction to Obama's win. A Boston-based group that supports Catholic Democrats questioned the move, saying it was too extreme.
"Father Newman is off-base," said Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats. "He is acting beyond the authority of a parish priest to say what he did. ... Unfortunately, he is doing so in a manner that will be of great cost to those parishioners who did vote for Sens. Obama and Biden. There will be a spiritual cost to them for his words."
A man who has attended St. Mary's for 18 years said he welcomed Newman's message and anticipated it would inspire further discussion at the church.
"I don't understand anyone who would call themselves a Christian, let alone a Catholic, and could vote for someone who's a pro-abortion candidate," said Ted Kelly, 64, who volunteers his time as lector for the church. "You're talking about the murder of innocent beings."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27705755/
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Catholic bishops plan to forcefully confront Obama
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/religion/chi-081111bishops,0,615284.story
About 300 bishops, gathered in Baltimore for their national meeting, adopted a formal blessing for a child in the womb and advised Chicago's Cardinal Francis George, president of the conference, as he began drafting a statement from the bishops to the incoming Obama administration. That document will call on the administration and Catholics who supported Obama to work to outlaw abortion.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Happy Veteran's Day Everyone!!
What a great Holiday! Unfortunately I had to work, but I came home about 30 minutes early and spruced up the place, vacuumed, took out the cat litter, did a last minute dusting for all of the dust that had settled in the 24 hours since yesterday. I have really gotten myself excited!
Our home study lady was back and did a walk through, talked to us about schedules and making rules, and then **poof**, she was gone! Maybe a 20 minute total visit, tops. Guarantee she didn't notice I had scrubbed the trash can right before she arrived! Ha!
Well, we are officially done with all of our prep work, and DFCS will have our file tomorrow afternoon! WooHoo!!
I had made a cheeseball for work today and of course left it in the work fridge, so no cheese tonight :-( I could just go make another one.. it was too easy.
Matthew is off to the church Maintenance Ministry meeting, and I am going to relax and watch TV. Relax. Relax. Relax.
Our home study lady was back and did a walk through, talked to us about schedules and making rules, and then **poof**, she was gone! Maybe a 20 minute total visit, tops. Guarantee she didn't notice I had scrubbed the trash can right before she arrived! Ha!
Well, we are officially done with all of our prep work, and DFCS will have our file tomorrow afternoon! WooHoo!!
I had made a cheeseball for work today and of course left it in the work fridge, so no cheese tonight :-( I could just go make another one.. it was too easy.
Matthew is off to the church Maintenance Ministry meeting, and I am going to relax and watch TV. Relax. Relax. Relax.
Susan Komen Foundation gives $ to Planned Parenthood
How could they not know?
Thanks to Susie for this enlightening article!
I am shocked, saddened and upset.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_G._Komen_for_the_Cure
http://romancatholicblog.typepad.com/roman_catholic_blog/2005/09/susan_komen_bre.html
http://www.rnclife.org/blog/2007/10/susan-g-komen-awards-72-grants-to.html
Thanks to Susie for this enlightening article!
I am shocked, saddened and upset.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_G._Komen_for_the_Cure
http://romancatholicblog.typepad.com/roman_catholic_blog/2005/09/susan_komen_bre.html
http://www.rnclife.org/blog/2007/10/susan-g-komen-awards-72-grants-to.html
Monday, November 10, 2008
Homestudy, Part I
The home study went well, about 2 hours of crossing Ts, dotting Is, and making sure all of the paperwork was in perfect order. Whew!
Tomorrow evening she will come again to do a walk through of the house and then we will be done!
I am amazed at how God has been shaping this experience for us. We are constantly meeting really nice people who genuinely support us and are encouraging.
Today the home study person, who is a therapist, told us that she had worked with our prospective kids' parents when they first had issues over 2 years ago. How Providential! We got to discuss them in depth, and we had a really good time with her.
Tomorrow evening she will come again to do a walk through of the house and then we will be done!
I am amazed at how God has been shaping this experience for us. We are constantly meeting really nice people who genuinely support us and are encouraging.
Today the home study person, who is a therapist, told us that she had worked with our prospective kids' parents when they first had issues over 2 years ago. How Providential! We got to discuss them in depth, and we had a really good time with her.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Weekend, toys are expensive!
We had our CPR class Saturday, it went well, and now we have been certified to perform CPR, administer First Aid, and operate an AED device. Cool, huh?
We did errands, hung the storage thingamajig in the boy room, and got a pretty early bedtime.
Sunday we went to Mass, and I left Matthew at home and met my Nephew and Sister at the Mall. I took my Nephew out and we went and spent my 70$ Hamilton Place Mall giftcard that I received from work. My nephew helped me decide what toys would be appropriate, which ones were fun, which ones were not so fun, and generally steered me in the right direction! We ended up with:
Boy:
Pull string racecar
Matchbox car playset
Play-Doh
Nerf football
Connect Four game
Dinosaurs
Girl:
My Little Ponies (a lot of them!)
Barbie
Mrs. Potato Head
Candyland board game
It was so much fun, and 70$ went very quickly! One of my coworkers was so generous and gave me her giftcard too, but I am going to wait until I can use it for more specific toys once I know exactly what the kids will like. Today was just me and my Nephew spending time and getting toys that should appeal to anyone. Did I mention we had fun? We came home, unpacked everything, played around with the toys, played connect four, watched those FRED youtube videos (and laughed our rear ends off).
I can't believe this is what 5th graders love.. it's so silly it's funny:
I drove him home in the Ford truck, stick shift. I didn't let it die once! I was so proud! So we went all the way up to Sale Creek to get the mirror for the dresser and by the time I was ready to head home my Dad was not going to let me drive the stick shift home, alone, at night, down Rossville Blvd. So, he, my Nephew, and My Sister took the truck and her car and all came down together! Dad got to see the house and the decor, and liked it a lot. I was so happy.
After they left I cleaned up a little, ate some cheese crackers and raisins (yum!) and then gave Matthew a much needed haircut.. what a day!
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