Life Can Change...

When we entered into foster care we knew it wouldn't always be an easy road.  Last time I updated we were close to transitioning...now we are not.  Everything has changed, we were just a couple weeks from transitioning and then just a couple days after my last post we found out we weren't.  It's a rollercoaster for us, but it's been especially tough for our foster daughter.

 

After a family meeting, we committed to 'stay the course' until the Lord provides a permaneant solution for this sweet girl.  Though I can't share details, I'm thankful that the Lord has provided a great 'forever' option for her.  We love and adore her, but the reality is she wants to be with family...we get that and we can't blame her.  Thankfully she enjoys being at our house as well, but long term we want the best for her.  Though the process will most likely be long, I trust that the best plan for her is still to come.

 

The road isn't always easy, but to impact the life of a child is priceless...

Transition

I realize I haven't posted much about our Foster Care journey lately and part of that is because there wasn't a lot of new 'information' to report and part of it was because writing out my thoughts and emotions was overwhelming.  So here is a condensed version...

 

We have had our foster daughter in our home for over 6 months now...hard to believe that much time has passed...  We are entering a new phase in our Foster Care journey, it's the 'transition' phase.  We will soon be transitioning our foster daughter out of our home and in with her mom.  She has had regulart visits and they've gone really well.  We aren't sure what to expect or what 'transition' will look like, but I pray we (the team) can find a way to transition her well. 

 

Over the last couple of months we have built a great relationship with her mom and some of her extended family as well and that gives me hope that it's not a permaneant 'good-bye', but rather a 'see you later'.  I'm a mix of emotions...on one hand I'm excited for her, this is exactly what we've been praying would happen...on the other hand, it will be hard to let her go and trust that the situation will be different this time.

 

When we became foster parents our prayer was that it would be a relationship with the child, but also an opportunity to come alongside the parents.  I feel so blessed to see how God has orchestrated that so perfectly according to His will.  Over the course of the next month or so as we transition the next question is...do we continue being foster parents??  It's an emotional journey to say the least...yet, I pray that God would give us the strength and the peace to say 'yes' in His timing. 

Good News!!

Over the course of Seth's 5 years of life if I had to weigh the 'good reports' about him over the 'bad reports' the scale would weigh heavy on the 'bad report' side mainly due to the biting season of his life...that was a HORRIFIC season!

Anyway, he is starting to balance the scale a bit.  At parent teacher conferences a month or so ago we were given great news about him in regards to his academic levels as well as some positive comments regarding his behavior...he still has room for improvement, but there are some areas where he is exceptional.

Today I received this email from his preschool teacher and it is so encouraging for this mommy to hear these good reports. 

"Just had to share this cool news with you.  We did assessments today and one of the pre-reading skill tests involves rhyming.  Seth scored the highest I have ever had, so I checked his score out further.  He is above the 90^th percentile for end of kindergarten year testing!  Way to go, Seth!"

Hooray!!!  So proud of you buddy!!

My littlest man

This adorable little man looked at me and said, "mom, I feel horrible".  With those red cheeks, runny nose, watery eyes, plus a fever...who can blame him?!  Poor little man. :(

Way to go Alayna!

I received this letter in the mail today.  I couldn't be more proud that she was chosen for this!

Way to go Alayna, we are so thankful for you and we trust that God has great things in store for your future!

Christmas #4

Our last Christmas is actually over New Years.  It was, again, a lot of fun!!  I realize I only took pictures while we opened gifts, but in reality that was a minimal amount of time.  There was 4-wheeling, playing with the dogs, playing in the house, we helped with inventory at my father in laws store (the kids really like doing this) and overall spending time with family.

After Christmas #4...we are ready to see our home again.  It's nice to know we won't be packing again for a few weeks and yet...we'll do it all again next year and enjoy it!!  

We are blessed with great parents, siblings and our kids love their cousins and think of them as friends!!

Christmas at home

Three out of four of our celebrations are at other homes on weekends.  Our fourth Christmas is actually ON Christmas with our family at home.  Christmas Eve we enjoyed family devotions,  opening gifts (because our foster daughter wasn't going to be with us on Christmas to open gifts together), playing with the gifts and games, we went to the Christmas Eve service and after that we enjoyed snacks in the car while the kids did a 'Christmas Light' scavenger hunt that Dan and I made.  They have a blast, I get to enjoy looking at Christmas lights and we eat fun snacks that we don't have every day...it's a win all around!! 

Christmas Day we opened stockings and had a great day as a family of 5 rather than 6.  It was an adjustment, but it was nice to know that we will be ok if/when our family needs to adjust.  We played LOTS of games, ate good food and made lots of family memories.  It's official...I.LOVE.MY.FAMILY!!! 

Christmas #2

The next Christmas is with Dan's mom and step dad.  We get to see these cousins at 2 of our celebrations.  I'm missing 2 of the cousins that we see with this side of the family because we have a 4th child in our family for now and I don't exclude her from pictures, but it does mean that I can't share a lot of pictures that are taken on my blog or FB page.

We had a lot of fun playing inside and outside.  The kids never run out of things to talk about...and the adults don't seem to either!  I should really take more pictures, but because the kids are old enough to just go play on their own I don't really think to take pictures while they play (I don't want to mess up a good thing by walking in the room and interrupting them!!)

Christmas #1

It seems like I've sat down to write out my thoughts countless times about things going on in our life and each time I feel a bit overwhelmed to actually try to make sense of my thoughts and emotions.  So, I'm going to do our Christmas 'series' instead.

When people say 'Christmas Season' we get that...with 4 celebrations scattered through the month of December...it truly is a 'season' and we love it.  Sometimes packing, unpacking, laundry, cooking and packing up again for the next celebration gets a bit draining, but we enjoy the time away with family and our kids have a blast with all their cousins.

Here's a collage of Christmas #1, with my side of the family....