Monday, May 22, 2006

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I am so mad I could scream!!! Actually I have been screaming, and whining, and complaining, and venting, and just about crying all day. You see, when I purchased my 15 passenger van from the local Salvation Army Church, I was TOLD that my parents would be able to purchase the second van when their school bus arrived.

Well the school bus arrived today, so I go over to find out when the Major would like to sell the van. And the "so called Christian" liar said he was NEVER going to sell it to my parents, that it would be up to the NEW Major that was transferring at the end of June! *ARGH* I about lost it. I told him he never once indicated that my parents would be getting the van, and he said hemmed and hawed and said that nothing could be done until the end of June.

The ONLY reason I went ahead and purchased the first van was because I knew my parents were getting the second one. I NEVER would have purchased it away from them if I had known they weren't going to get the other one. They have more children than I do and have a greater need for it than we do.

Now I'm feeling really guilty, but above all else I'm mad as can be. How can you SAY you will sell something to someone (and he said it to me, my mother in law - who is the director of the daycare - AND to his secretary) and then turn around and change your mind.?!

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Adoption and Trace Adkins Concert!

*hehe* Gotta love that title right? So I'll start off telling you about how all the adoptions are coming along. The lawyer has all the paperwork needed to finish Macie's adoption! We're just waiting on the court to set a Final Hearing to allow her to be ours forever!! It should happen within the next couple of weeks!

Conner has to be readopted here in the United States in order to get an American birth certificate. Even though he was already completely adopted in Ukraine, Indiana does not allow that court hearing to be enough to get an English birth certificate. So the judge has set Thursday as Conner's adoption day!! He'll officially be recognized as being adopted. And it only took us six years to get around to finishing his adoption! But hey, it's costing us almost $700 to finalize an adoption that is already finalized!

As I told you before, Matt is adopting Jenna. We're waiting for the newspapers to finish the publishing of unknown birth father in the classifieds before we can complete the adoption. The lawyer is saying it'll be about a month before hers is completed. I'd rather look like a slut than have Jenna be put in danger by some crazy person...

Now on to Trace Adkins!! That concert was AWESOME!!!!!! We took Jenna and M to see it. Blain Larson, Trace Adkins, and Gretchen Wilson all performed for us. But Trace was by far my favorite!

Jenna absolutely had a blast! She was standing on her chair, dancing away, and singing along to the songs. She was yelling and just having a great time. She was really getting a kick out of the drunk girls behind us, and in all honesty, they were very polite and fun drunk girls. (Thank God!)

M on the other hand acted completely overwhelmed. She didn't smile once the entire time we were there. She kept looking around at all the people and giving them these weird looks. She kept putting her blanket over her head and trying to hide and in general, acted like she just didn't want to be there. (But afterwards she was telling everyone how much fun she had!) *go figure*

But all the performers put on a great show! Gretchen Wilson was a little to loud for my taste. Her country songs were awesome, but I just couldn't get in to her jazz or rock n roll songs. She tried to do a concert with every type of music included - to show that a redneck girl can sing all types. And YES she could sing them, but me - being a COUNTRY fan - wasn't impressed with the rest.

The one thing that bothered me about the outdoor concert was that someone around us was smoking Pot. Yep. I know I should have expected it; but it just really surprised me that it was at a country concert. And it was SO STRONG that I know my little girls got a slight buzz from the fumes. It was so noticable that the drunk ladies behind us kept commenting on it and looking for the source. Which we never did figure out who was smoking it. I did take that moment to take the girls to get a Funnel Cake though. The less exposed they were to that the better.

Of course, going out to get the Funnel Cake wasn't much better. *hehe* There were SO MANY drunks by that time. I just don't understand why people feel they have to drink themselves into fools to have a good time. The girls got to witness one girl literally being carried to the bathroom, they got to witness some drunks dancing in a circle around the beer stand, they got to see some guys diving into mud puddles on the lawn. You know, stupid drunk stunts. I used it as a way to explain to the girls why they SHOULDN'T ever drink. I think they got the point...

But even with the drunks and the pot it was well worth it to see the singers in person and hear the great music!! It was awesome! Now for October... Toby Keith!!!!!!!

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Family Update!

Several of my friends have asked what is going on with my life and my kids' lives lately. And so I thought I'd give a quick update here. Ok honestly it'll probably take you forever to scroll through all seven children's updates, as well as mine and my husbands! *lol* But it won't hurt my feelings if you just skim over parts of this!

I guess I'll start with me and Matt. We're doing really well. We purchased an above ground pool from Sam's Club and are trying to figure out how to level our backyard enough to put the pool in! Apparently having it level is a major deal, and our yard isn't near level! Matt is still working for the same computer company as before and "seems" to enjoy his job most days. He doesn't have much free time on his hands, and what little he gets is usually spent watching these children while I run one or two of them to different events. I spend most of my time running kids to and from events, picking up the house, and doing laundry. I feel like I never get any free time anymore!

Now on to the kids. This is honestly the most interesting part of the blog anyways!

Jenna - my baby turned 11 years old last week! We had her a slumber party at a local hotel and she and her friends spent the night swimming and hanging out. She's definately getting that "preteen" attitude and will burst in to tears if we just look at her funny! She thinks she's too big to play with toys, and wants to spend most of her time playing computer, scrapbooking, or flipping around the house. Did I mention she's got her ear glued to the telephone? Yeah that's started too!!

We've signed Jenna up for a four day gymnastics camp down in Indiana. The camp is only for training level 5 and 6 gynmasts. Now Jenna is just TRAINING level 5. If she doesn't get every single gymnastics skill, she can't complete level 5! But she's super excited to be going. Several of her gymnatics friends will be going as well so we parents will take turns driving down.

Jenna is also singing at Butler University on Saturday! Her children's choir is going to join five other choirs from the Midwestern States in a performance! She's super excited and nervous about this. It'll be her first time of being in a group that large. She is staying in a hotel Friday night and begged me to stay with her...so I am!! Matt will just have to deal with the kiddos. We are putting the other children in respite care Saturday around noon and they'll be picked up Sunday at noon!! So we'll have a little break to spend some quality time with OUR kids alone.

Conner is turning into a boy!! Yes I was worried about that! But he's almost all boy. He still likes to do cheers, pose like girls, and swish his hips to the music *lol,* but he also loves to see how loud he can burp, how far his spit will fly, and how fast he can ride his bike around the yard!! There is hope for the kid!

He's struggling with reading in kindergarden. He's now going to a special reading class 30 minutes before his real school starts and he seems to enjoy it. The teacher doesn't want to keep Conner back this year, so they are trying their best to get him ready for the first grade. They are however, asking that we get him a tutor for the summer to continue his reading skills. I know I personally won't have time or energy to sit down with him. (I know, terrible mom! But he honestly learns better when I'm not the one trying to teach him!)

Macie will officially be adopted later this month or early June!! We have our petition to adopt finished and are just waiting on a court date. She is currently in therapy to deal with her temper tantrums (they are by far worse than normal two year old tantrums!) and we're hoping she can learn some better coping skills. She IS only two though, so who knows how much she's actually benefiting from the therapy. It does make ME feel better having someone to vent too about my issues! Maybe it's more MY therapy than hers.

Macie is now in daycare and is almost 100% potty trained!! She is so smart it scares me sometimes! And she has such a great personality when she's not throwing her toys at our heads!

C is doing well with adjusting to our home. He's not telling us to "shut up" or saying "I don't care" or "NO I won't" as much as he did in the beginning. I think our routine and structured home have really helped him to adjust better. He loves to cuddle up to us and he's talking up a storm. He doesn't want to go on the potty train (as he calls it). He has absolutely no desire to go in the big boy potty!

B lost his first tooth last night! He came up to us and complained that his tooth was really loose and we thought he was joking! He IS only four (and a SMALL four year old at that!). But we felt inside and were shocked at how loose it actually was. It only took my husband about 10 minutes of playing with it to get it to come out! Boy was B excited!

He's still driving me insane. I hate to say that, but it's the truth. Today I found him on his hands and knees on the kitchen floor eating dog food with his MOUTH (not using his hands). I was just about sick! He also thinks it's a great game to tear every plant leaf off my plants and taste them as well. He pops all baloons and put everything in his mouth. BUT! He now knows his colors and can count to 10!! So there is a little hope for the kid.

D is still attached to my hip. She's in t-ball now. But she doesn't care about the sport. She wants to make sure she goes to the t-ball games because "my coach is bringing snacks and drinks for us, so we have to go." Yep. All she cares about is making sure she is going to get a snack and a drink. *sigh* Oh and during the games she will run from third base, all the way over to first base just to give the coach's wife hugs while out in the outfield!! She usually has to give her at LEAST three hugs a game. And she has to run over to me or Matt and hug us and say she loves us at least twice. And there are only two innings in t-ball games!! Yes she's still in therapy, but it doesn't seem to be helping her with the attaching.

M is upset with me right now. She is 9 and asked me to get her haircut. So I took her yesterday and the stylist couldn't even comb the back of her hair it was so tangled! They had to do a deep conditioning treatment on it. But M won't let me NEAR her hair at all! So the stylist decided that it needed to be cut short to make it easier to maintain. And I thought the haircut was very cute, but M HATES it.

M is so stubborn too. It has to be her idea, and she will stall around and not do what we ask her to do. She definately hasn't accepted that she's the child and that we are the parents. Every day we have a struggle with her trying to discipline the other children or tell us what to do.

I think that's everyone. We're getting ready to start summer swimming lessons next month. Conner and M may go off to summer camp at a local church. We'll definately be doing VBS for all the kids! We've signed all but two of the kids up for fall soccer league as well.

All in all, we're just super busy right now. Jenna goes to gymnastics three days a week, Conner and Macie go once a week, and M goes to cheerleading once a week. Then there is t-ball practice once a week, and t-ball games once or twice a week (depending on the week). Jenna and M go to choir once a week as well. Throw in family visits, therapy appointments, doctor's appointments, and school and you get ZERO free time!

So there you have it. The super long " what we're up too" message.

Wonder of Wonders

Wonder of wonders, C's birth mother actually showed up for the visit today. Of course, how could she Not show when the caseworker bent over backwards and moved the visit an hour later so mom could sleep off her night of dancing in the local bar. I mean really, why should she have to get up early to see her kid when the social workers can just change the time?

Do I sound a little upset? Well I'm more than a little upset - I'm furious! Our agency has a three strikes and you're out rule. Meaning that if the parents miss three visits (especially in a row) that the visits are cancelled until they have a conversation with the birth parents. Unfortunately for C, we have a BRAND NEW caseworker who knows absolutely nothing.

This lady takes the cake!! She's done such a terrific job as a caseworker that she is being transferred to supervising visits and transportation duties. Still, I have to put up with her until the end of May.

Anyways, so this caseworker CALLED the birth mom (instead of waiting for the birth mom to call the agency) to find out why she hasn't been showing up for visits. Then she says that C really wants to see his mom. He doesn't EVER ask about her!!!!!! So this caseworker laid a guilt trip on the mom and changed the visit times. Now this interferes with my other foster children going to school, so the caseworker now has to transport C to and from his visits because I honestly can't do it!

This caseworker is trying to make it so that the birth mother ends up getting C back. Now birth mom officially PUT C in foster care. She was all for my family adopting him...until she started talking to my caseworker!!! *Grrrr*

I have a feeling that C is going to be removed and put back with his mom, and there won't be a dang thing I can do about it. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see how he acts this evening when he comes home. *sigh*

I just wish we had competent caseworkers who knew what they were doing. She even went so far as to exclaim very enthusiastically that C was going to visit his Mommy S. today!! And I got a "not so nice" attitude and told her to PLEASE not mention her name UNTIL she showed up for the visit; because C takes it very hard when he is told he is going to see someone and then they don't show up. She looked confused but agreed that that was probably a good idea considering we weren't sure birth mom was going to be there today...

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

No Show...Again

I'm really getting sick and tired of loading five children into the minivan, driving twenty minutes acrossed town, sitting in the parking lot with five very impatient children for at least fifteen minutes, and then driving all five children back home again when birth mom doesn't show up. This is the FOURTH week in a row that mom has not shown up for a visit with C.

He only gets to visit with her one day a week. Visit is supposed to last from 10 am to 4 pm. And yet she can't make it. And she doesn't bother calling to say she can't make it. It's just so frustrating!

It's gotten to the point where I don't even tell him where we are going. I just say that we have to go to the agency and sit in the car. Normally one of my two social workers comes out to talk with us for a few minutes; so the kids don't even realize we're there to drop C off for a visit.

But I have had it. It's a waste of my time to transport to these visits, and my children have better things to do than sit in the minivan for an hour! So I told the caseworker to figure something else out.

Her solution? I am no longer allowed to just drive to the visit until AFTER the birth mother shows up. She will then have to wait on me to make the 20 minute trip acrossed town in order to visit with her son. Let her see what it feels like to have to sit and wait.

The only difference is that she won't have her other children with her. Who knows WHO is watching them...

I honestly wish she would just terminate her rights so that I can out and out adopt C. I'd do it in a heartbeat- even with his medical condition.