The Goal of Foster Care is Reunification

Everyday I have to remind myself that "the goal of foster care is reunification with the biological parents". At what point does reunification become more harmful than good? When a child has lived with you for longer than they have lived with their biological parents, when your home IS home, when you get up for the midnight feedings, the nightmares, the wet beds, when you take them to the doctor appointments, read to them, show them right from wrong how is it better to send them to someplace that has no schedule...no consistency, no food half the time, no feelings of love and comfort, no tucking in and saying prayers at bedtime, no cuddle times and special one on ones. Instead there will be yelling, screaming, fighting, smoking, crying, drinking, hunger, filth, and a serious lack of love and warmth....but at the end of the day "the goal of foster care is reunification".

I pray that God looks upon these children with love and understanding. That our Father God sees what is best for these children and helps to keep them safe, warm, fed, and loved. My hope is that no matter where they go or who has them our God will help to guide and comfort them in their journey. I want to say a selfish prayer, but instead I am trying very hard to live life on life's terms. With that said I am just going to live and let God. No matter how hard that can be.

St. A's Fall concert

FALL CONCERT
St. Augustine decided to do something new this year by having a fall concert instead of a Christmas one. Isabelle had a speaking role where she introduced another class and their song. She did a great job. I was so nervous for her, but she went up there and nailed it. Isabelle's class (the 5th grade) sang a song and played their recorders for a song. I started to video part of the recorder one, until my battery decided to die. Bummer. Here are a few pics of the event.

The kids....

Isabelle turned 11 on November 7th. It is really hard to believe that 11 years have flown by so quickly. We went out to dinner and had cookie cake for desert at home. This was my first time making a cookie cake, but I will for sure be doing it again. It was delicious! She didn't have a party this year, but sometimes quality time with the family is just as good.

Isabelle had to do a solar system project for school. She spent a lot of time on it and I think it really shows. It turned out awesome! Great work Isabelle!

Jericha has been going to peeps at Arcadia school every day from 9-12am. She is just loving it. Her personality is really starting to shine. Everyday she comes home with something new and exciting that she has learned.



Josiah is getting so big! He is almost eight months now. He is army crawling everywhere. That includes straight into the dog's water bowl, the recycling bin, DVD's, and anything else he can find. He is really testing our child proofing skills. Jojo still has no teeth, but he is eating like a champ. Recently he discovered his tongue and started sticking it out at anyone that will pay attention to him. He makes us all smile every time we look at him. We are so blessed to have him as part of our lives.

Apple Orchard

Christine and I went out together on Saturday. It was the first time in months that we have been somewhere together with out any kids at all. Sometimes I forget how nice it is to have normal adult conversations with out being interrupted, having to put kids in time outs, etc. We went out to dinner, hit up a haunted house (yes I actually made it through), and then we went to the casino. I won all of our money that we spent for the night back and still had extra. It was really exciting because I never win when I go.

Sunday we took the kids and Isabelle's friend to the apple orchard. They had a blast. We did the kiddy part with activities, picked apples, took a wagon ride, and went through the corn maze. Let me just say next time I go through a corn maze I will defiantly put my moby wrap on instead of trying to push a stroller. Not a good idea! Overall the weekend was awesome. The only downfall was I did absolutely no housework! My house looks like a tornado went through it right now so I'm trying to talk myself into cleaning. Guess we will see how that goes....

Thought of the day

I am going to take this moment to just talk about myself. I finally reached my 75lb mark after being plateaued for about two months. I am excited about that accomplishment, especially since that means I only have 37.8 more pounds to loose until I reach my goal weight. With that said I have really started to evaluate why everything in my life seems to plateau at one point or another. I guess there comes a time when things I used to put thought into just start to blend into daily life. I have found that is not always a good thing. Everything in life needs maintenance. If you aren't willing to maintain it then you will end up getting what you put into it. Life is not easy. It's not easy to constantly maintain everything, but is it easier to let it all go to hell? A weight loss comparison that I heard the other day goes like this "It's hard to loose weight, it's hard to maintain your weight, it's hard to be over weight. Choose your hard." I really like that. If I'm going to spend time thinking about how hard something is I sure as hell want some results when I'm done with it. I feel like this can go for just about anything in my life. It's hard to do a lot of things, but if I choose not to do it, isn't the outcome just as hard? Well those are my thoughts for the day...

"The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice."  George Eliot