Sunday, June 7, 2015

What's new with us.....

Well, we are going on over two months of having our one night, super temporary, emergency placement. This is the call we got at 10:00p.m. one night and she got here at 11:00p.m.  I told DHS she could sleep at our house but that I was leaving the next day for a women's retreat so she would need to find a permanent placement for her by then.  I knew J. O. could not handle a 9, 6, 3, 2, 1 year old on his own.

So, in typical Tamra fashion I didn't sleep much and just wondered what in the world would happen.  Who would they really find on a Friday to take in the baby?  The next morning I had already made up my mind that if someone could help us out while I was at the retreat we may not need to push for her to leave.  It made me all the more determined by how tiny she was and the fact that I finally woke her up at 10:30 the next morning because she was exhausted.  I did tell myself that if J. O. said absolutely not, I wouldn't push back.

I called the caseworker around 8:30 Friday morning and just wanted to see what she had planned for her.  Our plan Thursday night was for me to have her back at DHS around noon on Friday.  She answered the phone and sounded absolutely exhausted.  I asked her if she was okay and she told me she hadn't made it home yet.  She had another call after she left our house and that one was to place a teenager, which is not the easiest to do.  So, I told her we were fine for now and don't worry about us.  I started frantically looking for someone to help for the night and thankfully my mom was able to take Addison and the baby.

That left me to call J. O. and tell him that until she went to court and we knew more, there was literally nowhere else for her to go.  It was so funny because all I had to do was call J. O. that morning and he just said, sure.  Luckily he is so laid back, because the other day we found out some not so favorable things for mom, and I just text him the results followed up with 'Happy Fathers Day'.....

We have just been trucking along and to say it's not hectic would be an absolute lie.  This time, with all my commitments, and with having the little girls (and now big kids) home all the time for summer, I have her in daycare.  We are blessed with a great caseworker who set that up immediately and they transport her to all her visits each week.  The nights and weekends are hard and hectic, but we make it work.  Trey was so sweet about the fact that I wasn't able to go to many of his games and honestly I am very glad baseball season has ended.  Addison's swim meet Saturday was a slight step up from disaster and for that I am going to be grateful.  Being outside in summer heat for 3 hours (and we left early) isn't easy on anyone.  Let alone 3 toddlers.

The fact is, there are a lot of nights I am so overwhelmed I can't see straight.  This year has once again been the year for me to give things up.  Annalise has 2 therapy appointments a week I will pour myself into, and I will continue to work on the things that I am passionate about.  For now those things include....orphan ministries, homeschooling and continuing to work from home with AdvoCare.

It's once again funny to me how God will speak when we will listen.  The 2 short term placements before Baby S, were simply that...short term.  This baby will be with us until she goes home, goes to live with her brother, or moves somewhere else permanently.  I will pray for her when she leaves, I will take a deep breath when she leaves, and I will then start saying....man, 4 kids is really easy.