Family Visit

Grant and me before going to a graduation ceremony. 

His "little brother" from Big Brothers, Big Sisters graduated high school! They've been matched 7 years. It has slowed down over the past couple years, but prior to that, they met every Tuesday night without fail! We are really proud of Patrick!

We went to Scott City over Memorial Weekend. Grant's Grandpa died last week in Meade, KS, so we attended his funeral and spent time with family, as well as got to visit his mom and siblings. 

Running in Scott City. "Dolly" gets to come too.

It was quite windy. This time we were walking to church.

We got Vera a little pool at the store in town, and she loved it after the water warmed up.

Vera and Aunt Holly, snuggling.
And Aunt Holly is pregnant with Vera's first baby boy cousin!

Vera wasn't so happy for this photo, but check out her curled tongue. 

On Memorial Day, we put flowers on Grandpa's grave. It was good to be able to go, but still very sad for all of us.

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And, Vera's favorite song is "Row, Row, Row your boat". Here she is singing and dancing a little bit. Sorry if my singing is a bit off key... :) Grant's the vocalist in the family (and apparently Vera). 

Vera loves water

Figured we need to post at least once in May! 

Here's an update:

 You mean I get to play with this, and it's full of water?!!!

Yes, Vera, it's just for you. And we'll fill it up everyday if you want!

I love it!!

Vera has played with this water table almost every day since I got it for her. It was an Aldi "special buy", so you can't pass those up! We went just for this, and it was well worth the money. She still usually needs her swimsuit on while she plays in it because she gets herself very wet! She likes to pour the water out and drink it too. As seen in this instagram photo:

We love Vera and are glad she's such a sweet girl! 

Mommy-hood

So this week, I thought I'd be all "awesome" and help Vera get into a new routine of not napping in the morning. Here are two pictures to show how well it did not go:

Today, she is having a morning nap. :) Last night, Grant even made a very good point that Vera almost likes her morning nap more than her afternoon nap. I thought go all in and just get Vera to only sleep in the afternoon. Now I know, if I've got the flexibility to be able to put her down for a morning nap, I need to. It's okay if she needs her sleep. I don't have to feel like she should already be the next stage. I have no need to hurry her into growing up.

I thought she just looked cute in this picture above. She loves her bunny. She is super particular and only sucks her thumb holding onto a specific leg of Ms. Bunny. Someday hopefully she'll get creative with names. For now we have "bunny" (X2), "baby", "dolly", etc... 

This picture above was also taken the day before she woke up from her nap with a fever. I mean, really?! It was pretty scary. One minute cute and happy, the next minute sweaty and sad. It took the whole weekend and missing two birthday parties, but she got past it! 

This is her new favorite toy. She knows just what to do with it. Mr. Vacuum even talks :)

Foster Care, 4 months in

Grant and I have been caring for our foster kids for 4 months now! Buzz: 4 months. Jesse: 2+ months.

This month has been a rollercoaster. We've had lots of fun and plenty of good days, but today, Buzz moves out. We are really sad to say good-bye but know that we can't safely care for him anymore. Our #1 job as foster parents is to keep him safe, and we've come to a point where our training is falling short toward that goal. He's moving to a home with foster parents who've had more training, and hopefully have good support to take care of higher-need kids.

Grant and I will probably process it over time and at different times. Grant has recently said its been the longest 4 months that he can remember. It does seem like Buzz has been in our lives longer than that. We will miss his smiles, hugs, and excitement. Jesse is staying with us, so we are glad that we get to still know how Buzz is doing through her. Our hope is that they get to return home to their parents soon, so that they can go on with their lives. They're just kids - they need a chance to grow up with their family.

Over the past month, we've been reminded that it takes work to be a foster parent. Ha! We should have known... And the biggest part of our success to this point still has been community. Not only do others help care for our kids (including Vera), they help care for Grant and me. Friends and family have encouraged us by helping, listening, re-focusing, and not judging. It's not easy to be vulnerable about our experience with fostering, as you never know who will have the "perfect solution" for us. We haven't had anyone try to tell us something we're trying is wrong, which is amazing. People have rallied around us and helped us where we needed.

We pray for Buzz and Jesse, that they may be safe and their hearts will be protected while they are in foster care.

We pray for Vera, that she enjoys her foster siblings, and that she will be protected while we care for other kids.

We pray for the kids' parents, that they may feel hopeful that their family will be reunited.

Thanks for going on this journey with us.

Vera Sliding

Vera is growing up fast! She is so cute - she can slide down her slide all by herself...but she only goes on her tummy. Enjoy the video:

More foster care news coming sometime this week. Buzz is moving out tomorrow afternoon. We are very sad to say good-bye, but he needs more highly trained foster parents. We hope his new family loves him and enjoys him as much as we have. Since his sister, Jesse is staying with us, we'll still be connected to him a little, which makes it slightly easier.

Visiting Cousins

Last week, Vera and I went to see her cousins. We had a lot of fun! She and Aya resemble each other, as you can see in this picture. Aya still has size on her, though. They enjoyed playing. There were some conflicts over toys, sippy cups, snacks, lunch...well just about everything, but really they get along, its just hard being 16 months and 23 months old. Aya has cool toys that Vera likes to get a head-start playing with. For example, Vera was super impressed with Aya's crib-turned-toddler-bed. Vera loved climbing in and out and then jumping on the bed. 

Vera also got to meet Mila for the first time. She really paid no attention to her. Looked at her and touched her once. Vera and Aya both more enjoyed Mila's bouncer seat - they liked practicing buckling the straps or putting their baby dolls in it.

The only picture I got of Mila, she slept a lot, at 3 weeks old!

Aya turns 2 this week, so we are going back to celebrate next Saturday.

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In other news, Nobie no longer likes us... she keeps breaking out of the yard. Today she ran away from our yard the first time we let her out in the morning. Really? Really, Nobie? You hate first thing in the morning? She was gone for about 2 hours this morning. Who knows where she went. Last week she was trying to break out, so I brought her up to the deck to contain her. The deck has gates at the stairs, so I thought she could just hang out on the deck.

Wrong:

That same day, I went outside and found the gate on the right. Broken. No dog in sight. Texted Grant, and luckily he said he'd gotten a call and would go get her from a local business on the next street over. When he picked her up, they said she'd been great. Sneaky dog...

The photo on the left is from another day. I locked the gate while Vera was playing, and Nobie decided she wanted back up. Crazy dog. She couldn't get in so I had to open the gate for her. 

Let's hope she calms down. It's kind of crazy-making always wondering if she's going to run off. We've secured the fence as much as we can, but I think she's possibly jumping over it now...

Changes

Last Wednesday was my last day at my job. I gave my notice at the beginning of March. I have an opportunity to do contract therapy work that will allow me a lot of flexibility! I now can choose how many clients I am working with, as well as where they are located. No more driving to Lansing or DeSoto for me! (Both about 30 minute drives)

It was sad to leave. I had been at my job for over 2 1/2 years. For me, that was a record! (only slightly embarrassing) I really enjoyed what I did and the families that I worked with. I know they will continue to receive excellent services, but my fond memories of them will always stay with me.

My life has changed drastically since I started that job... oh the memories! I pray that I will be able to still continue to work with at-risk families by providing family therapy for them. I also pray for opportunities to use my skills in other areas of my life (*alert* as a foster parent!). I am excited to see what the future holds.