Many of you know by now that we became the proud parents of 5 this week. We now have a 4 year old, two 3 year olds, a 2 year old (happy birthday Maggie!) and a 9 month old.
Late afternoon on Monday we received a call asking us to take a 3 year old girl and her 9 month old brother. (***For the children's protection we cannot give their names or show their pictures on any public site - as in this blog or facebook. I will refer to them as "the girl" and "the baby"***) We said "Yes!"
I'll try to give a brief rundown of what this week looked like for us.
The children came around 5:15 p.m. and nobody had eaten dinner. Trent had to work on our city house so he would be home late. Our 3-year-old foster daughter screamed/tried to escape in the proceeding 2 hours until Trent got home. She finally calmed down when he got home as he seemed to have a calming effect on her. The baby came to us with a terrible cough and gross boogery nose. The baby went right to sleep at slept all night. The girl cried for a long time and kept needing me to come to her room for various things. She wanted noodles at 10 pm, she wanted her apple juice in bed, she wanted me to sleep in her bed with her, she wanted to watch Dora at 4 am. She was awake every couple of hours and then solidly from 4-6 am, and then she finally went back to sleep and slept until around 7:30 or 8.
Day #2 I loaded all 5 kids in the van and drove 45 minutes to the baby's doctor appointment that I scheduled that morning. He has bronchitis. Drove through McDonald's for lunch. Somehow managed to get all 5 kids asleep at the same time and I took a nap for an hour. We went to Trent's parents for a Trent/Maggie birthday celebration. Long, tiring day.
Day #3 the girl was a little aggressive toward Magdalena this day. She hit her a few times and also pulled her hair. The baby was VERY fussy. Trent had a pastoral search committee meeting and so I put the kids to bed myself.
Day #4 we had a great day!! We didn't have to leave the house and were starting to get into a routine. My sister stopped by the house and got to meet the baby. The girl was already taking her nap.
Day #5 (today!) we had another great day. We are working on the eating/schedule thing with the girl. She asks for snacks all day long and for food at weird times. The one night she woke up around 1 am and asked Trent for a hot dog. She has asked me for a bowl of cereal in the middle of the day and I am trying to wrap my head around their waking/sleeping schedule. At this point they both seem to sleep very well through the night. They all napped at the same time today and I was even able to do a little painting. I had started a project of re-doing an end table and 2 night stands before they came. We'll see how long it takes me to finish them. =) We went to a picnic with Trent's co-workers. The kids all did great and we had a fun time.
We learned today that the children will be with us for awhile, at least mid-October.
Two of the lessons I have learned this week are:
1. To be humble! My wonderful mother-in-law came over to watch our 3 girls while I took the girl and the baby to Kmart for clothes. I could not have done it without her. Oh, that was on day #3. Did I say I could not have done this without her? I am very very grateful for her help!
2. God's strength is made perfect in my weakness. It's something I have heard before but I'm not sure I have ever really experienced. I know that especially that 2nd morning by myself I
We have another very busy week coming up next week, I'm not sure that we have a free day on the calendar. We will also experience our first visit with the children's mother. They are scheduled to have weekly visits. I have no idea what that will do to the girl, but I imagine it is going to be very very difficult.
I do believe that God has these children with us for a reason, and I am hoping that I can shine Christ's light into their darkened lives. The children have never been to church. I always sing "Jesus Loves Me" to my kids before they go to bed, and I did the same for the girl and the baby. The girl often asks me to sing that song, and will sing it along with me now. She also memorized our Bible verse for the week.
"Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4.
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