This morning, after five months of living in our home, our foster daughter left our home. She has grown and changed throughout her five months with us, yet she has also struggled. She has always had many tantrums (among other issues), and prior to Christmas she completely lost control. While in time-out in her bedroom she climbed on top of a dresser, unlocked the window and was opening it to climb out of the 2nd story onto a porch roof. It was then that I realized I cannot keep her safe. Her fits continued and about a week after the window incident she was again in time-out and punched herself in the face and made her nose bleed. We could not keep her with us any longer.
After informing our caseworker we were told that it may be up to 30 days for them to find a family to take the children. Siblings came together and should leave together. However, after the self-harming incident the children's official guardian through the county thought it may be in each of the children's best interest to be separated. Our hope was that our foster daughter would go to a home where there are no other small children so she could receive as much attention as possible. About a week after hearing they may be separated we heard that no, they will stay together. We were upset, but understood. And after hearing they would stay together we were told that there is a disagreement between the "agency" and the "guardian". One believes they should stay together and the other believes they should be separated. It is up to a judge to determine this.
In the meantime, a family was found for the children. Our foster daughter had another fit at lunch yesterday which resulted in her throwing her plate and attempting to hit Maggie. I called our caseworker mid-fit and she was shocked at the screaming and the yelling that was going on. We heard at 5 pm yesterday that our foster daughter was going to be removed from our home, but that our foster son will be stay with us until a judge can determine whether they should be together or separated.
As our foster daughter left today there were many tears shed by Anne and Abbey. However, in a short time they were happy again. Our foster daughter needs a lot of help and I am certain she will get it with the new family. We will still see her occasionally which I believe will help our children and her in this transition.
We are feeling very much at peace with this. We just ask for continued prayer that when this goes before the judge that the right decision will be made.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The Year of Rejuvenation!
Well, we're already a week into 2013. So far it doesn't feel much different from 2012 - but I have high hopes for this year. We are hoping that 2013 will be the year of rejuvenation for our family. We're not exactly sure what this year will look like, but we have some ideas knocking around in these crazy heads of ours.
One thing that may happen in 2013 is a move. We're hoping to take advantage of the low interest rates and the bummer of a seller's market (that bit us in 2012) and snag a home where we can stay for a long long time and raise our family. We're hopeful that our next home will have a better internet connection than we have here at Sunrise Hollow - the "hollow" indicates a dip in the landscape and that translates to poor cell phone reception which means poor internet connection since we have a wireless card that runs off cell phone tower reception.
We are also fairly certain that we (as in I) will be homeschooling Anne for Kindergarten. I am actually extremely excited about this. I have been looking up curriculum and can hardly wait to start teaching her! Anne has decided that she likes numbers after all and is now teaching herself to add and subtract. Over the summer I had started to teach her but she wasn't interested and didn't understand so I let it go. Now she has it in her head that she loves numbers. On the way to a doctor appointment earlier this week she was in the back of the van teaching Abbey, "Now, if I have one cat and I give it to you, then how many do I have?" Abbey answers, "None", Anne responds, "That's right, Abbey! You can do math, too!" Anne has lofty dreams for herself. Some things she would like to learn in 2013 - to play an instrument (she has a recorder thanks to Uncle Todd & (soon-to-be) Aunt Sarah), she also would like to learn how to speak Spanish, sew all kinds of things (she has made one doll quilt so far from her sewing kit she got for Christmas), and she wants to learn geography and about animals and read a lot more books.
Abbey continues to be a little bit less vocal about what she wants to do. I think that in 2013 Abbey will begin reading even more (she can read over a dozen words now). I imagine Abbey will also learn to sew a little later in the year. If Anne starts music lessons (I would prefer piano) then I imagine Abbey will learn that as well. I'd also like to have a table set up for Abbey to work on larger puzzles over a period of days since she can do 60-piece puzzles with very little trouble and she really enjoys puzzling away!
My big goal for Magdalena is to potty-train her! As my faithful readers know, potty training is the bane of my existence as Mama Hess. I'm not good at it and I don't have the patience for it. But, at nearly 2 1/2 she's the oldest of any of the girls to not yet be potty trained. So, it has to be done. Anne also plans to teach Maggie her alphabet this year. She can write the letter "M", and is finally starting to be more interested in reading and writing! Maggie has also started enjoying craft time so I imagine 2013 will be filled with crafts galore!
2013 will bring about two family weddings. I am beyond thrilled for each of these couples. I have the tremendous honor of being a bridesmaid in one of the weddings and the girls will also be the flower girls for this wedding. I promise to post lots of pictures!
Other than that, I hope to actually have a spare moment or two to pick up my Bible that has sat and gathered dust on the shelf since our foster children came. I've missed the comfort of holding it and praying while the kiddos nap. These days I'm so exhausted by the time I get all 5 kids down to nap that I also nap when I used to have my quiet time. So after being completely drained of all physical, emotional and spiritual strength at the end of 2012 I'm hoping that in 2013 I will be rejuvenated physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Looking forward to another year of blogging!
One thing that may happen in 2013 is a move. We're hoping to take advantage of the low interest rates and the bummer of a seller's market (that bit us in 2012) and snag a home where we can stay for a long long time and raise our family. We're hopeful that our next home will have a better internet connection than we have here at Sunrise Hollow - the "hollow" indicates a dip in the landscape and that translates to poor cell phone reception which means poor internet connection since we have a wireless card that runs off cell phone tower reception.
We are also fairly certain that we (as in I) will be homeschooling Anne for Kindergarten. I am actually extremely excited about this. I have been looking up curriculum and can hardly wait to start teaching her! Anne has decided that she likes numbers after all and is now teaching herself to add and subtract. Over the summer I had started to teach her but she wasn't interested and didn't understand so I let it go. Now she has it in her head that she loves numbers. On the way to a doctor appointment earlier this week she was in the back of the van teaching Abbey, "Now, if I have one cat and I give it to you, then how many do I have?" Abbey answers, "None", Anne responds, "That's right, Abbey! You can do math, too!" Anne has lofty dreams for herself. Some things she would like to learn in 2013 - to play an instrument (she has a recorder thanks to Uncle Todd & (soon-to-be) Aunt Sarah), she also would like to learn how to speak Spanish, sew all kinds of things (she has made one doll quilt so far from her sewing kit she got for Christmas), and she wants to learn geography and about animals and read a lot more books.
Abbey continues to be a little bit less vocal about what she wants to do. I think that in 2013 Abbey will begin reading even more (she can read over a dozen words now). I imagine Abbey will also learn to sew a little later in the year. If Anne starts music lessons (I would prefer piano) then I imagine Abbey will learn that as well. I'd also like to have a table set up for Abbey to work on larger puzzles over a period of days since she can do 60-piece puzzles with very little trouble and she really enjoys puzzling away!
My big goal for Magdalena is to potty-train her! As my faithful readers know, potty training is the bane of my existence as Mama Hess. I'm not good at it and I don't have the patience for it. But, at nearly 2 1/2 she's the oldest of any of the girls to not yet be potty trained. So, it has to be done. Anne also plans to teach Maggie her alphabet this year. She can write the letter "M", and is finally starting to be more interested in reading and writing! Maggie has also started enjoying craft time so I imagine 2013 will be filled with crafts galore!
2013 will bring about two family weddings. I am beyond thrilled for each of these couples. I have the tremendous honor of being a bridesmaid in one of the weddings and the girls will also be the flower girls for this wedding. I promise to post lots of pictures!
Other than that, I hope to actually have a spare moment or two to pick up my Bible that has sat and gathered dust on the shelf since our foster children came. I've missed the comfort of holding it and praying while the kiddos nap. These days I'm so exhausted by the time I get all 5 kids down to nap that I also nap when I used to have my quiet time. So after being completely drained of all physical, emotional and spiritual strength at the end of 2012 I'm hoping that in 2013 I will be rejuvenated physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Looking forward to another year of blogging!
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