And It's April

WOW!  I cannot believe that April is already here!!  So much catching up to do on the blog!  Where to start?  My girl turns 14??  Easter?  Vacation?  Foster care?  So much going on!

Last week we spent a few relaxing days on the beach!!  The kids were on spring break so we took advantage of the time off and headed south.

 


Sand & freckles



We had a delicious Easter dinner.

We colored Easter eggs

My girl Khloe celebrated her 14th birthday!

Crepes for breakfast!



She wanted bright colors and Minnie Mouse :)

I simply cannot believe that she is 14.  These babies of mine are growing up waaaay too fast!!  She will be going to high school next year and to think of having two daughters in high school freaks me out!  Rich and I were talking about it on vacation and we feel really old!!  Khloe had a hard time being 13.  We saw a big change in her attitude and personality.  We have high hopes for 14!!

In my last entry I mentioned a 7 year old girl that we were contacted about.  We had our visit from the caseworker on 03/19/13.  Nothing to involved, she just wanted to meet our family and go over some details about the little girl's case.  She did happen to mention that the current foster family was going out of town and the little girl would be in respite the following week.  We offered to keep her for respite while the family was away.  We felt this would be some good quality time for us to get to know her better.  We did get together on 03/22/13 with her current foster family and go bowling.  I was a ball of nerves sitting there waiting for them to walk in.  It was a fun night.  The kids bowled, the adults talked.  I didn't get to close to her, as she had no idea what the event was for.  As far as she knew she was just bowling :).  The foster mom did tell her that she would be staying with us the next week while they were out of town.  She seemed a bit apprehensive about that and was clingy to her foster mom.  That made me nervous that she would be nervous/uncomfortable.scared at our house.  When the case worker brought her over, she made herself right at home.  She stayed with us from Tuesday until Friday.  I made arrangements with my office to work from home that week.  She is the sweetest, cutest most loving little thing you have ever seen!!  She was Khloe's shadow that week.  It was so cute.  She just slipped into our family like she had always been there.  The kids were in school so it was just her and I through the day. 

She is so well behaved and loves to color or draw.

She would slip her little hand in mine or just cuddle me on the couch and it would melt my heart!  I cannot explain the instant connection I felt having her in our family.  We had so much fun on our visit.  We made rice crispy squares.

I wish I could post the picture of her proud face holding the finished product!!  Such a sweet girl!!

I had asked her foster mom if I could get an Easter dress for her.  She was so gracious to let us do that!  Isn't this just the sweetest dress?  She picked it out and of course I had to make a matching hairbow! (I have gone a little hair bow crazy!)

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that we wanted to say YES to moving forward with becoming her forever family.  I contacted the agency on Thursday and asked if she could go on vacation with us!  We wanted to keep her as long as we could.  They said no, she couldn't miss school.  I explained that we wanted to move forward and that we would love for her to be placed with us as soon as possible.  I offered to drive her to her current school or babysitter each day.  The caseworker said she would meet with her supervisor but she didn't think that would be a problem.  We were hoping to have her with us when we returned from our vacation!  She does not know that we are a potential forever family for her.  I think she just thinks of us as "new friends".  I told her that we would like to see her when we got back from Florida.  She was excited about that.  She kept asking how many more days, how many more days until she could come back, etc.  So I made her a little calendar to take home with her.



The calendar showed when I was leaving, when I would be back and when I would call her when I was away.  We made plans to get together for dinner when we got home and invited her to stay with us again this weekend.  The agency has decided that she should remain in her current foster home through the end of the school year and slowly transition to us.  There has been some confusion as to when or how often we can spend time with her until then.  I want to spend as much time with her as possible and we even asked to see her this past weekend but were told that there had only been one visit "approved" for this month so we could not do that.  That is very confusing to me because originally the caseworker said we could see her any time we wanted as long as it worked out with the current foster family's schedule.  The foster mom is stuck in the middle between me texting and calling and the agency giving her guidelines that they aren't telling us.  I have called the agency three times today and no one has called me back.  I called the agency last Wednesday to schedule an appointment with the counselor as instructed by the caseworker.  I left a message and it was never returned.  I called again today and the counselor is on vacation this week. *sigh*  This was the visit that we would meet with the counselor and our new little girl and tell her that we want to be her forever family.  I guess that has to wait until next week.  Actually, I have no idea when they will say we can tell her.  My heart and mind are constantly on this little girl.  I feel like she is mine, like she belongs in our family and she is absent.  I wish she could have been there for our vacation.  I wish I could hear about her first day back to school, who she played with at recess, who she sat by at lunch.  I want to read her a story before bed and say her bedtime prayers.  I want her to be sitting with us at the dinner table and at the track meets.  I want her to be with us.

I have not heard back from the agency today.  I really want to clear up the confusion on the visits, how often we can see her, etc.  I hope to get this cleared up soon!  We miss her and want to spend as much time with her as we can!