It’s Mother’s Day, FWIW

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of Mother’s Day. I always struggled with it as a younger adult because I didn’t have kids, didn’t want biological kids, and felt inherently that Mother’s Day was the world’s way to point out that I wasn’t the “ideal woman.” Ideal women prioritize reproduction. Once I becameContinue reading “It’s Mother’s Day, FWIW”

Heartache

I just got a call from the agency that I deeply appreciate having gotten. Years ago we told our homefinder (basically our case worker) that if ever a child we’ve fostered comes back into foster care, we want to be called first. It’s happened twice now. The first time I got a call it wasContinue reading “Heartache”

Acting up in public

Last weekend my husband was working, but I fearlessly plowed ahead and took Sunny and Sprout to the Finger Lakes Chapter of Little People of America’s holiday party. Let me start this by praising this organization. I’ve written about them before regarding a baseball game we took the girls to during the summer. Being surroundedContinue reading “Acting up in public”

Life Carries On

It’s funny. I’d been longing to adopt Sprout for so long, and so worried it would not happen, that when it did actually happen I was a bit gobsmacked for a day or two. Could it really have taken place?! Finally?! But then, life just carried on, as it has a way of doing! NothingContinue reading “Life Carries On”

National Adoption Day

The Event On Friday, November 17, 2023, we adopted our little Sprout at the County’s National Adoption Day event! HOORAY!!! The event was… chaotic. I know we should appreciate everything that happened and was given to Sprout in the course of the day, but in some ways I wish we’d had an adoption in theContinue reading “National Adoption Day”

Hard Emotions

I was chatting with an old friend last night, and he mentioned that foster care seems to be full of challenging emotions. Boy is that an understatement. About a month ago, the agency was telling us they wanted to have Mama surrender her rights to Sunny and have us adopt her. We were more thanContinue reading “Hard Emotions”

A Spooky Room for Sprout

We’ve been foster parents for almost 8 years, always in the same three bedroom house. Well, now a four bedroom house! There’s a master bedroom, and that’s stayed ours all along. But the other two bedrooms on the second floor have gone through a million different permutations. Kiddo was our first foster kid, and sheContinue reading “A Spooky Room for Sprout”

Sunny’s Need to Belong

The subject of belonging came up for me recently when I listened to a We Can Do Hard Things podcast called “Being Left Out: Navigating that Lifelong Ache.” In the episode, Glennon, Abby, and Amanda talk about the need for feeling like we belong, and how fundamental that feeling is to our survival. In essence,Continue reading “Sunny’s Need to Belong”

We have a date! (maybe)

Sprout’s parents’ rights have been “terminated.” Her mother surrendered her rights, and her father’s rights were terminated recently and he didn’t appeal the decision. That means Sprout gets a new adoption case worker. In this case, it’s a worker we know and love. She was Miss Kicks’s case worker, and while that situation ended inContinue reading “We have a date! (maybe)”

Frustration and Questions

I’m not in the business of badmouthing anybody, but I figure an update is appropriate as I have followers who are now – or who are thinking of becoming – foster parents who want to know what this gig is really like. I think I mentioned previously that our last case worker left the agency.Continue reading “Frustration and Questions”