The Difference Nine Healthy Months Makes

My Concert Weepies Last night, I sat in a crowded theater full of cheering parents and likewise cheered my kid, who was singing in the 2nd grade chorus concert. Sprout was the wiggliest wildest audience member, along with her BFF, whose parents we got to meet finally for the first time last night. I foundContinue reading “The Difference Nine Healthy Months Makes”

Snow Day Updates

It’s a snow day across much of the northeast. The snow started off slow overnight, but it’s coming down in buckets now, and I’m glad the kids are home and not on the roads. However, I’m trying to get some work done for the Planning Board for which I am secretary. Ha! Silly me, notContinue reading “Snow Day Updates”

Finding the Helpers

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” Fred Rogers Foster care is full of darkness. It’s full of abuse, heartbreak, and tragedy. It’s full of underpaid and overworked social workers,Continue reading “Finding the Helpers”

A World of Difference

Sprout and I went on a little field trip this week. We’ve been dying to get her into Nemours Children’s Hospital for well over a year now, but the gears grind slowly. First I thought our insurance wasn’t accepted there at all because that’s what I’d been told. Then I found out it could potentiallyContinue reading “A World of Difference”

A wheelchair = liberation

Having kids with physical limitations is illuminating. After a battle with insurance, they finally approved an adorable little yellow smiley face wheelchair for Sunny. I pushed for it because there are so many things we can’t do with her now: we can’t go to the mall, or the State Fair, or the little village festivalContinue reading “A wheelchair = liberation”

Closing in on 1,000 isn’t “lucky”

Sprout has been in foster care 921 days.  By the time we get to court next, it’ll have been 963 days. I am a nervous wreck. I don’t know what to expect in court other than an excruciatingly emotional day. I’ve worked as a lawyer in the system but never got to this stageContinue reading “Closing in on 1,000 isn’t “lucky””

A Happy Shindig

Tonight we went to a barn dance at the farm where Sprout rides horses. It’s a program primarily for disabled people, so most folks who ride there have physical or intellectual disabilities or both. It’s an amazing program. I found it a JOY to be surrounded by people who weren’t giving the kids weird looks.Continue reading “A Happy Shindig”

Training, Daily

Every year I’m asked by our agency if I’ve done any “training” on foster parenting. It’s part of our recertification process and I want to talk a little about the training I do almost daily. To become a foster parent, there is a training requirement. It’s a class, which for us was 11 weeks IContinue reading “Training, Daily”

Working hard, but not Working

Work is where it’s at… or is it? I’ve worked since I was about 15. I first started as a receptionist at my family’s church, plus some babysitting gigs. Then I switched to working at the rare books department of the nearby university. I worked there summers for years, including while I was in college.Continue reading “Working hard, but not Working”

Summer Heat and Fun… with a Side of Fatigue

So far this summer I have taken one or both girls to: A carnival with rides and fireworks Swimming at a local lake Swimming at the local pool Wading in a stream at a nearby park looking for crayfish On a boat ride along the Erie Canal To the MOST (the local kids’ science museum)Continue reading “Summer Heat and Fun… with a Side of Fatigue”