Health Update Time

A while back I posted about my health challenges. (See here and here if you aren’t caught up). I’ve been placed on Stelara for my ulcerative colitis (“UC”), which is an immunosuppressant that is aimed at UC and at psoriatic arthritis. It’s helping with the UC though is not putting me in remission. Regardless, I’llContinue reading “Health Update Time”

Brown skin is beautiful, but my kid doesn’t believe it.

My gorgeous brown-skinned Asian kid just told me she wishes she had white skin because “it’s prettier.” My heart broke. It’s something I heard before from Kiddo when she was about 4. I asked Sprout why she thought white skin is prettier, and she said “all the pictures are of pretty white-skinned girls.” This kidContinue reading “Brown skin is beautiful, but my kid doesn’t believe it.”

Sometimes Rain is Better than Sun

My house is peaceful, joyful, and fun today despite crappy rainy weather and all somewhat overtired humans. No one got enough sleep. One grownup has a migraine. But Kiddo and Sprout are playing so nicely together. No fighting. No exclusion. No meanness. I’m absolutely loving having my whole family together for the weekend. And sadly,Continue reading “Sometimes Rain is Better than Sun”

Looking for Redemption

I have spent months wallowing in frustration. Frustration with Sunny’s defiance, her meanness, her cruelty toward her sister, her disregard of others in the community life of our family. Frustration has led to anger. I recognize that it is ridiculous that I am angry with a broken ten-year-old for being broken. But knowing and changingContinue reading “Looking for Redemption”

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”

Struggling to Parent Sunny

I’ve written before about how Sunny is a difficult kid to parent. I’m not sure I’ve really emphasized that enough, though. Folks, I’m struggling with parenting her fairly. Sunny has learned, through no fault of her own, to be manipulative and pushy. Those were attributes that got her needs met when she was home withContinue reading “Struggling to Parent Sunny”

Dealing with Uncertainty

Foster care is nothing if not filled with uncertainty. We have 10-year-old Sunny with us still. She’s been here 519 days counting today. She says she still wants to go home, but my suspicion is that she would have a very hard time transitioning back to her old style of family life. Her family isContinue reading “Dealing with Uncertainty”

Christmas and other good things

I haven’t posted in a while so it feels like time for a general update since I am not feeling inspired with brilliant topics for posts. We are lucky in this fostering house that we currently have a foster kid who doesn’t have a lot of trauma associated with Christmas. Being Muslim, Sunny never reallyContinue reading “Christmas and other good things”