Goodbye Sweet Strawberry

I had the neatest experience in court this week where I ended up sitting next to Strawberry's grandma while we were waiting for our hearing.  I had no idea this was even a possibility and didn't even know she'd be there.  But God in His goodness gave me the opportunity to visit with her a couple of hours before our hearing.  It made me feel much better about turning her over to her family.

We were able to have a lot of time with Strawberry this week.  It was our vacation week and everybody was home the whole time.  Looking back, I see how perfect the timing was since we wouldn't have much time with her.

She came with a backpack of diapers and 3 outfits.  But over the 13 days she was with us, she accumulated quite a bit of stuff.  It was sad to pack her up and say goodbye.   We prayed over her and held her and gave her a million kisses.  I wrote a letter to her grandma telling her about her feeding schedule/naps/preferences over the last 2 weeks and tucked it in her bag.  

I'm glad we got to experience this facet of foster care.  We took care of her and smothered her with love until her family could make a plan to take care of her.  That's exactly how it's supposed to work. 

A friend of mine sells Thirty One bags and organized a fund raiser called Totes Vs. Trash Bags 

for foster kids.  The generous folks in my town purchased over 41 (at last count) totes this month.

That meant I got to send her off with something pretty and sweet instead of packing her things in plastic sacks.  LOVE!!  

Farm News

Isn't this such a beautiful time of year!!?  

Here's some of the goodness going on around here....

We do not have what you would call a real garden.  We only have some various plants planted here and there.  This is our first fruits of the season.

And we have some spinach ready to pick. 

Our grapes are coming back! I thought for sure they were dead.  Looks like we have at least another year to try to kill them do better.  I need to look up how to best care for them instead of just hoping for the best. 

Now I don't mean to make you jealous, but we are now the proud owners of this fancy looking chicken tractor.  My guys have been working on this to keep the chickens from tearing up the whole yard.

We also have some brand new babies that are hatching as I type.  So far we have 3. 

Our new chicken!  This picture doesn't show you how cute she is.  She is a silkie so her name is Silkie.  Of course.  

Friends! 

Yesterday we headed out to Wild Things Farm and picked strawberries.  Today the girls and I got busy making a lot of jam.  12 jars in this batch. 

Plus 12 jars of freezer jam.  We will see which one tastes better. 

I also made some wipes.  One batch is vinegar cleaning wipes and the other one is baby wipes. 

Our bees are doing fine.  I haven't seen a swarm in a couple of weeks.  I can't say that they are multiplying as quickly as I'd like though.  I'm about to start feeding them a supplement.  They are, however, making quite a bit of honey for their size.  That makes me happy.  And the one thing I learned from last year is that my bees do NOT like the queen excluder.  I'm keeping them off this year and letting her free roam the hives while the workers only have a bottom entrance.  So far so good.

Unexpected Blessings....

* New babies to love and add to the family fun...even if only for a time.

*A whole sack of new baby wash cloths and hooded towels from my neighbors.

*A grandma visit.  New books, good food, lotsa hugs, shopping, stories, fun.

*The other grandparents are back in town for the summer.

*Our water bill is $20 lower this month.

*A new stove.

*My friend made dinner for us one night and sent it home with the boys after piano.

*My aunt sent new toys for BlueEyes.

*A friend to call and tell me about a big sale on potatoes.

*A freezer full of meat thanks to my family for putting the hurt on the deer population in TX this year.

*Court on the same day for both my babies.

*I bought a toddler bed and some measuring cups from a garage sale.  I didn't have money with me so I told her I'd return after I ran home.  Except it didn't work out.  The babies were needy and the teenagers were gone.  I felt so bad!  So I sent LB first thing the next morning to pay for it if it was still there.  The lady wasn't mad at all.  In fact LB started up a conversation with her and she GAVE us the toddler bed for free when she learned we were a foster family.

God is so good.

What's New

Our BlueEyes is doing great.  Happy, fun, and feisty.  Everyone seems to be adjusting well and we even have a workable schedule.  And when I say "schedule" I mean we know when we are going to bed most of the time.

Some things still feel out of control.  I can not keep my bedroom clean. It's the dumping ground for all things that nobody knows what to do with.  It's also baby central since we now share space with a one year old.

On Saturday, the DHS investigator called to ask if we'd take a 4 month old baby girl just until Monday.  Since we are only licensed for one, he had to get over load approval.  Things seemed to be going so well with BlueEyes and I said yes.  It's only for a couple of days, right?

Sunday night was date night and Honey asked me what my thoughts were concerning the "Strawberry Princess" .  I told him I was more than fine to have her moved on Monday just like we planned.  But he had another idea.  He felt like we could give her more time, work on a schedule, simplify life, and offer a long term placement.  She needs help.  And there aren't many open homes in our area.

Our younger kids have not had the opportunity to be around many babies as young as she is.  There was a lot of.....

"What does it do?  It just lays there?"
"Why don't we give it real food?"
"Does it drink three times a day?"
"Can I hold it?'

The grandmothers came to town for a couple of days and there was always someone to hold Strawberry.  She slept through the night right off the bat and was generally a happy baby as long as you made sure the essentials were taken care of.

But this morning the grandmothers went home.  And the house has been noisy.  Strawberry enjoyed the grandmother time apparently because now she cries whenever she's awake.  But when she is asleep, she is oh-so-sweet!

Strawberry's grandmother has stepped forward and asked to have custody.  Her background checks are turned in and her homestudy is tonight.  If all goes well, Strawberry will be moved to her grandmother's in a few days.  If not, we will be adjusting to life with 2 under 2.

It's been a long time since we've done that!!

What To Eat? I Never Know.

Lately my menu planning has been pathetic.

It is something I can procrastinate with like nothing else.  It doesn't take that long and it makes my life so much easier if I'd just do it.  Because I have to feed the people.  And once I feed them then it's time to work on feeding them again and it never stops because they are not spiritual enough to fast for weeks on end.

So today I finally sat down and kinda worked on a menu.  To be perfectly honest, my goal was just to get it done for tonight and the weekend.  How hard could it be?  3 days.  Just do it.

My friend, Kim, asked me for a recipe which turned out to be very handy and timely.  Since I was looking through my book, I just jotted down some ideas that sounded good on an envelope.  Who needs cute Pinterest menu printables when you have junk mail trash sitting around?



There's not a singe thing on there that would make a real meal.  But it's a start.

Also I made a big decision.  In order to streamline Sunday afternoons, I'm going to do a crock pot something every Sunday for lunch.  I know there's tons of crock pot recipes out there but it gets a bit tricky when "pot roast" is a bad word and my man doesn't care for soup.  So I'm on the hunt for crock pot stuff that I can rotate.

If you have any great crock pot meals to share, I'd be all kinds of grateful!

In The Past 3 Weeks

And just like that it is Friday.

Which is terrible because I can tell you that it seems like it was just Monday except I have no recall of Monday. Or Tuesday. And the thing I remember about Wednesday is that I set up the youth song show at church ALL BY MY ONESIE and didn't ask for help even one time.  My man was pretty happy about that one too!

So the days are flying by and since I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast I figure I need to get better at blogging so I don't turn around and realize that I'm 83 and have no idea of how I spent my life. Plus it's fun but sometimes I forget that.

Anyhow.

The past 3 weeks with BlueEyes have been an ocean of emotions. And it is very much like the adjustment you experience when you bring a new baby home.

The first week you are happy if you have anything for dinner besides boxed cereal.  The second week you are getting more used to each other and trying to figure out the new normal. The third week you are thinking.... It's been THREE WHOLE WEEKS for crying out loud and why is the house still a mess and things are still not just so even though it's been THREE WEEKS!?

So yeah. That's where I am now. The crazy is setting in. I'm hyper focused on the inconsequential, tired, grumpy, picky, and despair is an everyday occurrence.

It's a good thing I have a man to tell me to focus, redirect, and "let's" get back to work. Otherwise I might just camp out at my inlaws forever and hijack a TV for Duggar reruns for the rest of my life and wonder why I can't be as awesome as Michelle.

So tonight we gathered in the living room for a nice long family talk and some prayer time while BlueEyes threw his blocks all over the room and did laps with the shopping cart. And it was perfect.

I wish you could see the cause of all the crazy. He is absolutely the adorable-est and we are head over heels in love. He has changed so much in the 3 short weeks (because it's ONLY BEEN 3 WEEKS!).

His fits are few and rarely go into the "red zone".
He wrestles, leans against us, and makes funny faces.
He's learning to wave bye-bye.
He sings and will let me read books to him.
Bedtime and nap times are a breeze.

None of these things happened 3 weeks ago.  I am so proud of him.

Our big thing right now is blanket time.  I lay a blanket on the floor with a few toys and teach him to stay on the blanket.  He hates it.  But he does it.  And if all goes well, he will hate it less and less and it will be a safe place for him to play wherever we go.  Plus he will learn some good self control.

We are learning to navigate his visit dates and court dates and juggle school and grocery shopping.  And all the while loving every minute of it!!

Because It Just Wears Off

Here's the thing.

 I can't be nice for the whole entire day. I can be nice for a little while.  Even half a day maybe.  But then the nice wears off and I have to have a people break to build it back up.

Problem is my people do NOT understand this.  And there's a lot of people.  So even if I ask them to fill-in-the-blank   for "quiet time", they will need to come out and talk a lot because OF COURSE their circumstance is unique and their thing to say is very important.  They also think they are the only one that needs to do it.

So today during Baby's nap, I scooted the multitudes outside, locked the door, and told them to drink from the hose if they were thirsty.  And ya know what?  It worked just long enough for me to muster up some nice again before the school kids came home and said all their things they had to say.

I'm thinking this might be a good addition to our summer schedule this year..... as long as they don't find the hidden key.