Surprisingly, parenting seems to come naturally to us. As for myself, the transition has been good and natural. We moved "Junior" in on Saturday then had my sister and her 3 year old daughter over. My niece had been insistent we were getting a baby boy because all children arrive as babies according to her 3 year old mind. She was excited to meet her new cousin, but was surprised at how big he was - he's 12 years old and 5 foot 4 inches. My niece stood in front of him and stared up for awhile. She quickly warmed up to Junior when he played his clarinet so she could dance. Now every time she sees Junior she says, "That's my new cousin" with a big grin on her face.
He unpacked and got settled in his new bedroom. Saturday night we played a game of Monopoly in which Junior won fantastically.
Our 13 year old cat, Izzy who does not like strangers has quickly tolerated Junior. She will allow him to pet her and even pick her up. The first two nights, she would stare at his bedroom door after he went to sleep.
I introduced Junior to the church family Sunday morning and the church ladies gushed over him. Being an outgoing child, he was okay with the gushing. In the afternoon we walked through the neighborhood to my sister's house and played with my niece and watched a movie after Junior and Mike got the television rebooted from Saturday night's power outage. We also visited Ken from church and Junior got to climb his big tree.
Monday I spent calling caseworkers and making appointments. I made his first doctor appointment just to get a base line and a physical in case he chose to place sports this year. The child is going to have three caseworkers this year - two through DFCS (DSHS) and one through our private agency. He has a caseworker in his original county and he will have a courtesy caseworker locally who will do the monthly visits. We walked downtown and got Junior his library card; we have our priorities! We showed him the route from our house to the path down the hill then the street up to the library. We worked on basic House Rules and consequences for disobeying the rules. Junior had input on the rules on consequences. We must have worn him out because he slept more than 12 hours.
Tuesday I had to work for a couple hours in the field and Mike had a dental appointment. He took Junior with him to the dentist's office since it overlapped with my meeting. Then I dropped of the school registration paperwork - LOTS of paperwork. School orientation is Thursday morning. I am a mom of a 7th grader! The world of middle school will open up our world. We have most of his school supplies and need to get a few school clothes.
Today was a visit with one of the caseworkers and a visit to Junior's new doctor. Then we walked the Huff N' Puff Trail. We make sure our son gets plenty of physical activity. We are still working on finding kids for Junior to play with so he doesn't have to hang out with just us "old folk". School doesn't start until after Labor Day and the church youth group starts up again mid-September.
We have not even completed the first week!
Showing posts with label placement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label placement. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Family Keeps Growing
We met a delightful young man this weekend and he will join our family next weekend. It was a joy meeting his biological family and his foster family and we welcome them as part of our extended family! While they will not see their family member as often as they are use to, we plan to stay connected because we are now family - this child connects us forever.
It was a whirlwind weekend meeting our son and spending time getting to know each other. We return later this week to spend more time with him and his family before we move him to our home. There is so much to do before the move - travel plans, clean out his room, stock groceries for a growing boy, contact the school for registration, find medical and dental providers, line up counseling (if we can arrange before the move), contact the church youth leader, make arrangements at work for my time off. We need to create a binder for him for all the DSHS forms that are required for a foster child. There are sooooooo many forms we have been provided and so much we have to track. I do not want to get lost in the paperwork; I want to enjoy our time with with our son. While it is a blessing to have this long awaited for placement, we still need to rely on the Lord for strength, discernment, wisdom and peace during the transition. It will not be easy for the young man to move from the only town and people he has known to a new town, new home, new family, new church, new school and new friends.
Patience will be needed during the bonding process. It may take a while (several months or more than a year) to really bond as a family, but God's hand will guide us and His love is stronger than our love. The scriptures I have relied on during the waiting and matching period still ring true during this transition.
It is amazing how God has blessed the union of our families (biological, foster, and foster-adopt) to provide for the needs of this wonderful young man. May the Lord's love reign over us all as we create a larger family through love of a child. "The greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13
Habakkuk 2:3 RSV
"For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end -- it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay."
Psalm 39:7 NRS
"And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you."
Daniel 2:21b-23a NIV
"...he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors; You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you..."
It was a whirlwind weekend meeting our son and spending time getting to know each other. We return later this week to spend more time with him and his family before we move him to our home. There is so much to do before the move - travel plans, clean out his room, stock groceries for a growing boy, contact the school for registration, find medical and dental providers, line up counseling (if we can arrange before the move), contact the church youth leader, make arrangements at work for my time off. We need to create a binder for him for all the DSHS forms that are required for a foster child. There are sooooooo many forms we have been provided and so much we have to track. I do not want to get lost in the paperwork; I want to enjoy our time with with our son. While it is a blessing to have this long awaited for placement, we still need to rely on the Lord for strength, discernment, wisdom and peace during the transition. It will not be easy for the young man to move from the only town and people he has known to a new town, new home, new family, new church, new school and new friends.
Patience will be needed during the bonding process. It may take a while (several months or more than a year) to really bond as a family, but God's hand will guide us and His love is stronger than our love. The scriptures I have relied on during the waiting and matching period still ring true during this transition.
It is amazing how God has blessed the union of our families (biological, foster, and foster-adopt) to provide for the needs of this wonderful young man. May the Lord's love reign over us all as we create a larger family through love of a child. "The greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13
Habakkuk 2:3 RSV
"For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end -- it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay."
Psalm 39:7 NRS
"And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you."
Daniel 2:21b-23a NIV
"...he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors; You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you..."
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