church today

This morning's sermon rocked !! The second lesson was a reading from the book of James ( 1:17-27) which especially hit home. We have been talking more and more about my calling to continue medical fostercare. There was a time when we couldn't even touch the subject................now there is understanding instead of anger and frustration.

But to hear today, a passage that I have read many times before;

"religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

I feel so strongly that medical fostercare is what I am supposed to do, it's my calling. "To care for orphans in distress"
It has been hard to explain to people, I really don't want to adopt anymore, but I am supposed to continue to foster.

When the time is right and the phonecall comes, our hearts and home will be open.

operation relaxation

Really, you can tell this wonderful group of people "Thank You" a million times and it still wouldn't be enough. The kids had so much fun, they loved it !!

After I dropped them off, I came back and just enjoyed the silence. Papa had gone and laid down around 5 pm for a little nap (he had worked overnight and had not slept yet)

I really debated if I should wake him up, but I knew he would never sleep all the way through to today. (unlike me, I never have a problem sleeping........)

We just hung out, decided to return some shoes we had bought, basically we ran some errands. No fancy dinners, or movies, just being together, doing things, it was so very, very nice !!!

These people are a blessing !!!!

Saturday

We had some plans (either go to the beach/boat or wakeboarding in Tampa) but the weather has not been cooperating. We woke up to a nice thunder storm and since then it's been raining off and on. The humidity is 200%, at least that's what it feels like.

Papa took Liliana ice skating, something she has been asking for forever. We are going to make more of an effort to take the kids out individually.Their interests are so diverse. Sofia wants to go horseback riding. Max was happy to just go with me where ever, so we went and got some fresh french baguettes.

Sebastian is sleeping on the couch, very unusual for him..............hmmmm keeping an eye on him. He tends to get sick when school starts back up, all those little germy kids back together..lovely !!

Tonight is "operation relaxation", a local church does this every 2 months, it's 4 hrs of respite for foster and adoptive children. We haven't decided yet what we are going to do, dinner/movie/shopping, etc

It will be nice to just be together, UNINTERUPTED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aggravated with the schoolbus

So, on Tuesday the kids took the schoolbus in the morning for the first time. I let the busdriver know that Max was in Kindergarten and has a tendency to be a little rambunctious ( that just sounds so.........nice LOL) and if he could please sit right behind the driver, Max by the window, Liliana next to him.

This was all thought out...........he could look out the window (distraction) no chance of hanging in the isle, etc.

The driver said that wouldn't be a problem..............................

Fast forward to this morning..................bus comes, looks pretty full, all the kids get in and just keep walking until they find a seat. Max ended up all the way in the back, next to an older boy (good kid, lives in this neighborhood)...................................aaargh.........................

This is setting him up for failure............sensory overload.............I can see him just feeding off all the bigger kids and doing things to impress them/make them laugh.

I will have to make some calls this morning, it's too hard to talk to the busdriver at the stop, with a hundred cars honking behind..........................


Yes, yes, yes, I am that type of mom................I hold up the schoolbus while you're sitting behind it in traffic...................tough..............just wait and hold your horses ! LOL

so far...................

School is going well ! Monday went smooth, everyone woke up in good moods (thank God for that !) Oscar left first, driving !

I dropped off Sofia, Liliana and Max first. The closer we got to school, the quieter Max got and when I looked at him ,he looked like he was about to start crying.................

I have to tell you, my tears where threatening every time I looked at him ! But I kept it dry. I look at him and there are so many emotions, letting him go, my worries/fears about Kindergarten.

The girls were happy and excited. Sebastian was tickled pink when we finally arrived at his school ! There were some old friends from last year and some new ones. A nice little group of 7 boys and 1 girl.

So far the week has gone well. Max only has half days the first week, which has worked out good for him. He has been doing good in class. Sebastian has been getting little notes home that he is a great example for the new kids how to be lineleader/doorholder, etc, so cute !

Liliana has been taking care of Max and is very protective. She holds his hand and walks him to class in the morning. The poor girl came home completely stressed out and in tears, she thought she had "lost" Max, she couldn't find him when getting on the bus in the afternoon..................poor baby, she forgot I was picking him up the first week, because of the half days. Bless her heart

Que viva la cubana (carajo !)

It has come to my attention, that certain family members...........feel neglected, because there's no picture of them.......................we're not going to use names......................

we met all the teachers

And everyone is happy ! Max will have the same great teacher the girls had in Kindergarten. She actually has a lot of experience as a pre K VE (varied exceptionalities) teacher, she was definitely my first pick. Lili has a teacher that Oscar had in Kindergarten, that will be a good fit as well. Sofia has a wonderful teacher as well. I had never officially met her, but she immediately asked how Oscar was doing.

I have been going to this elementary school for 12 years now, that's a long time !!

So after the open house yesterday, we went to Chuckee Cheese for the Back to school bash from project Rainbow ( they provide respite for special needs kiddo's AND their sibs, how awesome is that ! )

The whole night was sensory overload, reminded me why I never take my kids there................can I just say Holy COW !!!!!!!!!!!

Back to school PRO's

* PEACE for a couple of hrs every day

CONS

* getting up early

It's a trade off, but it will be nice to do things in peace and actually enjoy a picked up house for a couple of hours (before the hurricanes come home again)

Last weekend........................Sunday afternoon we'll be going out on the boat and celebrate the last day of summer vacation.

getting ready for school

Monday school starts and it seems the supply lists are getting bigger every year !!

Last week I went with the girls, supply list for just the 2 of them, plus 2 backpacks, oh and I picked up a sleeping mat for Sebastian.

The grand total was close to $200 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Binders, paper, pencils, colored pencils, crayons, glue, tissues, kitchen towel, ziploc bags, etc etc

Today I am going with Max. He already has a new backpack, Batman, and it has wheels, as he requested LOL, so we just need to get his supplies, curious to see what the grand total will be.

I bought the girls school shirts the next size up, and Max is going to wear their old ones. Shorts, skorts etc, they have plenty. All have new shoes (except for Sebastian)

Yesterday I gave Oscar money and he bought himself some new shirts.

Money is flying out this month !!!

new lay out

What do y'all think of the new look ?? While in Pensacola, we actually made an attempt to take pics of all 5 kids together, quite a show that was !!!

With the help of Pati (cousin) Dayasi (sister in law) and last but surely not least, tio Carlos ( brother in law) who was in charge of special effects.....................rolling in the sand, doing somersaults, etc, anything to get the kids looking in the same direction and smiling ! Thank you guys !!! couldn't have done it without you !!

Some thoughts and other stuff..............

Monday morning 9.30 am. I have dropped off Max for his last day of VPK, picked up Oscar from a sleep over. Sofia is at a friend's house, Lili is playing with lego's, Sebastian with Magnetix. Second load of laundry is going, which will be the second in line of probably 6 or so.....................................

My own fault, I have seriously procrastinated..............the whole big luggage from our last trip is now finally unpacked, shame on me !

The weekend was busy, but a good busy, actually the weekend was good. Satruday the kids had a great time at church. Our friend Jo, had been inviting us for months to come check out her church. Both our families used to attend the same church, quite happily, our girls were baptized there. Then our priest left, things started changing and whereas the church before was all about the children...........now, not so much anymore................We didn't go one Sunday, another one and before you know it, we stopped going all together....................

Thank you Jo, for not giving up on us ! We finally attended mass yesterday, the sermon was great. It's a small congregation, perfect for us ! Lots of kids, after church the waterslide went up again and all the kids had another couple of hours of fun !

We all joked that next week all the kids will want to come to church in bathing suits, they're going to think this is an every week thing LOL

Some Pensacola pics

Sofia is 9 !!

I can not believe that she turned 9 already !! Nine years ago, we didn't even know about her, we had just started requesting info on fostercare and adoption.................................

Sofia was 5 months when she first came, a little tiny peanut, with big cheeks, already very independent !! She would roll all over the place, from the family room to the livingroom and back !

Yesterday was her birthday and at church there was a big "end of VBS" get together, with bouncyhouses, big waterslides, hotdogs, facepainting, etc. We went there first, the kids had a blast !

After we went home, she had a couple of friends come over, we had pizza and cake/cheesecake. Originally Sofie wanted Shepard's pie for dinner, but I talked her out of it.............I'll make it this week for her, isn't that funny though...which kid wants Shepard's pie instead of pizza ??!! Oh and cheesecake, not regular cake.....................Silly girl !!

We're baaaack, had a great time !

We are back, Pensacola Beach was AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!! We had a great house we had rented, right on the beach. The beach was beautiful, water great, etc

It was great to see our cousins, nephews, nieces, brother and sister (in law)

We did lots of cooking ( rotating families) eating, drinking, playing domino's, telling jokes and laughing so hard that my sides were killing me the next day !

After a week, we all packed up and took off for Gulfport MS, dropped off part of the family at the airport, to catch their flight home..............sad !

We were going to stay 2 more nights in a condo there, with the cousins, alas, the condo was HORRID, nothing like the webpage showed/promised, etc.

Back to Pensacola we went (1 1/2 hr drive), never a dull moment !

Max is back in school (after resting and hanging out at home yesterday) and the rest of the kids have VBS this week, speaking of which, I have to run to pick them up !