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.