Welcome Home Baby O!

Our foster son finally came home today, all tiny 6 lbs., 12 oz of him. He is a sweetheart, but then again what baby isn't? The kids are thrilled to help and K.Z. has been amazing.

For blog sake I am going to refer to him as "Iggy" instead of Baby O, since it reminds me of "Jackie O" (way to feminine, LOL!).

I Am So Amazingly Blessed

When we got home from AWANA tonight my porch was filled with bags and boxes stuffed with all sorts of baby things. Diapers and blankets, brand new baby towels and a bath tub. Diaper bags and a bottle warmer, even brand new and gently used clothes. My friends Kristen and Christina along with Christina's sister (whom I have never even met!) had spent a lot of time sorting through their baby things to pass along to me. This morning, my friend Cheryl had done the same thing.

On my answering machine was a call from another friend offering items she had as well, and yesterday I received three phone calls and tons of e-mails from people offering whatever they could to help us bring this boy home prepared for anything.

What an amazing group of women. Thanks to each and every one of you. I am so blessed and am thankful to be able to call you my friends.

Hurry Up... And Wait... Only A Little

Update once again! I will be picking up "Baby O" tomorrow morning at 11 am. See, I told you things change literally minute by minute in the foster care world. Pray that I do not lose my mind before then...

Hurry Up... And Wait... Some More

Looks like "Baby O" will not be released from the hospital until Friday.... big sigh. He is fine, they are just not releasing him until they release his mother.

On the plus side... two more nights of a full night's sleep for me!

Hurry Up... And Wait

So far no call today about little "Baby O", and the wait is driving me insane. My brain is elsewhere so school has not been too terribly productive (although I must say we zoomed way ahead in math since that took not much thinking on my part).

My friend Cheryl and fellow MOMS Clubber dropped by and left us with a ton of unexpected but absolutely appreciated and needed baby items. So I did a load of receiving blankets just to be able to use the Dreft I got from OGBeach and smell that delicious baby smell in lieu of getting to smell an actual baby.... sigh!

Hopefully they will release him today from the hospital without much more delay or my kids just might drive me up the wall with anticipation, unless I do it first!

We Got "The Call"

Things in the foster care system can change faster than my daughter can forget I have told her to clean her room. I mean within minutes.

This morning I got a call from my case worker telling me that she was working on trying to find out when our visitations would begin with the two half siblings who needed a permanent placement. Ten minutes later she called and told me that the adoption unit now wants to try and place them with their younger sister, who is also in foster care. We simply cannot take 3 children right now. We would not even be able to transport all of us since our car only seats 7 and there are already 5 of us! So we had to confirm this to our case worker. That was not to be the end of our conversation.

Tomorrow I will be picking up our brand spankin' new foster son right from the hospital. He is just a couple days old. Not quite what we had thought when we started this journey, but we said from the start that this was not about us. It is to serve Him and the children who need care temporarily or (hopefully) permanently .

Pray for us as I scramble to gather the things we need together (since I have gotten rid of most all of my baby stuff!) and pray for this little one who will be joining this crazy family for however long he needs to be here.

C'sa Logic

This morning I overheard the following conversation between Mr. Clean and C'sa my all knowing 4 year old...

C'sa: "Look Daddy, I found my gloves" (they were lost in her room after she and her sister decided to play, "Dirty Jobs" with them...)

Mr. Clean: "Great baby, now go and put them in your drawer" (in the hall closet) C'sa: "But Daaaaaddd, I want to play with them!"

Mr. Clean: "I know Baby, but then you will lose them again and won't be able to find them when you need them."

C'sa (eyes rollin' hard, obviously exasperated): "I will find them Dad... they will be on my hands (duh...)!"

A Tisket, A Tasket, A Spankin' Yellow Mixer

I am never terribly lucky at these contests and usually pass them by, but this one I could not resist!

A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible!

The Prize:

The winner will receive a brand new
Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow!!

About the mixer:

From Hamilton Beach’s “Eclectrics” line, this all-metal stand mixer comes with a host of accessories - a Flat Beater for cakes and cookies, a Dough Hook for bread and a Wire Whisk for whipped cream or pudding. The 4.5-qt. stainless steel bowl comes with a Pouring Shield that helps prevent splattering while in operation. The pouring shield has a built-in chute for adding ingredients. Powered by 400 watts, the stand mixer has a two-way mixing action to ensure all ingredients are incorporated into the mix. The quick-release, tilt-up head assists when removing the bowl. 9 x 14 x 14-in. When you’re ready for a kitchen re-do, don’t call in the carpenters! Instead, “counterscape” your kitchen with Hamilton Beach’s retro-designed, affordably priced electrics in happy, sun-saturated colors. Their “Eclectrics” line includes updates to those classic appliances from the 1950s. All of their “Eclectrics” are available in six colors: Apple Green, Moroccan Red, Pineapple Yellow, Intrigue Blue, Sugar White and Licorice Black.

Was There Really Any Doubt?

This is an update post so, if need be, scroll down to my last post to catch up... I'll wait...

and then continue reading this one (because I am simply too lazy to do a recap but I wanted to share this update anyway).

First and foremost, Glory be to God. Regardless of the outcome of the last post, Glory be to God. Now, on to the update...

Most of you probably know that deposits made at a bank MUST be made before 15:00 to be considered a deposit that day by the Fed. At 14:40 my postal carrier came bearing the much awaited paycheck and I literally jumped into the car with the kids and raced to the bank.

The bank manager with whom I had been in contact from the day before graciously refunded half of the NSF fees since we had never overdrawn before. The hierarchy at the company said they would do what they can to reimburse us the other fees, and the best part is that the check had an extra amount in it that we had not been expecting.

Super Happy Friday!

Feeling Vulnerable

Yesterday was payday. Except we did not get paid. Everything is fine job wise, just a hiccup with the payroll company as two companies continue merging into one, but they forgot to tell us that our normal Thursday direct deposit would be a Friday (hopefully) check in the mail. Normally this would not be a problem.

I am usually pretty on top of money. It's my thing. I used to work in Treasury Management career wise, where I was in charge of millions and millions of dollars and its travels from account to account. I have never not known what is going on in our bank accounts. Until yesterday apparently, when I overdrew our checking account.

Had our regularly scheduled paycheck come in this would have never happened and I would have been blissfully unaware that our balance had dipped pretty low. The year end brought three insurance payments and other various year end debits that I knew would lower our balance, but I was too busy happily munching on Christmas cookies and New Year's feasts to check on my well oiled machine called Quicken.

Needless to say I was quite angry, scared, nauseous and nervous. I have never had to deal with the three scariest letters in a banker's repertoire, "NSF". It is scathing, almost like a scarlet letter (letters?) on your chest.

We have a savings account at another bank and I immediately transferred funds from one bank to another. Except it will take 2-3 business days. Of course. So as I type, we are still hemorrhaging in our checking account as I anxiously wait for the postal carrier to bring the mail and hopefully our paycheck. The NSF fees have gotten close to $200.00 as all of our Friday bills have been paid against a defunct account while I sit banging my head against my keyboard. Ironically, the amount of our deficit is just a little more than the NSF fees. Of course.

What's that old saying? "Ignorance is not a valid excuse"?

So why am I sweating this so much? I know that the check is in the mail and the transfer will get to my checking account from my savings account and that this will soon pass. I am nervous and nauseous because I thought that I was in control and now I am helpless to fix this immediately. What a good lesson in submitting control to the Lord. Maybe I needed reminded that all I have could be taken in just a moment and none of it is really mine anyway.

Now if I could just figure out a way to get reimbursed for those NSF fees... where is that phone number for Human Resources? Who can I blame? Or maybe I should just give that to the Lord as well.

Happy Friday!

Because It Is Good To Laugh

More at timhawkins.net

Back In the Saddle... Almost

We are home again, started school today and are basically trying to recover from the holidays. Boy am I tired.

After getting back from the Adirondacks and getting to do lots of stuff like this...

we hosted my parents and younger brothers for the weekend and New Year's Eve. We always have a blast together and this weekend was no exception. Okay, with just one exception. I love my brothers more than life itself and even more than chocolate frozen Twinkies, but I will never again venture into a major city for either one of them on New Year's Eve. Any city whatsoever.

My 23 year old punk, college student, brother lives in Philly and I thought it would be fun to go into the aforementioned destination to hang out as a family for the day, as he wanted to go home and hang out with his friends for New Year's Eve. The plan was to do something touristy, take him back to his apartment and then head back to the 'burbs where the normal people live with my Dad and Stepmom. At least that was the plan.

We did the touristy thing and then decided that since we were all starving and gnawing on our hands we would head out of the city and go to eat where the prices were not inflated due to being in a tourist trap. None of us had eaten since breakfast and it was going on 15:00. Time for grub.

Two and a half bleepin' hours later we actually made it the 6 blocks we needed to drive to get out of "The City of Brotherly Love". Not too sure I love anyone there at this point, including my brother (just kidding Jason). Who would have anticipated that people might want to head to the epicenter of a major city (my brother happens to live in that same epicenter) to celebrate New Year's Eve? Any normal person. After all, ever watched "Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve"? I have, you'd think I'd know better.

So we are home and tucked safely back into the 'burbs where I have become content.

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FOSTER UPDATE

We had a message waiting for us when we got home from New York from our case worker. There are two half siblings currently in foster care who need to be moved to a "legal risk home" as they are going to be placed up for adoption. The hope is, of course, that the home they are placed in will be the home they never leave. That is where we come in since we are a legal risk home (foster parents willing to adopt).

Due to confidentiality issues, I cannot go into too much detail about their situation, just that they are a 4 1/2 year old girl and a 20 month old boy and doing well in their current foster home so if we did decide to take them the transition would be tough on them.

Since they are in a safe home currently we will get to meet them slowly and get to know them a bit before bringing them home if we decide to go that route. Pray for discernment for us! We are nervous and excited all at the same time and want to make decisions carefully, while at the same time being mindful that the Lord's will must prevail.

And Well, Why Not?

In the spirit of "Wordless Wednesday" (in the blogosphere)...