When I got home from school that day (Thursday) Andrew was on the phone with DCFS and telling them he would talk to me and let them know. They had decided to split up the twins and send the two boys to one place and the girls to another. We had to make a decision. Now. We deliberated, nervous to say yes, but not feeling like we shouldn't say no. We said a quick prayer and decided to go for it.
The next day I went to school unsure of how things were going to unroll. Our contact called us the next morning and said we were to pick them up at 1:00 and our first visit was at 2:00. I was at school....I hadn't planned on a sub or anything. Gratefully my student teacher was there, and also happens to be my neighbor who I work with in YW. I was happy she was there and willing with the principals permission to take over my class for the afternoon while I buzzed on over to Ogden to get 2 boys.
Darian and Demetrius are a 4 and 2 year old. Cute cute Hispanic boys. We brought them home and tried to settle in. At this point I was feeling a little bummed because I was missing a long awaited girls night with my sisters and they were all getting together about then. I did however, have plenty to distract me.
Saturday morning my anxiety was running high as I was trying to wrap my head around what we just did. I seriously felt inspired to drink my Dr. Pepper and just make it through the day. I spent the day cleaning and organizing and near the end felt better about everything, but still felt my world completely shifted. Sunday I had a plan to get up early and gear myself up for getting ready with 3 kids. My plan was spoiled with Daylight Savings and loosing an hour of sleep.
I texted her later that day. She immediately wanted to talk. Very emotional and making a hard decision she cried while she told me about the kids. She liked our profile and how we were a bit country. She liked that Andrew fished and would be a good Dad for Maverick.
She said "Thank u FYI u guys sound like everything I would want for my two little ones. I can see my s on fishing with u reading and reading ur guys profile more and more over and over is helping not make this so hard.
I know giving them up is the very best for them in my heart they are very loved and taken care of but the need stability in their lives and I have tryed to do that for them but I have failed I have no support system myself so I just have to be stronger and do this for them.
Monday night we were able to skype with them. They seemed to be full of life and energetic. Sweet happy kids. Maverick would say "I love you" and Chelsea would correct him knowing he didn't really love us ha ha. Maverick was drinking jam from a bowl. They were showing us toys and telling us their names and birthdays. Brynlee's favorite color is purple and Maverick's is green.
Wednesday she had more questions. I called her on my lunch break at work. She wanted to make sure we valued work and didn't spoil the kids. She also wanted to see if we were the type that wanted a ton of kids, she didn't think having a lot of kids was responsible. I told her I felt that if the circumstances were right that I thought a lot of kids was okay, but that with our situation it wasn't likely that we would have more than 3-4. She asked about how things proceeded with the attorney and such. Knowing that in the past calling the attorney was the biggest hurdle for most of our potential adoptions, I told her I could give her the number to our attorney and she could call him.
When I got home from school that day I found out that she had in fact called the attorney and talked to Andrew further about things. The attorney emailed us later that night wanting to set up a conference call. We called her again and she told us what she had discussed and let us say hi to the kids again. Maverick asked for a pop-up book.
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I get a text from Kenny about now "when's the reunion? I need to get work off". Ha ha ha, he has no idea the kind of week I'm having. I don't blame him, but it was the farthest thing from my mind.
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Meanwhile Andrew and I were taking care of 2 foster care boys. Demitrius had a fever of 103* and he just kept saying in his little 2 yr old voice "I sick" and would whimper a little. It was sad, we had to pretty much hold him constantly. I had to miss my Relief Society meeting I wanted to go to, I had all the stuff to help decorate one of the tables. Then I cancelled Young Women's on Wednesday because I was sick and little guy was sick too. (deep breath) His fever still hadn't gone and we just kept giving him Children's Tylenol to keep it down. We didn't have any of the paperwork or medicaid cards for them to take them to the Dr. I called everybody to get answers, our neighbor, my mom, Jenny, Becky, Carillisa, The caseworker, the Coordinator lady. Exhausted we just held through the night. Today he did much better.
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Andrew texted me today . He said she (Chelsea)was on her way from Texas and would be here tomorrow. I think my exact words were "holy cow..OK" This was happening really really fast. Andrew was trying to reach the attorney and make sure we didn't do anything we shouldn't. She was basically getting kicked out of her friends once her car was fixed. It will be fixed tomorrow morning and will be on her way here.
That leaves me here. Documenting this holy crazy week...avoiding the fact that we need a dresser....for cheap. We might not be able to fit them all in my car. We need to get her an apartment, a home-study. Make sure they find a new place for these sweet foster boys. Background checks. Finances, what are we going to arrange for bedrooms.
1 comment:
DeAnna, you are both amazing people. I can imagine what this mother might be going through, Simon will be 5 in June and Gwen is 2. She couldn't have picked better parents. By the way Elizabeth is getting so big!
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