Gone

Last Friday our little foster girl left us. It is a good move for her. They found a foster placement that could take her and her siblings, so they can all be together again. So ti's a good thing for her. Has been hard for me though. Tom was gone most of last week, working on a little island out in the middle of nowhere. The sort of place where you bring all your food with you because there isn't anything at all out there. So he wasn't home for the transfer. So this week is Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I run out to the airport to pick Bree up. Will just be us and all the girls this year as the boys are all off working the slope this week. I'm finding it very hard to get into the holiday spirit this year. If I didn't know there'd be mutiny I'd be tempted to skip the big dinner and all, as it is, we're doing things on Friday cuz the girls wanted to go do dinner at their grandparent's house on Thursday (and, surprise, their mother is going to be flying up to be there this year as well... Bailey was not thrilled and will not be going, Mattie wasn't keen either, but it was too late for her and she will be going anyway...) Going to keep things fairly simple though this year. Last night was the first good, solid night's sleep I've had in about 2 weeks. The waiting and not knowing was really messing me up, along with the stress of trying to get everything cleaned back up in time for this week. It's just hard though. I'm getting the room all ready for Christmas though, just in case we get another placement by then. I really hope we get an adoptable placement soon. I need that. Really. I need that.

Ok.. I swear I posted last month.. I know I did.. *sigh* anyway. It has been crazy and hectic and tear inducing. And, oh please let this be the end of it. So, last month we had H's caseworker come to do a home visit. I haven't actually had the time to clean the house since her arrival, so I was trying to get the worst of it taken care of. In doing so, I managed to wrench my back. So, massive amounts of pain. So needed to go see the chiropractor, so did not have time for it, because we had the home visit, then the next day we were having our septic tank pumped, and then I needed to take M to go get her eyes checked out and get new glasses. So it was basically a week before I was able to go and get my back taken care of. Then the usual massage therapist, whom I have seen since my accident in 2007, no longer works there, so saw a new guy, and youch! he dug deep and got everything worked out, but it took me 2 days to recover from the pain of that. Chiropractor was able to get me adjusted as well and over all, it was good, except that on the way home, the truck died on me.. *sigh* wound up being something simple and stupid, but we weren't able to get that sorted until it was towed home the next day.. I really wish that were the end of it.. Halloween afternoon, I got a call from the case worker, wanting to set up a visit with H's mom for later that afternoon. We get there and find out, after waiting 20 minutes, that mom doesn't have gas money and we need to go meet her. So we all haul over there for a quick visit, missing daddy's phone call for the evening, and half the things we'd planned for Halloween itself. Then we get home to find out that M had taken off with her sister into Anchorage for the evening, which was allowed, _IF_ she had finished her homework, which she hadn't, so she wasn't supposed to go. But since no one was home to enforce it, and she certainly wasn't going to tell her sister that she couldn't go.. so now M is grounded.. That's still not the end. Thursday morning, M comes up as everyone is getting ready for school/work, and informs us that the basement has flooded.. *sigh* so, Tom does what he can and ends up taking most of the day off from work.. and we eventually call the plumber.. we eventually wind up thinking we'd gotten everything taken care of... and we started the clean up... and things went well.. until Saturday. We were getting ready to leave for M's roller derby practice when the water sensor that Tom installed Thursday went off. so.. instead of going anywhere, I called the plumber again and we waited. They came and checked things again, and it was determined that the clog was out in the tank, and they couldn't reach it with the stuff they had on the truck. So today we went and rented the power auger and ran the lines ourselves.. *sigh* Hopefully we finally got everything settled and it will all behave itself now. I really don't think I can handle anymore stress. Today we also got a call from the caseworker letting us know that H will be moving, likely sometime this week, into a home with her siblings. We will be sad to see her go, but it will be good for her.

September update and NEWS!!

It has been a crazy, crazy month... Mattie is settling in and doing ok at school. She is having a few problems with some subjects, but that is always to be expected. And she is doing Junior Roller Derby. We took our 11 year old Jack Russell to the vet. We've had some suspicions about her health, and we were right. She has lymphoma cancer. Not much we can do for her but put her on steroids and wait. She is doing well on the meds, but it always an unknown, she could hold out for another year or two, or she could get worse and pass away in another month. The average survival is about 2 months from diagnosis. So we are waiting.. We've had lots of crazy weather.. Alaska does, in deed, have hurricanes. But they are usually in the middle of winter and it all falls as snow and we just call it a winter storm.. but this year they are coming early and we have had lots of rain and high winds, and more rain.. roads and railways have been washed out, homes flooded, power has gone off several times for everyone, and we are just very happy not to live closer to water. We are nice and high up enough that we don't have to worry about flooding. Though we do have worry about the roads. But, at the moment, things seem to have lightened up and we are, at least, between storm systems. And now for the really exciting news... After having our license for a month, and waiting, and waiting for a placement, Thursday I had a doctor's appointment in town and as soon as I walked in the door, there was a phone call from OCS calling to see if we would be available to take placement of a 3 year old girl. So, of course, I said yes and I went in Friday at noon to pick her up. We don't have a whole lot of information on her just yet. She is 3.5 years old and she has a younger sister and older brother also in foster care. They have been in foster care since last Monday and while at their emergency intake placement, she had been bullying her younger sister, so it was decided to separate her for the time being. (Of course, all new foster homes are limited to a maximum of 2 children in care at a time for their first year anyway, so there was no way we could have taken all 3 regardless..) She is very bright, already knows her letters and numbers and colors, full of energy.. of course, she's 3 so the word "no" is a favorite and we are having the usual "i'm tired but not going to take a nap/go to bed if i can avoid it" melt downs as we try to establish a schedule and all, but over all, the last 2 days have gone very well and we are excited to have her here. We don't know yet if this will be a short term or a long term placement. They are still trying to get in touch with family members to see if any of them could take her and/or any of her siblings. If so, she could go with them at any time. So we are trying not to get too attached or make any long term plans with her just yet, but it's so very hard.. lol.. and we're kinda doing it anyway :)

August..

Well, it has been an "exciting" month here. On or about the 26th of July (I can't really remember exactly, but I know it was right about then..) Tom's youngest daughter (age 13) informed us that she REALLY didn't want to go back to her mother's at the end of the summer. So much so that, if it came to it, she was going to refuse to get on the plane. We told her that she really needed to call her mother to discuss this with her, but she didn't want to do it right away and put it off.. of course she was going to camp the next week, so it wasn't until she got back on the 3rd that she got around to calling.. and there was much discussion.. and just this past Friday (the 10th) she got a verbal ok from her mother to stay for the school year. So now we are scrambling to get her ready for school, which starts this Thursday... Going to be LOTS of changes around here because of this... And the 18 year old has gone back to school, left on the 6th. This is her combo senior/sophmore year. At the end of this year she will be done with high school and have her associate's degree from college as well. Woohoo! But, that's not the only change going on... On the 28th of July, Tom got a phone call informing him that he was being laid off. *joy... sigh* This meant the postponement of Tom's planned trip to drive his motorcycle down to my mom's this fall so he could ride it around the lower 48 next summer. He was not happy about that. It also means a slight postponement in our plans to do foster care. But, we've got everything else we need done, so as soon as he gets a job lined back up, we can jump right on into that. He'd been looking to switch companies anyway, as things were not looking good with the company he was with, and it turns out he was right. They've been laying people off left and right there.. but, timing could have been better. He's been putting in applications left and right, and even had an interview this past week, so we're just waiting to hear back. It shouldn't be too long, but I'd certainly like it to be over with. :) I've got things to do and we have bills to pay. At least we have a very well stocked pantry and freezers so we have more then enough food storage. We've also got 2 great little pommies in dog foster right now. We picked them up about 4 weeks ago. Older pair, mother and son, 10 and 7 years old. Their owners passed away and the daughter had come in from out of state to take care of things and wasn't able to find them a home before she had to leave. So we took them in. I have to say, i am so very tempted to keep them myself.. lol.. but we already have 3 of our own, and our max is suppose to be 4... They were very overweight, the owner fed them "table scraps" almost exclusively, so it took a while to get them to adjust to kibble, but Emily is doing great and has already lost weight. She LOVES going on walks with Tom and just prances on leash. Petey is also a little chubby ball of love. He is very shy and stand offish and was VERY dependent on his momma the first week or so he was here, wouldn't go anywhere unless she went first.. He's now started to come around and he is just the sweetest little boy. He reminds us a LOT of our first pommie, Pepe. Both have been good with the 4 year old grand daughter, Emily especially. Petey takes some time to get use to people, but he does come around. Their previous owner did have them de-barked, which is rather sad. Makes them quiet, but that made it hard to hear them the first few days when they wanted out (they have since figured out the dog door..) So that's about where things are at this point. Crazy as usual. Hoping for news on the job front early this next week. Monday we will be running around getting M enrolled in school and hopefully get all that sorted. So, how has your month gone? :)

Home Inspection done!

Yesterday we had our inspection for foster care. I, of course, had spent the prior week getting the house as clean and tidy as I possibly could. Not the biggest concern in the inspection, but, it was something that everyone always does in the midst of the "will they think I'm good enough" panic. We passed with flying colors! We do need to build some steps under the basement windows to make them easier to access in an emergency but that will be easily done next week after Tom gets back. So I think we are set. Just have to wait for paperwork to clear, mostly Bree's dual state background check, and we will be off and running. Meanwhile, now we can start messing up the place again and get all of Mattie's stuff ready for girl's camp in 2 weeks. And maybe pick up another foster dog. I'm so very excited about things though. woohoo! :)

Crazy, Crazy..

Ok, noticed I've _really_ let this blog fall behind.. oops.. I swear it's been for a good reason.. more or less anyway.. In February we went in and signed up to start the process for foster care. Our plan is to eventually adopt via the foster care system. So please keep your fingers crossed for us there.. Anyway, we had some classes, lots of paperwork, background checks, more classes, etc.. and now we have our home inspection scheduled for July 10. That is the last thing we need before we can get a placement. So I will be busy this next week doing some cleaning and such to make sure the house is ready for that. We've also been fostering dogs still. That has been fun. I think last time I posted we had Ollie, or had just gotten him adopted out. We've had a few since then. We had Benji for nearly 2 months. He was a pappillon mix with a few health problems so it took a while to find him a good home. Then we got another peppy, Lucky. Didn't have him very long, only a week or two. Then we got Gifford. He was an older pommie that we only had for 2 days. If we'd had him longer, he might not have left.. lol he was a great dog. Then we had Jyll for all of 2 days before I had to send her back, she and Kikkoman just did NOT get along at all. Then we got Fuzzy. She just got adopted yesterday. She was another little pommie, only a year old though she behaved like a 6 -8 month old. Not her fault though, she spent her entire life inside a breeder's cage and had already had a litter herself. But she's got a great home now and should do well. Right now we are foster doggie free so I can concentrate on getting the house ready for inspection. The girls are up for the summer now. Bree's been here almost a month already and found a job. She's doing concrete finishing work. Keeps her busy but it pays well. Mattie is mostly doing computer art work with her time since she got up about 2 weeks ago, though this weekend she's over a Bailey's babysitting her niece. Progress has been made on our bed/bath remodel. Not as much as we might have liked, but it is coming along. We've got my closet in and, more to the yay, the tub is in!!! next we need to get the flooring in the bathroom area and then tear out the other closet and bedroom flooring so we can redo those, and build the bathroom cabinets. I think that's the "big" updates for what all has gone on in the last few months.

February updates

Well, lots have happened in the last few months. We have enjoyed doing doggie fostering. We have fostered 3 little boys so far, and wound up keeping one of them. The second little guy is a pommie (mix?? no one knows..) who had suffered abuse from his several past owners. He'd been sent to the pound twice. He had a lot of trust and behavioral problems, but you could tell that he really wanted to be a good boy, he just didn't know how. We've been working with him the last 2 months and he is already showing wonderful improvements, so, yay!
Christmas came and went. The girls were here and we all had a good time. I think they enjoyed their time here and the gifts they got this year.
And our big news is that we have decided to work with the state and are going to go through the foster to adopt system. We went to our first orientation meeting last week, and today we turned in the first round of paperwork, background information, and got our fingerprints taken, so now we start the first round of waiting. So glad to be finally moving forward on this. yay!