A Glimpse of My Life to Come

I am too tired to even attempt to write in the weird short sentences that I for some reason always do when blogging.  (I have no idea why...but I am seriously doing too much processing to bother with such nonsense.)

First, off.  God is good.  He is truly amazing and is crazy blowing my socks off here every step of the way.  You see, in my "perfectly planned out world", I had everyone praying that my licensed renewal would come through, I'd get Little Man with Miz N, and then Miss Giggles would be coming to live with us after returning from Michigan and would be safe in her old foster home until that time.  But, well, God didn't like my plan and has crazy rocked my world and shown me again that His ways are far better than my own.

I've been/I am kind of freaking out about being a mom to two toddlers. Give me a room of 30-60 kids 8 - 14 and I am seriously in my element.  Give me one-on-one time with toddlers and preschools, and I am good, because I play them hard, tickle them a lot, and then send them on their way.  Now, I am preparing to have two diaper-wearing, non-communicative toddlers in my home.  What do they wear?  When do they sleep?  What do they eat?  What size do they wear?  The questions go on and on in my head.

But, God had the answers.

First - the same evening that we realized I couldn't keep Little Man here until my license parameters were changed, the dear B family took Little Man into their home and are able to keep him for the next week to three weeks until my license is renewed.  Amazing family who are "taking a break from fostering" for the past month, but have now done three respite cases for the agency!  :-)  (Yes, we foster parents are a rare breed it seems.)  The B family love Little Man and then have let me visit Little Man at their house and today we took him for about 5 hours to play here at the house.  She shares everything with me - tips, preferences, routines, sizes, suggestions, etc!  Thank you, Jesus!

Second - Miss Giggles was still in the Crisis Nursery.  She was supposed to be moved back to her original foster home next Monday, but God had other plans.  Plans to move her next door, to my Team Melody partners.  Yes.  Seriously.  NEXT DOOR.  My co-Team Melody family had asked their license renewal to also be expedited.  It went in Monday and was approved within 29 hours.  UNHEARD OF!  They thought they were getting a placement of a 5 year old girl.  That fell through and can't happen until August.  Questions of why God rose up, but were quickly answers when the Lord laid on their hearts to take Miss Giggles into their home until I am licensed and back from Michigan!  Are you kidding me, God?!?  Seriously - so much better than any plan, dream, thought I could ever have.  Next door!!!  Again - Miss Giggles has only been at their house for 24 hours...but that Splash Mommy (I love you, Sarah!!!) is sharing everything with me - tips, preferences, routines, sizes, suggestions, etc!

So - now the God at work re-cap for Thursday, June 27, 2013...

Miz N and I picked up Little Man around 9:30 this morning and brought him back to the house.  Splash Mommy came over with her 5 kiddos - ranging in ages from 2 - 13, which includes Miss Giggles) and we experienced life together.  All three kiddos together.  Giggling, crying, laughing, playing, teasing, screaming, loving.  Amazing.  Then Splash Mommy took her four "big" kids shopping and I had a two hour glimpse of my life to come.

It was amazingly wonderful in so many ways and amazingly terrifying and amazingly right and amazingly hard all at the same time.  Now...that processing is NOT ready for blogging yet.  Just pray.  :-)

Miss Giggles and Little Man returned to their "temporary but crazy-loved" beds for naps and then Miz N and I set out to go mini-van shopping.  Um, yeah.  You read that right.  Mini-van shopping.  The two of us tested out the two car seats/eight-year old sandwich today in the back of my Ford Escape and let's just say that unless we chopped off her elbows, there was no way we could pull it off.  So, we went mini-van shopping.  (I started the day before without her.)

Two hours later we walked off the dealer's lot with a 2011 Red Kia Sedona with just 33K miles and left behind our traded-in-served-me-well-for-8-months-2008 Ford Escape with 87K miles.  There is room to grow (hee, hee) and God provided with the financial concerns I had going in with just $74 negative equity, an insurance hike of just $20 a month, and a car payment increase of just $40 a month.  Miz N decided she would like to sit in the way back because she can 1) spread out, 2) not get poked by Little Man or Miss Giggles, and 3) something about easier to see me in the rear view mirror.

(Two funny stories about test driving with her today.  1) When I told her we were test driving she said "But what if you get in an accident?  Will you fail your test?  2) Out of the clear blue she pipes up with this comment, "Did you know that God is so powerful that he can make peas in cans float in the water?  I have NO idea where that came from because a) we haven't ever eaten peas together and b) I would never feed her peas from a can.)

To cap off this amazing day of God provisions and answered prayers (whether audible or inaudible on my part), Splash Mommy called as we were heading home to say that the CPS case manager for the kids had brought over a bunch of the kids' toys from their previous placement.  She wanted to just bring them over so they would be re-introduced and settled in my home.  She warned me that there was a lot, but that was truly an understatement.  I think it took her and her 3 big kids three trips to bring over all of the toys and clothes.  No kidding.  Now, the great thing about all this is that this morning, when the five of them and Little Man came to the house, I literally had 5 toys that were appropriate for a 15 month old and a 34 month old.  3 cars, a musical octopus, and an Elmo cell phone. Um...the amount of toys in this living now is bordering on insanity.  Miss Giggles will not need any outfits and I was honestly too tired to even open up Little Man's bag.  Blown away.  Truly.

So...to close this rambling account of God-doings today...here are some pictures.  Glimpses into my life.  Miz N has asked to be represented with a pink heart from now on, Miss Giggles is now going to be a yellow star because it seems to be her favorite color since everything she picks up she calls yellow, and Little Man will be the bow tie...because I think it's cute...just like Little Man.  I wish I could show you their faces...they are seriously three of the cutest dark haired, brown-eyed kids I have ever laid eyes on and they each have personalities to match.

An attempt to get a picture.  Miss Giggles is blurry - she moves constantly.  Miz N is making a silly face of horror at her brother and sister's antics, and Little Man is grinning away like always.

I can't even being to deal with this tonight.  I am blogging and procrastinating.  I wonder if I leave it while we are gone in Michigan if little organizational fairies would come and do a bit of magic and laundry?

Yes.  It's true.  I now drive a mini-van.  Crazy.  I almost want to get one of those yellow triangle hazard signs that say "Kids on Board!"  :-)  Miz N loves the rear A/C (the main requirement of whatever 7-passenger van we got) and having the entire back seat to herself.  I am a HUGE fan of the sliding doors which means no opportunity for little bodies to swing open doors and hit nearby cars.  Ooo...also love the fact that I can transport the three kids, yet have room for company in the car.

Praise Reports:
Nothing more to say.  This blog is chunk full of more than I can count!

Prayer Requests:
-Miss Giggles is adorable, funny, and has a wicked, wicked giggle.  (Hence her new nickname.)  However, she is also extremely strong-willed and quite delayed in her speech.  Splash Mommy and I both sign and have already started helping her that way, but this sweet spit-fire is going to give me a run for my money.  Please pray for me to have wisdom of how to best help her transition and to be consistent with her.

-Little Man.  Seriously.  So cute, so laid back, so easy-going.  But, he is already attaching quickly to the B family - which is awesome - but begin to pray that I will be able to understand how to best help him sleep here and eat here.  It's a process and I truly lack experience in that area.

-Miz N is amazing.  So inquisitive, so funny, so smart.  I truly love her to pieces and attempt to show her that in emotional and physical ways throughout the day, but I can already see where having Little Man and Miss Giggles in the house is going to challenge her needs to have me at her beckon call at times to help deal with fears, concerns, questions, or need for love.  Pray that I have wisdom of how to provide all of this for her, while also teaching her independence, yet reliance on God's almighty hand.