There is a reason they call foster care a journey instead of equating it to a road trip. A journey makes the passage sound arduous and foster care is definitely that. We have now been certified for a year as foster parents. We have had our girls for eleven months. It's crazy to think that much time has passed. Though I had hope to blog about our goal change to adoption and some of the plans we had surrounding that, I must instead blog about our case going south.
When I started talking about foster care on my blog I promised to share the good, the bad and the ugly. However, I found that I often censored myself for fear of sounding too negative. Sometimes though, foster care is negative and does have a negative impact on the children. Okay, it often does. Though our girl's case was set for what is known as the .26 or termination of parental rights, one of our bios has won an appeal which may send our case right back to the beginning.
Don't get me wrong, we have a system of checks and balances and a just court system so that everyone has a fair shot. The only problem lies when the children are the ones who are going to suffer the consequences of the court's actions (or in this case, lack of action). I am frankly quite afraid for them and what further reunification services might do to their fragile mental state. It keeps me up at night. As a mom, it often leaves me on my knees praying to God to protect these girls I've come to think of as "mine."
In our second case, baby BW, things are progressing toward adoption though some family is still being considered. He has now lived in our home about two months and completely stolen our hearts. He is a wonderful addition for us. We may also have another addition come later this year, though that's still speculation at this point. We are getting organized, purging what we don't need, and starting to think about bunk beds. Our original family of three might soon be a family of seven. While that might scare a few people, especially adding three (and possibly four) in under a year, I'm excited by the changes I see on a daily basis; most often within myself.
Our house is controlled chaos. Everyone is happy. We each have clean clothes, a nice home, food in our tummies and love. At the end of the day that is what matters most. Though there may be remnants of food stuck to the table, errant socks lying around and a pile of flashcards strewn about the living room (thanks BW) we have smiles on our faces and sleep soundly at night. The makeup of our family may still be evolving, changing and unpredictable, but we are a family. That I am sure of!
With our foster daughters gone it was time for the spare bedroom to serve another function. My version of therapy is DIY so I was off and running the minute the girls were scheduled to leave. Suburban Sister had the good idea to use this as a playroom rather than giving a makeover to two separate bedrooms. I loved this as Baby H likes sharing a room with Little Rural. It gives him comfort and Little Rural likes it too, for now.
The first step was clearing everything out of the existing room which included a very heavy antique dresser and two twin beds. Then I patched and painted the walls with touch up paint. Thankfully my local Ace had my color on file from my original redo of this room. Once the room was cleaned up it was ready for some furniture.
I already had a small 2x2 Expedit (Ikea) in the room, which I kept. Then I added two Expedits from the boy's room (more on their room makeover later). I had already planned to reuse as much as I could. By not repainting the room a lot of our existing accessories already worked with the room. I dragged the large, framed Norman Rockwell print from the boy's room as well.
I already had the collection of vintage globes and the globe lamp in the boy's room so I borrowed those as well as the orange potted Aloe plant. This made a perfect fort for some dinosaurs.
A while back I posted about our gallery wall and I was really proud when it turned out well. I didn't use a template I merely started at the center and added objects, art and photography until I felt it looked good. Everything on the wall came from my studio, from cabinets, and such that I had lying around. Yes, I had that much stuff lying around! I even had a letter W and a letter A (purchased at a flea market) for my husband and my first names.
A couple weeks ago while antiquing I stumbled on a letter E painted gold. It was a great size and I snatched it up as the $4 price tag was too good to pass up. I didn't know exactly where I'd put this but i was sure I could find a hole or use it on my mantle. When I got home I realized my gallery wall had the perfect blank spot. Now the wall is truly complete.
