New Beginnings and startling parallels

Today, June 12, my new daughters, K and S moved in! Last year on June 12, My foster son of 18 months left to be reunified with birth family. This is one of several intriguing parallels. My foster son, J moved in the week after Thanksgiving 2006 and left on June 12, 2008. K and S moved in with their foster parents the week after Thanksgiving 2007 and came to us on June 12, 2009. J had only one foster placement during that time. K and S had only one foster placement. J was(and still is) very bonded to us. K and S were(and still are) very bonded to their foster family. K and S's foster family, I know, are grieving tonight. I know how they feel. One family's joy is another's grief. I was grieving a year ago today. There are happy outcomes for both situations. J is allowed contact with us now and can come to spend the weekend whenever he wishes. K and S will still be allowed to maintain contact with their foster family as well. Through my own experiences, I know how important healthy contacts can be for children. My heart is full tonight as I ponder all the blessings I have been given.

The past few months..

I have decided to finally update my page after many months of procrastinating! I have happy news to share and now I have to figure out where to begin..
I think I will just start with February!

February...Hubby and I were matched with two lovely girls in need of a permanent family( aged 12 and 11)!! Quite unexpected, but a wonderful surprise! It has always been my dream to adopt a child or children into the family. We started transitional visits on Valentine's Say weekend! The girls are beautiful and sweet and we are hopeful that this will be a terrific match!


March, April....More visits! There is four and a half hours of driving between us and the girls, so we have been doing a lot of traveling! It has been fun though, and we have enjoyed getting to know our new daughters! They are pretty typical "tweens" ..thus far, and they love to go shopping!

May.. The visits continue. The girls are becoming more relaxed and and are being themselves. They sometimes argue and like to pick on each other..sisters! They are opposites in many ways..The oldest, K, is more of a tomboy, while S, the youngest, is a real girlie-girl. K likes the outdoors, is easy-going and is also a bit of a prankster! S loves clothes, Hanna Montana, and dreams of going to the prom.. During this time, I also finally heard from my former foster son, J, who lived with us for 18 months. He has even been allowed to come and stay on several weekends! He is well and doing good in school..two 3's on his EOG!

June..I sit here anticipating the arrival of my girls on June 12.. I can hardly believe it. I so hope I can be the kind of mother they so need and deserve.. This weekend they are having a "New Beginnings party" instead of a going away party. Their foster family who has had them for 18 months, along with other friends and neighbors are giving them this special celebration.. They are so excited!

Snow!!!!

I woke up today to a blanket of snow..and it looks like we are going to have 4 or 5 inches of the stuff! May get that snowcreme after all! The dogs had alot of fun too! I am sitting here watching the presidential inauguration and sipping coffee...such a nice day to not have to work!

Stranger weather..

This morning I woke up to a temperature of 9 degrees! Yes, 9 whole degrees! For my area of the South, a temperature in the single digits is cold, cold, COLD! Yesterday's HIGH was 27 degrees! BRRRRRRRRRR! I am a cold-natured gal, and I can not imagine living in a place where this is the norm. My skin is all dry and itchy too. If it is going to be this cold I want to see some snow..at least that would be some small consolation! At least enough to make myself a nice decent bowl of snow creme!

strange weather...

Yesterday was one of the strangest weather days I have seen in a while. The early morning hours were strangely warm, almost 70 degrees. As the hours progressed, the wind picked up and was blowing so hard it rattled the roof above my classroom! Some of the children became startled when the rain started coming down in sheets (for about 10 minutes) along with the howling wind. Around noon, the wind calmed and the temperature dropped gradually down into the low 50's. By last night, some areas had downed trees and a few of my co-workers reported hail at their homes. Next week, the weather man says we may have some of the coldest weather we have seen in a long while..maybe even snow! Strange, strange weather!

Ugh, Back to Work..

After two weeks of vacation, today was the day to go back to work! It is amazing how a vacation can spoil you and make it so hard to get back to a normal daily routine...

During my recent time off I....

1. spent mornings drinking coffee and watching news programs

2. stayed in my slippers all day

3. got a sinus infection...ugh

4. pulled a muscle in my neck and had to use a heating pad and Ben Gay for several days..oww!

5. sang at a Christmas party

6. played with my dogs

7. started this blog

8. bought a new laptop

9. started sleeping on a therapeutic memory foam pillow...took a bit of getting used to, but it has helped my neck tremendously!

10 ate fudge, fruitcake, dessert..etc..........oink oink!

11. spent time with family

12. stayed up late watching TV

All in all, despite the sinus infection and neck pain I had a very nice, peaceful holiday. Hey, I just made it through Monday, the rest of the week can't be too bad can it?

A Must Read

I read a very thought provoking, disturbing, yet inspirational book today..It is called 23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese. According to Mr. Wiese, He experienced a terrifying 23 minute visit to Hell in which God showed him some of the unspeakable horrors that await those who are not saved. He says God wanted him to let others know of this place because He does not want any of us to go there. It was created for Satan and his minions. He also says that Jesus gave the very clear statement, "Tell them I am coming VERY, VERY SOON!" Gave me chills! It is a very vivid account. If you want to hear more of the story, there are several videos on YouTube that are very detailed. Just look up Bill Wiese.