This January we received our license for foster care and it has been quite the experience since. We have one "permanent" placement with us now, meaning he is here for more than just a few days and the goal is that he will be reintegrated with his family. We love having him in our home. He is 9 years old, loves school, loves church, and is an amazing older brother to our girls. I'm tearing up just writing about him because he is so sweet and we are really going to miss him when he returns to his family, but alas, that is foster care. Most people when we tell them we are doing foster care say something to the effect of, "Oh, you are so amazing. I just don't think I could give them up." Yes, well, that doesn't mean it's easy for us, either! We just feel it's the right thing to do while we can and although we have had some challenges with a few of the kids we have had, they are small compared to the knowledge we have that what we are doing is the Lord's work.
Piper is an intelligent and beautiful little girl and cannot wait until she is five. She wants to go to Kindergarten, though I have made the decision that we will be homeschooling this fall (though we already are!). Really she is most excited about riding the school bus, so if I can make things at home more fun than that, we should be okay! We have several close friends (and some family) that home school and have been excellent resources for us. Right now Piper does one reading lesson a day, can do simple addition, can legibly right all her letters and numbers, and can even spell most words she can read. She would do school all day and not get tired of it. She also started Let's Play Music class with mommy last fall and enjoys singing and playing her bells.
Graci is a little ball of energy. She is taller than Piper was at her age and I believe when we doubled her height at two years old that would make her six feet as an adult. She will be three here in a few weeks but is already wearing Piper's 4T clothes from last year. Most people think she is older than 2 because she can hold a conversation so well. Graci is quite the tomboy. The kids were out in the garden the other night and found a toad. Graci held it, put it on her head, and when it would jump away, then she would scream!
Peter is staying very busy at work. He recently completed an exam for traffic engineers and we are waiting to hear the results. The City of Manhattan is completing a brand new traffic shop where Peter will have his own office and will be in the same building with all the traffic equipment and other employees that take care of the signals and such. He has enjoyed his job, though now he has quite a bit more interaction with the public, so he has been sharpening his communication skills. Peter also has taken up biking to work. It's about 15 miles from our house to his office in Manhattan and usually takes Peter an hour each way. He also plays basketball with other public works employees during his lunch break, but now that the weather is heating up, they will take a hiatus as the gym at City Hall has no air conditioning :( This month he will be a judge for the regional steel bridge competition. Last year the competition was hosted here at K-State and he organized all the judges and loved it.
I have been keeping pretty busy taking care of my family and additional children that come in and out. I think the most satisfying part of foster care is knowing that the children would rather sit down and play a board game with us as a family than play video games or watch tv (not that we have much to offer in that department). It is sad how little time children get to spend with their parents. I am still teaching Let's Play Music classes and will be adding one class next year, which will bring my total to four classes (one first year, two second years, and one third year). I will be traveling to Arizona for the LPM symposium this summer and also to NYC for my sister's graduation with her Master's degree from Pratt, an art school. This last month I have been taking continuing education classes to renew my teaching license this summer. I'm not going to lie, I really miss school. This month I am organizing a Game On Diet challenge for folks at church that are trying to have better habits and get into shape. Actually, this post is a result of that game as I am playing as well and one of my habits is to work on my blog daily, whether in organizing photos, or making posts.
This August we will have a new addition to our family, a baby girl! We just had our sonogram today, and no, we have not come up with any names yet ;)
We still have the dogs, can't forget about them. They have been escape artists lately (well, Missy just climbs the fence, but Xena has to work to find weak spots in our only method of defense: our fence). This last time they really came back a mess. I think Peter has pulled about 60 ticks off the both of them.
Oh, we started up our garden! Spinach and lettuce plants are already about the size of golf balls. Plans for this year are hoards of tomatoes (they are so stinkin' easy to can crushed and I love using them in recipes), cantaloupe (we had an amazing volunteer crop of these last year, so I saved the seeds and now we can fill a whole garden with them!), sweet potatoes, radishes (only to help ward off squash bugs...hope it works, we don't do pesticide), zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers, and whatever else my friend, Jenny, brings over from her garden adventures for us to plant.
All's well that ends well, so I'm going to sign off and get to work on my other habits for this game and also finishing my final book for my online class!
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