News, Christmas, Birthday, & Other Stuff

News:
Ok so most of people know about this by now, but I am posting about it a) for those who don't know full story and b) because I feel like it. LOL

A week or so before Thanksgiving I heard that a girl, whom I have known all her life and was the flower girl* in my wedding, was removed from her parents' homes (they are no longer together) and placed into foster care. This came from her being type 1 diabetic and her glucose numbers kept sky-rocketing landing her in the hospital on multiple occasions. (obviously this is the short version...)

When I heard this I was so upset that she was in foster care with people she did not know. I told Hubby one day that I wished I lived in G county so that we could take her in to live with us. He told me to call the caseworker and see what, if anything, we could do.

On the Monday after Thanksgiving (Nov 29th), I called her caseworker. I found out that because we're close family friends we could do a kinship placement. (Ohio opened up kinship placements to include not just family but also family friends) We just needed her parents permission, some background checks, a safety check of the house, and to take a diabetes class.

Hubby and I were not worried about getting permission, we accurately figured the father would approve it and the mother would be over the moon about it. This got the ball rolling. It was 2 weeks of phone calls and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. (much much thanks to Hubby's parents who came down 2 or 3 times to help us get everything in order) On Friday, Dec 3rd, we drove to X to be fingerprinted for our FBI background checks and on Dec 8th we had our safety inspection. Luckily, I have facebook friends who are foster parents and they graciously gave us advice on what kinds of things were looked for during inspections. (thank you all *SO* much!)

When the caseworker was here for her inspection, she told us she had to do 4 more background checks. These are localized. Our city, our county, and the county & city we lived in prior to moving where we are now. We didn't mind, we knew they wouldn't find anything,** but we were informed that it could take a while to come in. This annoyed me because we were really hoping to get her before Christmas.

At this point all that was left to do, aside from waiting for local background checks to come in, was take the diabetes class. We were able to take this on December 20th. Originally we were told that we couldn't take this class til we had the official approval, but since we were hoping to get her before Christmas we didn't want to take the chance of missing the class on the 20th and get our approval on the 21st. Turns out, that's exactly what would have happened! LOL

On Tuesday, December 21st we got our official approval that she will be coming to live with us. *HOWEVER* they told us they want to wait to place her with us til after school starts back up after Christmas break. I guess when she went from her first foster home to her second she missed some school and they don't want to do that again. So, for that and one or two other reasons, shortly after school goes back in session she will be moving in! :) :)

* I need to come up with initials or something to use for her but her initials are the same as M's... I just realized ALL her initials are the same! LOL They are both MCD (only diff is M has 2 last names so he has an extra letter)
** actually they found a DUS charge against Hubby that was dismissed without prejudice. I'm annoyed that it showed up and would love to find out WHY it showed up!!!

Christmas:
We had a wonderful Christmas! :) M was with us for the first time *ever* on Christmas morning. In past years, the orders were that we got him from 1-9 on Christmas Eve and 9am the 26th through 6pm on the 29th. This was fine. We always had a Christmas party at my parents' place for them, us, and my brother & his family. That was always fun, but it wasn't the same as getting to wake him up on Christmas morning and see the excitement in his eyes and everything. Due to them moving out of state, the orders changed this year. So now on even years we get him from the day he gets out of school until 3pm Christmas day. It was wonderful!! :) :)

I got an extra present for Christmas this year. I got tangible proof that M loves me and pays attention to what I like. Background: we had the boys draw names so one would pick out a present, to be from all 3 kids, for Hubby and the other for me. M picked me and got me sapphire earrings. Sapphire is my birthstone and is also the stone for my engagement ring. Hubby has been buying me sapphire stuff the past 2 years at Christmas (really beautiful stuff). Naturally I assumed that he helped M pick out my earrings. Found out last night I was wrong. Hubby took M to the store to get my present and M went straight to the jewelry counter (knows i love love 'shiny stuff') and to the sapphires and picked out my earrings himself! That makes them so much more special to me. :) Knowing that he knows me well enough to know what I like and then actually getting it for me! :) Really, what typical 11 yr old boy picks out jewelry for anyone much less his stepmom?! :) I love them and they won't leave my ears unless they absolutely have to!! (benefit of 7 holes in my ears..LOL)

Birthday:
This weekend is S's birthday. He turns 8 on New Year's Eve. I can't believe how time has flown or all the things that have happened in the past 8 years. S has grown from a really good baby to a really good kid. Sure he has his challenges (Asperger's Syndrome, ADHD, & anxiety issues) but he tries so hard to rise above them. He is so smart and really loving. He loves to read and is currently reading Harry Potter with his dad. (started out reading it with me, but it gets read quicker with his dad as they read every night at bedtime) S can read on the level for HP, but we read it to him as there is the occasional bad word to skip and sometimes it's hard for us to read the British English so I can't imagine S trying to. :) (oh phooey that reminds me i need to order his cake!)

Other Stuff:
I'm guessing it's time to start limiting tv time around here. K goes berserk when we turn it off for a little while. Sad cause I hate when there's no background noise to listen to. Oh well. I'm sure I'll live.

I hope you all had a great 2010 and have an even better 2011!!!