DFCS, I'm back!

Sitting in the lobby at a metro DFCS office with the rest of humanity waiting on my new hire orientation. After 6 years of stay-at-home momnness, I am back to work. I'll be doing something totally new (Medicaid applications instead of foster care and adoption) that pays a lot less. It's the benefits and retirement that I'm after. After navigating the training, I should be able to work a reasonable schedule with no overtime at an office less than 30 minutes away. Wish me luck!

Low tech

It's a low tech summer for all the kids thanks to Graceful and her late night conversations with a boy she's never met. iPods, DS, Xbox, iPad, netbooks have been relocated to our room. Their ultimate fate is still to be determined. In a encouraging turn of events, all the kids rallied around Mister, convincing Coach to return his 3-week old iPod touch because he never has, and likely never will, use it for anything that it is not intended for. Now we are not totally unplugged. The TV is still in use. Coach's PS3 remains. Coach and I continue to enjoy our iPhones (and now Queen Bee's iPad), and the Fledging (who returned to the nest this week) still has his computer, iPod and phone. Ahhh . . . thr benefits of adulthood. But for the past few days, I've heard nothing but the cheerful sounds of card games, Chutes and Ladders, and Clue and the padding of 10 feet as the little kids race each other around the perimeter of the house over and over. Heck, even I'm encouraged to rediscover my long lost live of reading. I've found, however, that my attention span has been decimated by blog reading. Two chapters into Treasure Island and I had to take a break. Here's my challenge - for a woman with 9 kids, I sure like to be left alone. My challenge is to invite opportunities to have shared experiences and build relationships with each one of my children. In only ten years, everyone but Termite could potentially be out of the house. I'll have plenty of quiet time then.

Deaf Ears

Sigh. So glad that my goal for myself and for my kids is not "never make a mistake" but "learn to make good decisions.". Otherwise we'd be failing miserably. Queen Bee has made certainly made some huge mistakes in judgment here lately with regards to an older guy. How many times have we discussed the pitfalls of digital media? Phineas and Ferb have it right - Fame is fleeting but the Internet is forever. Why is it that some girls will so quickly believe any lie that comes out of a handsome mouth no matter how illogical it is. And so trust is destroyed and we set about the process of rebuilding. Ultimately, the consequences are hers to deal with. So she'll mope her way through a period of technology silence and the feat of possible abject public humiliation. Hopefully, she will learn something.

On a positive note, the start of Mini-Me's soccer practice was fantastic! Thirteen girls showed up and had a great time! Coach was beaming. Good day.

Quiet evening at home

Ahhh . . . A two week break between middle school soccer season and the beginning of soccer with Coach and Mini-Me. Coach came home early with - surprise - 6 new baby chicks. All the middle schoolers came home on the bus. With Coach home, I got to go alone pick up Mini-Me and our new little foster daughter from Girl Scouts. So nice to not have to referee with the boys. Kids and Coach cleaned out the shed and burned a pile of brush while I fixed dinner. No pizza boxes! A delightfully quiet evening interrupted only by the untimely death of two of the chicks. Apparently these chicks are not as hardy as the ones I picked out.

Still working on the modified Atkins diet for seizures for Termite. I'm worried that I don't have the attention to detail that this requires. He is in ketosis though, but I don't see a remarkable change in seizure activity. Deep breath. Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

Sunday afternoon

Sunday afternoon.  Doing some low carb experiments in the kitchen.  Baking low-carb cupcakes and making low-carb candy for my little Termite who's on the modified Atkins diet for seizures.  They smell good.  I hope they taste good.  I plan to freeze them to send to school for him to have on hand for in-class birthday parties.

Beautiful day. I wore a dress to church this morning.  I had to shave my legs yesterday to take the kids swimming.  Thought I'd make the most of smooth legs.

Queen Bee has a friend over.  She's spent the last two days literally in bed, recovering from a migraine and months on end of daily school, basketball/soccer practice, and work.  And the late nights texting friends and listening to her iPod.

All the other kids are outside running around, playing in the neighbor's creek, taking care of chickens, building forts, and making things out of rocks and sticks and string.  Or inside making paper dolls or playing board games.  Coach has put a moratorium on the XBox for a while.

I've come to the realization that The Fledgling is doing exactly as he pleases.  I've been begging him for a year to tell me what he really wants.  I guess I was hoping that his real answer was going to college or finding a job that he really likes.  Nope.  Its living a life with maximum freedom and minimum responsibility.  Finding a living situation, no matter how tenuous, that costs him as little as possible.  Couch-surfing - or upper-bunk-surfing to be more accurate.  Finding a way to make just enough money to pay his car insurance and put gas in his car without requiring much time or commitment from him.  Finding a girlfriend and socializing with friends.  This is what he really wants right now.  I can't change that.  If I had one wish, it would be for him to pass the one college course he is taking right now.  He's halfway through.  It's paid for.  He has no other demands on his time so there's no reason not to just finish it up.  But reason is something he doesn't have right now.  Here's the sound of me letting go.  Sigh.

A brave new world

Sitting outside on this beautiful Saturday. Got a few minutes before I need to go start working on dinner. Graceful's off with dad at work again. Still on "lockdown" for lying. Extra Daddy time is never a bad thing though.

The Fledgling got himself fired this week. The straw that broke the camel's back? Trying to flirt with his coworkers instead of working. Same boundary/following directions issues we've been working on the whole year we've known him. How much clearer can you be than, "Don't hug the girls"? So after a day of job hunting, he calls last night to say that finding a job isn't easy. Well, yeah son. Isn't that what we've been telling you for a year. Yes, he says, but I didn't learn that from you telling me. Congratulations, honey, you're learning it the hard way but at least you are learning.

I bought chicks today for the first time. 2 red pullets and 5 Cornish rocks. Wish them luck. With 10 small hands eager to hold them, they will either be very tame or very dead.

We have an extra little one around for a while, or a long while. It's hard to say with fostering. But she's about Mini-Me's age so there's been a lot of giggling and baby doll playing going on lately.

My husband's blog name is going to be Coach. He coaches his employees and the kids, both at soccer and in life. Sometimes he even coaches me. Not that I like that very much, but he loves me. :)

Alright, let's go dig some ground beef out of the freezer and get working on some tacos.

What a tangled web we weave

We've got a kid on "lock down" right now.  Facebook account closed down.  Netbook and iPod gone.  100% adult supervision.  She's at work with dad right now. All over a boy that she rarely sees.  It's not really the boy though.  If it was, she could "date" him (middle school dating = calling yourself boyfriend/girlfriend, communicating via social media, writing each other notes, and hugging and possibly kissing in the school hallways), break up in two weeks, and move on.  No big deal.

But it's the lying and deceitfulness.  We (parents and kid together) had discussed this young man and agreed that he is a little teen "player" whose goal it is to get as many girls fighting over him as possible by any means necessary, including trying to get her best friend to sneak out of the house to make out with him at the movies.  It's the telling us to our faces that nothing is going on while in reality she is doing everything she can to ensure that this boy is her "boyfriend" without us knowing.

And it's the crazy lying too.  The kind of lying that is so puzzling you have no idea how to response.

Does she . . . will she understand how much we truly love her and value her and want to see her value herself?  How it breaks our hearts to think that she would sell out herself and her family for the fleeting attention of a guy who cares nothing for her.  At 12, is it too early for her to understand that loser guys can smell that vulnerability from 10 miles away?

I pray one day she will.  One day soon.  Until then, lots of extra Mama and Daddy time is in order.