Archive for September, 2006
Protected: Princess’s Halloween Costume
Sep 28th 2006Cindy12 & 3 & UnCategorized
Protected: Princess at six months
Sep 28th 2006Cindy12 & 3 & UnCategorized
Out of Control
Sep 28th 2006CindyUnCategorized
Okay, seriously. This getting out of bed thing is out of control. I’m open to suggestions. I tried bribery - I had him pick out several good snacks from the kitchen - all sweets - and we put them in a bag. I told him if he stayed in bed until I came to get him after nap time that he could pick one of those treats. As he turned to walk to his room I congratulated myself on being so clever.
I should know better than to count my chickens before they hatch. Soon after returning to his room I heard a loud crash. Although he was still in bed, he had obviously been standing up and pulling on the shades because they fell.
The last time he got out of his bed he was playing in his tent. So maybe he doesn’t need to nap anymore and I’m okay with that, but I DO! I need a break in the middle of the day and he needs at least a quiet time. I’m thinking that I’ll start putting some books or other quiet toys in his bed.
Any other ideas? Sometimes he really needs to nap - I can tell he is just wiped out.
Speedy the sneak
Something terrible has happened in our house. Speedy has learned that he can get out of his bed by himself. This is bad news for mommy and daddy-o.
The past few mornings he has gotten out of bed if I don’t make it in there fast enough. Yesterday morning, he walked to my bedroom door and then started fake crying and saying, “mommy-o, wher awr you?” So I said, “come on in, sweetie, you can come into mommy’s room.” And he comes running through the door laughing, saying, “I am AWAKE!”
Today, we put him down for a nap and we went to our room to take a nap ourselves. We heard him get out of bed before we actually made it to our room so daddy-o picked him up and put him back in bed. Our rule is that we don’t talk to him or say anything or act mad, we just pick him up and put him back in bed. Unless, of course, we are DYING laughing at the time. So we’re laying in bed and daddy-o whispers, “he’s crawling into our room.” Somewhere, Speedy learned to be sneaky and figured out if he crawled it would take us longer to see him.
So daddy-o got up again and put him back in bed. We layed in bed laughing until we heard him again and decided to pretend like we were asleep (like any good parent would do) and see what he would do. So we layed there and he crawled into our room a little ways and grabbed the door at the bottom and pulled it closed. Then he sat outside the door talking - it was almost as though he thought the door would keep us from hearing him and he was testing his theory. Or trying to see if we had fallen asleep in the 30 seconds it took him to get back out of bed again.
I was giggling and doing everything I could to try to sound like I was sleeping. Here comes Speedy back through the door again and this time he sits just inside our doorway and starts singing one of our night- night songs. I couldn’t keep it in anymore so I got out of bed and as soon as he saw me he took off running down the hall towards his room. He must have thought maybe I wouldn’t really be heading towards his room - like maybe he ran so fast that I really didn’t see him or something - because when he got to his room he turned to look back and see if I was coming.
As I was walking through his door, he was laying his head on his pillow and said, “i go to sleep now…” and as I was walking out of his room I heard what was obviously a very fake yawn.
That kid. Who could sleep after that?
And now, the rest of the story….
Where do I start?
Some of this may bore you to tears but I’m trying to write as much as possible about today so that I will be able to share it later on with the kids.
We told Speedy that we were going to court today to talk to a Judge and that’s why Granny was taking him to school. (MDO) He was fine with it and gave us big hugs before we left.
On the way in, I was definitely more nervous about seeing BM and BF than I was about the hearing itself. I felt confident that termination would be granted, but I was feeling very anxious about seeing them for all the reasons mentioned before and then some. Part of me didn’t think they would show up and the other part of me was a little disappointed when they didn’t.
That’s right. They were a no show. Everyone was told to be there by 9am and our case was called about 10am, so they may have shown up late, but I doubt it. They knew what was going to happen and they really had no defense.
The attorney for CPS started off by listing the grounds for termination and then questioning our CPS case worker who just gave the basic information that services were provided but never taken, etc…. Dates of last visits, conversations from last week blah blah blah and then the other attorneys questioned her. I kinda felt sorry for the attorneys who represented BM and BF as they really had nothing to go on. I could tell they were really only putting forth enough effort to do their job but really, they knew it was an open and shut case. They birthparents had done NOTHING.
After the CPS lawyer, the lawyer for BM, the lawyer for BF and the lawyer for the kids took their turns with the CPS caseworker it was our turn. Now, this was a little surprising to me as we weren’t really expecting to testify or anything like that. SURPRISE! I was asked if BM or BF ever provided food, clothing or financial support to us for taking care of Speedy and Princess. I told them of a few outfits and some toys that they had brought to some of the visits. I was asked if I was present at the visits and got to witness some of the interaction between birthparents and kids. I told them I could not see a bond between Speedy and BM but there did seem to be one between Speedy and BF. I was asked if they were on time for visits and I told them that they were on time for most of them. These were all asked of me by the CPS attorney. The attorney for the children asked me if I thought that birthparents were under the influence during any of the visits. I told them that I could not be sure as I’m not too familiar with drug use but they did seem a little out of it at times and very talkative at others. Then I was asked about their eyes, “can you desribe their eyes?” Sometimes it appeared that their pupils might be larger than normal. Then I was asked if I had been in contact with the paternal grandparents and I explained that relationship. The only thing I was asked by the attorney for either of the parents was whether or not we planned to keep the birth family involved in the children’s lives and I told her that we were with the grandparents but not with the parents unless MAJOR changes were made.
Attorneys for BM and BF gaving “closing arguments” on why conditions for termination had not been met. CPS lawyer responded and slam dunked the case. Judge said he was “accepting” termination on those grounds and would sign the final orders on October 17. Basically, that gives BM and BF 20 days to appeal this decision and if they do not, then termination will be completely finished on October 17.
After October 17, the case files are handed over to an adoption worker within CPS. This is the worker we need to be praying for now, that we’ll get a GREAT worker who works fast. He/she will pretty much determine how quickly we get through everything else. We’ll have to come in and read the entire file and do a few other administrative things and then we’ll sign adoption placement papers. 30 days after signing, we’ll finalize the adoption and party like it’s 1999. 
I expected to feel differently. I think I was so geared up to face the birthparents that when they didn’t show it was just anti-climatic. I don’t know. Maybe I expected to suddenly feel more like a family but what I realized is that we’ve been a family for a long time already. We couldn’t love them anymore than we do already. These are the children God chose for us a long time ago. We’ve always known that - now the “system” knows it, too.
Thank you for all of your prayers. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your encouragement. Mostly, Thank God for a gift we don’t deserve, for trusting us with two precious little lives and for teaching us to trust Him more.
God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.
