Topsy-Turvy Weekend

This has been a truly topsy-turvy weekend and one of the most confusing times of my life. The three kids that we fostered are all gone - BOOM - at once. Lies were told against me (by my own child, no less!) and the two agencies involved couldn't get their acts together to benefit the kids, as usual, so they ran in and took the kids out without bothering to consider how it would affect them. Now I am left with empty arms and a broken heart.

One of these kids has been with us for 2 years and the other two have been here for 9 months -since the baby was three months old. In fact, this all happened on her first birthday. She got to spend it with strangers. Isn't that lovely?

We went into foster care because we have a great love for children. This is something we have been doing for the last 13+ years and have given our heart and home to over 25 children. In fact, we have encouraged many others to do the same. This was our mission. Now, we are being treated like dirt. Our reputation and history means nothing.

Sorry for the rant, but I am so disgusted with the way we have been treated.

I played with making some new svg files yesterday. I think I am getting the hang of this. I haven't tried cutting them out yet so I don't know how well they cut. If you use them please let me know how they turn out.

We are doing out Sunday School lessons on missionaries this quarter and I wanted some maps of the different countries we are studying so I made svgs of Australia https://www.box.com/s/oxklhv1h74mmig71sxxu
Asia https://www.box.com/s/t0g48wx9ie8agyf6798a
South America https://www.box.com/s/oxklhv1h74mmig71sxxu
Europe https://www.box.com/s/wcq5wg3y773qnjsytalo
and North America https://www.box.com/s/pp8yqj83d5kold8b43ec

I also made some more general svgs just playing around. Here are the links to them:
A Fleur de lis https://www.box.com/s/d68ju76elvfk35vcdykg, a bone https://www.box.com/s/wzp3c8wdqyjv1eood5tt, and a Christian Fish symbol https://www.box.com/s/esu88fz0hdam09mmubor.

I hope they all turned out well. I had fun with them.

Belk is having a Private Charity Sale on Saturday, April 27, from 6-10 am to benefit local non-profit organizations. You must have a ticket to shop and tickets are $5 each. This entitles you to $5 off your first purchase and 20-70% off storewide. The first 100 customers will receive a free gift card!

If you are unable to attend on the 27th, you are welcome to reserve your merchandise for the event beginning on the Sunday, April 21. Just present your Charity Sale ticket and ask for details on reserving merchandise.

Contact me if you would like a ticket to this wonderful event! Proceeds from our ticket sales will benefit the Madison-Oglethorpe Foster Parent Association.

Our visit to the Childrens' Museum of Atlanta

We went the the Childrens' Museum for the first time with our church on Saturday and LOVED it. It was a Kids Day for the younger set of our church. We had about 10 kids with us and it was a challange keeping up with all of them. There were a LOT of activities to do and the kids were running all over the place. The exhibits were really neat, too. Frank and I even tried out a few of them. I had my camera around my neck, but kept forgetting to take pictures so I only got a few and most of them were of Kymberly since she was the one I was chasing the most. LOL. I already look forward to going back again.

Updating my scrapbook pages

I finally had time to work on some scrapbook pages. Seems like forever since that has happened. It has been so busy around here. The only time I can really get any scrapping time in is during the monthly craft day at church or late at night after the kids are in bed. And by then I am usually so tired I am asleep by the time they are :).

Hopefully soon I will be able to finish the Christmas 2009 album. I didn't realize we had taken so many pictures that year. It's hard to not scrap all of them. And when it comes to Blake, Haley, and Kymberly I pretty much print them all. I don't want to miss a minute of them!!

Hope you enjoy the layouts. Comments are always appreciated!

Catching Up

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted anything on my blog. Talk about being lax!! SOOOOOO much has happened since my last post...........
The little girl we have taken care of for over a year and a half now has left us and gone to live with her forever family. She left in November and we have really missed her. Especially that laugh of hers! At the same time that she left we took in two new fosters: a boy and his baby sister. They are pretty good kids who have been through a lot. It shows more in the older one. He acts out a little, but it's nothing we can't handle. The baby is adorable. She nearly always has a smile on her face. She is pure joy to take care of. There have been other changes as well. Aubrey and Rachel have each moved out onto their own. The nest is getting smaller. We now only have three kids (plus the fosters) at home. The house seems so much quieter than before. I worry about them all the time, but I know they are doing ok. Rachel is making big plans for her future: SHE'S GETTING MARRIED!! Her fiance, Ereck, proposed to her on Christmas Eve and they are planning a wedding for the end of April. He's currently away at Marine Boot Camp and once they get married she will be joining him in California. CALIFORNIA!! Not only is my baby girl getting married, but she is moving clear across the country!! This was supposed to be a year of change - I was expecting her and Aubrey to graduate high school and then start college in the fall. I WAS NOT prepared for this. I think I have adjusted though. At least, I tell myself that I have..... Kymberly started PreK this year. Yet ANOTHER change. She's done really well, though. In fact, up until last weekm she had not even missed a day of school. She got the stomach bug Monday and had to stay home. She LOVES school and her teachers!! They are awesome with her. She is one of the youngest students in the class due to her birthday being in August so they have really worked with her. She has come so far since school started. I have to go next month and register her for Kindergarten. Wow!! Why is it that the older you get the faster time seems to go. I've fallen so far behind in working on my scrapbooking. Having a baby in the house will do that for you. I look forward to the monthly scrapbooking days we have at our church since that is really the only time I get to work on my pages. This last month I went and managed to get 10 pages done during that one day. I would have loved to have been able to stay longer - I was on a roll and felt like I could've worked all night! I, of course, haven't touch them since that day. We are having a Relay for Life Scrapbooking Crop in April where we go in on Friday night and work til Midnight then we can leave all our stuff and come back and work all day Saturday. I am so looking forward to that!! I hope to get so much accomplished then. I have some pictures of a few pages that I have finished. I'll post some more when I get them done.

Shop my AVON store!

Shop my AVON store!: Here's a sneak peak at some of the latest products available at Avon. Be sure to click

The Other Parents

Our daughters are in band/color guard at the high school and we took the night off tp go watch their first performance of this year’s halftime show. The band director at the high school has done a phenomenal job with the kids this year and the show is simply wonderful. It’s called Heroes Fallen, But Not Forgotten and is a tribute to all those who have given their lives in the name of freedom. It’s very moving to watch.
For me, the show is very emotional. My son, Chayce, just left home for his second deployment overseas. He came home last November from a year of service in Afghanistan and has now left for Kuwait. He will be driving a truck hauling supplies from Kuwait to Iraq. It’s so hard to watch your child leave-to know he has left the safety of your arms, your home, can be heart-wrenching. It made me consider what the birth parents of the children we foster may be going through.
I am sure many of the birth parents feel the same way. When their children are removed from their care they face the same uncertainty. They have no idea where their child(ren) are going or how they will be treated. Regardless of what the allegation is against them, these are still their children and I am certain they love them. When you look at it from that perspective it kind of changes your opinion of them. They are not horrible people, most of them anyway. They want what is best for their child, they simply lack the skills and/or resources to provide what their child(ren) need. This is where we, the foster parents, come in.
As we take these children into our homes we need to consider what they, and their parents, are giving up. Encourage their visits with each other to foster the relationship they already have. Talk with the children about their parent(s) in a positive way. Help them write notes to them (but, don’t force them) letting them know they are thinking of them. In this way, children can stay in touch. Include the parents in the child’s lifebooks.
It only takes a little effort on our part to keep the lines of communication open between the birth parent and the child, but what a difference this can make in the life of that child.

Check out Wanda's website for awesome ideas and svgs

Lent

Lent is the 47 days or 6 weeks leading up to Easter. It’s a time for us Christ-followers to devote and dedicate time to God. Many also fast from something during this time. I have never participated in a fast, but have always wanted to. Now I am feeling the need to. I have a lot of things I could chose to abstain from, but the one that really stands out to me is my carbonated beverages. I am constantly drinking a coke and I think that giving that up will really work to make me focus on God. I read somewhere that it takes a gallon of water to undo the damage that one class of coke, or whatever else, does to your kidneys. Wow. My kidneys will certainly be grateful for my choice. I think I will make this a yearly tradition. I need to get closer to my Lord and really focus on what He wants for me in my life. I hope to accomplish this to some degree in the next 6 weeks.