What a difference a year makes.....

Today is my hubby's birthday.... A year ago today we received an envelope in the mail... Our official foster care license..... Now, we have a 5 yr old foster son that has been with us for 11 mos [tomorrow] and he was supposed to be here for *the weekend*. In less than a month we will have our next permanency review hearing for J and 3 days later he will be in our life a full year....

What a difference a year makes huh? Wonder where the 3 of us will be next year at this time.....

Family Reunion......

Today was our annual family reunion for my husband's mother's side of the family... We try to go every year.... It's at a state park not too far from us and we always get tables near the huge pond there. It's pretty nice.... Last year it was humid and threatening to rain so, we rushed everything to beat the weather.... Today it was BEAUTIFUL! not hot, not humid and definitely no rain in the forecast [until later tonight into tomorrow]..... Everyone except our immediate family [me, hubby, MIL, FIL & my sis] hadn't met J yet so, I knew they would all be anxious to meet him. I gave him a few minutes to play on the playground then we walked over and introduced him.... As usual he was shy at first but, warmed up to some of my hubby's aunts pretty quickly [especially the one who showed him the games we would be playing so he could win a prize!].... J & I bounced between the reunion area, pond and playground.... It was a nice afternoon! J, my hubby & I all won games so we each walked away w/ a prize!

We finally took some pics of the 3 of us [I don't think we have ever taken one like that since J has been with us-- I have plenty of J himself and a couple of J & I but, none of all 3 of us].... They turned out well [we used the pond as our backdrop] and I really wish I could show them to you.... I am thinking about getting the best one blown up and framed for our house and maybe get one framed for my sister because she has moved back to where we used to live to finish college.... We did take one of all 3 of us facing the pond but, after seeing myself in it, I decided not to publish it!

Oh yeah, and I was voted *vice president* of the reunion for 2011! I was shocked that they would elect someone related by marriage but, also very touched that they thought of me for that.... I will have to be *president* in 2012 that's how their group works! So, in 2011 I will be President of my local AAPC [American Academy of Professional Coders] chapter & VP of the _______ family reunion! What other title will I achieve next year??? I guess only time will tell!

Reconsideration.....

A year ago this month my husband & I became *official* foster parents-- Yes, I said a year ago! Wow! What a year it has been! About a month ago we received our *reconsideration* packet in the mail.... It resembled the stack of paperwork we filled out last year to become licensed and now almost all of it had to be filled out yet again! Today we met with our case worker and did our reconsideration interview and inspection-- AKA: Home Health Report [just incase our house got sick in the past year I guess!]. Overall it went well.... We had to answer questions such as how has the past year been, how is our relationship with each other, how has our lives changed since becoming foster parents, what challenges/positives have we faced in the past year, etc. They were not too hard to answer but, some made me stop and think. It went well. Our year anniversary of being foster parents is next Friday Sept 17th [my lil sis's b-day & we received the license in the mail on my hubby's b-day last year]. We still have the fire marshall inspection to get done but, she said he is very busy and she will re-issue our license w/ a condition that the inspection gets done as soon as possible. I can't believe it's been a year already! And next month, we will celebrate 1 yr having J in our lives.....

Wow! A year already! What a year it's been!

First Day of 2010-2011 School Year!

J's lunchbox and bookbag theme for the new school year!

Looking all handsome in his uniform-- checking out his lunch for the day!

All ready to go to school!

Walking into school on his first day of *real* school for 2010-2011

A few weeks ago DSS suggested we send J to private school this year.... Smaller classes and a more nurturing environment.... We agreed. I worked at the private school they suggested about 8 1/2 yrs ago [I was there for about 3 yrs before I left].... So, I felt ok because I knew the school and about 1/2 of the staff. So, we have been sending him the last couple weeks and worked him up to a whole day last week. They were ending summer camp so, it wasn't very structured but, he would get to know his teacher and some classmates before *real* school started. Today was the first day of *real* school... He was so handsome & cute in his uniform.... They are putting him in K4 again to make sure he gets his basics down since he was *uninvited* the last few months in public school Pre-K. For K4 they can wear khaki or navy bottoms and white top. He chose navy bottoms today.... His first day went good. He had a little incident at the end of the day but, overall it was good!

One day down and 179 to go [I think they still do 180 school day years right???]