Day one of school was a success all the way around!The kids liked their classes and teachers and I took the day off. I read the second book in a series by Francine Rivers (excellent fiction author, btw), ate watermelon and took two naps. I think I was a little tired since I was still in bed by 9pm last night.
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Last night, Zeke had softball so I watched him and worked on my presentation for today. Thought I should sound like I know what I'm talking about! I'll be discussing the new Foster Parent Network with Social Services this morning.
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We had to make a few changes to our Family Day on Sunday because of the weather. It was storming/raining in the morning so we left Brookings at 10am and went to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. The kids had fun but I still think the pizza tastes like cheese-topped cardboard. By the time we were done there, the sun was shining and we headed to Wild Water West. We took along our amazing friend Sara for the day to hang out with the baby, so our adult/kid ratio was excellent for the trip! I didn't take any water park pictures but did manage to get a few of the rest of the day.

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First Day of School Pictures

Brittney - 8th Grade

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Riley - 4th Grade

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Taylor - 3rd Grade

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Zeke - 3rd Grade

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Anthony - 1st Grade

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Produce Stand

Riley and Taylor came to work with me at the produce stand on Friday.

They had a little fun with the melons!

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Done!

Registration - done
Haircuts - done
School supplies - done
School clothes - done
School shoes - done

We're planning on an end-of-summer family trip to Wild Water West on Sunday if the weather cooperates.

School starts on Monday!!!

I promise I'll write more then :)
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Riley at Football Practice

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Zeke Playing Softball

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14 Year Anniversary

Here are a few pictures in honor of our 14th wedding anniversary on Aug 16th.

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It really doesn't seem that long ago.

I guess fourteen years goes by pretty fast when you're having fun!

We did actually have time to go out for supper by ourselves on our anniversary - thanks to my sister.

She watched some of the kids and Steve & I ducked out of Riley's football practice right after we dropped him off.   : )

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How We Commit to Foster Care for Children

People ask me all the time how we can do foster care when we don't know how long the children will be with us. Especially recently, because our current foster child has been with us for over a year and people are curious what will happen to her and if she'll remain in our family or not. I can't blog about specifics in her case, but what Julie blogged about fits right into my heart for foster/adoption.

Julie and her husband Mark have 11 children, most of whom are adopted. This is an excerpt from Julie's Blog on Saturday, August 20:
"It can be a tough place to be...being so in love with a child and yet have such love for his birthfamily. But, I think that is what raising someone else's child is all about. The battle within came in wanting his birthmom to succeed in her fight but also longing for him to stay...fearing the day that he may leave...but always knowing that our time with him could be temporary. Children do not belong to one family or another...they all belong to God. That is another paradox in adoption...while we seek to "claim" them we also stay keenly aware of that fact that they are not ours to claim. Each night when we tuck them into bed, we give them back to the Lord. And each morning we ask our Lord to guide us as we take care of his children. We knew from the day we received the first call-- that if he were to need a permanent home, we would be that home. But, while there was a chance that he could be reunited with his first family, we remained committed to helping them in any way we could...and we would take care of Elijah as if he was our own until the day of reunification occured. That is not an easy task..but one God gave us the grace and strength to do. We stumbled miserably along the way...but we committed ourselves to this goal."
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Random Brittney Pictures





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