WHAT A LONG STRANGE YEAR IT'S BEEN!

Easter 2010

Wow, the title is almost a song! It really has been a long strange year. Let me give you the highlights.

The last time I posted the boys had just started back to school, we still had Esmerelda, and had just got a new baby who we thought we were going to be able to adopt named Gracie. Much has changed since then....

We only had Gracie for about a couple of weeks and she went to her Mother's cousin. Adopting her was not in God's plan for us.

I was still working as a preschool teacher at our church three days a week.
In the beginning of August we got a phone call about another little girl named Malyna. She was almost a month old, and we were a little skeptical because we at that time had, had Esmerelda since January and although we knew we were only supposed to have her for three weeks we did know she would be going home someday. We were nervous about opening ourselves up again to another child and then her going home. I am sure you can all understand that. We really asked the worker a lot of questions before deciding to go ahead and bring her home. She came to live with us the 4th or 5th of August. Happy Birthday Shannon (August 5th).

School started again at the end of August. Skyler is in 2nd grade and David is in Kindergarten. They are both really enjoying school and doing well. It is currently our Easter/Spring break and the boys have had so much fun! They have spent most of the week outside with friends coming over to play everyday.

David turned six at the beginning of October. We had his birthday party at our house. We had a bounce house and boys from his class (he chose not to invite any girls.) It was a lot of fun and a good way for me to meet some of the moms from his class. I decided at the beginning of the year to volunteer in the boy's classrooms. Each Tuesday I was going to Skyler's class at 9am and David's class at 10am then eating lunch with David at 11am and making my way home! I took a little break after Christmas, but hope to get back to it soon. It really is fun going into the classrooms and getting to know the boy's friends.

I worked through the end of August at the preschool three days a week. The preschool decided to get licensed and go full time. I had the opportunity to work there but decided not to. We decided that financially it would not be a good decision. I still work at the church doing childcare for the Bible study on Wednesday mornings, Awana/discipleship classes Wednesday nights, MOPS every other Thursday morning, and then for evening services on Sunday nights. I think that the Bible study, discipleship classes, and MOPS will soon be coming to an end for the summer and I will soon just be working Sunday nights.

We went to court with Esmerelda in October and at that time they just continued her case and scheduled the next court date for March. Her mother was again pregnant and the baby was due in January. Since her parents were doing so well they petitioned the court in December to get her back early. We went to court in the middle of December. At that time I truly thought she would go home, but God had other plans for her. The judge said that the Mother should go ahead and have the baby, adjust to having the baby and then go back to court in February. She did visits with her parents a couple of times a week to help her adjust to them, and when we went to court on February 22, she did go home. It was a sad day for all of us, I am just grateful that we were able to keep her for so long. She really brought a lot of JOY and LAUGHTER to our home. I said all along God had a plan for her, and I was able to take comfort in that when she went home.

So what about Malyna??? Well she had been doing reunification with her parents. At the end of December her parents started showing up sporadically, and even then even less in January. For some reason they showed up for every visit in February, but have not showed up for any visits since the end of February. We go to court April 15th. At that time the county is recommending termination of reunification services. 120 days after that they will do termination of parental rights and I think 90 days after that hopefully we will be able to adopt her! We are going to name her Hallie (it was my Grandma Richards name). Won't that be cute, Hallie Hamner.

So when Esmerelda went home we decided to do emergency foster care. We started the sixth of March, and since then we have had. . . a one day old little girl for four days, a one day old little boy for ten days, a 19 month old little boy for 14 days, and I just got called about a six month old little boy. We will see how long he is with us.

The boys continue to get bigger it seems like every day! They both got awards at their respective reward ceremonies in the last month. David for outstanding academics and Skyler for most improved. I think they both really like their teachers. Skyler's teacher has been wonderful working with him and he has really improved.

I think you are pretty much caught up!

This past weekend Hallie and I took a trip down to Orange County. Amy had brunch at her house for Easter. We went down early Saturday morning and came back that same day. It was fun seeing everyone. We also got to go over to the block and visit the Gymboree Outlet, and also visited with my good friend Sharon! Totally an easy fun day!

Sunday we went to church, Sunday school and Services, then over to Camilles for lunch. In the early afternoon we had an Easter Egg Hunt over at the school with three other neighborhood families, and then it was back to work for me for evening services!

I promise I will make an extra effort to do better at posting! Sorry for the really long post.

Happy Monday (last day of spring break woohoo!!!)
Love,
Shell