Blog Delay and New Kids in the House

October 8th was my last post and it is now November 27th!  My excuse is pretty simple - my computer has a mostly stuck shift-key and its amazing what you can't do with it now...capital letters, punctuation, numbers, etc.  So...I kept thinking my new computer would arrive and I could use it to blog.  You know how you have a special place and set-up to do certain things?  Well, I haven't had that since the beginning of October and have decided that enough's enough!  My new Mac will be here after Dec. 9th, but I can't wait any longer, the posts are piling up in my head, LOL.

I'll start with the biggest change since last post, which is new foster children.  These two are older than any I've had, and one is older than my requested age range of 1-10 years old.  FS is thirteen, and FD is nine and a half.  Both have been in foster care before, but in a different county and region.  They are basically good kids, and the issues they deal with are basically the same as the younger ones.  They just deal in different ways.  They both enjoy the one-on-one attention before bedtime, which usually includes some reading and prayers (as requested by their mom).  The fight like siblings do, although worse than any I've seen before.  We are working on it!

The Charlotte Mason educational methods say to focus on changing one habit at a time, while maintaining other good habits.  We are working on eating and drinking healthier, which is especially hard for FD, who like me, tends to be an emotional eater.  We are also focusing on cutting out the whining and tattling from her.  With FS, I am working on keeping him responsible for homework and for his own behavior.  No more playing the blame game for either of them!  They have now been here right about a month, and I am starting to see progress, which is encouraging.

Of course, I can't say anything about their situation, but it does look they may go to a relative who is in the process of getting approved for temporary custody.  I do hope that works out for them, because it sounds like they would feel much more at home with that family, back in their old schools where they've been most of their lives.  Their mom is working hard on her plan to get them back, which is great to see.  She knows some of the ladies at my church, who apparently have said good things about DH and I, so she is grateful that they are with me instead of another foster family.

So far we have enjoyed Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Labor Day with these kids, and yesterday they decorated the Christmas tree.  I let them do it all, and it turned out different, but still good. :)

My own son enjoys their company, and will soon be having his 7th birthday, complete with a party!  We are close enough to it now that I can be fairly certain the foster kids will be with us for that, and most likely for Christmas as well.  Here's wishing them and all of you a very merry Christmas season!