Love & Support

We've been so blessed by family and friends over the last 2 weeks.  Church friends have brought us dinner 3x/week, friends have either let us borrow or given us clothes & toys, and our daughter, K, has been welcomed into other's homes as we've been gone to appointments.  I also had a dear friend come over to play with the kiddos while I got a few things taken care of around the house (who knew that's what it would take just to get the kitchen cleaned?).  Last Christmas, K got a personalized brown & pink polka dotted backpack that I use to carry around extra diapers, snacks, crayons, etc.  Occasionally she likes to wear it around herself & I'm completely okay with not carrying around a big bulky diaper bag.  Not to be outdone, our little guy has a personalized gecko backpack (see Backpack) of his own on the way.  My mom & aunt bought it for him as an Easter present & it should arrive her tomorrow!  We feel so grateful that even our family has embraced this little guy from 3000 miles away & with knowing that he may not be with us forever.

When we had K, I learned (like everyone says) that it takes a village to raise a child.  Now that we're in this situation, I'm starting to learn it's okay to ask for help - necessary even.  The one thing that's been difficult for us having a foster son who doesn't sleep well is not being able to take people up on the offer to help watch him while we nap or just to give us a break.  Unless someone is background checked & fingerprinted, we can't leave him alone with them (state regulations) & that doesn't allow for us to catch up on some much-needed sleep easily!  Fortunately, all of the other help has let us put what energy we do have into adjusting as a family & meeting the needs of both of our kiddos.  

K & I normally spend 24 hours/day together so it's rocked her world a little to be away from us so often, especially last week.  Knowing I was leaving her with friends I trusted who are great moms themselves helped make the separation a little easier for me (ladies, you know who you are!) - though the look on K's face killed me everytime I left!  Our one-on-one time is just that more special to me right now & I look forward to the few hours a week when it'll be just the two of us.  I guess you could say that time together feels like one of my biggest needs right now (beyond sleep).