Ellie's Question on Foster Parenting

Last week Ellie asked me, "Mom why do some raise foster children?"

I told her they bring children in their homes that need a temporary home because something went wrong in their home. Well she replied back.

"Well yeah, but why do they give their home and treat them like their kids?"

With Ellie not being satisfied with my answer I turned to FaceBook and asked friends on there who are foster parents for their reasons. The answers we got back made Ellie very happy.

 The answers we got back were:

Patty: 

Because some have lots of love to give to children who need it that don't have children at home

Aunt Barbara: 

Also some kids are without parents and are looking for parents to accept them for who they are and say your my child now.

Aunt Teresa: 

Great questions, Ellie! I can't speak for other foster parents, but we started taking kids in because I was in foster care when I was little and I wanted to return the favor. Uncle is a good man and agreed with me.  so when our girls were old enough, we started fostering. As far as why we welcome kids into our home and treat them like our kids...God wants every one of His children to have a home where they are safe, loved, and taken care of. When we became foster parents, we made a promise that we would treat any child who enters our home like we would our own children. We can't always give every child what they need, but we do our very best. Love you and your inquisitive mind, Ellie!

Rhonda: 

I was the "host child" (the biological/legal child) in a foster family. We took in kids because everyone deserves to have a family.... and if their first family wasn't able to fulfill the job, we wanted to do it. As soon as a girl came into our home, they were my sisters.... my parent's daughters. There was no distinction. Just like an adopted child grows in their parents' hearts, the same happens with foster children. When they walk in the door, they become family.... with the same rights, responsibilities, and love as anyone else.

Jinjue:

Yes we do. We treat them like they are one of our bio kids. Our home is their home. If we go somewhere they go. If we go to a family gathering, they go. 

Just the same way if a baby was born into your family~ they become part of your family. But it may be a baby, or a 3 year old or a 17 year old, and we don't know if they'll be here for a day of for years.. But we love them and want them to feel welcome and a part 

Michelle: 

Because there is enough love & room in our hearts...and if a kid needs a family, even just for a little bit, they should get a 'real' family full of real love. 

When I shared these answers with her, her response melted my heart. Not only did she love them, but her love for others was clearly shown by the answer she gave back. She said "I know all your friends make the best foster parents. And my foster cousins get the best mommy and daddy ever, even if it is only for a day or two. Those kids are lucky to get special love like I do."

She has such a gentle and loving nature about her. No matter what is going on in her life, she thinks about others first. Even when she is in the hospital, she wants to be in the playroom where she can make others smile (when she is allowed to).

Music Theater Classes

I have loved listening to Ellie's voice develop and grow with the help of her amazing voice teacher Cathy Mooney Koncurat.

Well today during her musical theater classes, families were coming into the church for a piano recital, and while Ellie was singing "The Girl I Mean To Be" from The Secret Garden for the other kids.

Families for the recital started piling up in the hall to listen to her, and were commenting on her voice and how young she is. Yes the classroom door was closed.

Oh yeah, total proud mama moment right there.

Stitches are out

Yesterday I got my stitches out! However, not in the manner planned. I had an appointment with my doctor, yet Wednesday evening during scouts and young men/women's I started having bad tummy cramping but was able to mostly ignore it. By the time I was out with a friend helping her get some shopping done it had become more intense, but still mostly ignorable.

Well that is until about 2 am when it became really bad. By 4 am I was vomiting every few minutes and diarrhea had also hit. By the time of my appointment I could barely stand and even with Zofran I was still vomiting everything up. Needless to say I was not getting my stitches taken out by my doctor. Instead she wanted me taken to the ER immediately. Jade's appointment had also been canceled and she too was to be taken to the ER with us as the clinic felt she needed a stronger breathing treatment then they had available. (her visit was short as she has pneumonia)

During my ER visit I was given multiple doses of Morphine and Zofran and I was still in severe pain and vomiting. I had to have contrast for a CT-scan along with the allergy meds and steroids to reduce a reaction. The CT-scan came back showing inflammation and infection in ileus section of the bowels. The cause of the severe pain. I am now on several pain meds and antibiotics. I am also having to focus on the liquids now because eating causes severe pain.

For now I am waiting until I can get into the GI to find out exactly what is going on and how to prevent further ER trips for the same thing again. I was supposed to see the GI already, and had been putting it off. However now I can't put it off any longer.

Oh and while I was waiting in the ER, the doctor removed my stitches. Thank goodness my face is healing up nicely!

Jade had pneumonia again

Yesterday we took Jade in (again) to see why she keeps running fevers, coughing, and vomiting. Turns out the poor kid had pneumonia.

Second time this school year she has had severe respiratory issues.

At the beginning of the year, she had the and severe bronchitis causing her to miss the 1st month of classes. Now she has once again missed just over a week.

Poor girl can't catch a break. With the marching band trip/competition next month and not being able to play her flute for nearly 2 weeks, she is going to have a lot of last minute practice to make sure she is still up to speed.

I know playing wise she'll be ok. The biggest question is, how will she be lung and energy wise.

Funny Stories For Lip Injury

So I got tired of saying I collapsed a seat in a van to load dog crates and smacked myself shoving my glasses into my lip. Yes, something that takes real talent, so I asked for some funny stories about how I ended up with a huge cut and stitches on my face. Here are some of the responses I got back :)

Cheap way of a DIY nose job (Jo)

I knew I should have warned her about that Ninja that hides in the back of my van. Oops (Trish)

I know I don't cook often - and this is exactly why. My concoctions are SO good that people go a little crazy fighting over the leftovers - this poor girl obviously missed her mouth completely and injured herself with the fork. (Les)

"So I was taking an e-cig smoke break at work when this van suddenly pulled up to the curb with a loud screech. Out jumped three hooded men dressed in black, and they grabbed another man in a dark blue suit, threw a hood over his head, and started dragging him into the van. Having recently graduated from Marielle Hanson's International School of Kickboxing and feeling a bit over-confident, I decided to intervene. 

"The first guy never saw what was coming and may never wake up. The second guy saw what was coming, but not quickly enough and is now recovering nicely at the VA hospital, although it's not clear whether he'll ever be able to eat anything but soup again. The third guy proved to be a little more problematic because he was trained in the martial arts and threw a few punches that landed before I took him out with a roundhouse to his chest that cracked three of his ribs and punctured a lung.

"Anyway, it turned out that the businessman was Ryan Gosling working on the set of the new Jason Bourne movie, and that I was finally able to quit my day job and become Hollywood's newest female action hero. Look for me and Gosling in the movie when it comes out. We kind of hit it off, so to speak, and recently decided it was time for us to share a loft in SOHO. He's even better looking in person than he seems onscreen." (Micheal)

Surgery for Corbyn Postponed (sigh)

Well surgery for Corbyn is not happening today. This morning he fell in his room, hitting his head, knocking him out. Because of this we are now being sent to the ER for evaluation. At this point we don't know what they will do, other than the normal heme/neuro eval.

Yeah one good thing... At least for now Corbyn has a normal platelet count! His icing infusion last week brought his counts up to 208,000! He has not had a count like this since before he was diagnosed with itp. Still surgery has to be rescheduled because he fell. We are heading home.

Right now we are waiting until the 17th when he is scheduled to follow-up with the peds dr for the ER visit. At that appointment we will have a much better idea as to when we will be sent to the neuro.

Feb, 9th Long and Frustrating Day...

Today has been a long and frustrating day...

First physical therapy was not in the pool and I was quickly reminded why I switched to aqua- not regular. I left hurting more then when I arrived. After PT I had just enough time to grab a quick lunch for both Zach and I as we were heading to his pulmonary/allergy appt. I like the dr, however, so far no answers for our son who randomly breaks out in hives and rashes.

The poor kid sat through 60 skin pricks, 16 just under the skin pricks and only reacted to the one he was supposed to. NOTHING else??? His lung function tests were good considering he has been coughing for months. Since he has been having to use his albuterol daily, his asthma meds have been changed. I do not remember the name of the new inhaler nor the new antihistamine. However, this antihistamine is supposed to help with the mucous and also help with his random hives. Well since all skin pricks were negative, we had an order for blood work. Good thing this was much easier and faster than the allergy testing.

Then on the way home from the appointments, some guy decided that he just had to drive like 60 mph in a 30 mph zone causing the driver in front of me to slam on her brakes. I was not quite fast enough and left a dent in the hood of my friends car. ARG!!!

Finally home... cleaning out my friends van so we can return it to her (dent and all sigh..) and as I was releasing the backseat to fold it down, the force of the springs caused the seat to smack me in the face. Right away I know something was wrong when I went to lift my glasses and they were stuck to my upper lip???

Yes the van seat smacked me hard enough to cause my glasses to get jammed into my upper lip cutting it deep. I had to bend the glasses badly out of shape just to remove them, and get pressure on my face. Poor girls were freaking out. Jade had called dad, and Celidah was ready to drive me to the ER right then glasses still stuck. Thank goodness, Frank was literally minutes away.

Yep... my night ended with Frank taking me to the ER. In the end I got 3 stitches and got cut by my glasses in a way this local ER had never seen before.

LOL I guess when things seem to have a "quiet" moment, something must happen to liven our day.

My face before the stitches...