Living Normal

Lacey's favorite saying after Laynie was born, was "Normal is just a setting on your dryer".

That kind of goes for foster care too.

Nothing about our life is "normal".  And yet, everything is.

Lovely won't  join in any of the games we play "I don't like games", and finally, when her favorite person in the world, Lacey, pushed her to play apples to apples with us, her shortcoming became very apparent.

Homegirl can't read.

Her little brother reads for her.

Well slap my face, and call me sheepish.

It blows my mind how she has slipped through the cracks, and how she has made it this far, with no ability to read.

I enlisted her favorite teacher at school, and she is now getting tutoring after school.  One on One.  I told her teacher to take her all the way back to phonics.  And to continue phonics until she gets it.

This kid isn't going to fail on my watch.

LB's need for a big brother didn't go unnoticed by all my friends that read my blog.  He is meeting with a new potential big bro on Friday night, and they are going to hang out and play soccer at the park on Saturday morning.  He is over the moon, and almost catatonic he is so excited.

That makes me happy.

I put them both in art therapy and they see a counselor once a week to work through their PTSD.  That's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, for those of you not familiar with acronyms.  PTSD pisses me off.  The fact that a 12 year old and a 9 year old suffer from it, pisses me off even more.

They are so frightened by the dark that I have to light my house up like Las Vegas at night.  All I need is Elvis, and a little more neon, and I'll need the Boulder dam to keep us lit.

We have come so far in many ways, and taken one tiny baby step in others.   LB is reading on his level now, and is totally caught up in math.  He is still struggling speaking English, and when he gets excited, it takes a much younger ear than mine to understand what he is trying to say.

Lovely is taking part of the Loveworks program put on by Journey church, and WOW that program is empowering to girls like her.  It's amazing.

Here's what I know.  If by some weird twist of fate, these children have to go home, they will be equipped.  They will NOT be the same kids that came here with no options or tools in their toolbelt of life.

They will be smarter, full of self esteem, knowing right from wrong, they will NEVER allow an adult to put their hands on them, and they will have knowledge how to junk punch the crap out of adult that dares to do that.

They will know God, and understand that NO MATTER the circumstance, HE IS THERE.

They will have options, and know how to use them.  And that is what POWERS me to keep going....

Because THESE children MATTER, and their lives are going to be different.

End.  Of.  Freaking.  Story.

Yes,  I'm venting.   Thank you for listening.