So I have debated on how to move forward with this blog for sometime now. When we started foster care I thought that we would have to pretty much give up the blog and all social media since there are rules that you can't post pictures of the foster kids on social media (which I totally understand and support). But I don't write a journal and I don't scrapbook so I was sad about the idea of not recording our lives and family time here. Especially at this stage of life when there is so much going on and frankly I doubt I will remember much on my own from these crazy busy years. After learning the rules and getting a feel for things I have decided that it will be ok for me to post photos of the kids here for our family journal. I wont be talking about their case at all and I wont even be sharing their real names here. I have made this blog private and have only included a handful of you that can view it. I will be sharing our family adventures still and special events. I am happy to get back into a little bit of blogging and writing down our family's story which currently includes 3 extra family members. And with that lets get back to where we left off...
At the beginning of May we officially became licensed foster parents. We had planned to wait until after our trip back east before we had kids come stay with us, but the need is so great in Utah for foster parents we decided to get started right away. That same week they called us for a couple different cases. It was so hard to decide about our first case since we truly had no idea what to expect. We also had no idea what we could or could not handle. But thankfully when we got the call for our current placement things felt right
and we were able to say yes right away for these cute kids. I know Heavenly Father answered our prayers and gave us peace when we needed it. We got the call for the kids at about 5:00 pm, I quickly talked to McKay about the placement, and I was able to go pick them up around 8:00 pm that same evening. Just like that we welcomed a 4 year old girl, a 2 year old boy, and a 1 year old girl into our home. On this blog I will be calling them Big sis, Mr. J and Little A just to keep things private.
That first night the kids were so wired and very excited to meet each other. Thankfully the kids were happy to meet us and excited to play with our toys. Although they did not love bedtime and it took us quite a while to get everyone settled. Adrenaline was running high and I got very little sleep that first night. I mostly just layed awake thinking about everything and worrying over how we were going to make everything work.
Overnight we went from a family of 7 to a family of 10. That first morning I sent McKay to the store to buy everything. Diapers, carseats, toddler bed, pillows, lots of kid friendly food, etc. We shuffled beds grabbed clothes from the basement and started unpacking things. That evening I went to Target and bought lots of kids clothes and shoes to fill in the gaps where we were lacking. That part was kind of fun and kind of crazy to just be throwing things in your cart (I don't usually get to do that haha!).
The first two weeks were... quite the transition to say the least. It was very similar to bringing home a new baby. But a baby that can already talk and that you didn't know was coming. haha! But the kids are just so sweet and so loveable we are very grateful to have them here and think they are the just the cutest.
Transitioning into one family unit has taken a lot of effort and has been a struggle for each one of us, but a struggle worth having. The kids all really like each other with plenty of fighting and jealousy thrown in for good measure. There are MANY toddler fights and they are probably my least favorite part about having 8 little kids so close in age. Oh and the carseats… those are a pain. We currently have 6 kids in 5 point harnesses. So.many.buckles. Our van in a comical sight to say the least.
It took us a good 2 weeks of chaos to start to get a feel for the direction things should be going. Routine is our new best friend and we stick to a schedule each day to keep things flowing well. There are also things that we simply cannot do at this stage of life with so many littles. Resturants, swimming pools, and large crowds are just a few. We really love parks, splash pads, and our home right now for entertainment. Oh and good old McDonalds, they all love that.
Here are some scenes from may as we lived in survival mode and got adjusted to each other.
This year Mothers day I had many mixed emotions. I was overwhelmed with so many littles to care for, grateful to have my kids and some bonus ones as well, very sad for their mama, and grateful for other mothers examples that have shown me that I can do hard things. These photos are comical because A. the lighting is terrible B. It was after our first day to church with everyone and we were tired. BUT this is what life is right now and I am trying to embrace it.
Here are a few more snapshots from those first weeks. I really should have taken more photos from the first few weeks since I am sure I will want to look back on them. But I was busy and honestly knowing that you can't share them with anyone didn't make me super eager to take photos. Silly, but that is the truth.
Welcome to the Family!
