Just an update...

Out with the old ,in with the new. Are you ready for this New Year? I know I sure am. So ready to move past 2013 and see what is in store for the Howell Bunch in 2014. I can't really complain because the blessings of 2013 far outweighed any bumps we endured and I am thankful that it turned out to be a good year over all. Hopefully 2014 will go just as well:)


I got up this AM and decided it might be time to take down the Christmas tree. Was I excited? NO!!!! Not at all. I actually have enjoyed the glow of the tree every night and how homey the Christmas decorations  make my house feel. I love Christmas! Big Time! I actually was sad when it was over. Now I must wait over 11 months to decorate again. However, this year I may start early. I even told my daughter I had thought about just turning my house into a Christmas house and keeping it that way all year. I think my grandbabies would love that. I might even win MeMe of the year...lol My daughter gave me the, "You are crazy mom" look...lol


So much has happened since the first day of 2014. They have matched our foster daughter with a family. So it looks like she will be leaving us soon. We were asked back in November about adopting her, but it's just not something we think is best for her or us. She really needs life long care and her fragile health and needs are a full time job (as you can tell by my last post). I ran myself ragged last year. I was so busy taking care of the fosters that I struggled to just keep up and keep my head above the water. That's just not a life. I made time for my husband and for my own children, but it wasn't easy, and had no me time at all. We had so many things we wanted to do but we had to put on hold or set it aside to meet Baby girl's needs. I just don't feel I can keep going as I have the last two years. It's been very hard on us as a family. When you have special needs kids you have NO HELP. Not just anyone can watch her. At any moment her condition can turn critical and you have to be ready for that at all times. I have no babysitters that I can call up, so I get no breaks. Yes, we have nursing 70 hours a week (which drives me even more nuts),and trust me 70 hours is still not enough for all I have to do. It's not about just us. It's about her and her needs. She needs a 24/7 devoted family with no other kids to focus on (especially no other special needs kids). We are not that kind of family. So I told them today to go forward with the move. We will be meeting the family this week.


I can't give much info on Baby JK's case, but it too has taken a turn this week. I'm just not sure how it will all play out in the end. I don't think he will be moving across the US with g-maw after all. She feels that he is best here with us. She said he is happy and adjusted where he is and that she doesn't want to mess that up. I just have a feeling it's going to be another loooooong drug out case and I hate those kind of cases.


Everyone seems to be on the mend after a three week battle with fevers, snotty noses, and coughing. The babies had been passing it back and forth for days. Poor Baby girl has been in quarantine for the last two weeks to try to keep her well. Colds put her in the hospital, so when one gets the sniffles around here, we send her to quarantine. We've turned her bedroom into a fun play room/ movie room / nurse's office:) She loves her space and that's a good thing:)


We had our yearly re-cert for fostering last Monday. Never again will I put it off until the end of the year. We still have a few more things she's got to come out and do, but it looks like we are in for another year of fostering. This year so many things are going to change in the foster care system. New rules, new time limits, new types/ways of fostering, etc. I dread it. I don't like changes. In some ways it may get better for us, because they claim kids are going to go through the system much faster, meaning no more long drug out cases allowed, *BUT* we will see if that really happens. They also plan to stop pulling as many kids into foster care, but instead they will be putting resource foster parents in to the birth homes to train the  parents and over see the home and kids care. This may or may not be a good idea. I am not going to sign up to be one of those parent trainers. I'm sorry. I'm afraid that would just be to risky for me. Plus, I can't imagine trying to run two homes. My own home keeps me busy enough. So some kids that may need to be pulled into foster care will instead remain in their homes under a resource foster parent. We also changed the age group we are willing to accept. We changed it from birth -10 years old to birth -3 years old. We will have less calls/kids but we won't have to deal with the school system.


We also loose our RD worker:( (Insert tears here)  I have liked working with the same RD lady for the last few years, but she is leaving us too. We are going to get a new RD lady from another county. She will start handling our training, our re-certs, etc. I just hope she is as pleasant to work with. I'm a little stressed out about all the changes, but I guess we will just have to see how it plays out.

Well, that's about it. I need to get busy. My Hubby is in Alabama this weekend helping his dad, so I have it to myself. Plus I have no nursing, so my hands are full today. I plan to just work around my house and LOVE on my sweet babies all day.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6