Back to Normal

Well, I guess life is back to normal now. If there even is a normal anymore!

Yesterday, I was kind of paranoid about Shadow's dad coming to our house. I even called the Liberty Police Patrol to ask them to drive by a couple of times throughout the day. I didn't spend much time at home in the morning anyway. Coralyn and I kept busy running errands, some of which I think I made up just to have something to do and keep my mind occupied.

Not that I didn't have lots to think about though. Around 8:30 yesterday morning I got a call asking if we would be willing/able to take in THREE new kiddos! "Um, how old are they?" is my first question, as I think about my family going from 3 to 6 in a matter of minutes! Hearing that the kiddos were 1, 2 and 1/2, and 5 and 1/2 made my heart do a little flip. I wasn't exactly sure we could handle that many little ones. But I sure wanted to talk to Lawrence before I made any decisions, and figure out a way we could open our home, and hearts, to these children.

I got some more background information and then headed to his school to discuss the possibility of adding THREE kids to our family, giving us a total of 4 kids ages 5 and under! He needed time to process and think through the decision clearly, so I left him to work on getting ready for the first day of school and headed home to get the rooms ready in case we did decide to foster these precious kiddos.

I changed the curtain to a monkey one we got specifically for younger kids, moved the bunk beds a bit, arranged the dresser and bookshelf so I could fit a pack n' play in the room that would be for the boys (ages 1 and 5 and 1/2). I brought up lots of Clifford and Dr. Suess books, along with some of Coralyn's younger aged toys. I picked out a stuffed animal for each of the boys and made their beds. I couldn't get Coralyn's room ready since she was taking a nap, but in my mind I was figuring out how to arrange furniture, make room in the closet for more clothes, and anything else I would need to do so that Coralyn could share the room with the little girl (2 and 1/2).

I was all ready and excited and thinking it would be challenging and keep me very busy, but that we could do it, especially since the older boy would be in kindergarten during the day.

Then the baby kicked, as if saying, "Hey don't forget about me!" I realized that come December we wouldn't have a bed for our new addition! Well, I reasoned, she can sleep in our room for awhile. We can borrow a bassinet or cradle from someone, and the baby will be fine. That is the plan anyway, whether we have foster kids or not. But what happens when the baby outgrows the bassinet and needs a crib? We don't have room in Coralyn's room for two toddler beds and a crib. No matter how we arrange the furniture, it just won't work. Not to mention having a dresser big enough for clothes for THREE girls!

My heart sunk. We would have to say no. I hate saying no, especially when someone needs my help. Especially when innocent children are involved. I know that we can't help them all, but I sure would like to be able to! I know we can't go past our limits or else we aren't really do any good. But it still breaks my heart. So with sadness I called the agency this morning to let them know we had decided we just couldn't take these three precious kiddos. Call us again though! We will be able to say yes to others. So please keep calling.

And because I never know when the phone will ring, or when it does how that phone call might drastically change my life, I have decided that I don't really know what normal is anymore. I guess for today normal is loving on Lawrence and Coralyn, and taking care of Carson during the day. So for now, normal is good, very good.

Who knows what normal will be tomorrow? :)