Finally- A Little Bit of Normal!

It has been hard to feel like a 'normal' family these days...whatever a normal family feels like anyway! The big feelings that the boys are having, the emotional outbursts, the anger, the uncertainty, the feeling of exhaustion....

(A) has been having a rough time for the obvious reasons, but these past two days David has also been quite emotional and on edge. We had a breakdown on our way to school and when I picked him up. I've learned from him that when he cries for ridiculous reasons, he just needs some extra love and cuddles and then bounces back fairly easily.

So I spoke briefly to his teachers and asked how his week was going. They told me that he has been doing exceptionally well in class.

Do you know what my response was??

YEAH!!!! FINALLY!!! We are saving all the behaviors for at home....that makes us slightly more normal!! It is so much easier for me to handle 'stuff' at home, knowing that they are holding it together during the day and 'saving it for me' if you will. Wait...did I use the plural 'they are?' I take that back, cause my other little guy seems to do the opposite- he saves it for school! Thank the Lord that his teachers are unbelievably patient with him and love him to death.

Speaking of (A), I am starting something with him. I want to share it on this blog in hopes that it might help other foster parents who might be reading. I can't share many details about him or his case on here, but it doesn't hurt to give a few suggestions about how we are handling this potentially huge loss (no matter what the judge decides).

Thanks to David's amazing therapist (who we are loosing in a week- so so sad about that), I have been purposefully talking about the emotions (A) might be feeling about his mom and everything. Tonight, after we read a book and prayed, I asked (A) if he had any questions about his mommy. He didn't, but he had questions about his little brother. I then did the same with David. It was so nice to hear them ask questions and to be able to talk more openly about everything with them.

Their questions were very different. David is already trying to understand adoption and what adoption means...I'm so glad we are having these conversations now so that they will be more natural later on.

Ok, so talking about judges and birth mothers deciding on adoption for their children may not be the most typical of night time conversations for 'normal' families, but at least one of my sons is starting to save his misbehavior and outbursts for me at home....I am going to celebrate that little bit of normal!