Why I Get NOTHING Done At Night

The babies still go bonkers at bedtime. I sit outside their doorway, reading or emailing, until they fall asleep. This curbs their tendency to get out of bed. It DOES NOT curb anything else. Heard last night:

Junebug: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Chickadee: Mommy, Junebug say AAAAHHHHHH!
Junebug: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Chickadee: Mommy, Junebug say AAAAHHHHHH!
 Junebug: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Chickadee: Mommy, Junebug say AAAAHHHHHH!
Me: I know, honey. It's ok.
[silence]
Chickadee: AAAAAAHHHHHHH!
Junebug: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Chickadee: Mommy, Junebug not sleeping. Junebug say AAAHHHHH!!!
Me: I know. It's ok.
[silence]
Chickadee: AAAAAAHHHHHHH!
Junebug: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Chickadee: Mommy, Junebug not sleeping. Junebug say AAAHHHHH!!!
Me: I know. It's ok.

And round and round we went.

Why Watch TV?

...when you can walk to the mailbox and happen to arrive there as the mail carrier is passing out mail to all 80 mail boxes?

We sat tonight, on the sidewalk beside the cluster of mailboxes, and watched the poor mailman fill all of the boxes. He was not much into answering questions but the kids didn't seem to mind. When he was finished, gasp! There was MAIL IN OUR MAILBOX!! So we picked it up and walked home.

Way better than watching Dora.

Seven Years

Seven years
29 kids
19 ultimately reunified
4 in relative placements
1 moved to be with a sibling
1 adopted by another family
3 stuck with me for good
and
1 still in the works.

I am forever grateful for each of these children, no matter how long they stayed. I am also grateful for my inability to consistently say 'no'. Seven years ago, my guideline was 2 kids, aged 4 to 8. Had I stuck with that, the current crew would not be here today.

Saying "yes" has changed my life.

The Imperfect Post About The Perfect Day

We've been official for a week yet every time I try to write about our day, I come up blank.

It could not have been a better day. The kids were excited and helped set up for our party. Really helped, not just "helped". We went out to a lovely lunch with our friend who flew in for the occasion. Family came rolling in. Then we got alllllll dressed up and drove to the courthouse. Speed was insistent on a tie and "fancy" shoes. The girls and I were in dresses. They had no real understanding of what was about to happen, but they knew it was a special day.

I have been to a few adoptions of friends' kiddos. They have all been lovely and ours was equally as lovely. What struck me in our hearing was the village sitting behind me. It was such a big village, in fact, that there was standing room only and the people with cameras/FaceTiming phones were permitted to be up close to the judge's bench.

About fifty people welcomed these kids into a permanent family. Fifty people.

The kids appear to understand that they are here for good, that I am their mom, that they are Russells. What I wish they understood more is that they are forever part of an amazing community--family, church friends, old caseworkers, old coworkers, playmates, their legal team--that has embraced them as Russells as well.

After the ceremony we came home for our cupcakes and lollipops. The girls posed for an excellent picture displaying their blue lollipop tongues. We continued celebrating the next day with a party at some friends' house. We are still eating cupcakes and lollipops a week later.

The kids were given blankets with their names, new middle names and adoption date embroidered on them. Every night since September 26th, we've had to lay the blankets out smoothly and read the names. 

I am grateful, so grateful, for phone calls I received on May 9, 2013 to take the kids, and on August 22, 2013 to take them back the next day. I am grateful for the people who fought for them to be safe and stay together. I am mostly grateful for these three: