FAQ #9

"How have the kids been since Eagle left?"

I would say they are fine. Chickadee is my talker. She has asked many, many questions about where he is, why he isn't here, why we don't still see him or talk to him (when we got to for Junebug for several months after she moved). She talks about missing him and about things he would be doing "right now" if he were with us. (ex/ Eagle would be riding his bike with us if he didn't move.)

Sunshine, true to herself, has not said much at all. She will occasionally point out something that he would have liked (ex/ Eagle would like it that we are eating dessert.). She was greatly bothered the other day when she found a handful of matchbox cars I forgot to send on. She has since played with them a few times, but in general, seems fine.

Speed was initially so excited to have his car seat moved from the 3rd row to the middle row. Now, he talks about Eagle and things Eagle likes and occasionally wonders why we don't see Eagle anymore. Speed can be tricky in the behavior department so has one less kid to bother when he is feeling jealous or in need of attention.

To me, fostering doesn't impact them the way I initially thought it would. I see more positives in what they get out of sharing a part of their lives with a kiddo than negatives. (There are negatives...don't get me wrong).

For now, we are pushing the pause button. We have some things we want to do that are easier with three kids than four. We need to chat about what another child in the home would look like (age-wise, rooms-wise). The kids would like a baby. I would not. We need to take a little road trip this summer to begin our quest to get "48 states before Speed graduates". I would expect only a very special circumstance to bring us a "friend" anytime soon. We will reevaluate things as a family sometime this summer and go from there.