Babies are such a nice way to start people. . .

Those of you who have read my blog at all know that I love a good quote. I have always loved the one above.

I was just thinking about how a baby can make people smile who had no intention of doing so, cause a crowd to flock around me when I am not interesting enough for that kind of attention on my own, and make people happy for a little bit while they just enjoy looking at another miracle of God and forget their own troubles for a moment or two.

I am currently providing double the smiles as I cart two babies around. :-)

Here are a few more nice baby quotes I found for your reading pleasure. . .

Babies are always more trouble than you thought - and more wonderful.
-- Charles Osgood

Families with babies and families without are so sorry for each other.
-- Ed Howe

It is not a slight thing when those so fresh from God love us.
-- Dickens

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
-- Elizabeth Stone

A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.
--Author Unknown

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one.
-- Leo J. Burke

And the last quote reminded me that one of mine shall surely be up very soon, so I shall go to bed.

~Susan

Birth mothers need to visit their children . . .CPS has this one right!

Based on my experiences in the foster care system, I often do not agree with CPS, and how they are choosing to handle a case, but I have one to three foster children to love and care for and a social worker may have up to 60 on their case load. And the social workers are also tied by the law, the court, the lawyer, the judge, and their supervisor.

Most birth parents will tell you the system stole their child and doesn't want to give it back, they are wrong.

In many cases, DCFS is trying to give the children back to their parents, but the parents will not do one simple thing that the court wants them to do - visit their child.

I used to think they were making it too easy on these parents. What?! The parent uses drugs, abuses their child, neglects them for months, and finally the child is taken away in order to keep them safe and sometimes to feed them since in extreme neglect cases the children aren't being fed.

And the judge says visit your child. Regularly. Now I have realized how important that is.

• keep the mother child bond if there was one
• establish a bond if there wasn't one
• show that they are responsible enough to keep a regular appointment
• show that they love their child so much that you can't stand to be away from them and they are the most important thing to you in the world

So now, I understand the importance of the visit. Sure, drug test, take your parenting classes, attend AA meetings, and get a suitable place to live.

But most importantly, visit your child. When the birth mother of my foster son can only make about half her visits, and has never been on time for the last six months, how could she have handled J's chronic ear infections resulting in two ruptured eardrums and six doctors visits in 3 weeks?

Sorry, now I am rambling. But if she wants her son, how can she not want to see him.? And believe me, she makes the choice not to come. She doesn't call to apologize or make excuses for herself. She just doesn't come.

My nineteen year old son went camping this weekend for the first time. I miss him. He is nineteen, so I won't jump in the car and track him down. I won't call him repeatedly on his cell phone - well, I may have, but he said there is no cell service.

Baby J's mom sometimes goes weeks without making a visit, but legally she gets until June. No, her child wasn't "legally kidnapped" as one blog wants us to believe. He was taken for his safety and his mom can see him if she chooses. She can have him returned if she chooses.

It is in her hands.

"Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children."
Charles R. Swindoll

Are You My Mother?

When my son Brandon was a toddler, he had a favorite book for a while. It was the Dr. Suess classic, "Are You My Mother."

He wanted me to read it over and over again. I got so sick of it that one afternoon I "misplaced" the book in the closet. It was put right next to the popcorn vacuum like toy that his grandma gave him. (those things are so loud! with three kids 3 and under I could only take so much noise. . .)

Little Boy D, the newest edition to our family, walked up to me the other day and calmly asked,

"Are you my mommy?"

I looked at him and replied, "Yes, when you live with me I am your mommy."

He had a little smile and he walked away so I guess I said the right thing this time.

Oh, he still feels more comfortable calling me Susan with a drawn out "A", from a bit of a Filipino accent acquired from his last foster mom, but he knows who I am.

~Susan

For where your treasure is,
there will be your heart also.
Luke 12:24

Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns TV Show

Whether you are a fan of Tyler Perry Movies or not, his new show is something you might want to check out.

Meet the Brown's is a new show airing on TBS, the network that air's Tyler Perry's House of Payne. I have to admit that I have never seen house of Payne, but my girls think it is hysterical.

I do like some of Tyler Perry's movies. They are not Christian movies, but do have Christian characters who are unashamed of their faith. They aren't perfect, but neither am I!

Anyway, back to Meet the Browns:

The show is based on one of the characters from the movie. Mr. Brown owns a house he inherited. He starts a home for seniors, thinking that's what his father would have wanted. Then there's the handyman and the celebrity doing her community service for a DUI.

Then - yes, there's more! - a friend who is a social worker is looking for a home for two children whose mother is in prison. The Brown's are a respite home, so they end up taking the kids in and the social worker drops by now and then.

Besides loving the fact that there is a show featuring a family doing foster care, the show was really really funny. We were laughing out loud!

Check it out. If you missed it so far, I noticed you can catch up on episodes online.

Here you go: http://www.tbs.com/shows/meetthebrowns/

~Susan

Why Do They Call it Urgent Care?

Two things about my last post:

Drake and Josh are definitely funnier when it is not a holiday. Brooke and I have started to watch the movie and I fell asleep. :-) Well, I can't blame it all on Drake and Josh; I have only had about 8 hours of sleep the last few days - combined!

Baby J got even sicker. Saturday I could not keep his fever down so the rest of the family went to celebrate my father-in-law's 85th birthday, and Baby J and I stayed home. (shucks . . .)

I had plans. While Baby J slept I was going to clean. He didn't sleep, nor did I clean. After a 103.8 reading 2 hours after Tylenol, I decided to hit the Urgent Care. By the time they saw Baby J his fever was 105! Then the nurses could understand why he was screaming so obnoxiously in the waiting room for the past hour! I wanted to go let the other people know why he was being so loud and annoying, but I really didn't care what they thought at this point.

So, they gave him a big dose of Tylenol and made us go wait another half hour in the waiting room. Then they call your name, but alas, it is a trick! They call just to put you in a room to wait again.

So, after all was said and done, Baby J's fever dropped to an acceptable 101.9 and he was diagnosed with a double ear infection. I have always been a little suspect that some doctors find an ear infection for a child who seems really sick, but just has a cold. But I saw the ears - they weren't pretty. Not sure what they should look like in there, but what I saw wasn't it.

Baby J is still really sick, and I need to hit the hay. He should be waking up very soon. :-)

~Susan, who will sleep next year.

A morning without coffee is like sleep.
Unknown

Merry Christmas, Drake and Josh!

According to Hollywood, a foster home is a horrible place, where you will likely be abused by your horrible foster parents. The teen always is running away from an abusive foster home, the girl is being abused by the foster family's teenage son, and the rest of the children are found starving in the foster family's hall closet. . .

How refreshing it is to see a show portray a foster family in a positive light! Now I realize you may not normally watch "Drake and Josh," the hit Nickelodeon show. You actually should sometime; it's quite funny.

Well, I admit I haven't watched the whole movie yet - I have been trying to get things done while baby J is sleeping for a bit. (he is really sick and I don't expect him to stay asleep for long) I did wander by the tv a few times though and caught the fact that this holiday movie has a foster family and a little girl in foster care as a main part of the story.

My daughter taped it so I will watch it soon. I am sure you will be able to catch the rerun on Nick and if you don't get cable, get a friend to tape if for you. It is called, Merry Christmas Drake and Josh. A sweet, silly family movie that has a positive foster family portrayal is something to be happy about.

~Susan, dropping by after a terribly long blogging dry spell.

A society grows great when old men plant trees
whose shade they know they will never sit in.

Greek Proverb

Little French Baby

In case you were wondering what is up with LFB, I thought I would give you a quick update.

First of all, she is still here. I think I mentioned she was going to an Aunt and Uncle. We were patiently waiting for them to get their house to pass inspection - all there background checks had come through already.

We all love LFB and she is clearly very attached to us also. But we are trying to keep it in our minds this whole time that she is going to family, blah, blah, blah, and be happy for her.

Fast forward two months, and the Aunt and Uncle have given up their quest. They never seemed super committed to her, but they said they were going to take her and adopt if the mom's rights are terminated - to keep LFB in the family.

I know I really can't divulge personal info on them, but they refused to do something and that is making them seem like they are hiding something. They actually are refusing on principle they say - in other words, pride. Whatever their reason, we are shocked! How could they give up? We love LFB and would love to keep her, but to think they could have here and will not is just hard to comprehend.

So now we wait. Normally, LFB would just stay here. But, bio mom was moved to rehab 90 minutes away. This is not her first rodeo. Normally the court would move LFB closer. Her social worker wants to keep her here since she is already attached to us. What a thought: Let's do what is best for the child. Then there are the visits the mom will get.

Can we drive to Long Beach every week? More than once? Can I keep it a secret from my husband?

to be continued. . .

~Susan

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it,
change the way you think about it.
~Mary Engelbreit