Journey of a Former Home-schooling, Transracial, Adoptive and Foster Family

I don't think I can put the past few weeks into words....not enough time, not enough space even in cyber space....not enough brain cells to process the long journey. It is worthy of putting into words, but I just can't...not all of it anyway. Here I go in my attempt.

The trial...I am STILL tired from it and I didn't even get to go in. The attorney for "mom" told our casewoker, Linda...from hence forward will be called Linda that he would NOT INVOKE THE RULE..well, the first thing he did when he stood up was to INVOKE the rule. Out we went from 9 until after 5. At least I was out there with Linda and another caseworker and Edie (A friend who came to pray and support us). Locke got to stay in along with Angela Williams, Ann and Hannah Tarkington, Kim Auran, Ginny DeBoer and Karen Jakobowski (now Ragonesi as of August 4th). All these incredible people came AND stayed to support our sweet princess and us of course. That was overwhleming! Each of these people had and still have different things to report from the trial. If is interesting to piece it together from their prospectives. I will say this coming from Locke, "There was A LOT of lying going on in that courtroom". In the end...rights were terminated on "mom". Dad relinquished on Friday before the trial. Mom came screaming out of the courtroom and almost had to be restrained. She then ran down the hall crying and that was hard to take. Even though I know she can't be a parent, knowing what took place and knowing her heart was broken was unbearable.

Appeal: She has 90 days to appeal. It would then be re-scheduled and we would start this process again with another judge and it could easily take another year...yes, you heard me right. Appeals seldom reverse, but.....the time would be agonizing. Monday..."mom" called screaming to Linda telling her she was writing a book, calling the radio and newspaper and one way or another she was getting her baby back. She also used quite a bit of foul language. This happened for 2 days in a row. Linda was calm and assured her that she must file the appeal within 90 days. "mom" did tell her that her attorney pulled himself from the case. This is good and bad....good because now CPS does NOT have to file that "mom" is no longer indigent....as long as he was her attorney then she is assumed indigent even though she has a job. This would be a legal process to "declare her no longer indigent". Now that he is off the case she IS NOT indigent. This also means that she must secure her own attorney without the assistance of CPS, and pay up front for them. This would be pretty tough for her to do...not just the money (it is a reduced rate...not what we would be charged), but just her going through the process of securing one. She is just not that "together" if you know what I mean. The bad news is that it would take WAY longer because the new attorney would use the excuse of "I need the time to get familiar with the case"....true, but a ploy none-the-less. Friday....she calls and is very calm. She talks for more than an hour to Linda. She remains calm the entire time. She asks if we love "her". She has decided not to file an appeal. She wants Baby K to have a home and now. She wants this to end. She wants to be able to see her and get pictures. Linda assured her that it is NOT CPS's recommendation to us that either happen because of her death threat to us. She told "mom" that would leave it up to us to decide if we wanted to send pictures through CPS. She told her in no way could she contact us herself or she would be arrested for attempting to follow through on her threat. CPS does not recommend that we have any contact. We have decided we will send pictures, at least for now.

Baby P...also known as Miss France (If you don't know her name just think about it for a minute and you will figure it out....she is also known as Chloe. She is doing very well. We have a lot going on with moving forward for cleft palate surgery and finding out if she is permanently deaf or not or how bad the loss is. She is a happy little girl who has no idea anything is wrong. She can light a room with her smile. You wouldn't know she had a cleft palate until you see the weird bottle she has to eat from. She doesn't have a cleft lip. She has gained 2 lbs in just one month and we are so very proud! Caroline and I are having fun buying matching outftits for our little darlings who are only 7 months apart. Fun stuff ahead!

I am having touble getting motivated to get ready for "school". I have written some lesson plans, bought most books, and attempted organizing the bookshelves, but I feel like there are holes....holes because it is long periods between when I work on these things and my brain forgets what I've done. Yes, I know...make a list! I do, but it doesn't help. I need to order a few more things in the next few days, but want to make that's it before I pay the shipping.

Caleb is attending Christian Heritage. Our beloved Diamond is supposed to be paying for his tuition, but something is not right. She is not going into heat. We are trying to wait it out, but she should have already done this. TMI....I know.." for our son's tuition. Well, you gotta do what you gotta do and she already has a relationship with the father of her future children. They already have children together. Now, whether he is faithful....well, there are rumors that he gets around, but our girl has remained true. Now she needs to get to the business at hand!

JOB: Still praying on that one. He has interviewed with someone we know (In fact I grew up with his wife...her parents were my grandparents close friends). He is a very well respected builder in Longview and has bought a franchise that builds doctor's offices and other professional buildin"turn key" operation and needs someone to do sales and marketing. Locke would really enjoy this! he would be good at it! Now....the owner is just really busy with work and hasn't had time to get this venture off the ground. We want to scream...."we are going on 8 months without a job....please get some time" and yet, we understand "busy"! It sneaks in a takes over. I guess what we really want to know is "will he hire Locke?" or are we just spinning our wheels hanging on to this hope. It's not like Locke is not still looking, it's that there isn't much out there. Please continue to pray for this for us!

Colin: This is kind of funny as you might expect with Colin so get ready! Several years ago Caroline was preaching to Colin about how to become a Christian. This went on for several days and the the 2 of them were sitting on top of Colin and Caleb's bunkbed. The subject came up again and he asked several questions (I was nearby listening to this exchange). At that time he looked down at the lower bunk (they make a T) and said, "I guess I need Jesus in my heart if I'm going to be able to live jumping down from this bunkbed". They immediately bowed their heads and Caroline led him in a perfect prayer of salvation....VERY serious stuff. They said "Amen" and he promptly jumped off the bed.....and survived. Well...we decided that we needed to wait on this and let it perculate under the circumstance so we did. Then this week he began asking questions and answering his own questions. He admitted that he REALLY did ask Jesus in his heart those many years ago, but it was for the wrong reasons and he wanted to get it straight. It was so adorable. He then began to explode to call Miss Ginny (our Children's Minister) and Pastor Jim. We could hardly keep him on earth. Locke took him to see them both and there we have it. He has talked about it non stop since then!

My fingers and brain are now tired and I must move on, but THAT is what is happening in a nutshell at the Curfman Funny Farm