Angels=Braxton & Hayley

My new princess Hayley. This is my brother's little girl.



My darling Braxton wearing his footed snowmen PJ's in mid August. They were his older brothers so he thought that was really neat. He is my sister's boy.

Posing for the camera

I suck at algebra

I totally suck at algebra! I'm not good at any kind of math and I have never been since my horrible teacher in 7th grade. This past week I have had SO much homework and have spent hours trying to Relearn all the stuff I must have purged from my hard drive (my brain). So far I have not been impressed with the instructor she hasn't used the board or overhead to teach us anything.

On the other hand my other three online classes, psychology, sociology and English started Monday. The first week is the intro week so there aren't any assignments. Hopefully I will get my books sometime this week, they are being shipped to me from the Ft. Riley campus. I like to read ahead just to get a little jump start so I don't feel totally clueless. Most of my classmates are Army soldiers stationed around the world. They use all the military lingo in our chat rooms so I have to ask Gary to decipher it for me, I swear the Army speaks an entire different language.

I kind of started my new job yesterday at the Red Cross. The Great Bend office is under the Wichita chapter so they are my bosses. Well everyone that knows anything about me starting is 1. having major medical issues, 2. death of father out of state, 3. very ill spouse, so I'm not even showing up on the radar. I figure when they all get back into the office and get my training planned they will let me know, until then I'm enjoying more time off!

Application submitted

Today our foster care application was submitted to the state of Kansas. Our foster care worker is hoping that the temporary license will be expedited because we are wanting to adopt Little Man out of foster care and his bio mom has already relinquished her rights. The bio dad's rights are currently in the process of being terminated. As soon as we get the temporary license we will be able to spend time with him and we can get to know each other.

Exciting phone call

Little Man's foster mom called to ask how our foster care licensing process is coming along and if we thought we would have our temporary license by Labor Day. Their family won tickets to a baseball game in Kansas City and if we had our temporary license Little Man could stay with us for the weekend. Unfortunately our paperwork has not even been submitted to the State yet because we are waiting on Gary to get back from National Guard annual training. This is what we are waiting for: fingerprints, Gary health assessment form signed, Gary copy of CPR/First Aid cards, copy of his drivers license and pay stub. It seems like such petty stuff but the agency makes sure every I is dotted and T is crossed. Hopefully Monday we will get our application to become foster parents sent to the state and then it takes about a month to get the temporary license. Once we have the temp license for our home we will be able to start providing respite care for Little Man. Meaning that if his foster family wants to go out of town or just wants a break he cam come to our home. His Foster Mom has never had one of her foster kids be adopted so this will be a new process for both of us.

First day back to college

Today was my first day back to college after a very long break. I was pretty worried about dealing with smart ass 18 year old sitting in class texting & being disresceptful. The only class I'm taking on campus is algebra and that is because I HATE math and struggle with it so I'm hoping that have an face to face instructor will help.

Changes, changes, changes

I'm changing the focus of my blog to be more centered about the daily happening of my life. I have so many changes that coming up. I am returning to college next week to pursue a career as a family nurse practitioner. I have had some college but it was more business focused so basically I am starting over in the medical field. Even some of the credits you would think would last forever (English, Algebra, Anatomy & Physiology, etc.) expire after 5 years if you have not graduated. I have a long road ahead of me but it will be worth it in the end!

I also start my new job as a branch manager for the American Red Cross. I'm really looking forward to the position and having the flexibility of not sitting behind a computer screen for 10 hours a day inputting data day in and day out. I miss working with the general public and the satisfaction of helping others in need. My job is only 20 hours per week to that will work great with my classes.

Phone call from birth Mom

Today I got a phone call from CM (Little Man's biomom). She just wanted to update me that she did relinquish her rights on Tuesday. She broke down and told me that she did everything she could do to be his Mom but she just couldn't give him a good life and she knows that we can. This just about broke my heart.

She once again asked me about changing his name and I told her more than likely we would change it. I asked her what she thought about it and she doesn't care if his first name is changed (same name as biodad first name) but she would like to keep his middle name part of his name as she named him after a family member who passed away. She did ask what we planned on changing it to and I told her and she liked it. I explained that it is the baby boy name I have had picked out since I was in high school.

She told me that her "goodbye visit" will be Monday. I told her not to look at it as her last visit, it's only going to be goodbye for awhile because we will allow her to have supervised visits when he comes to our home.

She asked me if I wanted his belonging from her house, bed, high chair, baby gate, toys, etc. I told her I would love to have his stuff, I'm sure it would be comforting for him to.