It's a quiet Thursday night and there isn't much going on.
Still basking in the afterglow of meeting Dalton and Bailey. It's been an eventful week - both on the good side and the bad. It's hard keeping this news quiet. I'm a proud parent already, the damn has burst. It's like trying to hold back the flood waters. We told Lori's parents on Sunday and my parents on Monday. They both were extremely excited. However, I'm not sure they completely understand this. I agreed to tell my aunt in Rochester, New York, basically so my mother could have someone to talk to about it. She wants me to tell the pastor at church, who was one of our references. After I told my aunt, my wife gave me a stern talking to about reigning in information. They aren't our kids to talk about yet. Nobody needs to know some of the info. We have to protect the kids. I called my mom and told her to watch what she says....we're going to take things slow from here.
So....last night, while we had a CPS meeting with the CASA worker, my mother called my cellphone twice and the house once. When we got out of the meeting, they didn't answer. I assumed that something bad had happened. There was a message on one phone that they were at the church and "just wanted to say hello." So, we went to say hello...knowing it was something more. My mother was wanting us to announce to a roomful of people our news. We were both a little taken aback by it. I think my mom's feelings are hurt, but I have to look at the big picture. Everybody will know soon enough that we have kids. It really won't matter when everybody is told if this all works out. It is hard enough getting myself to limit my talk about them.
On Tuesday, we got a call from the kid's CASA worker, Nicole. Dalton and Bailey had spoken of her and it sounded like Nicole was someone they loved. Preston spoke good about her as well. It sounds like Nicole and Preston have been to hell and back over these kids, trying to keep the mom above water. She came across on the phone to Lori as "professional." We weren't too sure she was totally going to be on our side. She wanted to come out and see our house on Wednesday night. Something we very much wanted to happen.
Wednesday she showed up and we got a weird vibe from her at the beginning. I'm sure she has had to fight many battles at the door for these kids and many others. She took some photos of our house for Preston. Then she asked the question I'm sure had been weighing on her mind for some time - "Will I be able to continue to be in the children's lives if you adopt them?" OF COURSE! Dalton and Bailey love her. We want any positive influence on them to continue as long as possible. After that was cleared up, Lori and I got a totally different vibe. We sat and talked for about an hour about how great these two kids are. Preston and Nicole both said they would adopt these kids if they possibly could. She seemed to really like us and we really like her. I told her we feel like we are adopting her and we'd set up a bed for her whenever she wanted to come over. I think it was a roaring success for us and for Nicole. At least I hope so. I hope she will be a valuable source of information and support in the near and distant future. I think she will.
Now, we try to set up Saturday. It's been tough on me this week. I'm really missing my little boy and girl. Lori seems to be holding together well....but I'm sure she has her moments too. We are playing it loose this weekend, but if it works out, I think we're going to try to take Dalton and Bailey to the Children's Museum of Austin. Looks like a fun place. Lori and I need to see how we can handle a couple of kids in a kid-friendly public place on our own. I hope it works out. If not, we'll have to have some backup plans....I know pizza is in our future...possibly a Chuck E. Cheese. We'll see.
Other good news - Carey came by Monday for her quarterly visit. It went well and we basically oogled and oogled Dalton and Bailey and how great they were. I did find out that there were a couple of financial items that I breezed over in class. Since I thought we were always just going to get one child, I didn't pay attention to the "two child" plan. Since we're getting two, we get more money to foster. Also, we could get adoption subsidies for both kids until they are eighteen. That's a ton of money. AND - if they go to a state school, their tuition will be paid for! How's that for good news?
I also found out that the time table may not be as long as I thought for them to come and stay with us permanently. After September 5th, it could take a couple of weeks. That's exciting. We've started letting ourselves dream about Halloween, school, football games, trips to the park.....it's all very exciting. I hope I can hold on to this excited feeling forever. It's made my days at work go by so much smoother - even on the really crappy days.
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