Lucky number 7

What a day...

We are in the plans to adopt a sibling set of three children, but not until they are actually available- which may not even happen. Ultimately, the first priority is to get the children home. But if it's been too long for them away from their parents, adoption is the next step. The children we are starting to bond with are only a possibility. We have wanted to get closer with these children in case the adoption goes through. Today we were able to have one of the children and her foster brother come to church with us and play all day. When planning this, I was a little apprehensive because of catering the day before and getting home so late at night- but seeing these kids is a priority and I wanted to treat it that way. So, I agreed to watch them not know what was to come.

at 12:45 am, we got a call to be at the receiving center. The receiving center is a confidential location where foster children are placed (very short term) until the county finds a placement for them. We were on call. Meaning, Jimmy had to get dressed and head down the hill AND leave me for up to 24 hours!

I woke up the kids and got all four ready for church, headed over there and had an additional child in our pew. Then, just as I was starting to catch my breath, I was asked from the pulpit to say the opening prayer. The look of panic on my face must have been hilarious. I nodded my agreement and hoped for the best. No child screamed. They all folded their arms. Everyone was intact when I got back from praying. Taking the kids to all their different classes was a comedy of errors. There was gnashing of teeth and ripping of church bags and spilling of milk. But I did not cry.

I did end up teaching primary with a two year old on my lap (and LOVED it). Getting home was interesting in that our neighbor came down to play. My previous 4 kids had grown to a count of 7. It sounds like such a big number, but once you have a big number to start with, adding more is no big deal.

Dinner was an ordeal. The best part was the two year old shouting, "yummy!" all through the meal. I was quite happy that at least one person liked the food tonight.

All in all, today was a good day- no one got hurt, everyone ate there was lots of laughter- but I am exhausted...