It has been a busy, fun, trying, super emotional summer! We have kept busy with one thing and another since my last post.
Bella did her soccer camp and had a BLAST. The coaches were impressed with her and even though she was the youngest girl there she excelled. We now have her (and 3 of our 4 bios) signed up for AYSO soccer this fall. They should be starting practices this coming week. For the next 8 weeks all Saturdays will now be soccer days! Bella has been looking forward to it ever since her camp ended.
Hubby and I had a training with our agency, and for the first time we let Sunshine, Bee, and Bella babysit our little ones. We were initially told by our agency that they could not ever watch our kids, and that the older girls themselves were not to be left unsupervised for more than an hour or so at a time. This mad things very, very complicated when Hubby and I had to go somewhere, or even if I just needed to go shopping. Let's just say we ran into a lot of "gray area" and even broke the rules a few times out of necessity when it came to leaving one or more of the girls on their own. These girls are 13, 14, and 16 for crying out loud! So, the girls finally asked their caseworker if they could babysit our kids (they had been asking to be allowed to sit for us to earn $$, or to sit for other people). Turns out the state has no regulations against the girls babysitting for us or anyone else. So we decided to give them a chance at it. The kids all did wonderful. The older girls are wonderful babysitters, especially Bee. Our little ones do very well with them. Our caseworker was not thrilled with this change, but she hasn't told us to stop either. That is good enough for me.
The kids and I also attended a Family Fun Day at a nearby lake, hosted by our licensing agency. I took my sister and her two little ones along and we had a super fun day. Sunshine, Bee, and Blondie (bio daughter #1) ended up in the lake when Bee capsized their canoe. Bella was in a nearby boat with my sister and myself and the dog we rescued from their canoe just before Bee got ornery and tipped them kind of accidentally on purpose. It was pretty hilarious. The whole day was tons of fun.
We finished up all the dental, medical, and vision appointments.
Right after our Colorado vacation Bee surprised us by asking to meet with the missionaries from our church to learn more about what we believe. (The girls have all been going to church with us every Sunday since they came to live here. They have been raised as Christian, but have attended various denominations so were not specifically affiliated with any particular sect. We gave them the option of going with us or finding another church they liked in the area and they all opted to just attend with us. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly known as Mormon.) We put her off until we could speak to her caseworker, as we have always been told that religious issues must always involve the bio parents. Her caseworker told us differently. According to her the girls are old enough to make their own decisions about religion and the state would allow them to do so without parental permission. Bee wanted to move ahead right away, but we insisted she talk to her father first out of respect. He gave begrudging "permission" and we set up the lessons for her. Bee quickly moved through the lessons and soon asked to be baptized a member of our church. I have to say here that we put NO pressure on her to make these decisions. We support her decisions, and we encourage her to follow her heart and conscience, but we have never done more than answer questions she brought to us and follow her lead. Again we asked her caseworker if she needed permission to be baptized, and again she told us the decision was completely Bee's. We still had her call her dad and tell him out of respect. He was not happy, but she stood her ground and he eventually wished her happiness in her decision, though he made it clear he did not agree with or like her decision. It was a tense conversation. She stayed calm throughout though and never wavered from her choice. She is a girl who knows her own mind and is never afraid to go her own way. Her baptism was a sweet spiritual experience.
We also experienced a family loss this summer. My husband's younger brother passed away in result of a terrible car accident. The weeks following his death have been a trial, and the older girls have been a blessing. Only a couple days after his passing the girls had plans to attend Girls' Camp with the other young women in our church. A good friend helped me get them ready and off to camp, then hubby and our bio kids and I headed out to my in-laws home to spend time with his family prior to the funeral. My mother then picked the girls up from camp on her way to the funeral and brought them to us. We gave the girls the option of staying at the house rather than attending the services, but they came and supported us and helped out with the little ones. Their presence was touching and much appreciated.
Now we are in the midst of back to school preparations! We already got our shopping out of the way for Blondie and Freckles (bio daughter #2), but are waiting on a state check before setting out for the older girls. They will get $80 each for school supplies and $75 for clothes, and anything they don't use for supplies out of the $80 will also go toward new clothes. It doesn't seem like much, but it is more than we are spending on our bio kids this year (The bio kids only get one or two new outfits this year as they don't really need any new clothes but I like to get them something new for the first day or two of school so they have that new school year excitement.) We have only a week and a half until school starts here, so hopefully the checks arrive sooner rather than later.
I say a week and a half, but that is only for MOST of the kids. Bee will actually be doing online school this year! We are starting her in Primavara in hopes of allowing her to make up credits so that she can catch up to her peer group. Everyone who knows her agrees, she should NOT be in 8th grade this year (by everyone I particularly mean her caseworker, her therapist, and her teachers, but also her church group leaders, as well as her friends and other adults that know her well would agree.) Socially and emotionally she is far beyond the kids she goes to school with. She was held back in early elementary school, but rather than progressing socially with her school grade peers she passed them up (likely due to her home circumstances). She is also a September baby so she will turn 15 right after school starts. How hard to be a 15 year old 8th grader, especially when you are already more mature than most 15 year olds! She still has to meet her academic goals though, so online school is her only option to not "be" in middle school while all her friends move on to high school (or continue in high school as most of her friends are 15-17 years old). She will also have the chance to use their accelerated program to "catch up" if she is willing to work really hard this year. She may be able to move on to her Sophmore year next year, or at least move into her Freshman year with extra credits towards graduation. That is her goal; graduating with her peers rather than a year behind them. It is all dependent on how much she is willing to apply herself. The conditions her caseworker gave us when she approved the online schooling was that if she starts to fall behind she HAS to go back to the traditional school. I think she has what it takes though and will excel this year.
So, tomorrow morning we are off on our last summer adventure: a family campout! Three days of wilderness bonding and together time. It will be the perfect end to our crazy Summer.
