We were fortunate this year to have a big family Christmas. Almost everyone from our immediate family came out for my graduation ceremony and we grabbed the opportunity to celebrate Christmas together a couple weeks early. Super fun. And a bit crazy. But fun for sure.
At one point we sat around like I imagine most families do to open presents together. As my husband, my sister and her husband, and I opened our gifts from my parents we each found an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of printed paper with information on it about a really nice restaurant. My parents decided to purchase a gift voucher for the four of us to go out to eat dinner together at this nice restaurant in town. She'd done some research to find a nice restaurant and then went to TRAVELZOO to purchase a voucher worth $200 that included appetizers, dinner, and dessert for 4 people. Then, as our gift, she gave each of us a copy of the voucher with our name on it (and some clothes).
Last night we all went out on a nice date to a fancy restaurant. We all got dressed up, hired babysitters, and drove downtown at night for a kid-free evening. (read: Someone else put my kids to bed!). We all agreed that the restaurant was not our type of restaurant because we didn't know what half of the things on the menu were and there weren't kids running all over the place (um..no kids at all). It was such a treat. It wasn't somewhere we would have ever gone if we hadn't had a gift voucher. We wouldn't have taken time like that as adults together except for the gift. All of it just wouldn't have happened at all.
It ended with a great dessert and lots of laughter, at least some of which was at our experience eating at that restaurant, like when we convinced our husbands to feed each other and let us take a picture of it or when I took a large bite of steak butter because I thought it was cheese. (Bleh!).
I came home to all kids in bed (not necesarily their own, but hey, beggars can't be choosers!) and it was quiet. Lovely!!!
If you're looking for a gift for foster parents (or any parents) this was a super gift. As far as I can tell my parents probably paid $25 per person for the gift and received an additional $25 per person as a promotional value. That is a reasonable price in my book but I'd venture to guess they have other deals to match your price range. It forced us to go out together for free for us and relatively inexpensive for the gift-giver for a night-out we wouldn't have taken on our own. So next time you're looking for a gift-this might be a good option for you.
Thanks Mom & Dad!
(This post is entirely my opinion and not sponsored in any way).
Monday, January 14, 2013
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Tuesday's Tears - New Year, Same Drama
Thank you all for the well wishes about #16. Having a baby in our home is a dream come true for everyone. Summer wants to hold him all the time and asks where "her" baby is. Logan loves holding him, feeding him, burping him, and we're both enjoying the fact that baby is wearing the clothes Logan wore when he was a baby. Even my husband is doling out the baby-love. We're enamored by this sweet kiddo and LOVE having a newborn around.
We're not loving the cost of the private nanny we've had to hire while I'm back at work until he can go to daycare. Argh. (Someone asked about FMLA - yes, foster parents do qualify to take time off due to FMLA however it is not paid time off unless your employer volunteers to pay. Usually after having a baby through pregnancy you would receive short term disability or other related funds based on the fact that after having a baby your body needs to recover.
I do believe if this child has to leave our home it will really, really hurt. It will be hard for all of us. Though I'm hoping he'll be one who stays, based on past history this baby won't be in our home forever. I don't even want to think about it.
What you don't yet know is that shortly after we got new baby, we welcomed #17 & #18 into our home. Interestingly, these two are related to a child my sister currently has in her home so it has felt natural to welcome them into ours. It feels as if their family is kind of reunited, without all of the adults in their family of course. We can see a cool world where given current placements these three remain forever where they are and end up being raised together, something that wasn't happening where they were.
As we speak though we are currently waiting on word about #16's 3 siblings. I'm not going to get into the details here but needless to say they need a home and everyone agrees that siblings should be together. As with all kiddos they need a stable, final place to live if that is at all possible - permanency is always critical. This place could be with us or someone else but it is important that the decision be made soon. We could find ourselves soon welcoming them into our home or sending #16 to live somewhere else.
Please pray for a decision matching God's will to be made soon as there are several people involved and affected by this decision. We are concerned about the siblings in our home, the baby, the baby's siblings, my sister's foster child, and all of our biological children based on the outcome of this decision. Though I can see a world with or without baby and his siblings, I can also see a world without any of them based on how people do or don't work together in these cases.
Right now I'm seeing a lot of ugly in the system. It really discouraged me for a day or so last week. Today though I'm back to remembering why we do this, why we care, why we love these kids even if they leave at some point. I'm also back to trusting that no matter the outcome of this decision or how much it hurts for a time when they leave that God is still in control. I KNOW that this is true.
We're not loving the cost of the private nanny we've had to hire while I'm back at work until he can go to daycare. Argh. (Someone asked about FMLA - yes, foster parents do qualify to take time off due to FMLA however it is not paid time off unless your employer volunteers to pay. Usually after having a baby through pregnancy you would receive short term disability or other related funds based on the fact that after having a baby your body needs to recover.
I do believe if this child has to leave our home it will really, really hurt. It will be hard for all of us. Though I'm hoping he'll be one who stays, based on past history this baby won't be in our home forever. I don't even want to think about it.
What you don't yet know is that shortly after we got new baby, we welcomed #17 & #18 into our home. Interestingly, these two are related to a child my sister currently has in her home so it has felt natural to welcome them into ours. It feels as if their family is kind of reunited, without all of the adults in their family of course. We can see a cool world where given current placements these three remain forever where they are and end up being raised together, something that wasn't happening where they were.
As we speak though we are currently waiting on word about #16's 3 siblings. I'm not going to get into the details here but needless to say they need a home and everyone agrees that siblings should be together. As with all kiddos they need a stable, final place to live if that is at all possible - permanency is always critical. This place could be with us or someone else but it is important that the decision be made soon. We could find ourselves soon welcoming them into our home or sending #16 to live somewhere else.
Please pray for a decision matching God's will to be made soon as there are several people involved and affected by this decision. We are concerned about the siblings in our home, the baby, the baby's siblings, my sister's foster child, and all of our biological children based on the outcome of this decision. Though I can see a world with or without baby and his siblings, I can also see a world without any of them based on how people do or don't work together in these cases.
Right now I'm seeing a lot of ugly in the system. It really discouraged me for a day or so last week. Today though I'm back to remembering why we do this, why we care, why we love these kids even if they leave at some point. I'm also back to trusting that no matter the outcome of this decision or how much it hurts for a time when they leave that God is still in control. I KNOW that this is true.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)