Our wonderful adventures...

Wow!  Sorry it has been so long since I've written.  It has been a wild, bumpy, but fun ride here at the Runyon house.

Jeremiah and Jenna went home to Skye and Brian and so did J and K at the end of their respite.  We had a great time with the kiddos.  They were cute and a whole lot of fun.  We were starting to think our house was getting too quiet when we got a call from Amy about a little 5 year old girl, T, who is available for adoption.

After much discussion with Matt and Mom, we decided we were interested.  We found out that J and K's parents have T and they offered to go ahead and let us meet her, but Amy figured we better do it through proper channels so we didn't make the case manager upset with us.  We agreed and left it there so Amy could arrange a team meeting for us.

Late the next night, a Friday,  I got a phone call asking if we could house four kids because their dad had been picked up in Holbrook.  This began our adventure with C, J, S and baby N.

They came with nothing but the clothes on their backs so I got them big t-shirts  to change into and let them go ahead and sleep in their jeans so they felt comfortable and secure.  Poor kids!

Amy rustled up an awesome amount of clothes from some incredible foster parents.  Thank you very, very much!  Including an awesome new coat for C!  He loved it!  Later mom and I went shopping for a coat for S and for other essentials for the kids.

We had so much fun together.  I have to say this has been one of the most rewarding choices I have ever made in my life.  Sure, they aren't my kids, but I make a difference in their lives because I am here when they need someone.  Anyway, so dad got out on Monday and the kids got to go home.  You should have seen how mopey Oreo was.  She literally slept with the baby's teddy bear all day long!  I have never seen her do anything like this ever!!!!

Thankfully we got a call from Amy about our CFT (meeting) about T.  It was last Wednesday.  It went well and they were going to have her therapist prepare her for the transition from her current family's home to our home.  The current plan was to arrange for T to officially meet me and Matt in a safe environment so she could get to know us...which happened today.

Today she came to our house in context of her mommy needing her to go to a babysitter for a while.  She was going to spend five hours with us, but it ended up being more like six.  We had a great time!

We made strawberry cookies together and then she played with makeup.  She put some perfume on and colored a little.  I made a gel and glitter bag for her to practice writing her letters on.  She loved it!  We also made one for her to take home so she could practice there.

I talked to her mommy about maybe using a mind jar for "breaks" aka time outs or when she has a hard time composing her thoughts to help her focus and she really liked that idea.  Her mommy is going to call us when  it's a good time for another get together...and I can hardly wait!!

Oh yeah, she is absolutely adorable...and she isn't a pink girl!  Blue is her favorite color!  ;o)  So awesome!  She's a little blonde with blue eyes.  Cute as anything!

More later!