For the last two weeks, John and I have been doing respite foster care. We aren't technically licensed to do it, but due to where we work, we are pretty much trained to do so. We have two boys with us, one is 12 and the other is 10. The 12 year old both John and I worked with when we were working on the boys side. And I must say, he has made some AMAZING changes and grown up so much from when we moved over to work on the girls side. He's like a totally different kid and we are really enjoying having him with us! The 10 year old has posed some problems only with me ( but many of the boys have "Mom" issues so I'm not overly surprised) but we made a deal with him that if he had two great days, and no issues with me, then we would buy him a pack of Pokemon cards. That has made all of the difference and he has been amazing too for the last few days!
Having these two has completely changed things too. Going from no kids to two of 'em is a bit of an adjustment. Life has been hectic busy the last two weeks between therapy visits, dropping them off and picking them up from school, phone calls on specific days, and work for John and I that I feel like a chicken with my head cut off at times. But it's good experience and the pay is good! So we can't complain. They should be moving into their permanent foster home within the next week, if all goes well with getting an out of state background check back fairly soon for the new foster Dad.
Other than that, I am going to be moving over to working with the proctor ( kids that are in a form of foster care) kids over the next little while. I basically will be a mentor for them and because they are out of the program, they are much better behaved, which means a lot less stress besides having to fit them in time wise and dealing with gas. But all and all, I think it will be a nice change.
