Sink or Swim!

We had 2 girls for 10 days, an 18 month old and a 5 year old. They were a challenge because they were both a bit delayed and needed a lot of assistance. With the age difference, it was a bit difficult to find things they were both interested in. Swimming was one of them though! We ended up also buying a pool for Shelly (our dog), and it was pretty fun to watch them all having a good time. One day I managed to read a whole chapter in my book while they were swimming. Wow, what a treat! My other proud moment was when I fingred out that I could put both of them in the bike trailer/stroller and take a walk around a small lake with our dog! Everone had a good time!

It was fun to see how after a few days they sarted catching on to the routine, what we wanted from them, and started having more confidence. The baby started talking more and the older girl had less issues with accidents. It reaffirmed that we would like to be able to invest in kids' lives long term through adoption.

For the last three days that the girls were here, we also had a three year old. They played well together, but she is still adjusting to our house and trying to understand what she can and can't do there. I suppose this is the norm with taking care of foster kids. We try to be explicit about what is ok or not and give them the benefit of the doubt for not knowing that we expected that of them. You never know what is expected of them where they are living before you. It's fun to tell them how good of a job they're doing and watch their confidence go up. I'm suprised how often they say "I can't" and want to give up easily and also how pleased they are when they realize that they did accomplish what they thought they couldn't do.

We are now down to just the one 3 year old, who will be with us for a couple weeks. She typically goes to daycare, so now we get to see what that is like too.

You can keep the bio mom of the 2 girls in your prayers as she expressed her desire to find a church. We invited her, but she didn't come.