Mom, the Coke machine ate my arm...

Truthfully, Cora was the bearer of the bad news. "Mom, Kloey got her arm stuck." I glanced over. I told her to pull it out. Not happening. See that couch? That's where I was sitting.
Here is how it went down. We were an hour from home. I had the bright idea of combining trips. We brought baby Rosy to visit with her bio-dad and then the plan was for the EECK-4 to go to piano lessons on the way home (1/2 hour from home).

I had the timing down perfectly.

I thought.

We were in a cafe that only serves lunch which is housed in a community center type of building. Probation office down the hall, youth center with kids flailing on electric guitars, city police office as you walk in and a daycare right next to the cafe: all on the first floor. But the cafe is nice with a couple of couches and internet so a good place for a late afternoon visit when everything is closed.

The visit went great. Everyone was happy. Rosy was happy. The kids were working on some schoolwork, each set up at their own table. This is relaxing. I don't usually supervise visits but this is okay. Then Cora pipes up sounding pretty serious, probably she said it three or four times before I actually listened to her. The pitch and fervor of her voice must have punctured my bubble of endless talk that I filter out all day long. It's about 5:00 pm and we were supposed to wrap things up around 5:30 pm.

I strolled up and down the halls looking for help and found all the aforementioned offices. There were a bunch of young guys in the probation office. I figured they would know some people who could definitely get the machine open but they looked busy in there shooting the breeze. I decided to go into the daycare next door and found a sweet girl named Katie to come assess the situation and asked her if she knew who had a key to the vending machine.

Erik says put money in and get a soda and Kloey's arm will come out with the soda. I considered that for about a second. Come 'on, it made sense.

We called 911 and unplugged the machine.

Dover Fire Dept arrives, 2 squads and and the assistant chief on his way home.

I was impressed with the speed at which they located the guy with the key to the machine, about 10 minutes. BUT he lived 20 minutes away and it was rush hour.

At this point, I started taking pictures and they made small talk. They razzed me for taking the pictures. One of the "small fry" spilled the beans that we have 9 kids. It is now past 6:00pm.
Note to self: Don't make jokes around a kid who has had a traumatic background and has her arm stuck in a machine. Not only does she not quite understand the subtleties of the jokes but just plain doesn't think it is very funny. She was not reassured by the fact that she was not the first little person to get herself into this predicament.

Said guy with key to Coke machine shows up around 6:15 pm. Seems like a nice guy.

The gift: Katie, from the daycare, comes back after the daycare closes and keeps track of the kids. What a sweetheart. I might need to send her flowers. The kids found out she was 25. They probably found out other things too.

Rosy's dad is cool with a longer visit. I'm dying here: foster mom, 5 kids, bio dad and a Coke machine.

The key did not completely solve the problem. It was still a little complicated. Now we know that Kloey's hand and arm were stuck in 2 different places. There is some finagling, screws and doors come off, parts are broken, Kloey screams. Dennis (great guy) says he doesn't want to medicate her because then we have to go to the hospital if they give her anything.

I had to make a decision.

Kloey is close to freak-out, to put it nicely. I took one of the paramedics aside and gave a little history along with the med list. If things escalate, they need to know. The fact remains that it was her (OCD) curiosity that got her into this predicament.

Kloey calms down. Dennis is great. They show her everything they are doing.

The Coke machine guy was very brave.

At 6:55 pm. the arm came out intact with red marks.

Kloey apologized and agreed that she would never do that again.

I was so PROUD of her. She held it together. She was able to verbalize that she was sorry. Oh yeah! We've come a long way in 5 years. We'll make it.
These guys are our heroes.

Nobody said anything about a bill. Maybe the Coke guy is afraid we might sue...

At 7:00 pm we are on the road and piano lessons aren't gonna happen. Got ice cream.

Adventure continues as my van does the herky jerky up the highway in the pouring rain.

The baby sleeps.

Life with these kids will NEVER be dull.

Our Own Bitty Baby

Erika came outside with Rosy and said, "Mom, do you know what a Bitty Baby is?" And having perused a few American Girl Doll catalogs in my time, I do know what a Bitty Baby is. Erika said, "Mom, doesn't Rosy look like one?" I tend to agree. She is bitty and gorgeous. I couldn't decide which pictures to post. Oh right. I don't have to. I can just post them all. Here is our own bitty baby with a little personality on the side.

Stunning!

Silly!
The sun's in my eyes!
She was not interested in the camera or me. Too busy watching all the kids play in the driveway.
We are in love!

About That Picture

About that picture at the top of my blog: it is a good one. It is also very difficult to photograph 10 people so we are learning to embrace the natural look which will include several people looking in different directions. Isn't that kind of how it is all the time anyway?
Back to the picture: it was taken near the easternmost part of our country at a friend's house while we were on vacation on the coast. When we planned this vacation, Trey was on target to go home to be with his father prior to our leaving. In fact, I was hoping he would go home for good right before we left so we could have a change in our surroundings and would not mope around at home missing him (inevitable). It seemed like a good plan. It didn't work out that way and near vacation time we realized he would be coming with us. Well, that changed things. Taking an almost two year old who is very busy changed things a lot.
That didn't sit well with me. I had made a plan. Now, if you know our relationship with Trey, you know that it is a very special one. Very special. I can safely say that I fell in love with him quickly and he had my heart strings early on. There is something about him. He's bright and loving and mischievous and busy and fun! But part of our ministry as foster parents is loving them like our own until their family can be a safe part of their life and then sending them home with all that we gave.
I had a little attitude because vacation, albeit wonderful, was not as restful as I had hoped. When you have a two year old, you kind of have to be "on" whenever he isn't sleeping. Of course, we still had a great time and I'm sure Trey enjoyed himself. Trey was still in the transition process of going home and his target date had been pushed back to August.
On August 4, Trey did leave to live with his father. On August 17, Trey came back home mostly because he, himself, without being able to say any words, was able to communicate who he wanted his forever family to be. This was unexpected and I was amazed how God could change our lives in one instant, one phone call, just like that.
That same friend, whose yard we took that picture in, had a lot of wisdom when I showed her the picture taken in June. She said, "You know, if Trey had not gone with you on vacation, he would not have been in that picture." I learned a hard lesson about "my way" on that one. We would have had all these family pictures of a vacation without Trey and that would have been very sad since he was destined to be part of our family forever all along.

Flying Solo With Seven

Daylight savings time. Me, home alone with 7 kids, 12 and under. I need to be productive today. I have to brag on these good days because then I can look back and remember during the more frequent not-so-good days. This is what time I got around to breakfast on Monday. Home school rocks after the time change weekend. I could not imagine getting everyone up and out of the house. I love my life.
Waiting for breakfast. We are still in our jammies.
I decided to go all out. French toast with blueberries, bananas and.....
even a dollop of cool whip. I buy cool whip twice a year so this was meant to be.
He is happy.
He is still tired.
She is happy.
I am happy that she is happy. This was the first day that she decided it was okay to sit in the bouncy seat. Don't mind that it is sitting on the table. Everyone in the room remain seated during this dangerous act. Thus, this is how I was able to make breakfast.
We then progressed to schoolwork. Rosy is sleeping in the swing and the boys are playing with Potato Head and Connect Four at the table while everyone is doing math. Sometimes these magic moments are more than I can bear.
After the games at the table got old, Micah was set up on his reading chair.
I am very thankful that he loves books.
Such a smarty.
A GREAT DAY!

Love Those Words

After two and a half years of no words, I love all the things Trey is saying now. Well, almost all the things he is saying. He told me to go get the camera and take his picture with Rosy. Well, actually he said, "Mama, picture, Rosy." But I understood.

Snapshot of an Afternoon

Okay, so maybe Micah is feeling a little needy since the baby came. He and Trey are vying for time in the Ergo, especially late afternoon. Trey was still sleeping so Micah got the ride. It took him 14 months to get "cuddly" so I'll take it.
Cora's turn with the baby. Are they yawning? Or is Cora teaching Rosy all her tricks....
Cora is so sweet.
Oh dear!
The girls are on laundry duty. Yup. Laundry is folded on the kitchen table in people piles.
Erik is making biscuits. He likes to cook once in awhile.
These are the ingredients for biscuit beef bake. One of Bob's favorites and pretty easy.
Kloey has recently conquered the frying of the meat. Yeah! She likes to do it.
Pretty good for a nine year old.
Nice job guys.
I love it when they make dinner.

Nappy Time for Sanity's Sake

I am afraid to admit this and jinx myself. All three littles have napped for a couple of hours every afternoon for the past few days. After nap time, it is like starting a new day. Sometimes we do school, sometimes I take a nap (like today) and sometimes I get time to myself. I try not to do laundry, dishes, and cleaning. Everyone needs time to rest.

Here is where Rosy rests in the afternoon.

Here is Micah.
Whoops! You caught me taking your picture. Guess you're not asleep anymore.
Trey, on the other hand, is still fast asleep. Time to wake up.

Sleep is good.