Foster Info

We didn't get the transportation for two visits for our foster son. However, the new worker did get rid of Wednesday visits. They are making Monday's visits longer by an hour but I'm hoping that will be manageable. I'm really hoping and praying that one less visit will be enough relief. I really wanted to get it down to one trip into town. So, I am praying that what God has provided will be enough. I don't want to be flying at exhaustion a hundred miles an hour every week. Also, I really want to be able to focus more on homeschooling with my kids.
We were given some more info on our foster son and the circumstances that brought him into care. The new social worker has been really great. In addition we now have an idea of how long he will be with us. Halloween--Yes. Thanksgiving--Yes. Christmas--Highly Probable.
On the difficult news front we just learned that Dan will be deploying earlier than we thought and for a longer time--Eight Months!
Unfortunately this means that I will probably be on my own when it comes time to re-unify our foster son with his mother. This will be challenging.
Interesting to note: In my study with Beth Moore I just watched one of her videos that spoke to me on this very thing. She was talking about submitting to God's will both before and after. She used Jesus and Job as examples. Job submitted to God's will after all of these difficult circumstances came into his life. And often times things do tend to hit us out of the blue (i.e. infected teeth) and it is sometimes difficult to submit in those moments. Sometimes, as with Jesus, we are able to see the challenge coming. In our spirits we can see that this circumstance is going to be very hard. We may not know how hard but we know beyond a doubt that it will be hard. Jesus came here knowing that he was going to have to die for me and you. He also knew that it wasn't going to be a pleasant 'fade away in your sleep' kind of death. He saw the suffering and the temporary separation from God that was coming. He had to submit completely to God in this circumstance before it occurred, knowing the cost.
I feel as though this is where I sit right now. Staring down the barrel of eight months separated from my greatest friend and lover. As well as eight months of doing everything on my own as a single parent of sorts. I know that this is going to press me and pull in ways I've never been tested before. I am so thankful that I do not have to go through it alone. God is going to be there with me, helping me to take 'baby steps' to get through each day. I am so thankful for people in my life who consistently pray for me and remind of the goodness of God. Sometimes I forget. But God never forgets me.

Rough

It's been a rough couple of weeks for me. My husband had to leave for a week for some training and everything got really challenging. I knew that life was going to be difficult with him gone and I couldn't afford to have anything go wrong. Everything needed to go as planned. My weeks already had me approaching exhaustion and I was seeking some relief in the number of visits I needed to get my foster son to. The Friday that Dan left my teeth started to hurt...A lot. Of course there are no dentists open on the weekend. So, I iced my jaw and used Motrin and Ora-jel. I couldn't get in to the dentist Monday because of my foster son's visit, so I made a morning appointment for Tuesday. Then I had to make another morning appointment for Thursday. By Thursday afternoon I wasn't even able to function anymore due to the pain. It appears that one of my roots got infected. Thursday I was given prescription pain killers and antibiotics, which I proceeded to vomit up all night. Friday morning my dentist was back in the office--I had been seeing his partner throughout the week. I went in to get an anti-nausea prescription. My face was so swollen, I was in so much pain and part of my face had gone numb. But my dentist refused to see me. He refused to even look at me. Someone at the office felt that I needed to get the tooth drained to ease the pain and lower the swelling but the dentist would not listen. His partner did come in on his day off and he offered to drain me that afternoon. But by then I was home and hoping that the antibiotics would kick in. I didn't want to have to drive anywhere. I was after all toting around three kids. Saturday morning I had an emergency root canal performed. I felt so grateful that God had gotten me through the week. I had survived. Then Dan came home Monday. Bradley and I caught a plane on Wednesday for his surgery on Thursday. Needless to say we are all exhausted. Bradley's surgery went really well. He came out of anesthesia really well. We are hoping the surgery had its desired effect and all will be well with Brad.

Just A Couple Of Things

I'm always afraid that I am going to bore the few readers I have with all of my mundane information. My life really doesn't seem that exciting to me. Though I am still traveling at break neck speed through it every day. I'm still doing visits in Fairbanks for my foster son. But now I am doing it three times a week. I was going to try and get OCS (Office of Children's Services) to help with transportation but at my last visit with the bio mom I didn't even see anyone. That's right, there was no social worker or visitation specialist there to greet me or see me off. It is mostly like this. A lot of the time I'm pretty much ignored. I'm just sort of a background player. I could be the cab driver, or the person delivering lunch. It wouldn't be much different. If I call them I know that they will return my phone call but I'm not sure how thrilled they are going to be when I ask them to provide some transportation. It just seems like it would be better to ask in person. It is too much of a challenge to try and get my foster son to Fairbanks three times a week in the middle of the day--especially while homeschooling.

In other news, we found out on Friday that Bradley is going to need surgery to remove some scar tissue. It is just really hard for a mom to hear that her son needs surgery. We are going to have to take him to Anchorage to get this done. The military will pay for Bradley and one adult to fly down for this appointment. Of course this means we can't all go. Plus in order to take our foster son we would have to get special permission from his mom to miss his visits. His surgery is scheduled for Oct. 13 with a pre-op appointment on the 12th. Also, my foster son has an appointment scheduled in Fairbanks on Oct. 12. Dan is in Japan this week. So, I will need to figure out how to pull all of this together on my own. Hopefully it will all come together smoothly. Dan is supposed to get back from Japan on Oct. 10. Then he will have to take some time off, either to stay here with the kids or to go to Anchorage.

If I didn't know that God is sovereign, that he loves and cares for me, and that he is mighty, powerful and in control, I don't know how I would get through life sometimes. Praise be to God who carries me through it all.