Placement

So it happened. Yesterday. We'd spent weeks waiting, not being selected for several placements. Then out of the blue it happened. 

We'd spent the entire day at a water park with the cousins. Kind of a goodbye to summer daycation. So, there we were; hot, waterlogged, and tired. Not 5 minutes in the car and the phone rang. I knew immediately it was DePelchin because we recognized the phone number. Here we were, not expecting it in the least and an hour and a half away from home. Not such a bad thing though since it always takes about an hour or so to hear back from CPS. We listened to the information and said yes. About an hour later, 5 minutes from home, we were chosen. 

Now, obviously I can't go into too many details for legal reasons. I'm sure you understand. 2 girls, sisters, ages 4 and 13 months.  They are adorable. They've been with us just a little over 24 hours as I'm writing this and honestly we don't know much. Such is the life of foster care though. We should know more tomorrow and receive some answers about what kind of placement this is and how temporary or permanent it will be.  Until then we are living in the moment. Once again waiting. You'd think that a placement would take away that problem. But alas, #fostercarelife. 

So 5 kids is noisy. It's a constant hum to dull roar of activity. Someone is always talking. It's likely that someone is crying or about to. There are not enough toys for everyone. Ever.  But they are all getting along very well. The girls are doing well. Stella and the boys are doing well too. I'm not going to lie though, it's a lot of work. 5 kids. Amy and I haven't sat much at all. You are always going. Sure, right now is the crazy time when everyone is adjusting and figuring things out, so it won't always be this way. But it is for now. But that's alright. Honestly. Amy and I both still feel strongly that we are doing the right thing. Sure there are risks with foster care and foster-to-adopt but it's worth it. Regardless of the outcome, Amy and I have been given the opportunity to care for these 2 girls when they so desperately need it. To make an impact. To show His love for them. Yes, we do firmly believe this is what He is calling us to do. Despite the fatigue and despite the risk. 

So, that's that for now. Tomorrow will be tomorrow and who knows what it will be. But tonight we are good and all is quiet as everyone is asleep. I myself am about to collapse and turn in myself. Just wanted to share the good news. 

All is well, now with 5 kids, in Drosche Land. 

Making a Run for It

Ok. So if you know me at all you know that exercise and I are not good friends. We are barely acquaintances. However, this summer that has changed a bit. 

I've never been one for physical activity. When I was younger it was mainly due to being overweight. And lazy. When I lost all of my weight I just never got into it. I guess my laziness remained. That and I never saw the point. I'd much rather obsess over and control my eating to lose and maintain weight.

This summer though Amy started up a fitness plan with some friends of ours. They would run/walk every morning. At first I was all, "good for you!", and thought nothing more of it.   Then reality hit me. Hard. In the form of weight gain, the worst. I guess as I've gotten older, into my 30's my metabolism is not what it was before. It's still good I think, but I can no longer just drop weight as easily as I could before. Gasp!  Factor in all of the stress/anxiety from the adoption process and I had put on some weight. Not much, but it was above my flex range and I hated it. I eat my anxiety and being at home over the summer was not helping either. 

So, Amy suggested that I try running. Ugh!  Seriously?!  But nothing was chasing me!  No zombies or clowns, what was the point. But,alas, I decided to give in and try it out. How bad could it be?

My first time out I did 2 miles. I'm pretty sure I almost died. I may have blacked out somewhere along the way but I can't be sure. But I survived. Sure I was out of breath and my legs were killing me and I was drenched in sweat; but I was alive. So I decided to continue. That was about 2ish weeks ago and all is going well. It's not horrible. I won't say I love it, but I definitely don't hate it anymore. It is somewhat enjoyable, mostly when it's over and I've recovered, but enjoyable nonetheless. I still have yet to experience this "runner's high" people talk about. I'm pretty sure I have the runner's low down pat, but a high?  Nope. Not yet at least. But I've lost a few pounds and I feel better. 

Well, in keeping with the way Amy and I dive head first into adventures we have also signed up for our first 5K. Seriously. It's a GlowFoam run late next month and I am actually excited about it. It was Amy's idea and she talked me into it.  So, we are in prep mode now and I have stepped up my game to get ready for the 5K. Apparently it is like 3.1 miles so yesterday I upped my daily run to 3.5 miles. Again, I didn't die so all is well with that. 

Amy and I also got Fitbits yesterday to boost our fitness adventure. We are in love. You know I love me some technology and wearable technology is taking over. So now my Pebble I have the Fitbit on, I'm always connected!

Now, I'll quickly clear some things up for you. I do not run the entire time, not in the least. I am not that good. Yet. But I don't walk slowly the entire time either. I do a combo of briskly walking and running. Alternating between the two during my time. I'll call is rulking since it's neither full-on running but also not walking. That makes it sound better. Rulking. That's more my speed!

So, that's it. If you would have said, even a month ago, that we would be into fitness, rulking, and prepping for a 5K I would have said you were crazy!  But here we are fully into a new adventure and loving it. Life can be surprising I guess. Always. 

All is well, working on our fitness, here in Drosche Land. 

All Aboard

Nope. No train ride here. I'm talking about potty training. 

See with Stella being 2 and the twin puppies in the house, 38% of us here in Drosche Land cannot consistently use the restroom at the right time and in the right place. But we are working on it. 

We began potty training Stella the week we returned from Disney and all has been going well. Very well in fact. She has been ready for a while so Amy and I were pretty confident that it would be an easy task. It's a little different with Stella though than it was with the boys. See, Amy single-handedly potty trained the boys in a few days. I just stayed out of the way and gave verbal encouragement to everyone involved. But with Stella, somehow I became fully invested in the process. At the beginning Stella really only wanted me to take her to use the restroom. This was surprising for both Amy and I, but we went with it. We are about a month in now and she is nearly fully potty trained. In fact, there is only 1 diaper left in the house and she has only been wearing them at nap time and bedtime, keeping them dry during those times. This will be the last diaper in the house for a while. That is of occur ruse, completely depending upon whatever placement we get. We could be totally thrown back into diapers. We will just have to wait and see. For now though, diapers are off the Costco list!

The puppies have also been surprisingly easy!  This is great because it's been about 3 years since we had a puppy. Both Lucy and Rex were extremely easy to potty train but the twins are younger than either of them were. Yet, they have proven to be fast learners. When Rex goes out, they go too and they have learned what to do when outside. Nor inside accidents are. Lessening and they are using the training pad somewhat. Plus, like I mentioned before, the accidents of 2 4-pound dogs are basically nothing so that's nice. 

Easy going as it has been though, we have been potty training someone for the bulk of the summer. Hopefully everyone involved will be fully (or nearly fully) trained by the time school starts. Then we will be back to 100% here. For a while at least. 

So, it may not sound like the most exciting thing, but it has been an adventure here this summer. Teaching everyone to go when needed in the correct location. 

All is well, in training, in Drosche Land. 

Double Trouble

Yes. The above happened this past week here in Drosche Land. 

Finally, some news on huge adoption front. Well, one of our adoption fronts. The pet one. See, we'd been debating getting a new dog for a while. We desperately missed Lucy and needed some grieving time. However, we also thought that Rex was lonely. He needed a companion. My parents watched him when we went to DisneyWorld and he loved hanging 

out and playing with her two dogs. Then we went on vacation with my family and again he enjoyed them. So, Amy and I decided to bite the bullet and get a new dog. 

Truth be told though, it was Amy who was ready first. Randomly one day she was researching and looking online. The next thing I know she was doing a great job lobbying on behalf of getting not one, but two dogs. Two?!  I wasn't so sure about this. Especially since we were looking at puppies rather than older dogs. Two?!  I mean, I've always wanted twins, but two puppies?!  At the same time?!  After some serious convincing I found myself with the boys on the way to a shelter. Amy had found two puppies and we'd fallen in love with their pictures. 

As luck would have it they were available when I got there. In fact, that was the first day that they'd been available for adoption after their initial inspection, doctor's visits, and spaying/neutering.  Plus I was the first person to inquire about them since I got there first thing. The boys and I were instantly smitten. About an hour later we were headed home with two tiny puppies in the truck with us!

They're miniature schnauzer mixes. We personally think they look like they are mixed with dachshunds.  If this is so the technical name for them is, I kid you not, schnoxies!  However, I prefer my own term - schweenies!  So that's what we are going with. Originally we were looking into chihuahuas or chihuahua mixes. But after some research we figured they were not for our family. So mini schnauzers it was. 

Their names at the shelter were Hannah and Hamilton. As cute as those sounded we decided on Mickey and Minnie since this was the summer of Disney!  They are 8 weeks old and each weigh just under 4 pounds!  So far they have gotten along so well with Rex. In fact, he is so timid around them and Mickey chases him around often. Rex is so mild-mannered and timid in nature anyway. But he has become very protective of them and always stays where he can see them. That or he just doesn't want to be snuck up on!

We are in the process of potty training them and even when they make a mess it is so small that it is not remotely difficult or stressful. They also sleep through the night without crying so that is great.  So, overall they have been a great addition to our family and have brought a lot of fun and excitement into the house. The kids love them and Are great, we are working with Stella on being gentle though since, she is two and in that rough and tumble stage, she can be a bit heavy-handed. 

So, there's our second big adventure of the summer. Last year it was the pop-up and the Sequoia. This year it was my truck and twin puppies!  It's always an adventure here so we will see what next summer brings. I shudder to think!  :)

All is well, now with puppies, in Drosche Land. 

Keep On Truckin'

Hey. So we are on vacation with my family right now. It's the heat of the day which, here in Texas in July, is a good portion of the day. Today we are spending this time inside the camper. Amy and Stella are napping, the boys are having some relaxing time with their Kindles, and I am here catching up on blog reading and now posting. Nothing fancy, but relaxing nonetheless.

We try to limit the kids' video game/Kindle time throughout the school year and even during the summer. Although summer and vacation times are a but more lenient. They get some time each day with it though, I mean after all everyone needs a little down time to veg out right?  But that's not the point of this post, so on with it. 

Back in June we traveled to Disney World. It was amazing. Yes I know my promised posts about it all have yet to materialize, but patience dear readers, hopefully they will come while the summer is still current!  Anywho, we stayed at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground. We took the camper with us and had a blast. The Sequoia though, did not have as much fun. 

She's a great vehicle and we love her. In fact, today is the one-year anniversary of when we bought her. She hauls around our brood comfortably and reliably.  She was bought for her roominess and her towing capacity. But that was back when we had the pop-up. Sure, she could pull the Fireside just fine, but gas mileage was brutally low. Also, we have grand plans of traveling to the mountains someday, maybe next summer. All the hills though may be too difficulty for our beloved Sequoia. So we began looking for a larger, more powerful tow vehicle when we bought the Fireside last spring. We researched. We toured lots. We compared. We talked. We prayed. We decided. 

A few weeks ago we took the plunge and bought a truck!  We'd originally looked into used as we had with the Sequoia, but given the fact that it will serve as a day-to-day vehicle as well as a workhorse tow vehicle we decided to go the new route. To save an wear and tear and get the most out of it. 

What did we get?  We happily bought a Ford F150 with a crew cab so we could have the room for everyone.  Our one an only requirement was that it have a gat tow package, anything else that it came with in our price range was icing on the cake. I'm lucky to have Amy who is such a savvy researcher. She was able to find the perfect truck, in the exact color I wanted - Denim. 

I'm still in love. She is wonderful and we could not be any happier. One first outing with her and the camper didn't go as expected (forthcoming post) but we brought her out for this one and it was so much better towing with a truck than the Sequoia. So, that's our crazy purchase for this summer. Last summer brought the pop-up and the Sequoia. Next summer?  I shudder to think!  :)  If you're in June marks for a truck I highly suggest Ford. It's my first Ford but when we compared the big 3, Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge, Ford just seemed to have everything we needed and wanted at the perfect price point. Plus they are known for their towing abilities and power. Nuff said. Love it. 

All is well, truckin' along, in Drosche Land. 

I'm Still Here

Well, I'd like to say that the reason I've been absent for a while was because we'd finally received that much-anticipated phone call. I'd like to, but alas that is not the reason. 

We actually did receive a phone call the day after we met with our DePelchin people. It was a placement call. However, CPS did not choose us so it was a no go. Since then we've been waiting and waiting and waiting some more. For that next phone call. The one where we will be chosen. Finally. 

It's an odd feeling actually. Technically the reason we'd receive a phone call is because children needed us because they'd been removed from their home for some reason. So really I feel guilty as I bemoan my waiting.  But I do. We knew the process was long yes. But I guess in my mind I'd imagined that once we got to the Matching process the wait would be over. Instead it has just changed to a different kind of waiting.  I don't do waiting well, as I have mentioned many times before, and am trying not to drive myself or Amy crazy throughout this whole process.

But life has gone on around the waiting here in Drosche Land. It is July?!  Wait, what?!  Summer is now half over, which is totally crazy. We've been enjoying a relaxed schedule and have been keeping ourselves busy. I have some other posts mentally being written about some of the goings-on here, and I still want to post more about the Disney trip, but I will get to those another time. This post was just to return to the blog and provide an adoption update.

Tomorrow we head on a family vacation with my family. Hopefully that is. Jackson was not feeling well at all this afternoon and threw up several times. Weird. So now we are in a holding pattern until tomorrow morning when we can reassess the situation and decide for sure.  So I'd better head to bed so we will be ready to go in the morning. 

All is well, 2 weeks of waiting and counting, in Drosche Land.