Otis Sidekicks

Moving moon  through months   Memories thaw hearts until new year light shines bright Foster care gives breath Pain longing sweet moments wait Serving as one now New days await with promise full of simple joy Giving faith a chance 3 haikus by Deirdre, be gentle with me this is my first shot at Haiku poetry! Family meeting last night we spoke together of how to celebrate New Year's Eve as a family, what we wished for in the new year. One thing that came up from our teens was brainstorming how to re create patterns of behavior , for example how to make Saturday mornings more peaceful. M1 suggested a big breakfast where we all gathered. Today Sheff made blueberry pancakes, and fried up turkey bacon (give it a chance nitrate free and very good from Costco;) we felt connected and ready for the day. Our teen daughter suggested we all come up with three goals for the new year and have family partners to check in with thro...

The hope in Foster Care is to heal families, to give birth families a chance to get back on their feet. In the very first training every educator cannot stress this  enough. At times it can feel as if potential families are being pushed away! That is not the intent, the intent is to teach and inform. If that primary goal cannot be accomplished, the hope is to find families with open hearts willing  to take a chance on a child, willing to re create their family and make room for a child who deserves the chance to grow with stability and unconditional love.  Loose statistics in our area say about 60% of kids will not reunify with birth families. It is painful to live in limbo and not know if a child you are loving might leave! Having spoken to many Foster families I am finding that everyone agrees that pouring love into a child helps them no matter what. If a family is placed with a scared and traumatized 3 year old, creating stability for that litt...

As part of a group from our church I am part of leading a discussion on marriage. Trying to get ideas I decided to interview the kids. It was interesting, and sometimes funny, to hear their take on Dad and Mom. The baby did not participate, but everyone else got in on giving their thoughts.  L~ Age  5  Dad and Mom tell us to be aware of our decisions. They are aware of their decisions. Sometimes they kiss on the lips, thats a marriage thing, their decision people! D ~ Age 9  When things get hard you guys take a deep breath and turn to Faith. Dad and Mom put God first and it is bigger than any hard things. Hard things happen and I think Mom wants to talk, and Dad wants to do things. Lots of times they make a plan together, I think that is part of marriage. M ~Age 11 If we get in trouble Dad and Mom always talk first, then they are on the same side. It can be frustrating, but it is better. Whatever one decides is the right consequence the other one ...

Social media is an amazing tool, but it's really the face-to-face interaction that makes a long-term impact ~  Felicia Day To be real from the get go, I lasted 9 days. That is not very long to deem experiment worthy. I found in those 9 days I missed having the virtual connection, but I did much better with my real life connections. The first two days I filled the void with similar things, I used Pinterest online. I read blogs about foster care and adoption, and I browsed online. Day three I skipped my online time in the morning and had coffee at the table with the kids as they filtered down. News flash time, it was a less stressful and a better morning. Needing to get all the kids out the door, checking for clashing outfits (a real thing) asking about studying for tests and if homework was submitted, negotiating snack choices and last minute checks for fields trips can be exhausting. Hiding in social media while the kids swirl around me is not healthy, but it makes mornin...

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.”  ―Samuel Goldwyn  Where do you put the toddler when doing yard work? Dad thinks in a bucket! Brothers who work all day together..get along. Skilled work force. M is not sure of A's ability to wield the wheelbarrow. Working on a roof last week. J's moves from a house away Being called on to work takes many forms. Planting trees and bushes in our yard.  Flooring crew N scraping up a tile, long and messy job Our Kitchen chores start at age 7 or 8, sometimes some reaching help happens, but we have step ladders to make independent workers. Washing walls! Lots of hands, kids do a rotation in each house we have been in or warm water with Vinegar, drop of dish soap  and wash clothes to wash. Mopping is a great job for littles. Helping cook, working on doing more of this.  Leaves! Fun work. Short crew. Starting when it's an honor and bi...

I had an aquatience last week remind me I had a lot of children, and said she was hesitant to celebrate our family because it seemed like too much .  This was a chance run in on friday. For those of you who know me, know how much I struggle with that assessment. Girls with eating disorders often say: "I feel like too much" kids who have behavioral problems know people say they are "too much" and big families are often seen as really neat from a distance but too much . First, everyone has their own too much threshold. It is ok that my passion is not yours! Spending all day making Kombucha like one of my fiends is too much for me, or singing in a show, but I am able to celebrate this difference without judging this difference.  Welcoming children into our home with a 100% chance of heartbreak (sadness over them leaving or sadness someone I love is loosing a birth parent) is not for everyone! My response to negativity is very often to retreat, get off social media, tr...

“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.”  ~ John F. Kennedy I woke at 4 am because the baby is in a growth spurt and wanted to eat. I find as a mother the middle of the night is when my worry is sharpened into blades that cut through other thoughts. I thought about tests to be re-done, playground fears that I couldn't help with and team dynamics. I went child by child landing especially on our foster daughter.  After baby boy was back in his crib I stayed awake to watch the sun rise. I thought about peace, feeling grateful for the sun bringing a wash of relief over me. A reminder that simply, the night ends and sun shines .  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ~ Colossians 3:15  Fresh air and sharing a swing. Thankful for siblings. We said good bye yes...

We all stumble in many ways.  Anyone who is never at fault in what they say, is a perfect individual, able to control the entire body as well James 3:2 Fall came in like waterfall after a dry spell in August. Done with siblings, car trip joys waning in the heat, itchy mosquito bites and too many hot dogs. The lament of the midwestern kid. Ready for school. The water starts pouring, new football schedules, permission slips, syllabi to sign for credit, new locker combinations, High school and being marked off for run on sentences... Ten children all marching to their own tune. Those marches all require sustenance, clean clothes and rides.  Meeting everyone's needs, feeling like an individual in the mass, and maintaining positive energy for our kids, foster kids and the community. For a bit of perspective a friend recommended a snap shot diary of a day in the life as a mom of 10, here goes... Day starts with a very full mudroom. This week we have picture day, the...