April 4th

I can't believe PrincessA has only been with us less than 4 months.  She has melded so well with our family.  She is taking toys away from Thing2 regularly.  Thing1 & Thing2 boss her around constantly.  She throws fits and tells all of us "No! No! No!" with ease.  She is walking and having to learn that independence is not safe across a road or parking lot.  She seeks out kisses and hugs from familiar people and blows kisses to whoever will catch them.  She is like a normal 16 month old!  I see things that I know are slight hold-overs from her past- like screaming and crying the entire time we played outside yesterday.  But, like everything else, we are praying for adjustment.  Some of the things I notice may now be more a part of her personality and temperament than actual effects from the past.
Where are we case-wise?  Scarily, I have no clue.  We have changed caseworkers...again... After PrincessO's revolving door of caseworkers, I don't know why this surprises me, but it does.  I have not met this caseworker, and have only spoken on the phone once to schedule a home visit that she didn't bother to come to.  There still have been no family visits.  We have not heard from the ad Litem since January.  Yet, there is a hearing on April 4.  June will mark a year that the case has been opened.  June will be when a decision of some sort will need to be made.  That could mean termination of parent rights, custody changes, family reunification, or who knows what combination.  We are continuing to trust that God will protect PrincessA and grow her with or without us.  We pray that it is with us.


Here is how you can pray for our family:

• Pray that the right people make contact with us before April 4th and have open ears, eyes, and hearts to the information we give them.  Also that anyone that encounters the birth family would see through any pretenses to what is actually happening in the home.
• Pray for the judge, attorneys, CPS, and others who will be involved in the decision making process next week.
• Pray for our family that God will prepare our hearts for whatever decisions will be made.
• A section of our kitchen cabinets fell off our wall a couple of weeks ago.  Praise the Lord! It happened in the middle of the night so no one was hurt.  The kitchen is still functional, but we will have to do some big things (like have all of the downstairs painted because a bottle of wine broke and splattered the wall) and are going through the insurance claim process.  Pray that this goes smoothly and the work is done quickly.