Yesterday we had a meeting at the high school about Bears transition (I should add that trying to communicate with this high school is like beating your head against a brick wall)
Anyway during this meeting there was a conversation which I felt pretty much sums up the past (almost) 11 years...
DCP Case Worker - You have to remember that when working with Bear you are not just working with an autistic child you are also working with a severely damaged child, those years of abuse and neglect would have left him with some level of Post Traumatic Stress.
Head Teacher - Well is someone working with him for that?
Case Worker - No.
Head Teacher - Well why not?
Case Worker - Because basically no one really knows where to start!
Thank you!
Have I mentioned that we have the BEST case worker!
actually I really mean that! When Bear first came into care he used to have contact with his Mum at one of the local daycare centres and at that time our case worker worked at that daycare so she has actually cared for him HANDS ON and seems to REALLY understand that when we say "this is what is happening" then we mean that "THIS is what is happening" and I can't thank her enough for the support she has shown since she started working for the department :)
Friday 30 November 2012
Sunday 25 November 2012
The Christmas MacGyver
Last year I REALLY struggled to find the Christmas spirit and while this year I have been able to feel a small tingle of that familiar excitement underneath all the stress for the most part the stress has taken over and the Christmas spirit has remained just a tingle.
Until about a week ago.
Our kids are growing up and it is a constant battle to find tv programs for them that are age appropriate but not the CRAP that they seem to spew out by the truckload, full of attitude and disrespect for authority so the Geek and I had discussed it and had decided that when our family tax benefit went in this year we would buy the full 7 seasons of MacGyver on DVD for the kids.
So we did, and it arrived a couple of weeks ago and come Friday night we decided to have a "Macgyver night" complete with popcorn and fizzy drink for some "quality" (?) family time.
Well what a blast from the past and the Geek and I both had a good old chuckle at some it but with all of our family (even Bear came and had a looksee) gathered together and enjoying each others company I really felt the spirit of Christmas.
No there was nothing Christmassy about those episodes of MacGyver that we watched but the feeling of togetherness and family is what Christmas should be about...aside from the obvious of course...the birth of Jesus...and it really did turn out to be QUALITY family time.
Since then our kids have become real Mac fanatics and with Tiger being a bit of a science nut I do worry that we are going to find things being "MacGyvered" all over the place but I guess as long as he doesn't blow anything up we can probably cope with that :)
So Christmas here I come!
Until about a week ago.
Our kids are growing up and it is a constant battle to find tv programs for them that are age appropriate but not the CRAP that they seem to spew out by the truckload, full of attitude and disrespect for authority so the Geek and I had discussed it and had decided that when our family tax benefit went in this year we would buy the full 7 seasons of MacGyver on DVD for the kids.
So we did, and it arrived a couple of weeks ago and come Friday night we decided to have a "Macgyver night" complete with popcorn and fizzy drink for some "quality" (?) family time.
Well what a blast from the past and the Geek and I both had a good old chuckle at some it but with all of our family (even Bear came and had a looksee) gathered together and enjoying each others company I really felt the spirit of Christmas.
No there was nothing Christmassy about those episodes of MacGyver that we watched but the feeling of togetherness and family is what Christmas should be about...aside from the obvious of course...the birth of Jesus...and it really did turn out to be QUALITY family time.
Since then our kids have become real Mac fanatics and with Tiger being a bit of a science nut I do worry that we are going to find things being "MacGyvered" all over the place but I guess as long as he doesn't blow anything up we can probably cope with that :)
So Christmas here I come!
Sunday 11 November 2012
Life!
Life at the moment is tough!
This last couple of months it has been one thing after another, after another, after another.
There have been several big things going on in our lives...Bear's high school transition - HUGE! It affects everyone in our household and I am expecting the fallout to last at least a year...not to mention that the special ed teacher at the high school just seems to have no idea (or doesn't care) and won't include us in the process!
Closing down the business - HUGE! There were lots of deciding factors and we put it off as long as we could but once the decision was made we just wanted to get the stock sold and get it closed. So when the time came to announce our closing I wrote a nice little blog post about it and did a nice expensive promoted post on facebook, so what happened next? Gremlins attacked our website and it crashed...about a dozen times in the first 48 hours of our closing down sale! People were messaging me left and right saying they wanted to buy from our sale and couldn't get on the site...many asked me to put their orders through for them, which I didn't so much mind, except the toddlers could feel my stress and got crazy cranky, Chicken somehow managed to chip her front two bottom teeth and need to go to the dentist (easier said than done when you live at least 50km from anywhere) and then of course Tiger and Monkeys birthdays were coming up and we had a big double party planned so I had heaps of baking to do too!
Ducky (now 19) is having a really rough time. She is struggling to find her place in the world and I can tell you now that there are very few things in this world that are harder than standing back and letting your children make their own mistakes.
And then of course there is Christmas sneaking ever closer...We are heading on a 700km road trip with 6 kids, 2 of whom are under 2. This in itself is something I am DREADING, along with the fact that we are staying at the geeks parent's place (as we usually do without a problem) only this time the geeks brother and his family are staying there too and the house just isn't big enough so I really worry that Bear is NOT going to cope, especially after everything he has been through this last 6 months. But not only that. Because we are going away for Christmas we are having my side of the family's Christmas get together about 3 weeks early. At first I was really looking forward to it, even when it was decided that it would be at our house. But my Mum has taken over and started "planning" and "inviting" and this thing is going to be bigger than Ben Hur! I've gotten to the point where I don't even want to think about Christmas cause I just can't deal with one more thing.
But for every thing that's gone wrong over this last couple of months there is 1000 blessings. Every giggle that comes out of our toddlers is a joy and a miracle (even if they have us pulling our hair out most of the time), we have a comfortable home on a big block in a fantastic neighbourhood. I can't even express how grateful I am for this. That the kids have space to run and play and when they want to ride their bikes up and down the street it is safe to do so. I have my garden, okay it has a few more weeds than I would like at the moment, but it's also the time of year when the flowers are starting to bloom and they are beautiful. We are planning lots of baking projects with the kids this Christmas and I am REALLY looking forward to just being a mom again. To spending more time with our kids and just spend more time as a family. We are blessed that as poor as we have felt we have never gone without, there has always been food in the house and the bills have never gone unpaid. The Christmas shopping is more than half done and will probably be finished within a couple of weeks. I have an awesome husband (even if he has me pulling my hair out most of the time hehe) and healthy children and a God who is bigger than all our problems!
And I am thankful, sometimes I need to remind myself, but yes I am thankful!
This last couple of months it has been one thing after another, after another, after another.
There have been several big things going on in our lives...Bear's high school transition - HUGE! It affects everyone in our household and I am expecting the fallout to last at least a year...not to mention that the special ed teacher at the high school just seems to have no idea (or doesn't care) and won't include us in the process!
Closing down the business - HUGE! There were lots of deciding factors and we put it off as long as we could but once the decision was made we just wanted to get the stock sold and get it closed. So when the time came to announce our closing I wrote a nice little blog post about it and did a nice expensive promoted post on facebook, so what happened next? Gremlins attacked our website and it crashed...about a dozen times in the first 48 hours of our closing down sale! People were messaging me left and right saying they wanted to buy from our sale and couldn't get on the site...many asked me to put their orders through for them, which I didn't so much mind, except the toddlers could feel my stress and got crazy cranky, Chicken somehow managed to chip her front two bottom teeth and need to go to the dentist (easier said than done when you live at least 50km from anywhere) and then of course Tiger and Monkeys birthdays were coming up and we had a big double party planned so I had heaps of baking to do too!
Ducky (now 19) is having a really rough time. She is struggling to find her place in the world and I can tell you now that there are very few things in this world that are harder than standing back and letting your children make their own mistakes.
And then of course there is Christmas sneaking ever closer...We are heading on a 700km road trip with 6 kids, 2 of whom are under 2. This in itself is something I am DREADING, along with the fact that we are staying at the geeks parent's place (as we usually do without a problem) only this time the geeks brother and his family are staying there too and the house just isn't big enough so I really worry that Bear is NOT going to cope, especially after everything he has been through this last 6 months. But not only that. Because we are going away for Christmas we are having my side of the family's Christmas get together about 3 weeks early. At first I was really looking forward to it, even when it was decided that it would be at our house. But my Mum has taken over and started "planning" and "inviting" and this thing is going to be bigger than Ben Hur! I've gotten to the point where I don't even want to think about Christmas cause I just can't deal with one more thing.
But for every thing that's gone wrong over this last couple of months there is 1000 blessings. Every giggle that comes out of our toddlers is a joy and a miracle (even if they have us pulling our hair out most of the time), we have a comfortable home on a big block in a fantastic neighbourhood. I can't even express how grateful I am for this. That the kids have space to run and play and when they want to ride their bikes up and down the street it is safe to do so. I have my garden, okay it has a few more weeds than I would like at the moment, but it's also the time of year when the flowers are starting to bloom and they are beautiful. We are planning lots of baking projects with the kids this Christmas and I am REALLY looking forward to just being a mom again. To spending more time with our kids and just spend more time as a family. We are blessed that as poor as we have felt we have never gone without, there has always been food in the house and the bills have never gone unpaid. The Christmas shopping is more than half done and will probably be finished within a couple of weeks. I have an awesome husband (even if he has me pulling my hair out most of the time hehe) and healthy children and a God who is bigger than all our problems!
And I am thankful, sometimes I need to remind myself, but yes I am thankful!
Tuesday 6 November 2012
I've Been Slack
I have been SLACK! It's been a FULL ON year with foster kids out the wahzoo the beginning of high school transition for Bear and a BUNCH of other little bits and pieces and I have neglected you :(
But we are closing down the business so that we will have more time and less stress so I am planning to make my best effort to get back into this, if for no other reason than to get my plethora of thoughts out of my head and down on paper...or into cyberspace at the very least :)
So to start with I will share 2 conclusions that I have come to this week (I'm pretty sure I have known them for a while)
1...There are not enough hours in the day!
2...I need more wash baskets!
And right about now that's about as profound as it gets :D
But we are closing down the business so that we will have more time and less stress so I am planning to make my best effort to get back into this, if for no other reason than to get my plethora of thoughts out of my head and down on paper...or into cyberspace at the very least :)
So to start with I will share 2 conclusions that I have come to this week (I'm pretty sure I have known them for a while)
1...There are not enough hours in the day!
2...I need more wash baskets!
And right about now that's about as profound as it gets :D
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