He said it was the best birthday ever. We had a great time watching him enjoy it!
Then the kids and I went away to Lake Tiak-O'Khata for some much needed family time. The kids had a blast swimming and sliding and jumping off the diving boards.
We are all still missing our foster kids who went home last week but it was good to have some time just for us. We got home and had a fun-filled couple of days with a blow up water slide in our back yard. The kids had so much fun sliding and playing with their friends.
Then we got the call. Two precious boys needed a home. We thought we would need a longer break but something about this placement just seemed right. We prayed about it and felt like this was our next step. Within a few hours, we had moved Jocelyn and Ellie Grace upstairs and transformed their old room into a little boy's room in preparation for these little guys. They are 5 and 6 years old so they are sandwiched right in between our girls. We now have a 4, 5, 6, 7, and 12 year old at home. Fun times!
We told Benjamin that we were getting some more children and that they were boys and he said, "Hallelujah, thank you Jesus!" He still makes us laugh all the time. They arrived on Thursday afternoon, scared and unsure of what was happening. There were lots of tears and efforts of consolation. I think it is all still fresh enough for Benjamin that he could empathize with them and he was great with them. The water slide was a huge help in drawing the boys out and getting them interacting with our kids. The boys are great kids. Always, there is a transition period and we are in the midst of that so prayers are appreciated. The boys will start school this next week in our school district so there are many changes happening in their world. We are doing our best for them but much of the time we are just fumbling along. So many times in the past four years, I have lamented that I did not take any child psychology classes in school! Please pray for these boys as they make their way through this new situation and for us as we do our best to help them navigate through it.
