Toy

While my mom was in town last week, she had the kids doing all kinds of fun leaning activities. Every time the kids would complete an activity; she would give them a sticker. She told them once they each got 10 stickers, she would take them to buy a little reward.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get around to taking the kids to the store while my mom was here so today I did the unthinkable -- I took three kids to the store after a long day at school so they could pick out a toy. As soon as I put the car in park, I looked in the rear view mirror and thought to myself, What am I doing?

I grabbed a shopping cart and put Luis in the front, Christian in the back, and Zoe walked next to me. We went right to the toys where the kids looked at everything and changed their minds about a hundred times. Zoe went for the horse right away and wasn’t looking at anything else. The boys were not sure the horse is what they wanted UNTIL they saw Zoe ‘ride’ the horse around the store. Then, they were SOLD!

The kids spent the evening riding their horses around the house. They even fed the horses before it was time to head upstairs and go to bed.

Thanks Mamaw! The kids couldn’t be happier!

Sunday Picnic

One weekend a month, our foster agency has a picnic for the foster families. All the families bring a ‘snack’ and we enjoy the afternoon snacking and catching up while the kids run around and play. It's like a support group/play date -- outdoors!

The boys were ecstatic to see and spend some quality time with their sister. They always light up when they see her. Zoe gets just as excited. She has become very close to Luis and Christian's caseworker and all the other foster families. Not to mention she cannot resist hugging and kissing all the babies. I wonder where she gets that from???

What all of us foster families share is something not too many people can relate to. Being a foster parent is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done yet one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. We are ALL in this for the right reasons but this journey has had its ups and downs – on so many different levels. Being on this roller coaster hasn’t been an easy one for us. There are many nights I cry myself to sleep –literally! Raising three year old twin boys and a four year old can be VERY trying. We have good days and we have bad days like any other family. I don’t often blog about the bad days because who wants to read about that? To say that we live a perfect life is absurd. We live a blessed life but it’s far from perfect. We try hard to make a difference in this world. It’s been a long road to tow but we are hanging in there. We love the boys and want the best for them.

Postcards from Bangalore

Some photos from my day about town. As promised, in earlier blog, stray cow pics. I offended my driver by touching the cow…never mind it was FILTHY, but I could have possibly upset a local deity… This has been quite an experience; it was pretty much what I had expected, but not quite the magnitude of the reality. We in the United States don’t quite understand just how lucky we are.

Skates

As this week comes to an end, Mamaw is starting to pack up for her journey home this weekend. It’s been 8 days of non-stop action. I don’t think my mom had a clue just how tired she was going to be at the end of 8 days with three active kids. She’s been up every morning at 6am. It It seems like there is always something that needs to be done from the second the kids get up until the second they go to bed at night. It’s a bit overwhelming but Shelli and I are so used to it -- we just get up and go-go-go! My mom on the other hand who is used to being retired and has been a grandmother to only one child for the past 4 years is exhausted. This wasn’t much of a vacation for Mamaw but, the kids had a blast with her and so did I. She was a champ and I couldn’t be luckier to have her for my mom.

As tired as all of us were, we still made a few ‘girl’ outings while the boys were in school. It’s so much fun for us girls to go out and have a ‘girl day’. We went shopping, out to lunch, and we even made a stop at Rita’s for ice cream. It gave us time to talk and Zoe time to have some quality time with her Mamaw. The boys are in school a few days a week so the days they were home; we did tons of fun stuff with them too. Mamaw did art projects, color and number games, puzzles, movies, books, etc. My mom is so good about playing fun learning games.

This afternoon, after the kids got up from their naps, they went outside to ride bikes and skate. Christian isn’t too fond of the whole skate idea but Zoe and Luis didn’t skip a beat. They went up and down the sidewalk – both doing very well. Christian watched from the sidelines.

By the time it’s time for the kids to go to bed, Mawaw and I are not far behind them. We are just as tired as they are!

Tap Tap Tap

More Cake

I've had more Birthday cake this year than any other year -- Not that I'm complaining! Last night John and Bryan had us over for my Birthday dinner. The kids played outside while John grilled up some chicken, corn on the cob, and some delicious potato salad.

This time around, I got a little help from Zoe blowing out the candle. What a great birthday this year. The only thing missing was Shelli!

Site Seeing - Indian Style

Today we were picked up by a driver and two of our Indian co-workers to be escorted around town for site seeing. Sites I did see, that is about all I can say. I was exhausted trying to take it all in. We left the hotel around 945am and didn’t get back until after 6pm. Obviously pictures won’t do justice because it’s so hard to take it all in just seeing things in person, so I know the photos will not be in context. I must say, even with all my readings, research, and past knowledge from Indian friends in the states, nothing quite prepared me for the magnitude of it all. There are people EVERYWHERE, hundreds and hundreds of people.

The roads are the finest example of organized chaos I’ve ever seen. You think driving in South FL (namely Hialeah) is crazy; well you ain’t seen nothing. A Miami driver wouldn’t last a day in this place. Amid all the madness there were cows walking down the middle of the road, stopping to graze and then go about the way. Loose cows, I’m talking, just grazing and walking in the road, oblivious to what was going on. I had read about the cows, but was sure it was something common out in the villages, certainly NOT in the city! I didn’t get a pic today, but my goal is to get one before I return home. Anyone that drives in India is part daredevil, part stuntman, part grand prix driver all wrapped up into one. We were told there was hardly any traffic today, this place looked like the palmetto expressway at rush hour, after an accident, yet we hardly slowed down below 35mph once unless we were stopping to park. I've never seen people navigate vehicles like this. There were mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, rickshaws (cows), cars, trucks, tractors, bikes, you name it. All living in perfect chaotic harmony, the beeping horns to let someone know you're coming up on them so they need to be aware and move over. No stop signs, traffic lights, nothing. Ladies in saris and salwars riding side saddle on the back of motorbikes, it was CRAZY!

We visited botanical gardens with monkeys running around everywhere, loose. Funny enough, we were stopped by an excited Indian family who wanted their picture taken with us. Linda and I got the biggest hoot out of that. They said they would never get to the United States, but wanted to show all their friends they had a picture with ‘The Westerners’. That guy was so excited he took 3 or 4 pics including one with him with us (he was holding the camera out and in between the two of us). We visited the Bangalore palace of the current King (India is run by the Prime Minister, but has a reigning monarchy much like the Brits), who just happened to be at the palace today. We had to maneuver around armed guards, and make our way around the palace and gardens.

We visited a mall, had lunch at a restaurant that was literally a ‘hole in the wall’, and my favorite, a Hindu temple at prayer time. Unfortunately no photos are allowed at the temples, but suffice it to say, it was nothing short of amazing. We paid homage to 3 of the main Hindu gods, as well were blessed in a prayer ceremony to Krishna by several different Hindu monks. The temple self was huge, and inside the main prayer room hundreds of people waited in line to receive their blessing and pray to Krishna. The art and architecture was amazing, it was a moving experience. Not so much ‘religious’ for me, but to see the people in their devotion and ritual, was quite moving.