The Bailey Brag

I delivered a child to elementary school today for the first time in my life. I remembered the smell from when I went…it never changes. I am so thankful that I already know A’s teacher, his teacher’s aide, the school secretary and many others as I have coached one or more of their kids in soccer or I grew up with them. They all plan to look out for A. They are all so happy for him that he is in a loving home, wearing clean clothes,  shoes with no holes and someone willing to help him with his schoolwork at night. He is very behind in school since he has been primary caregiver to his younger brothers for so long and has been tossed around from couch to couch as his mother ran around never offering them stability. Please pray for him today. I am sure many kids will ask him where he has been for two weeks and that has to be hard for him to explain. So I am down to 5 kiddos during the day now and I think it will be nice. A is very sweet and largely well-behaved but fights with his brother, T, almost every hour or more. Hopefully with a bit of separation again they will treat each other more lovingly. All the boys have their 2nd visitation with their mother today, supervised by DCS, of course. This was hard for them last week as they still missed her quite a bit but are now much more attached to us so perhaps they won’t all be crying when I pick them up. The baby, J, cried his eyes out when I dropped him off at the church nursery yesterday morning. That was different. He didn’t do that the first week. He and I have cuddle time at night, rocking with a bottle (yes, he just turned 2 but I am sure he didn’t get this as an infant and I would hate for him to have Reactive Attachment Disorder because of it when he is older). I think the cuddle time has helped he and I connect.

So we’re all doing well…everyone is adjusting better and better each day (the foster boys, anyway). My boys have a ways to go but I know that deep down that know that these boys need us and that no matter how badly they are becoming frustrated by the additions, they will appreciate it. Thank you all for your prayers and help! There is another court date on December 8th where I am assuming the judge will give the mother a time frame in which she needs to have a job, a home, and all the means to care for her children adequately. From what I see and have heard, she has done nothing in the 2 weeks we have had her children.