Friday, August 31, 2007

The house is sooo quiet!

Off and on over the last couple of weeks, we have hosted a homeschool family with 5 boys who came to the Bay Area to get medical treatment for their youngest child. It has been a difficult time for their family. Many days they were on the "white list." This means that the hospital tries to work in their son's surgery when there is an opening. They spent a lot of time just waiting around to see when the hospital could work him in.

The last few weeks have been so hectic. Not only did we have guests, but we also were preparing for the final step to become foster parents. Henry wasn't at home much due to work and church responsibilities, not to mention that soccer season started and Henry is a coaching one of our daughter's teams.

Oh, and I forget to mention the ants. We don't usually have problems with ants, but all of a sudden, they are everywhere. If I leave a dirty dish in the sick, the next morning I will find an ant trail towards it. A child drops a crumb on the floor, instant ant trail. Just when I think we've solved the problem, it will pop up someplace else in the house. Well, it's war, and the ants are winning.

I cleaned like a crazy person and installed a few more child locks and a child gate on our stairs. On Tuesday, while 7 children did what 7 children do, the social worker came for our home inspection. Henry had to miss the meeting because the social worker got held up at the office and was over an hour late. I kept thinking to myself, "I wonder what my blood pressure is right now?"

The inspection went well. There were only two minor things the social worker wanted changed in the back yard. I had the kids take care of it while the social worker and I finished the final paperwork. We were told that our information would be entered into the computer the next day and our names would hit the list of available foster homes on Thursday.

Our friends went home on Wednesday. Later that day, I drove a van full of girls to a local Golf Land Park for a church activity. On Thursday, my youngest two children left on a 10 day trip with their grandparents to Virginia to visit their cousins.

All of a sudden, after racing around like crazy, everything came to a stop. My only daughter left at home went to soccer practice. I didn't even need to drop her off or pick her up. I was home alone for the first time since I don't know when. I almost didn't know what to do with myself.

Everything is quiet and nothing urgent needs my immediate attention. I have to decide which project I have been ignoring to start.

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