Second FTF Rally

OK, so every time I try to head out on the road, something happens to delay it. Our first planned long-term road trip ended much sooner than planned. First, the RV sprung an exhaust leak 2 days before we were due to leave, causing us to live in the van and a tent for what turned out to be a month, as that was all the kids could stand before turning into something from a zombie movie. Our "around the country" road trip turned into a "to the Keys and back" trip, but what we did see and experience was pretty great.  Second, we had some regression of behaviors in several children ... luckily not all at the same time. Third, I allowed myself to feel alienated from the people I had planned to meet on the road due to children's said behaviors. And last, there were 2 issues with the sticks and bricks house we left behind: the water heater broke and flooded the basement then a pipe in the upstairs bathroom caused a rain shower in the kitchen. My adult son took care of the water heater and I took care of the rest when I got back ... by totally gutting the upstairs bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, and half bath downstairs. Four months worth of construction later and it's almost finished! Ahhhhh.

In the meantime, I dared to attend another RV rally. I even purchased a Thousand Trails membership, in anticipation of the traveling we plan to do. I'm happy to say, we had a blast. No RV problems. No behavior problems, except for a few "argument seeking" words at bedtime. No house problems. I was able to enjoy myself, have fun with my children, and meet new people. Some awesome people. Of course, I had prepped the kiddos for months in order to avoid the same problems we had at the last rally. We were even ON TIME! Unusual for us. We barely made it to the kick-off because the RV park maintenance guy was quite the talker. I guess he could see I was a newbie. He had many tips for us. We enjoyed participating in all the family activities with other families and spent much time enjoying the pool and water park. We now are VERY motivated to get back on the road as quickly as possible.
My greatest moment: When my little raddish snuggled with me one morning (after the "argument seeking" words he threw at me the night before), apologized, then looked at me and said, "Moms are like God; when you do the wrong thing, then apologize, you're always forgiven." I am so blessed and thankful for much progress in these healing hearts.

One More Step Toward My Life Dream

I did it. I took the plunge. I pulled all 6 kiddos out of public school (2 last spring, 1 this fall, and 3 this winter) and started homeschooling them  all. I've always dreamed of homeschooling my children and traveling around the USA. As a single working mother, it was never possible to stay home and homeschool before. I admit, I was very nervous pulling the high schoolers out, knowing they can't go back unless we 'prescribe' to the 9th grade curriculum and show proof of same. I do not homeschool using any particular curriculum that mimics what their peers are doing in the public school and I refuse to pay for a tracking program. For the most part, I homeschool and unschool, if you want to separate the two. It seems many people think of homeschooling as public schooling at home. OK. I do teach reading, writing, math, history, geography, and science at home that way. I do use textbooks, worksheets, and websites at times. I teach mostly reading, writing and math this way, actually. I did not purchase any particular curriculum. I was blessed enough to find a variety of middle and high school level textbooks on freecycle and in thrift stores. (I absolutely love Camden County Freecycle, by the way.) I started with the basics at each of their functioning levels and moved on from there. Most of my children have learning difficulties, so they do not work at the prescribed grade level for their age. Since I adopted all of my current children, all of them came with some sort of learning barrier; however, some of them are no longer behind their peers, as I was homeschooling them nights, weekends, and even throughout the summer when they were in public school to compensate for their past deficiencies. For most subjects, though, there is no textbook. I am guided by each child's individual interests and we springboard into discussions and research topics and we use daily life circumstances as learning opportunities. I admit, I was terrified and felt quite inadequate and insecure about my ability to prepare them for the future, even though I taught middle school and high school for 10 years.
Now that I have taken the dive, I must say I'm quite pleased. First of all, I just like having my kiddos home all day, every day. Since they have been adopted at an older age, I missed out on much of their lives and I love having the ability to make up some of that time now. Second, I no longer have to deal with making sure my children have the 'right' shoes or clothes to 'fit in'. That thrills me to no end and I'm sure they feel better not being teased.  Third, I love that my kiddos are self-motivated to learn and are developing the skills to do that.  I do not tell them what to learn many days. Some days I just require that they learn something new. I do require that they each read every day. Many days I give them math to do and I have been teaching them Spanish and a little American Sign Language as I teach my youngest two their days of the week, months of the year, counting, etc. They are all Hispanic, I figured they should know some Spanish. One has verbal processing issues so the sign language helps with his processing speed. Otherwise, they choose their topic of interest. One of my boys has an intense focus on music and taught himself how to read music, play keyboard, and compose music on a synthsizer. Now he is learning to play guitar. One loves sports, so we incorporate anything sports-related into reading, writing or math lessons. One loves animals and shopping. It is so easy for me to use those in a variety of lessons. The littles don't really have intense interests, yet. I love that they are all learning to observe things, ask questions about what they observe, then search for the answers. They do this almost completely on their own. Some days they read a lot of books. Some days they do a lot of research online. Some days we are out and about learning stuff in the community. I love my RV. I love traveling in it. Traveling in my RV full-time sometimes conflicts with adopting children from foster care so I do have to have a sticks and bricks house as a home base, at least until I'm done adopting.

We were due to hit the road Jan. 12, 2012. The weekend before, my exhaust system broke and my gas mileage went from 7mpg to 4mpg. I had to leave it in the shop for repairs but I was determined to head out. So we did ... in the minivan. Seven people, some with mood issues already, living out of a minivan can make some people quite cranky but we made the best of it. We got to meet some online friends face-to-face. That was an awesome experience. I'm so glad we were able to do that. We attended an RV rally for Full-time RV families and met other families who live on the road. I was relieved to learn that feeling exhausted all the time, every day, is normal when you start living on the road. We also met these families on a homeschool trip to Legoland where we built race cars and raced them and the older boys learned how to program robots. That was very cool. We decided, since we were in Florida, we might as well start at the very bottom and make our way northward back to NJ seeing everything we could see. So, we headed to Key West. We enjoyed the Keys, the sunset party, the beaches (minus the sand fleas that infested the minivan to the point that we had to flea bomb it), the glass bottom boat tour of the coral reefs, the self-guided tour at Bahia Honda State Park and we thoroughly enjoyed the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. We did sample new foods we've never had before. Yummy.
From the Keys, we stopped in the Everglades. We completed the junior ranger programs for all 3 National Parks there, camped there, hiked and took many ranger-led tours. One memorable time was when my youngest (9) dropped her pencil into the alligator-filled lake and had a meltdown, demanding someone retrieve it for her. In a previous blog post I wondered how I would handle a meltdown or a runner on the road. I got to try that on for size. I did not like it. The meltdown was horrid. Quite embarassing. The runner ran but thankfully not far away. We were in a campground with a tent. He left the tent, snuck out, of our campsite even, while the rest of us were still sleeping. (House Rule #1: No one gets up until Mom does. House Rule #2: Running away is defined as leaving our property without permission and the nonrunners are rewarded with going out for ice cream.) He was with neighboring RVers but off 'our property' so the rest of us did go out for a treat and he missed out on some teen event later on. There weren't any other significant events, thank God. We visited Myakka State Park, too. Very nice. In addition, we visited many Florida beaches, collecting various shells and shark teeth, and cities. We went to Universal Studios and Island of Adventure and had a fantastic time. Our favorites include the Harry Potter section and the Simpsons and MIB rides but all of the rides were great fun and well worth the entrance cost. We also got to experience the Mardi Gras parade and the B-52s concert. We left Florida after Orlando to get the RV because the crankiness was beginning to increase in several teenagers but we did stop at Congaree National Park, SC, to do more junior ranger work, Myrtle Beach, and Greenbelt Park in MD (one of our favorite areas to travel to and where we stay every time we visit Six Flags America, Baltimore or Washington, DC) on our way home. Even though I was so excited about the gas mileage when we first started out, I don't think traveling in the minivan saved us any money because I probably spent the gas savings on fast food and campsites.
When all was said and done, we had a great time in between cranky moments and one of my kiddos, the moody runner, just may have made a break through in his healing process. It has been almost 2 weeks and he is still 'different' somehow. Two weeks is a record for him. Shoot, one week was a record. If he truly is not 'faking' his way through it, then I also am very thankful for that. Not for me. For him. I love him beyond measure, even with all the negative behaviors he has gotten so used to using. We learned so much science and history, among other things, on this trip. We can't wait until the RV is finished so we can head out again. In the meantime, I started some home improvement projects and have started preparing for my next adoption.

Souvenirs of the Creepy Kind

I took my first trip with all 7 kiddos in our Class C. We wanted to go farther, and for a longer time, but current events are keeping us close to the sticks and bricks house this year.
We left NJ and stayed in the Greenbelt, MD area, boondocking at Walmarts and showering/dumping/filling at Greenbelt Park. We found some nice parks in that area where we hiked and played basketball and football and caught critters along the lake. We traveled around Washington, DC and Baltimore, mostly. We saw Arlington Cemetery, with the changing of the guard (although one little piss-ant missed that) and the Natural History Museum in Washington, DC. We had been to DC before so we only hit those two places, which we hadn't seen before. Tuesdays are free at that museum. Normally there's a fee. I parked at a meter but got a ticket for not moving after 2 hours. They were there 2 hours and 15 minutes after I had parked! They don't miss a thing, do they? I don't mind the $25 parking ticket. The parking garage would've cost as much and we were parked just outside the museum, so very little walking was involved. In Baltimore, we visited the Edgar Allen Poe House (the piss-ant almost missed this, too, but he sucked it up and muddled through it) and Fort McHenry, where we watched reenactors and helped change and fold the flag, and we rode the water taxi around the harbor. We also went to "Top of the World" (or whatever it's called). We spent a few hot days at Six Flags America and one day at the Jersey Shore.
I'd say most of us had fun most of the time. We enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit, Rich learned about the platypus, Arthur learned about otters, or was it sea lions?, which he says he's never heard of before. The littles liked everything. A few of the older boys got pretty crabby, at times. The piss-ant ran away 3 times in one day in DC. At the sticks and bricks house, we define running away as 'leaving the property without permission.' Well, it's pretty easy to 'leave the property' in an RV so we need to define an area around the RV but he went so far there was no mistaking it classified as running away. He was pretty hot and tired, add a little PTSD and voilà ... you get a runner. In our family, the consequence for running away is that everyone else gets to go out for ice cream. We tried, but the place we passed was sold out. Go figure. I had absolutely no intention of walking anywhere else in search of ice cream. My feet were screaming with pain. Believe it or not, though, that consequence works really well. I put it in place when my adult daughter, who was a constant runner, caused so much stress in the family I decided to reward those who didn't run. It has kept many a runner on my property.
I got pretty crabby myself, at times. Mine was a predictable crabbiness: every morning, when kiddos are unfocused and slow moving, and every night, when kiddos are unfocused and slow moving. lol. Their toy clutter on the floor is my biggest beef, as I don't appreciate stepping on it all on the way to the bathroom in the back. Me yelling about their toy clutter is probably their biggest beef. Ha, I tossed some toys out of the RV one night and threw away one of our basketballs ... seriously, how many basketballs do we really need for 4 boys? I'd think one is enough. Two, tops. One boy said he sat up until after midnight making sure no one was going to steal the toys sitting at the curb outside the RV! lol. I told him to put them away next time and he won't have to worry about that.
I still have to pull out the entertainment section of the RV to add another bench bed with storage underneath, as one kiddo doesn't have a bed and two of us don't have a cubby to store our clothes. The added storage space will help with the toy clutter issue. I have a few other toy storage ideas, too. Once that issue is resolved, I think the oldest boys will feel better about things. I had to fix a few things in the RV while we traveled, but nothing major. They really are not designed for long-term travel with a half dozen kiddos.
Since my kiddos are adopted, some from very hard places, they can have some pretty big attitudes. Plus, we have now entered the realm of teenagerdom. BIG attitudes. One has sensory issues and just doesn't like being surrounded by noise ... even tho he makes a fair bit of noise himself. Another has a little fit every time he doesn't get what he perceives he deserves, which happens pretty darn often. Another must win every argument or discussion. No. Matter. What. Still another is on the go constantly. And I mean constantly. I've never seen anything like it. Yet another is as slow as molasses, so I feel as though I'm being pulled in both directions, forward and backward, at the same time. Even with all that, I had a good time.
I was a bit crabby being back in the sticks and bricks house again. I admit, we did come home a little earlier than planned due to a few attitudes that just made each activity less fun for all, which was one reason I was crabby. Plus, we cleaned the house real good before we left and told my oldest son it had better look just as good when we return. Alas, the dogs went nuts when they were home alone while he was at work and they completely destroyed the place: garbage everywhere, curtains ripped or pulled off the walls, one even broke a bedroom window with his face and left blood all over the nearest bed, curtains, etc. My son attempted to clean it but ...
We are back to our sticks and bricks routine. The piss-ant, feeling badly about his part of the big attitude on the trip, decided today he'd be extra helpful to make up for any misery he may have caused the last few days of our trip. They really are very sweet, loving kiddos most of the time. We finally got up on time today, after two days of sleeping until almost noon, to get the two youngest boys off to summer school only to have one sent home with lice! ugh. I have never had lice in all my parenting years. I have no idea where he would've picked up lice on this trip but, since he shares a bunk, two of them had it. The two with long hair. So, now their beautiful locks are gone and I spent the day cleaning the house like I've never cleaned before. Tomorrow I'll tackle the RV. I'm not looking forward to it. Maybe the piss-ant will still be in his extra helpful mode. ;-)

Mending Broken Hearts

Mending? Maybe.

I started a blog because people would always ask "Do you have a blog?" so I finally made one. I had a hard time 'defining' it. I wanted it to reflect the fact that I parent, I parent alone, I parent many children (birth and adopted), and I parent on the road as often as I can. I also now homeschool, or unschool, or road school, a few of my children. I generally like to blog happiness. Good times. Silly times. Maybe even tough times with a positive spin. I try to keep my 'story' somewhat private. When I'm down or struggling, I keep it to myself and my closest friends. I know it'll pass. I know I'll get through it. I have complete faith. I trust that things happen for a reason and I'll get through them. I always have. However, there is this one topic regarding children (mine, yours, or any children) I just can't resolve within myself and feel the need to share it with someone. Anyone. The shoulder I would lean on is unavailable to me at this time and I need to unload this heartache. If you have a free shoulder, feel free to offer it up. I'm not too proud to take you up on the offer. I know others of you out there struggle with similar issues. That helps keep me sane.
My youngest birth child still lives at home. He just turned 20 and recently completed culinary arts training and is excited about finding a job in that field. I have 6, soon to be 7 (actually, tentatively soon to be 9) adopted children still at home. The process I went through to get approved to adopt then find 'my' children was pretty daunting. It felt like it took a long time but, looking back, it went pretty quickly. I adopted 6 children in less than 4 years. Has it only been 4 years? When I 'found' my children, I knew instantly in my heart they were mine from day one. They all were considered 'hard to place' kids. They came from hard places and/or have disabilities they struggle with. Usually, they do very well and I feel like a supermom. I feel good about myself and about who they are. I'm proud of them. I admire their strength, courage, and persistance. I consider myself blessed to have been chosen to be their mom. I am thankful daily that God has trusted me to raise these children. They are my life.
There are times, however, when I feel their pain, their loneliness, their loss, their broken hearts. My heart aches with theirs. I see babies in public being held by their parents, consoled, cared for, loved, guided and I immediately think to myself 'most of my children didn't have that' and I feel so sad. It also reminds me of the opportunities I never had holding, rocking, consoling, and loving my children when they were younger. Some had the complete opposite of that, actually. Most lived in foster homes. Some lived in many foster homes and some even lived in specialized programs because they couldn't manage themselves well enough to live in a foster home. Some bounced from home to home or program to program, struggling to find their place. To find a way to fit in. To find love and acceptance, even from themselves.
Living in foster care stinks. I know some awesome foster parents. I've met some really caring, exceptional workers. I still find that growing up in foster care, even with the best it has to offer, just stinks. The system functions in such a way that it just drives a person crazy. Adults and children alike. That's the nature of the beast. Necessary or not, it stinks. My adopted children have lost people in their lives. People they loved. Through no fault of their own, they have suffered loss and grieve it. They feel abandoned. Unloved. Unlovable. No matter how much I tell them I love them, rock them, hold them. No matter how many times I tell them how wonderful they are, they have a hard time seeing it. Feeling it. As I was trying to convince one that he is a good boy, worthy of love, he said, "Well, you are one of about four people out of the 600 people I've known in my life who has ever said that to me, so it's pretty hard to believe."
Many of my children, birthed and adopted, struggle with disabilities of some sort. My children each struggle with at least 2 of the following: autistic spectrum disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, ADHD, ODD, psychotic features, developmental delays, fetal alcohol/drug exposure, and attachment issues. I see how sociaty views my children. I see how my children are treated by others who don't know or don't understand. I watch strangers crinkle their noses up at my children and walk away. Their own (former) day care worker said to me, "I can understand adopting, and it's great and all, but children like these ... ????" "Children like these." Yup, that's what she said. I wondered what she sees when she looks at my children. My own birth family wants nothing to do with me and "those children". When asked if I intended to adopt again I answered with an emphatic "yes." "Tsk tsk" was the response. I've been asked by several people, "Why can't you just be happy with the ones you already have?" Hey, I am, that's why I want more. When people ask me, "why?" ... Why do I adopt ... I just feel like saying , "Why not?" I see how people look at me, as if to say, "Are you crazy?" Or they just say I'm a saint (then probably turn and say "or crazy"). Ha. A saint? No. I'm a mom. A devoted mom. A mom who loves the children God blessed her with with all her heart but I'll never get "Mother-of-the-Year" award. I make my fair share of mistakes. Every time I see that commercial recruiting foster parents ... "You don't have to be a perfect person to be a perfect parent" I think to myself "Thank God!" And thank God my children are forgiving. But, if I see the negative reactions of people in public every day, I know my children see it, too. Every day, each incident adds to their already broken heart.
I watch as the world passes my children by. I see it through their eyes these days. It looks much different now. People talk much too fast for them. People move too fast for them. Church sermons are spoken too fast. Songs are sung too fast. Stories are read/told too quickly and with big words they just don't understand. Words. OMG, don't get me started with words. It took months to differentiate between a napkin, paper towel, and tissue. Between a hood, hoodie, jacket, coat and sweater. Seriously. Why does it matter, you ask? Well, when your hands are greasy from fixing the bike and you quickly ask for a paper towel but you're brought a napkin, it just doesn't quite do the job. When your child is asked to remove his hood in school, and he starts quickly, nervously, taking off his zippered hoodie so as not to get in trouble at school (yet again) and cuts his neck with the zipper, you can see how simply removing the hood from his head would've been so much simpler yet he just didn't understand the words. When the HW says to "label the organelles" and the child draws a line to each diagram and writes "organelle" instead of writing "nucleus, ribosome, chloroplast, etc", you can see the problem with it. Every situation causes stress and anxiety for my children. Everyone is constantly annoyed with said child. Just their perception? Maybe. Perhaps nudged along by the glares, comments and criticisms of countless people in their lives.
So, what's a mother to do? I educate my children, of course. I supplement their education as often as I can. I also try to educate people along the way. Sometimes I get tired of it. Sometimes I get snippy with the strangers who don't know how to treat my children. Strangers who try to help them put their coats on because it takes them a little longer to do it, even though Mom is standing right there. Strangers who ask me if they can help my children do a simple daily task because my children take longer to do it. Teachers who call my children lazy and uncaring because they can't stay focused and are forgetful. Other parents who tell their children, "Oh, honey, I don't think they understand what you're saying" because my child didn't answer their child in the amount of time they'd expect an answer. A doctor and a teacher each told me that one of my boys is the "most involved" kid they've ever met. Really? Involved? He is my easiest child to parent! So pleasant. So funny. So smart, if you wait long enough to hear what he has to say. God give me patience to deal with these strangers. They must truly think I'm the meanest parent in the world for making my poor children do things for themselves.
Sometimes, my best just isn't good enough. Strangers always tell me what good children I have. What a good job I'm doing. My kids say I'm 'the best Mommy ever'. Yet, I can't fix everything. I can't make their fingers zip their coats or tie their shoes. I can't slow the world down to a pace they can keep up with. I can't take away their painful memories. I can't mend their broken hearts. And when they are hurting, I am hurting, and it is the most painful thing I've ever felt. When they are hating themselves, I'm supposed to be pleasant and upbeat. It's tough. I'm not good at pretending. I tell them all the good things about themselves knowing their not hearing me. They're not believing it. They won't buy into it because I'm only one out of the four people they've ever met to say such a thing. They think I must be crazy. They think I don't see who they really are because, if I did, surely I would see what they see, which is very negative, indeed.
Last month one of my boys was hurting. Deeply. No matter what I said or did, he was just so sure he was the worst, demon-possessed (his words) child on the face of this Earth, not worthy of love or even life. This month, another boy struggles with the same feelings, only this time in a hospital setting. Even though several of them have been hospitalized several times in their lives, none have ever been hospitalized while living with me. This is new for me. I miss that little bugger and it hurts to leave him there after each daily visit. When I visit, he watches the clock, dreading the minute visiting hour is over. He calls at each "call time" to say he wishes he could be home. It's only for a few days but a few days seems like an eternity. Even though I know he needs this level of care right now, it still hurts. A lot. A third struggles with pervasive sadness each and every day. It hurts knowing there isn't much I can do, personally, to 'fix' that for him. God knows I try but I'm not supermom. Some of my children were runners. Running away was their coping mechanism of choice. I've often wondered how I'd handle a runner out on the road. "Running away" is clearly defined as 'leaving the property without permission.' In an RV, "our property" is a little different and just isn't big enough to give the space needed at times. How would I handle a raging meltdown? Strangers don't take too kindly to hearing it. Can they punch holes in an RV wall? I hope not. I don't know how to fix those walls ... yet.
When I see my children laugh or smile, I wish I could capture that moment, freeze-frame it, and make it last forever. I give the very best I have to give and sometimes my best isn't good enough. That hurts. It hurts to see them hurting. Sometimes I mourn for the people, places and things they've lost. I mourn for the lost opportunities. For them and for me. Can hearts be mended? I suppose so, but they sure do crack open every now and again.

Busy, Busy, Busy ... and Now Sick

I put the kiddos to bed early and I'm headed there myself soon. I was just sitting here reading some blogs and felt like updating mine.
The boy didn't believe me about NJ winters. He didn't believe me when I said he needed to dress warmly every day. Even after he started walking to school in nothing but a hoodie as outerwear, even after he started shivering, he never came back to get a coat in that 30 degree weather ... again. He decided running to school would be better. Until ... he caught a cold. Not only did he catch one, he passed it on to the other family members, except Nathan and Joshua. They've been spared so far.
When he had a little cold and runny nose, I didn't feel too badly saying "Ha, I told you so." Now that he's been sick a week and missed a day of school so far, I do feel a little bad having said, "I told you so." He's got it bad.
The boy didn't want to be around me after I discovered he hadn't gone to see his teacher after school then lied about it ... No, he'd rather wallow in self-pity all alone ... But he DID want me to come to his aid when he woke up with an earache. OK, I did go to his aid, but in my mind I was saying, "See? I told you so" as he fell asleep snoring and gurgling on my lap. I must admit, I enjoyed the closeness he only seems to allow comfortably when he's asleep but I'm glad I did bring a book up to his room with me. I got a whole chapter of "Attachment-Focused Parenting" read while he slept there on my lap. Ironic, I thought, that I was starting that particular book at that particular time. In the meantime, my throat was killing me. It seems a few of the others have the same problem. Grrr.
I feel like I'm in transition at this point in my life. So many things are ahead and I'm not sure how it'll all play out but I'm looking forward to blogging about our adventures of remodeling the kitchen in the sticks and bircks house, temporarily hitting the road in the RV again, possibly homeschooling in the future, and adopting again ... and again. Should be a pretty exciting year.

Our First Major Road Trip in the RV

During the first week of October, 2010, I got the call ... the paperwork is ready, ICPC approved, when can I go meet my new son? Wow. It wasn't expected to happen until Dec., at the earliest, so I was completely unprepared: financially and otherwise. A week later, the RV was packed up and we were on the road to Texas, a 30 hour drive to be done in 4 days. First stop: San Antonio. We stopped in VA to rest at a McDonald's and run around in the playplace. I was on the phone with my new son's worker and tried to get into the McDonald's quickly to rustle up the kids and get back on the road but I locked the keys in the RV. For an hour we tried to use a coat hanger to open a door, a screwdriver to open a window, and even tried to get in through the unlocked trunk and closet floor. We couldn't, so we ended up busting through the back of the bathroom wall and pushed my smallest son through the hole. Mental note: need a spare key hidden somewhere. We got to visit friends in AR, ever so briefly, unfortunately. Once in TX, I turned the RV off in Austin to fuel up for the last time before arriving in San Antonio. It wouldn't start. Turns out, the alternator belt had broken somewhere along the way and the battery was dead. We slept at that gas station for the night and were towed the next morning. We got it fixed ($400 later, ugh) and were back on the road, without any house lights, fridge, generator, or any other appliance that requires battery or electricity to function, and a day of visiting time lost. =[
Once in San Antonio, we were able to visit with 3 of my boys' adult siblings and their families. It's always nice to spend time with them, even though we only had 2 hours together. We had a picnic and tossed the football around while the littles rode their scooters. We spent the second day visiting younger siblings, adopted by their foster parents, after a night of sleeping next to the train tracks, where trains actually ride by, tooting their horn ... all night long. lol. Plus, some extended family apparently likes to blast their DJ music at 11pm while they bathe the baby. We almost went back to the local Walmart to sleep in peace and quiet but were too tired to move. Spending the better part of the day with them was well-worth the all night train horns and dance music.
On day 3, I met my new son: a 14 year old. What a cutie. We had a 2 hour visit the first day, a longer visit the second day where we went out to a Chinese buffet. On the third day I picked him up for the long weekend. We spent the weekend plugged in at Lake Whitney and Joe Pool Lake in TX. It was the first time we had ever plugged in. I learned that my 9 year old had turned every switch on that could be turned on. Thus, when the alternator was fixed it wasn't able to charge the house battery. Once we plugged in for a few hours, turned everything off, and recharged everything, we didn't have any other problems ... with that, anyway. It was a bit chilly one day but otherwise great. We chased a tornado on our way but stopped to sleep at a rest stop when we started to feel rain and wind. At the campgrounds, we fished, played basketball and football, and had picnics. The littles played miniature golf. They all had HW to do. I learned from another RVer that the switch under my stearing wheel (which doesn't seem to do anything at all when I turn it on or off) may be to start the RV on another battery if one is dead ... uh, start the RV if one battery is dead? ugh. Well, we live and learn, don't we?
On the last day, we had a visit with my new son's 10 year old brother. It was an awsome visit. We are still hoping he can join the family soon. Once we left that visit, my new son went back to his foster home to get ready to move and we started driving home. I had the same 4 days to drive the 25 hours back home. We stopped to visit some friends in TN along the way, and stayed longer than we should have but it was a great time. I overslept until almost noon the day after we left and also hit the time zone change so I lost a lot of driving time that day and had to wake up extra early the last day in order to make it home before my new son arrived with his worker by plane. They made it to the house about 5 minutes before we did!!!! It was a stressful drive home but I did learn a lot about my RV on this trip. I had built a full size bunk in the back but I think I need to redo that to make 2 single bunks, leaving more space in the middle for people to walk to the bathroom and reach their cubbies. I can't wait to take another trip that's more leisurely. I was tempted to go someplace this weekend, since it's a long weekend for us, but I still haven't cleaned and reorganized the RV from the last trip! Maybe tomorrow?

My First Blog

When beepers came out, I thought to myself, "Wow, what a cool little gadget. I could carry this while I'm going to college so my mom and children could beep me if there's an emergency." When cell phones came out, I didn't think I'd need one, as my beeper served it's purpose. My cell phone is almost always with me now. When computers came out, I didn't see why I might ever need one. Wow. I am with this little box, cell phone by my side, more than I care to admit. When I heard about myspace, I only made one because my teens (there were 5 at the time) had them and I wanted to keep an eye on them for safety sake. When facebook came out and my teens were grown, I didn't think I'd have a facebook, as myspace had served its purpose for me. Lo and behold, a former student put a post out asking if anyone knew one of her former teachers (me). A friend of mine "googled" me, for some odd reason, and discovered that post ... on live journal. This student convinced me to join facebook so, as a courtesy, I did. I now get my facebook updates on my cell phone. lol. Now I'm blogging, something else I thought I'd never do. My, how technology can change the way we live ...
When I was home with my first 3 young children, post-partum depression often hit hard. I didn't work outside the home. I did some house cleaning and babysitting. My children were always with me. When I became a single mom, it was very difficult having so little interaction with others. I had one or two friends in a similar situation who I spent the majority of time with. This little box has opened up a whole new world of support and socialization, conveniently spent in the comforts of my home with my children (5 at the time of this writing) still by my side. I love my online friends - you know who you are.
At the time of this writing, I have 3 birth children, 6 adopted from foster care, and 2 teens I fostered until adulthood. I have 1 adult child living at home and 5 younger ones ... with a 6th on his way and his brother, the 7th, expected to join us shortly thereafter. That's the plan I have, anyway. Sometimes, God's plan is different than my own. My children deal with ODD, ADHD, autistic spectrum disorder, mood disorders, PTSD, dissociative disorder, fetal alcohol/drug exposure, developmental delays, and mild mental retardation. I, myself, struggle with autistic spectrum challenges, although I was never formally diagnosed. I guess you'll get to know all of us as time progresses.
I also recently purchased my first RV: a 1985 Class C. Admitedly, I bought it as a vacation home but also as a "plan B" if I were to lose my house in this economy. I tried looking for homes/apartments to rent but very quickly learned no one wanted to rent to a family of 7, especially a family of 7 with special needs. I never lost my home, by the grace of God, but we kept the RV. We love that ol' dinosaur. We spend lots of time in it. It's been in and out of the shop more than I'd like so we haven't traveled far but now that most of the kinks are worked out and I've learned enough about it's operations to go somewhere, we'd like to start traveling in it long-term. Some of us would love to live in it full-time but others of us are on the fence about that so we'll see what happens. In 2009, we traveled around much of the USA in a minivan with a tent. We passed 16 states on one trip then visited 3 more on other trips. So, we've seen parts of 19 states so far. We did spend quite a few nights in motels and at friends' homes (you know, those friends I met in the box). We just "winged it" but we had a great time. The only thing I desired was a personal potty that traveled with us. Funny to think I spent $14,000 for a personal potty. lol. OK, we have living/sleeping quarters and a kitchen traveling with us, too, but originally, it was for the potty. I go often, especially in the middle of the night, and I hated walking to the bathrooms in the dark at campgrounds. TMI, I'm sure. I'll close on that note. There's a sticks and bricks house I need to clean before our work/school week begins. Even though I'd much rather be RVing and homeschooling full-time, we're still in the sticks andbricks house, attending public schools (with mixed emotions) and working part-time as an 8th grade science teacher (thinking I'm ready to retire soon but not even close to 'retirement age').