Weekend Reflections

We have had a lot going on here lately, it was a busy, busy weekend. First of all we had a quick foster care placement, a weekend of respite with Dancing Baby Girl, Douglass home on a pass from the military school, my oldest son's girlfriend visiting on her way back to college, and Kendra's friend with us unexpectedly as she had a blowup at home and needed a place to stay. As my husband said, "Thank God we have a big house...". I forgot to mention that one of Douglass' friends stayed over one night of the weekend also. Then on top of that it was Easter with all the demands of Easter baskets, Easter Egg hunts (see picture, we had to hide the same eggs over and over for her to find and each time it was just as joyful as the first time), church services and Easter dinner.

Now no way can we compete with the intensity of people that some of the larger families are dealing with, but it was a busy weekend for us nonetheless. It wasn't the number of people, it was the comings and goings, we never quite settled down at all.

I loved having Bart's girlfriend Kara to visit but felt I had almost no time to really spend with her/them. She is a treasure and I hope he knows that.

Douglass is only home for 3.5 days and we have had a lot to fill the time. Before he even unpacked his bag he was off to soccer with his old team on Saturday. Saturday night was with friends and then a friend overnight. Sunday was time with all his church friends and then Easter dinner. Today we did shopping and the psychiatrist, and dinner with his mentor. Tomorrow before he goes back he will have lunch with his previous therapist and case manager and tell them of all the success he is having. He plans to thank them for all the help they were to him even when he couldn't recognize it before.

I am glad that his pass isn't longer as I am not sure we could convince him to go back willingly. This is a hard challenge he has taken up and the lure of home with the TV, video games, friends and good food is quite strong.

He was sharing his binder of important things with us and it brought tears to my eyes to see all the cards and letters that folks in our church congregation had sent him. The letters uniformly were uplifting and offered him encouragement and praised him for his courage. It was wonderful to see the many adults with whom he has developed relationships over the years really step up to support him. I love that he is feeling the love of God expressed through them.

I will be sad to see him go tomorrow but I know that he is embarking on some new life adventures. He takes his first college class starting on Wednesday. I am so proud of him, and I think he is proud of himself.