going

I really do have high hopes for the reunification. But all things considering, we have to be realistic that a guy who didn't do so well with even one kid before, and his girlfriend who has never had kids of her own, will be getting all three back, so we will hope for the best and prepare for the worst. We will take a break, though, with the foster care bit. To set up house. To be just us. You know, what we didn't get a chance to do after we got married! We figure that we'll take in a kid or so around November. In the meantime, we've got our hands full with letting go of Peanut. There is a Foster Care Review soon. We will put it out there that we'd like to continue to be a part of her life, whether that's with occasional visits or support for the family or whatever. But I think it will be important for her to know that we haven't abandoned her. Ok, not any more rested. Must sleep now.

She's going.

Peanut is leaving. She's been with us almost a year, but now she goes back to Bio Dad and New Girlfriend on Sept 5th. It was originally scheduled for Sept. 3rd, but since that is our anniversary, we had them postpone it a couple of days. She's starting to have a hard time with it. She doesn't say so outright, but her behavior has been acting up somewhat. Screaming for no reason at all for hours on end. Throwing meals across the dining room. Dusting her entire room with baby powder. You know the usual trouble in paradise. The child therapist said to expect this. On the bright side, even while she is giving us a little bit o hell, she does seem excited about going to live with Bio Dad. And I think that he's finally gotten his act together, so that this may actually work.

Comical

So we're buying a house. I said that before. This has been a wonderful, stressful, and certainly educational experience. But today I just had to laugh. I get an e-mail from the our loan officer. The processing people, whoever they may be, have to clear one thing up: why I make more money this year than I did last year. Wha?! Don't people usually make just a tad more from one year to the next? So anyway, I wrote a little letter explaining my upward mobility. You know, got a better job, got a raise, got another raise kinda thing. I was tempted to say that I was on my way to a third (which I do believe is true), but thought that might baffle them to the point of denying us the loan.