I'm currently enjoying some much needed coffee out of my fabulous new mug. How did I get this mug? Well, Big decided a couple Saturday mornings ago that I needed flowers (smart boy!) and he would not budge on the issue so he and Chad went to the flower shop and got me an arrangement in a yellow coffee mug with a big smiley face on it. Why this particular arrangement? Because Big knows that I like coffee and he thought the smiley face would make me happy every time I drank from it. In fact, just now, as I was sitting down with my mug to type this, he asked me if I was happy yet from the mug. I'm not sure if he's trying to imply that I'm generally a crab....but I'll take it that he was being sweet :) Although, I wouldn't be all that shocked if he was accusing me of crabiness because I have been quite the grouch lately. We're getting ever closer to an ultimate decision being made in the case, and with it comes insane amounts of stress and craziness that could make even a Stepford wife crack! Want a taste of the crazy life? Here was my week last week:
Monday through Friday I was directing MAX Camp at my Church building. I was thinking we wouldn't have very many kids for some crazy reason, but we ended up with about ninety. Sheesh! Talk about awesome!
Monday I got a phone call from the agency while I was supposed to be registering kids for camp and it was our caseworker calling to say that Big's therapy was canceled for the day and also that his grandma was requesting a visit and both the grandma and his dad thought it would be best if she could have a separate visit. Could we do Thursday at five? Sure! Then came another call from Little's therapist (have I mentioned he's in therapy now? It alternates between our house and a playroom at St. V's.) She was stuck working at a golf outing and couldn't make it. Could she do Thursday at five, I asked? Sure! (I'm no dummy!)
Tuesday I got a call from our caseworker while I was supposed to be registering kids again and this time it was to tell me that the visit for the kids that day was canceled for some really lame and old reason. Whatever.
Wednesday Big got feisty at lunch because his dad told him at his visit on Monday that he would be seeing his grandma this week and he was convinced it was going to be that day and I had to tell him that it was going to be tomorrow. However, it explained the mystery of the "special visit" he kept alluding to. I got a call from my caseworker while I was in the waiting room of the eye doctor telling me that she wasn't sure if grandma knew of the visit the next day and we might need to reschedule. We talked about how Big already knew of the visit and I learned his dad had mentioned this to him before the visit was even approved. Good intentions and all, right?
Thursday I got a call from the caseworker saying that grandma couldn't meet that night. Seriously? She wants to meet during the day on Friday. Nope...I'm running a camp...I'm a little busy. Can we do Friday at three? Sure. Then I had a minor meltdown about how now I had to take Little up there that evening and then Big the next day--anNOYing!!! But then Little's therapist called and said we needed to reschedule (again). Could she do tomorrow at three? She could. YES!!!!
Thursday evening I got a call from the caseworker and from the tone in her voice, I just knew it. The grandma had showed up anyway. Furreal. I had just finished making dinner and Chad was dishing it up and so I offered to run Big up there right then for the visit but grandma was already gone because she could only stay until six. But wait, there's more. Grandma also can't meet at three the next day. She even called someone while at the agency to see if she could make it work, but she couldn't. She could only meet from noon til one. My camp went until 12:30. sigh. Our only other option is to reschedule for next week. But I had already told Big on Wednesday that his visit would be Thursday and then told him that afternoon that it would be Friday and had to survive yet another freak out so there was no way in the world I was making him wait any longer. So we settled for Friday at noon. Which meant I had to leave camp early on the last day. And then I'd have to have Little up there at three still. Which meant I made a horrible crying phone call to my friend Mary who is also the Children's Minister, to explain everything. And then another desperate call to Little's therapist's voicemail to beg for a noon appointment. And then Chad took one look at me and told me to go do whatever I wanted so I made one more phone call to my sister to beg sanctuary at her house for a bit, which I did. Ahh.
This story has a somewhat happy ending though. Friday morning, Little's therapist called and granted the noon appointment. Chad got out of work about ten and came up to camp and picked up the boys and took them to their appointments for me. I got to stay at camp. And when I walked in that morning, there was a lovely arrangment of flowers from my beloved Tiffany in D.C. Phew! Isn't that a wonderful ending? It's like, craziness, craziness, craziness...God's grace....just when you need it.
That week totally affirmed two rules of mine though: 1. Answer the phone whenever the agency calls. They only ever call with something important that I need to hear. This is why they have a special ringer on my phone and everything. It would be so much easier to let their calls go to voicemail when I'm busy, but they're so busy, I could call them right back and they would probably be away from their desk already and then you're just playing phone tag. I hate phone tag.
2. Never tell the kids about a visit until you're already on your way there and you know the person is coming. This pretty much goes for any visit, but especially the 'special' visits. This whole week would have been easier if Big's dad hadn't tried to be helpful and tell him about the grandma visit because I could've just rescheduled it until this week and he would have been none the wiser. Instead, I had to tell him twice that he had to wait another day and he didn't take it very well. This isn't the first time that something like this has happened and so that rule has served me well. I also never tell the kids they're having a visit with their parents until it's been confirmed for the very same reason. We've had a lot of canceled visits lately and there's no point in trying to make the kids happy by telling them they have a visit only to come back in a few hours and tell them you were wrong.
Now it's Monday again and I'm just waiting for the phone to start ringing and all the craziness to start over. I'm super thankful for my husband and my family and friends who let me behave badly towards all of them while I struggle to handle all the stress. They put up with a lot from me and I really appreciate it :) Hopefully, in a couple of months, some things will change and I will have a lot less things to get rearranged. For now though, we'll keep chugging along. The kids are having a hard time with all of this too (can we say Big stabbed Little in the face with his fork after a particularly rancid visit? mhmm) but I'm learning better ways to help them with everything, and camp was a really good distraction for them last week. And can I just say that school starts in three weeks? Big will be in first grade this year and Little just got accepted to Head Start so he will be gone in the mornings. I know it sounds harsh, but I'm really looking forward to the space. Ha, I'll probably be happy for a week and then I'll miss them and want them back home :)
Well, that was my week. Hope you enjoyed the exclusive inside look ;) Now I'm off to wrestle with the crazy monkey children!
