This Is Serious -- Not

You know you've been watching too much Wonder Pets when you roll over in the middle of the night and sing "This is Serious!"  I was either dreaming that my husband needed new clothes or that our adoption agency denied our homestudy--one of which is true and really not that serious and one which is not true but would be very serious.

I have been dreaming about the homestudy a lot and our agency saying no.  And then coming with CPS to take the rest of the kids, because if we cannot parent a new child can we really parent the ones we have.  Hopefully we'll have a yes early next week and we can move on to the next step with no more nightmares.  Some days, which I actually haven't had too recently, when I'm tempted to lock myself in my room and let the kids fend for themselves, I do wonder why we want a fourth child.  I wonder if we can really "handle it" as my case worker asked. 

Especially when my middle child falls off the bunk bead ladder 10 minutes after going to bed and my oldest runs into our room screaming as if the end of the world had come.  Turned out there will barely be a bruise, but hysteria did ensue, and not just from the children (not Sunflower, she slept through it all!)

I know we have great children and at times we make fairly decent parents.  We often fail at a lot of the should haves (like keeping the yard weeded) but most of the time we succeed at the have tos. I also know that God will give us the wisdom, strength, and patience we'll need when the need arises if we seek Him.  I also know that if we reach a point where we feel over our heads we have family, friends, and a strong church family to reach out to for help.  We are so very blessed.

No, there is no reason to have nightmares about our agency rejecting us for adoption.  Unless they misunderstand something.  Like the fact that we signed something saying we will not spank or use corporal punishment with our adopted child (and by default our current children after the adoption.)  And we totally intend to abide by that and in fact, do prefer time outs and "love and logic" methods of discipline.  The Connected Child was a very useful book.

But today, when I told the joke, "What do you get if you throw a stick of butter out the window?"

Sunflower said, "A spanking."

The real answer is a butterfly.