who do they protect

I have a very dear friend who is a Foster parent. Over the years she has had her share of issues with children. However the children in her home are cared for, clean, and safe. My friend called me to tell me about a child. This child, Bug, had been placed with a mutual friend for the majority of his short life, all his major medical issues had been fixed and he was able to be placed in a Family members care. Once you are in foster care for that amount of time placement in another home, isn't that easy. they do "check out" the home and "licence" the family members as foster care, although they only receive that child. Little Bug left to his new placement a happy healthy child. 6 days ago the phone rang and I heard the story of Bug. He is in the hospital with a skull fracture, bleeding from both ears and unconsious...his condition remains the same...only now they discovered an infection...highly contagious and one he will carry for life. All of this is from the "home" the Social Worker placed him into. The conditions of the home were sub standard, he has lost about 10 lbs, and this is the 3rd time he has been in the hospital since they got him.

so my question is who's to blame? Yes the foster parents, obviously they are to blame. But where was the Social worker? why didn't they check up Bug? I know they don't follow up with they reunite..I saw this with my Danny. How many children have to be lost under the "watchful eye" of social services?

I feel sad and sick that this has happened. I can't express what will be best for Bug.

Snow Day

I agreed to move to an island, however I should have requested to move to a TROPICAL island. I'll be sure to put that request in before we get the next set of orders! It all started on December 13. Jeremy and I got up early on Saturday morning, took the kids to the neighbors and headed down to Astoria Oregon to see Keith Anderson in Concert. We saw him with friends last December, so it seems like an "annual" trip for us. Anyways great show, and lots of fun with no kids. We were able to go out and have fun...alittle too much fun....We got up Sunday and headed home. It was seriously COLD and a few miles down the road we were driving in show! OH my GOSH!!! Snow??? Well it is December! We made it home all was good, except there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground here, and the kids had lost our keys out in it!! Monday it was COLD, like really COLD!! Tuesday the same. then it warmed up and started to snow...Wednesday Morning we were called, no school. Snow DAy!! Then Thursday, again no school, and it snowed off and on all day. Thrusday afternoon I got an e-mail from school saying no school, enjoy Christmas Break! Woo hoo!!! Well if there is no school, there is no work for the base so Jeremy has been off since Wednesday as well. Over the weekend it has snowed off and on, and last night it started snowing hard...and kept snowing...So right how we have like 12 inches of snow. It is super wet so thats cool. It make killer snowmen and is awesome for sledding. Some kids were snowboarding behind my house today. Right now we are forcasted to get more snow tomorrow evening, and it will be snowing off and on threw the week. My neighbors had to leave today to go to SeaTac to fly out. Jeremy was busy scooping snow all day and opted to dig out her van so they could leave. Her husband had to work and with 2 small kids it wasn't something she was able to do.

I am very thankful this year that we opted to stay home and not travel this year. Be safe everyone who is!

family pictures

I have to say I found the most wonderful couple that happen to be wizards with a camera! I was at the dentist one day and saw a picture of my dentist and his family, below it was a little card with a blog spot and e-mail. So having nothing better to do...I came home and checked it out! We couldn't get in that weekend, or on the special they were running. But opted to have 1 hour sitting in November. Anxiously we have been waiting for the pitures to arrive. They had the most beautiful baby girl and then the holiday season started. Last night we were able to get our pictures from them. Let me say we were not disappointed! Enjoy! also if you have a chance go look at their pictures too! http://www.pixidustphoto.blogspot.com/

who's bright idea was this?

I don't think it was actually my idea...It had to come from someone else. Going back to college. Why settle for just one degree? so I started back this fall. Well somewhere along the line I forgot about homework. I fogot how much time school took, I forgot I had 2 kids, a job and a husband how travels monthly. So again this week I have discovered I am again behind on school work, house work, life in general. Right now I am in the process of writing a reflection paper. What could this teacher have done differently in the situation? Well personally I think she did what she needed to do to get the job done. So it is very hard to come up with atleast 5 things she could have tried. I'm only at 3 right now. I sent notes to school with the kids saying I was not able to volunteer this week, and stayed home to work. yet I am still not finished. I have checked the group project for our class it looks good only few have responded. So hopefully they do so that we get a good grade. then next week I have a mid term, quiz and a paper due....the next week 2 papers due....does it ever end??

nothing better to do on Halloween??

http://www.tamponcrafts.com/ So if you are sitting around doing nothing.. have a great laugh and look at this site.

you've got to be kidding me..

So my week started on Sunday. A week ago I got the notes for a power point for a group project. the other girl just didn't have time to complete it. She just had a new baby so out lining was all she could get done. I had a feeling this would happen so I had planned on doing the PP. Well I really wanted to get it done before this week so Sunday I sat down looked at the notes. Well the whole chapter was only 15 pages long, the PP outline was 15 slides long with some that needed split. I thought a PP was only an outline, for our purpose. So I cut and got it down to 12 slides, put some graphics in all was sunny and e-mailed it off to the rest of my group. Went to bed feeling so accompished. I got up Monday morning went to volunteer, finished the required reading for one class, things are looking good!! Sat down to check my e-mail from school. What??? you can't open the PP....or if you can open it is is only letters and numbers!!! thankfully I am married to someone who can fix my errors easily...so I e-mailed it off to him in St. Louis, he fixed it and mailed it back to me this morning. So total stress!! it took a whole evening to complete this and make it look how I wanted. Then! I opened the text book I just got for Jeremy's class. I got it off half.com....when I was taking it out of the package...this tape was stuck to the inside of the envelope....what is this black duct tape....Now I'll tell you for a fact duct tape CAN fix just about anything...but why is it on the book?? so as I pull it out of the package the black trim is being revieled on the book...its an Instructors Edition!!! I just spent 60+$ on a book for jeremy to use and it's not the text book!!! So I e-mailed the guy and requested my money back, he did not sell what he said he had, his "plan" was to cover anything that said "instructor edition" with black duct tape, including the isbn number....like I wouldn't notice?? Anyway jeremy is going to have to use this book utnil we can find out if it is the correct page numbers and whatnot. If not then I have to find him a new book. But can you believe it?? that's totally freaking nutters!

So I went to bed last night stressed about the PP, upest about the book, and the alarm rang too early this morning. Off to school go the kids, off to work I go...and it's art day again....Only EVEN better! we have a sub for our classroom teacher...he's tought special ed, he's subbed in kindergarten, he's woked in life skills...but this was his FIRST time in Developmental kindergarten...and I'm sure his last! YOu need to have high energy for kindergarten, but you need to be very calm for kids with autism...they feed off your energy....if you have too much energy....well we're fucked. Pretty much that was how it was, the kids were so excited and spun up because of his great and happy attitude, control was lost. Art class was challanging again, it would be nice if the teacher could attend a developmental class and see where these kids are at, so that she could see the difficulties these kids go through in the regular classroom. and understand that when we have to paint/draw the line or picture it is no longer their project but ours....giving them guidance and say do this...then letting them is their understanding of what is going on. But when Jimmy can't draw a zig zag but can make and curvy line...thats his zig zag. Sure I can hand over hand help him make a zig zag but then it is my project. Everything has to be just so, and its not with these kids. After art, we the aids over road the sub and took the kids to the playground! they were all over playing having a good time, then back to the classroom for math, music, lunch and GO HOME...thats my favorite 40 minutes of the day! LOL kids were out of control by the time we went to lunch one had a melt down because he did not want fruit on his tray...it took a few minutes to figure out what the problem was, then 2 began slamming each other with milk cartons...and I would correct them to get but they just kept going. finally I yelled at them both...seriously yelled "stop!! that is enough playing" the lunch lady and the other aid got a good laugh that I blew my cool for the first time. Just the prefect time, with the principal and parents in the lunch room for a "special" day lunch....never mind I had already made a little girl cry because she wanted to sit at the "special" table with the principal. So rather than eating she was sitting there crying. At 12:00 I totally bolted out the door!

So what else can go wrong...one of the girls in my group said who's doing the Word Doc for the message board....Wait what word..isn't it "or" not and in the project discription....well shoot there is no PP in the project discription...So I e-mailed the teacher...she e-mailed back and said "no here is the guidlines" but then called....and said wait don't panic...thankfully she is accepting our PP instead of a word doc, because a PP is in the grading outline...she had not taken it out. But I did have to e-mail her the PP so she could review it. thankfully we are all good, I do need to add a bib to the PP, but other than that she said it looked good!! Thank goodness!

Now what can go wrong tomorrow....should I really ask that question or just go to bed?

lack of production

My to do list is long. Yet today I got very very little done, just some laundry. Shorty and I are home alone so we went trick or treat bowling, then to the O Club for more Halloween goodies with our neighbor. Since High School Musical 3 came out this weekend we went to that. I have to say it ws very good. It is so refreshing to see a teen movie with only 1 kiss!! Shorty loved it, I didn't know she would already know some of the songs but sure enough she was singing along. So I think that CD will be on her Christmas list....maybe then we can take a break from Hanna Montana!

I watched the UFC PPV tonight, I was so disappointed in the Title fight with Silva v Cote. the fight ended in the 3rd round (the longest Silva fight yet!!) when Cote blew out his right knee. I don't think it would have gone much further than that anyways. J and I have a discussion as to who can beat Silva, I dont' think it is going to happen for quite some time. but what a bummer to see the fight end that quickly.

So I am lacking so much motivation I can't even head down to bed. the week is going to be starting much sooner than I am prepared. Monday is my volunteer day and then I work the rest of the week. I am hoping they don't send the child out of the room until Christmas. She did have some great days last week....followed by a bad one. So if she is going to life skills I am out of a job. I really enjoy my job with the kids. Although friday was crack day!! over half the class had on low riders. Oh and then there was the snot....so maybe my job isn't taht great!

Just what was she thinking?

I am working as an instructional aid for a developmental Kindergarten. Tuesday is Art day. so at 10:20 we line up and walk down the hall to art. life should be good right?? Ok we get there discover we are painting...so back to our room for paint smocks...then as we are in the process of putting them on the kids the teacher starts to pass out paint and brushes....to the kids with no smocks. I think only one managed to get paint on herself at that time. The project is going to be cool when it is done....if we don't loose our minds first! So then the kids are given the paper, paint, brushes, and object to paint. Well these are developmental kids, holding an object and getting paint on the edge to stamp with, well that's not so easy for some. I understand why the Art teacher feels stress, I feel stress when we are in there. Ok so done with the FIRST color, get up go to the sink, put your object in the sink, use 2 fingers to wash your paint brush, wash your hands then go sit down. Now give that instruction to any 5 year old and you are still going to have problems...did I mention these kids are developmenal? When I say developmental I'm talking kids with Autism, or sever learning disablities. So we get to the sink and start to play in the water, not washing our brushes, but look there are paint containers in the sink! Oh and they have piant in them...look at your object....So with help the kids manage to get that accomplished, then back to their seats. Where they are given MORE paint and a strip of cardboard, to paint the end. Again for some this is too much. But Like I said this IS going to be a cool project if it doesn't drive us crazy first! Again more painted fingers, friends, paint drips, and the idea of painting just the edge is difficult. Off to the sink for more washing...and painting my pants.... and our classmate who was blonde now has green hair...and our other friend has green freckles on his cheek.....OK done with that!! Back to our table with some crayons to make a broken line and fill the paper with them. some kids did...but they were not dark enough. so they had to do them again. Thankfully we were done with paint! I'm sure that they should be able to paint with a brush, they should be able to hold a pencil, but some kids lack the fine motor skills necessary to do so. Some kids are still at the finger painting skill level. so multi task project like this is just frustrating for the kids being told that their "masterpiece" isn't correct and then thrown into the trash. Its frustrating for us trying to get the task completed as directed.

the set up for the room is also difficult the kids loose line of sight with the teacher and loose focus on what they are to be doing. Some times I wonder if the teacher made a few changes if she would see more succes with all her classes.

I understand that we can't change all of education for those who don't fit inside the box...but when you have a group that are all in the same box shouldn't you work inside that box to get them all out. Main streaming does not work for all, so expecting everyone to be able to do the same project is unrealistic. I have seen the projects that the art teacher has done. The kids have done some very cool projects. I just wonder what the process of making those projects was like before I was with the group.

Are you listening?

Have you ever told someone something and then wonder did they hear me? Or are they jsut saying "yeah.....mmmhhhh....right...ok" but not really hearing the words you say? receintly I told someone what I wanted. But then when those things actually happened I was told "well thats not what you want'...Hello!! Did you not hear me? Where did they get the idea that I don't know what I am doing? I have no skills? I have no...no.... Do you even know me? How can the people in your life not know you when you flat out tell them THIS IS what I want. Why do I get compared with others who lack desire and motivation to improve the situation they are in. The choices I make are for presonal satisfaction, presonal development. and presonal growth. Pushing to complete a goal that I have made for myself....but its not the image others feel that I fit. So why should I put so much effort into what others think. why am I wasting my energy in justifying the choices that I make. My choices don't hurt anyone but benifit many....they are just not the ideal that is expected for me by others.

how 6 weeks can change your life.

So it's been a little over 6 weeks now. Just before my last post way back in August...well actually it was August 1st. We found out that Jeremy made Chief. It is pretty much the biggest advancement of his career and something he has truly worked hard for. Then over the next 6 weeks it was long hours, insane task that were put on them, ridiculous request...and 418 minutes of phone time used...and he says I talk on the phone alot! His were all 1 minute phone calls....Finally the training was over and the pinning happened. He can now wear the rank and his new uniforms. People will come to him for advice and of course he will go to others for advice.

I really didn't understand why they did all this..and during the training, which seemed to me more like hazing, I would ask Jeremy. He was so tired it would result in him snapping and me telling him where he could stick it. Finally on Sunday when I was taking him to the airport to fly to a seminar and having a couple nights of good sleep he started talking about things. so all those times they would task people, and of course there would be one fool who would fail...so they all failed...It was to teach them to work together, for so many years you are working to make yourself the top to make it to this place..that you forget to work as team..Also when they would break up the group and pull the leaders away...then watch the remaining guys fail...it was to get them to be stronger and become leaders.

So in the end everything worked out as it should. Amazing how a little sleep and 6 weeks can change your view on life.

My sisters keeper part 2

How disturbing. I finished the book this afternoon. I read over 200 pages this afternoon, only to finish in tears. The whole family goes through this media filled court case, and Anna wins the right to make her own medical decisions. then on the way home, she is in a car that is hit by a truck and she is killed. Her Attorney has her POA and rather than forcing her parents to make the choice he does it for them, and has ther organs donated. the kidneys go to her sister, who ends up undergoing a major battle to live but does in the end. Then the last chapter of the books talks about the results of her death. the guilt, the drinking, and the success of the other members of her family. But how totally heart breaking to read this book, and to have that outcome.

Oh and I did discover why the Attorney had a service dog. He has a seizure disorder, and the dog can identify when he is about to have on and get him to safty.

My sisters Keeper

I am currently reading "My sisters Keeper". My MOm gave me this book a couple years ago for Christmas and I am just now getting around to reading it. I have to say I am very upset. I have cried several times while reading it and am now so irrated with the mom sara. I hate that bitch! So basically the story is a bout a 13 year old girl who's older sister has Luekemia, and is going to die. Anna, was "created" to save her sisters life. So starting at birth they take her cord cells, then multipul blood transfusing and other blood related cells, to keep her sister alive. when she was 6 she they did a Bone Marrow Transplant and now at 13 her sister needs a Kidney. No one has ever asked Anna, no ethic's committe has looked at the case, because they are sisters and the parents (or parent) agrees this would be the best. So Anna has hired an attorney to help her NOT give her sister a kidney. Needless to say this whole book take place over 2 weeks. there have been several times in the book that have upset me. Like when Kate learns Anna has filed a law suit for her own medical decisions. She says its ok, but please keep being my friend, cause I dont' have any friends. And when Kate is in the hospital, Anna sneeks in to be with her because she doesn't know who she is with out her sister. Last night I got to the point of the first BMT when Anna was 6, the mom is with Kate and the Dad with Anna, the Dad comes to get Mom cause Anna is crying for her. Her answer is "I am too busy with Kate, I can't leave her" finally she does and although Anna is in pain she doesn't comfort her but looks for a medical comfort and finds a shot to put her out. then Sara is pissed off that the dad gives Anna a locket for her special gift for her sister. Then there is a brother who is in nothing but trouble.....but the parents are too busy with kate illness to even notice him. The bad thing is that the Dr's say Kate is not strong enough for the Kidney transplant yet the mother is pushing hard for it to happen. So my thoughts keep roaming does she love Anna for being Anna or because she is saving Kate. Only a few more days and I will finish the book and know the answers.

Whidbey Island

I thought I'd start a blog about my life here on Whidbey Island. So starting today. whats new. Not much. I went for a walk along the shore, it was amazingly nice today, although only in the 60's I did end up taking my sweater off while I walked. the wind wasn't too bad. I earned my 1 million steps gold shirt today. I also made some fruit roll ups in my new food dehydrator. My little one was able to get into swim lessons and life seems pretty simple.

What will tomorrow bring? it is forcasted to rain so we will have to wait and see.............