So I can add pictures like this !!!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
In Search of the perfect...
DRESS! I am so angry I cannot find a simple freaking red dress. All I was is a red, not cherry, not maroon, not butt ugly lipstick red, just flat red in an a-line or some type of style that doesn't accent the fat roll around my stomach. Is that too much to ask? I found a great looking dress online, only available online at Target BUT not in my size. If only I were perhaps skinnier I could be cuter. LOL
SO now I guess I will be FORCED to go to the mall after work with Brittany in tow. She of course will be screaming she is hungry, Jeff will be angry for being around the breathing and I will be irritated and probably still not able to find a dress. Now if I were looking for a black dress, hey no problem. But for some reason my sister decided that the girls need to wear plane jane red in our family pic on Saturday. Yes in 3 more days Saturday. So at the time I simply thought, "It's freaking Christmas how hard can it be?" little did I know red is not the color of the season, it is black. pfffffft
Besides that our tree is put up, our presents are bought, puppies are sold and waiting to be picked up closer to Christmas. Social worker has already came this month and our clinician will visit next week but with toys in hand. Depelchin was sponsored this year in turn sponsoring Christmas gifts for Depelchin's children. Since Brittany's adoption has not been finalized yet she gets to have a "Wish List" and get 4 gifts of which I got the honor of picking out a month ago. You know something, me and Jeff were laughing about it the other day, we are so blessed to have certain benefits for Brittany. Like for example her daycare is free. Yes FREE. She gets things like sponsored presents AND she will get free collage, free dental and medical until she is 18 and allot of other support systems not all children have access to. In the bigger picture she is a very lucky little girl. I hate the fact that she has been thru more in her little life then most "adults" I know but hopefully with some direction she will overcome anything she puts her mind to. I don't mean to sound preachy or get side tracked here but the kids you see people adopt over seas or privately don't have access to these kinds of benefits that children adopted thru CPS have. I am so glad it was laid on our hearts to go the path we have because there is no telling where we would be if we had not. I am sure childless and broke.
Another thing I would like to touch base on, kids........kids are hard work!!! Some days I just want to sock Brittany in the eye and roll over and go back to sleep. Some days I just want to break her Elmo DVD and run down the street screaming. Some days I just want to hold her and kiss her and sing songs with her all day long. What is wrong with me? It's like I am being pushed to these opposite extremes...daily. It's so funny. I keep wanting to write about it but forget. It too will pass. Everything will change one day and I will forget about bi-polar toddler emotions.
What else? Oh yea I got a kitten last week. Yes another animal, shut up. She is a "red" but really orange persian kitty. I think I am going to name her Mogwai. She is soooo freaking cute. She is a big ball of fur. Brittany tries to pull her by the tail and head constantly but she is pretty chill about it and takes the abuse. I alway stop her immediantly but I think Brittany is learning to be sneaky and has the notion she can "do what she wants" and does it anyways. She looks around to see if I am looking and does it. It makes me sooooo mad!!! Poor kitty.
So anyways work is almost over...gotta get ready to head to the mall. Gay.
SO now I guess I will be FORCED to go to the mall after work with Brittany in tow. She of course will be screaming she is hungry, Jeff will be angry for being around the breathing and I will be irritated and probably still not able to find a dress. Now if I were looking for a black dress, hey no problem. But for some reason my sister decided that the girls need to wear plane jane red in our family pic on Saturday. Yes in 3 more days Saturday. So at the time I simply thought, "It's freaking Christmas how hard can it be?" little did I know red is not the color of the season, it is black. pfffffft
Besides that our tree is put up, our presents are bought, puppies are sold and waiting to be picked up closer to Christmas. Social worker has already came this month and our clinician will visit next week but with toys in hand. Depelchin was sponsored this year in turn sponsoring Christmas gifts for Depelchin's children. Since Brittany's adoption has not been finalized yet she gets to have a "Wish List" and get 4 gifts of which I got the honor of picking out a month ago. You know something, me and Jeff were laughing about it the other day, we are so blessed to have certain benefits for Brittany. Like for example her daycare is free. Yes FREE. She gets things like sponsored presents AND she will get free collage, free dental and medical until she is 18 and allot of other support systems not all children have access to. In the bigger picture she is a very lucky little girl. I hate the fact that she has been thru more in her little life then most "adults" I know but hopefully with some direction she will overcome anything she puts her mind to. I don't mean to sound preachy or get side tracked here but the kids you see people adopt over seas or privately don't have access to these kinds of benefits that children adopted thru CPS have. I am so glad it was laid on our hearts to go the path we have because there is no telling where we would be if we had not. I am sure childless and broke.
Another thing I would like to touch base on, kids........kids are hard work!!! Some days I just want to sock Brittany in the eye and roll over and go back to sleep. Some days I just want to break her Elmo DVD and run down the street screaming. Some days I just want to hold her and kiss her and sing songs with her all day long. What is wrong with me? It's like I am being pushed to these opposite extremes...daily. It's so funny. I keep wanting to write about it but forget. It too will pass. Everything will change one day and I will forget about bi-polar toddler emotions.
What else? Oh yea I got a kitten last week. Yes another animal, shut up. She is a "red" but really orange persian kitty. I think I am going to name her Mogwai. She is soooo freaking cute. She is a big ball of fur. Brittany tries to pull her by the tail and head constantly but she is pretty chill about it and takes the abuse. I alway stop her immediantly but I think Brittany is learning to be sneaky and has the notion she can "do what she wants" and does it anyways. She looks around to see if I am looking and does it. It makes me sooooo mad!!! Poor kitty.
So anyways work is almost over...gotta get ready to head to the mall. Gay.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Why do I have these dreams?
I had the worse dream last night ever. Well it was the worse one I have had in awhile. I can only remember peices of it but I did wake up rather nautious and pissed off. I remember working BACK at Wal-Mart in the shoe department, zoning shoes when Jeff comes up to me and tells me that he is getting bored of our marriage and he just doesn't know who he is anymore so he is taking a break for awhile but when he is done he wants me to let him back into my life to resume our marriage. Now what kinda crazy ass shit is that?
So needless to say I am at work pissed at Jeff's stupidness in my dream. LOL
Things have been the same ol same ol since last I wrote. Porch is still a mess and there's still trash on the side of my house wrapped up in a tarp that the contractor has yet to pick up. I called his sorry ass yesterday but he has not returned my calls. I paid that man in full and I think we are being ripped off. UGH!
I sold all of Abby's puppies, which is pretty sweet, so now we had plenty of money for Christmas and a good little chunch to go shopping with on Black Friday. Which was totally awesome. I felt kinda drunk standing at Wal-Mart at 3:30 in the morning with no make up, leaning against my cart like if I didn't I would surely fall over and pass out. Needless to say I got what I went there for but almost got into a fight. Okay so it wasn't almost whatsoever but I can totally imagine that shit in my head. Truthfully I told a big old german guy what was up and then turned around and shook in my boots.
So needless to say I am at work pissed at Jeff's stupidness in my dream. LOL
Things have been the same ol same ol since last I wrote. Porch is still a mess and there's still trash on the side of my house wrapped up in a tarp that the contractor has yet to pick up. I called his sorry ass yesterday but he has not returned my calls. I paid that man in full and I think we are being ripped off. UGH!
I sold all of Abby's puppies, which is pretty sweet, so now we had plenty of money for Christmas and a good little chunch to go shopping with on Black Friday. Which was totally awesome. I felt kinda drunk standing at Wal-Mart at 3:30 in the morning with no make up, leaning against my cart like if I didn't I would surely fall over and pass out. Needless to say I got what I went there for but almost got into a fight. Okay so it wasn't almost whatsoever but I can totally imagine that shit in my head. Truthfully I told a big old german guy what was up and then turned around and shook in my boots.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Welcome to our home Mrs. Mackey!
Today we met with Brittany's adoption case worker Mrs. Mackey! She is super nice! She called to make sure the house with the giant rope on the fence and hidden in the woods was the right one. Yes it is us! Everyone calls to ask this. I guess our house kinda looks "hidden for a reason" scary or something.
So anyways she pulls in and looks at our yard in a kinda shock when I explain how a giant tree, which the roots and stump is now burning about 3 ft from where half the porch is still standing, fell on the house and took out the rest of the porch with it. She didn't seem to mind too much as far as CPS is concerned but came in and tried to take off her shoes, this is always a polite gesture when someone comes over, I told her she didn't need to do all that!
We sat at the table where Brittany continued to charm her and eat her cherrios and drink her juice and look cute and repetively say the word "No" like she has been saying over the past 3 weeks to anything and everything we ask or tell her. She I am afraid is becoming ...what do people call it? "Spoiled?" yes well this word descrives her perfectly. I read it a book that its just a phase but dear God if it lasts too much longer Momma's gonna snap. lol
We explain to her that we want to wait until her 2nd birthday to finalize so she can receive her benefits and she tells us how to drag it out and it would be no problem. She will just make monthly visits until April. Then in April we will sign the adoption paperwork and file with the state for her subsidy. Once that comes back we should finalize around June. SWEET! She says it works out good cause the holidays is a good excuse and once thats over we still need to do a developmental analyses just to make sure "what we are adopting" lol. She said to wait awhile to do it so she will have an excuse why her "case load is not empty". She said since we are with DDC these things usually are so quick but legally we wouldn't have been able to sign those papers until Jan 15th when she had been in our home for 6 months. So I am happy our worker is on board and she is such a sweet and informative woman. Brittany had to go to the potty which Jeff took her while she pooped in the potty and made a fit because she didn't want no help with her big girl panties and me and Mrs Mackey stood outside the bathroom talking about other families and donations and the holidays and Brittany's second bedroom. LOL!!! We cleaned out our 3rd bedroom this weekend and made it a play room. Spoiled???? maybe.
Then she said once we finalize in June we can immediantly start on placement #2!!! I think by then Brittany will be almost 2 1/2 and with the amount of time waiting for a placement to begin with, June should be a good time to open our house back up to the possibility.
So anyways she pulls in and looks at our yard in a kinda shock when I explain how a giant tree, which the roots and stump is now burning about 3 ft from where half the porch is still standing, fell on the house and took out the rest of the porch with it. She didn't seem to mind too much as far as CPS is concerned but came in and tried to take off her shoes, this is always a polite gesture when someone comes over, I told her she didn't need to do all that!
We sat at the table where Brittany continued to charm her and eat her cherrios and drink her juice and look cute and repetively say the word "No" like she has been saying over the past 3 weeks to anything and everything we ask or tell her. She I am afraid is becoming ...what do people call it? "Spoiled?" yes well this word descrives her perfectly. I read it a book that its just a phase but dear God if it lasts too much longer Momma's gonna snap. lol
We explain to her that we want to wait until her 2nd birthday to finalize so she can receive her benefits and she tells us how to drag it out and it would be no problem. She will just make monthly visits until April. Then in April we will sign the adoption paperwork and file with the state for her subsidy. Once that comes back we should finalize around June. SWEET! She says it works out good cause the holidays is a good excuse and once thats over we still need to do a developmental analyses just to make sure "what we are adopting" lol. She said to wait awhile to do it so she will have an excuse why her "case load is not empty". She said since we are with DDC these things usually are so quick but legally we wouldn't have been able to sign those papers until Jan 15th when she had been in our home for 6 months. So I am happy our worker is on board and she is such a sweet and informative woman. Brittany had to go to the potty which Jeff took her while she pooped in the potty and made a fit because she didn't want no help with her big girl panties and me and Mrs Mackey stood outside the bathroom talking about other families and donations and the holidays and Brittany's second bedroom. LOL!!! We cleaned out our 3rd bedroom this weekend and made it a play room. Spoiled???? maybe.
Then she said once we finalize in June we can immediantly start on placement #2!!! I think by then Brittany will be almost 2 1/2 and with the amount of time waiting for a placement to begin with, June should be a good time to open our house back up to the possibility.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Hey there, what's going on?
So Brittany's brand new CPS adoption worker just called!!!! YAY! She sat up a time to come out to our home Monday at 9 am!
I am a bit nervous about the yard! I mean the place is a freaking train wreck, I am worried she is gonna be all, "There was no note in Brittany's file about your yard looking like SHIT!" But they should understand its because of the hurricane...right?
Her last CPS worker NEVER came out to the house and quite frankly bearly came at all, but the last 2 times she did it was to Brittany's daycare! She never asked if we had any damage from the storm so we never told her. Our clincian knows and has been out! She wasn't too worried and understood, but then again she is kinda of whatever about allot of things.
I have soooo many questions to ask her, I have no idea what to look forward to from here! I guess we will know soon enough.
Also the previous foster dad emailed me to invite us to his foster daughters birthday at the end of the month. I politely declined. I think it's too early for Brittany to see him and although we ran into the foster mom at Renfest and Brittany did not recognize her, I think there was more of a parental relationship with the foster dad.
I am going to check the forecast now and make sure I shouldn't reschedule, I would hate for the new CPS worker to have to wear rain boots to get to the house on her first visit! LOL
I am a bit nervous about the yard! I mean the place is a freaking train wreck, I am worried she is gonna be all, "There was no note in Brittany's file about your yard looking like SHIT!" But they should understand its because of the hurricane...right?
Her last CPS worker NEVER came out to the house and quite frankly bearly came at all, but the last 2 times she did it was to Brittany's daycare! She never asked if we had any damage from the storm so we never told her. Our clincian knows and has been out! She wasn't too worried and understood, but then again she is kinda of whatever about allot of things.
I have soooo many questions to ask her, I have no idea what to look forward to from here! I guess we will know soon enough.
Also the previous foster dad emailed me to invite us to his foster daughters birthday at the end of the month. I politely declined. I think it's too early for Brittany to see him and although we ran into the foster mom at Renfest and Brittany did not recognize her, I think there was more of a parental relationship with the foster dad.
I am going to check the forecast now and make sure I shouldn't reschedule, I would hate for the new CPS worker to have to wear rain boots to get to the house on her first visit! LOL
Friday, November 7, 2008
Brittany's Twinn doll!
So I ordered Brittany this Twinn Doll online. You get to pick the face shape and eye and hair color and hair type and length to make it look like your child's twin and it came in the mail today at work and it is soooo freaking cool!
This doll looks just like Brittany! She is going to love it!
Look how chunky she is! heh heh......
Present Events
So here I am posting about Christmas and puppies and Elmos when everyone else is talking about our economy and what's going on around us. I just figure it's gonna work out the way it's supposed to. That may sound a bit chillaxed, or lazy or passive or whatever you want to label it. I like to think of it a bit as fate if you will. There is this thing most people refer to as The Bible. And in this Bible there is a book called Revelation, it speaks about the end times and things coming to pass and such. Now allot, and I mean quite a few people have recognized Obama fitting the profile to be the "anti-christ". What I say about this is, bravo for recognizing what you decern to be the truth but judging me for not going out ot vote for McCain doesn't mean myself and other's like me single handedly put the anti-christ in office. Logically you would think if this was already in the bible, there wasn't a thing me nor you could have done about it. Silly thing to get mad over the wrong things now isn't it? Boy I just talked a world of circles.
Just wanted to point out the obvious.
Just wanted to point out the obvious.
Friends Til The End
Okay so if Chucky was going to come back in 2009, then he would totally be reincarnated into this Emlo Doll. Have you seen this thing? He is the Elmo Live and it absolutely realistically scary real. We got him for Christmas for Brittany and I can't shut up about him. I just had to post a pic. We also got the Elmo Chatters that is just freaking funny. Find one next time you go to Target or Wal Mart. He is addictive.
So here is Brittany's new room I repainted! Isn't it beautiful?
Here is the bed Adell made that I repainted to match the room. It's so cottage cute! I need to find some new safety rails, those are kinda temp.
Mocker Socker Ghoulies
Here they are....Mocky's four beautiful babies! Two black females, one fawn male and one black male. They are sooo cute with their eyes open! They are only 3 weeks old but are already started to play.
Wake up little babies!
Humpty Dumpty is back Together Again! YAY!
The outside totally still looks like shit but hey at least there
is no longer a giant hole in the corner of my house! Can you tell that
half the porch has been ripped off? We are starting on that hopefully as soon as we can
get some freaking help out here!
My room! FINALLY get to sleep in my bed back in my room!
YAY!
The Ghoulies totally dig the new carpet! The carpet is so beautiful!
Much nicer then the kind we had in the room before! It's so soft I could have
basically slept on it last night. Yesterday was the first day back in our room
and me and Jeff haven't slep that good in 2 months.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Mocker Socker Dirty Talker
Have I mentioned Mocky had puppies? She did....4.....four beautiful baby faces. She had two boys and two girls. They are in my bathroom in a plastic tub. They are getting so fat already and they are only a week old. Abby is also pregnant.....yes again. After she has these babies she is going to get fixed. No more babies for Abby. She is such a good momma but she is already 4 years old and doesn't need to be having babies for the rest of her life. She is so fat and just lays around the house grunting and snorting.
Also last Saturday we peirced Brittany's ears. She is doing good not to mess with them. Sometimes when I clean them she wines a little but they are looking good and should heal nicely. Tomorrow she has a Dr appointment for her 18 month shots. It's so weird that she is already 18 months old when she has only been in our lives for 3 months.
I want to order more stuff online today but I don't know what to look for.
Our house is schedule to be repaired in the next couple of weeks. Yay for that! Our clinician comes over tomorrow to do her monthly visit. It's funny because we haven't seen her in like 2 months and it was kind of nice to forget we still have to deal with Deplechin at all.
Have I mentioned this yet? In case I haven't here's a little glimpse at our plans for next year. I know this sounds kinda looney but once Brittany's adoption is finalized we plan to start the wait for baby #2. LOL! Crazy? Yea I know. But we know we are going to be waiting awhile. We want an infant under 6 months old, bi-racial, boy. We have to redo our classes every year to keep up with our license to foster to adopt or we have to start all over so we figure instead of waiting to start the process again and still have to take the classes why don't we just go ahead and put our names in the basket and wait and see what happens? We only want to adopt 2 kiddos so after our second we are done with the red tape of the state forever. I think Brittany is going to make a wonderful big sister.
With a baby that small there is a bigger risk of not being able to adopt them. But we are willing to take that chance. That's why we want to go ahead and start as soon as we can. Plus it won't be so hard this time around now that we have Brittany. Before, with no children, the wait and anxiety was too much.
I got in the mail a couple of days ago her birth certificate. It's kind of weird because it doesn't list a father and it was just now filed. What's up with that? Once we adopt her we can change it, so she can be a Buck for life.
Also we bought Dexter Season II and have been watching it all week. Pretty good stuff.
Also last Saturday we peirced Brittany's ears. She is doing good not to mess with them. Sometimes when I clean them she wines a little but they are looking good and should heal nicely. Tomorrow she has a Dr appointment for her 18 month shots. It's so weird that she is already 18 months old when she has only been in our lives for 3 months.
I want to order more stuff online today but I don't know what to look for.
Our house is schedule to be repaired in the next couple of weeks. Yay for that! Our clinician comes over tomorrow to do her monthly visit. It's funny because we haven't seen her in like 2 months and it was kind of nice to forget we still have to deal with Deplechin at all.
Have I mentioned this yet? In case I haven't here's a little glimpse at our plans for next year. I know this sounds kinda looney but once Brittany's adoption is finalized we plan to start the wait for baby #2. LOL! Crazy? Yea I know. But we know we are going to be waiting awhile. We want an infant under 6 months old, bi-racial, boy. We have to redo our classes every year to keep up with our license to foster to adopt or we have to start all over so we figure instead of waiting to start the process again and still have to take the classes why don't we just go ahead and put our names in the basket and wait and see what happens? We only want to adopt 2 kiddos so after our second we are done with the red tape of the state forever. I think Brittany is going to make a wonderful big sister.
With a baby that small there is a bigger risk of not being able to adopt them. But we are willing to take that chance. That's why we want to go ahead and start as soon as we can. Plus it won't be so hard this time around now that we have Brittany. Before, with no children, the wait and anxiety was too much.
I got in the mail a couple of days ago her birth certificate. It's kind of weird because it doesn't list a father and it was just now filed. What's up with that? Once we adopt her we can change it, so she can be a Buck for life.
Also we bought Dexter Season II and have been watching it all week. Pretty good stuff.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Good old October
So it's finally starting to feel good around here. The weather is nice. Makes me want to smoke a cigarrette. Isn't that horrible? I know good and well if I lit one up I would probably throw up.
My poor baby is sick today. I think it's from teething. There is no other signs of sickness besides the fever and of course her super crankyness. She had 104 temp last night. Today she is with the in-laws of which I am sure are bird feeding her and cleaning her bottom with their tongues. This morning it was alot better. 100. I gave her some meds and was off to work.
I got to work and just couldn't help myself. I bought some Estee Lauder make up thanks to their email letting me know with any purchase you can get up to 5 free samples. SWEET! I bought some foundation. I have yet to use theirs and was wondering what it is like. So in return I get a small bottle of perfume, lip stick, mascara, eye remover and lotion...yes...all FREE.
So then I felt bad and turned around and bought Jeff some work boots online. I ordered him some Dr Martins that looked really nice and were steel toe and all that good stuff. Free shipping and at a pretty good sale price. I called and told him and he was super happy. He said he never owned a pair of Dr Martins before. Which I find hard to believe. Crazy. I think I sort of made his morning. Which makes me feel good.
I am about to get back on and order Brittany a My Twin doll. You should totally check this doll out. It's freaking amazing. Melissia told me about it and it's about to be my baby's friend til the end. lol
http://www.mytwinn.com/mytwinn/TwinnToddler.html
So anyways. Speaking of Melissia. I finally met that girl last Saturday. Me, Jeff, Brittany, Tara, Adell and Buck went to the zoo. I invited her to come along so we could hang out before her baby's Welcome Home Party on 11/1/2008. I have been talking to her since like January online and never met her. I know I have written about her a million times but just want to go ahead and refresh your memory. Her and her little baby 9 month old daughter London, cutest little baby I have ever seen (besides mine of course) and her husband Lenard and I wanna say it's her cousin Mona came and spent the day with us. They are even better in person I must say. I like to refer to them as our twin couple. They like to drink...go figure. What young couple in their 20's doesn't? Not many and they are so easy to get along with. Tara ran off with them for like 30 mintues and I thought she stole my friends for life. lol j/k I can't wait to hang out with her again and let loose. From now on I expect to literally be glued to the hip with this girl VS. glued to the keyboard with her. lol
Have I mentioned we are going to the Renfest this weekend? Yea well we are. Saturday. Our friends Jason and Armie are going too, along with Tara of course. We have only been planning this with Tara since the moment we stepped out of that place LAST YEAR.
Also my Nanny is kinda penciling me in with My sister's baby shower this Saturday. Which is pretty sweet of her. So yay! my first "baby" shower. It's really a more, welcome to the family, hope you like insanity party. I didn't think I would even get one. So nice. If you can't make it please send your donations of love made out to Heather Buck 212 Birchwood Drive, Huffman, Texas 77336. Thank you. J/K We really don't need anything. Please if you scroll right on down this blog you can see my spare bedroom, which is now my baby's room, has been full since March.
My poor baby is sick today. I think it's from teething. There is no other signs of sickness besides the fever and of course her super crankyness. She had 104 temp last night. Today she is with the in-laws of which I am sure are bird feeding her and cleaning her bottom with their tongues. This morning it was alot better. 100. I gave her some meds and was off to work.
I got to work and just couldn't help myself. I bought some Estee Lauder make up thanks to their email letting me know with any purchase you can get up to 5 free samples. SWEET! I bought some foundation. I have yet to use theirs and was wondering what it is like. So in return I get a small bottle of perfume, lip stick, mascara, eye remover and lotion...yes...all FREE.
So then I felt bad and turned around and bought Jeff some work boots online. I ordered him some Dr Martins that looked really nice and were steel toe and all that good stuff. Free shipping and at a pretty good sale price. I called and told him and he was super happy. He said he never owned a pair of Dr Martins before. Which I find hard to believe. Crazy. I think I sort of made his morning. Which makes me feel good.
I am about to get back on and order Brittany a My Twin doll. You should totally check this doll out. It's freaking amazing. Melissia told me about it and it's about to be my baby's friend til the end. lol
http://www.mytwinn.com/mytwinn/TwinnToddler.html
So anyways. Speaking of Melissia. I finally met that girl last Saturday. Me, Jeff, Brittany, Tara, Adell and Buck went to the zoo. I invited her to come along so we could hang out before her baby's Welcome Home Party on 11/1/2008. I have been talking to her since like January online and never met her. I know I have written about her a million times but just want to go ahead and refresh your memory. Her and her little baby 9 month old daughter London, cutest little baby I have ever seen (besides mine of course) and her husband Lenard and I wanna say it's her cousin Mona came and spent the day with us. They are even better in person I must say. I like to refer to them as our twin couple. They like to drink...go figure. What young couple in their 20's doesn't? Not many and they are so easy to get along with. Tara ran off with them for like 30 mintues and I thought she stole my friends for life. lol j/k I can't wait to hang out with her again and let loose. From now on I expect to literally be glued to the hip with this girl VS. glued to the keyboard with her. lol
Have I mentioned we are going to the Renfest this weekend? Yea well we are. Saturday. Our friends Jason and Armie are going too, along with Tara of course. We have only been planning this with Tara since the moment we stepped out of that place LAST YEAR.
Also my Nanny is kinda penciling me in with My sister's baby shower this Saturday. Which is pretty sweet of her. So yay! my first "baby" shower. It's really a more, welcome to the family, hope you like insanity party. I didn't think I would even get one. So nice. If you can't make it please send your donations of love made out to Heather Buck 212 Birchwood Drive, Huffman, Texas 77336. Thank you. J/K We really don't need anything. Please if you scroll right on down this blog you can see my spare bedroom, which is now my baby's room, has been full since March.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
I am still alive
I just got my 5lb box of ginger....yay finally. It took forever. Turns out orginal and apple ginger candies are really the best ones. They have peanut butter, coffee and some hard kind but honestly those taste like butt.
So today has been nothing but me slacking off with Melissia all day via email. lol hilarious.
Turns out Disney is making a black princess. It comes out in 2009 and it's called "The Frog Princess" it looks really cute. Also bi-racial baby dolls are hard to find. What's up with that? Will complain more about that tomorrow. Right now I am off work and it's time for me to go see my bad baby. My mother in law is probably fattening her up like a Thanksgiving Turkey with apple juice and cookies.
So today has been nothing but me slacking off with Melissia all day via email. lol hilarious.
Turns out Disney is making a black princess. It comes out in 2009 and it's called "The Frog Princess" it looks really cute. Also bi-racial baby dolls are hard to find. What's up with that? Will complain more about that tomorrow. Right now I am off work and it's time for me to go see my bad baby. My mother in law is probably fattening her up like a Thanksgiving Turkey with apple juice and cookies.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Jeff...Robot Overlord?
So Jeff taught his robot to make his name in metal. He is such a bad ass.
I totally yelled at him for not making Brittany's name. He felt bad.
Brittany told him, " You NO NO Dadddddyyyyy."
This is Jeff's new robot and some of his minions.
I remembered I did have my Camera!
Oh Hey who let you in?
Oh dang my porch is gone!
Hello Tree, nice of you to stop by.
So long house.
It was nice to know you.
And yes it is that bad. Even with the tree off it still looks mangled and twisted.
Thank you Jesus for Insurance!
What day is this?
Okay so I definetely want to post some pics up from the storm but I am going to go ahead and do a quick little up date on what all has been going on. When I say I am busy, I seriously mean I am BUSY! Work seems like it is cracking down more and more on taking me some personal blogger time and that is throwing a wrench in my blogging for sure.
First thing is first. Hurricane Ike turned out to be a doozy in the Buck house. Giant 32'' oak tree standing pretty in the front yard is now laying in peices on the ground. Looks like an oak cemetery. Oaker decided it was time to bite the dust and he was taking out my porch and bed room corner with it. We have a tarp up protecting us from 95% of the mosquitoes harvested in our woods but we still have yet to hear from our inspector. We did get one guy to come out and take a look at the damage and he estimated about $15,000 in repairs, for the house alone. We still need to fix the porch and septic so it's going to be a hefty claim. Shit that isn't nothing though. I get calls all the time from people with 50,000+ claims.
My mom's birthday recently passed. My mommy is now 48! We got her a nice foot spa. Just what she wanted. I can't believe how close she is to 50. My mom is going to be one of those old decrepid ladies who can still slap the shit out of you if you look at her wrong. I love my mom!
We are set to go take some family pics Sunday. I can't wait.
I am still debating the whole ear peircing thing for Britty. I think she is totally going to rip them out. Plus I don't want to see her cry. I know she fakes fits all the time and somedays she cries all day long but those are just alligator tears. I don't want to see the real tears. I am such a sucker.
Jeff's birthday is on the 12th. He wants a helicopter. He is currently in search of one.
We were offered a Macaw. Yes a giant ass blue bird! For FREE. We are undecided on that as well. I would seriously LOVE a bird the size of Brittany but those birds SCREAM. I think I would snap one day and punch it in the face. I am sure his giant beak would catch me mid swing and bite my finger off. Plus they live to be 100. That thing would be burrying me one day.
What else?
Took Britty to the Dr today. No ear infection as we thought. Just pulling on her ears from her back teeth coming in. I almost cried the other day realizing that although we have only had the priviledge of having her in our lives for 3 months one day she is going to be losing those baby teeth and then she won't be our baby, she will be our big girl. Isn't that so sad and corny? I have decided mommyhood makes one that way. I would feel like a monster if I didn't feel so sappy.
Still need Halloween costume ideas. I have a deadline people! Need to go to the Halloween store this weekend!
Also.....found some new candy it's the RAVE! Let me copy and paste what I sent to Mellisia.
"http://www.gingerpeople.com/ Last weekend me and Jeff and B were at Target and I found a box of candy at the check out called "ginger chews". And they looked sooooo weird I just had to try them for a dollar! Plus I never ate any ginger but always wanted to buy some while I was grocery shopping and try it out, so I thought this would be like a sample of it. Well it turns out those are the best damn things I ever put in my mouth! They are sweet and spicy and feels like you are chewing on a warm cup of spicy tea or something. So werid and addicting! The box was a 2 oz 10 peice box I ate in two days! The minute I ate the last one I got online and ordered 5 lbs of it!!!!! lol Just wanted to share! If you are all about trying something new then try these if you ever see them! I don't think Wal Mart carries them but Target and Specs does! I ordered the 5lbs special for Halloween assorted peices. lol it costs me 35 dollars! Jeff was laughing at me sooooo hard! Then I got online and read all about the benefits of ginger. Turns out it stops cramps and helps with indigestion. hummmm interesting! Sorry to sound like an advertisement but I am totally hooked. "
The end. Will provide house pics and me eating chinger chews later next week.
First thing is first. Hurricane Ike turned out to be a doozy in the Buck house. Giant 32'' oak tree standing pretty in the front yard is now laying in peices on the ground. Looks like an oak cemetery. Oaker decided it was time to bite the dust and he was taking out my porch and bed room corner with it. We have a tarp up protecting us from 95% of the mosquitoes harvested in our woods but we still have yet to hear from our inspector. We did get one guy to come out and take a look at the damage and he estimated about $15,000 in repairs, for the house alone. We still need to fix the porch and septic so it's going to be a hefty claim. Shit that isn't nothing though. I get calls all the time from people with 50,000+ claims.
My mom's birthday recently passed. My mommy is now 48! We got her a nice foot spa. Just what she wanted. I can't believe how close she is to 50. My mom is going to be one of those old decrepid ladies who can still slap the shit out of you if you look at her wrong. I love my mom!
We are set to go take some family pics Sunday. I can't wait.
I am still debating the whole ear peircing thing for Britty. I think she is totally going to rip them out. Plus I don't want to see her cry. I know she fakes fits all the time and somedays she cries all day long but those are just alligator tears. I don't want to see the real tears. I am such a sucker.
Jeff's birthday is on the 12th. He wants a helicopter. He is currently in search of one.
We were offered a Macaw. Yes a giant ass blue bird! For FREE. We are undecided on that as well. I would seriously LOVE a bird the size of Brittany but those birds SCREAM. I think I would snap one day and punch it in the face. I am sure his giant beak would catch me mid swing and bite my finger off. Plus they live to be 100. That thing would be burrying me one day.
What else?
Took Britty to the Dr today. No ear infection as we thought. Just pulling on her ears from her back teeth coming in. I almost cried the other day realizing that although we have only had the priviledge of having her in our lives for 3 months one day she is going to be losing those baby teeth and then she won't be our baby, she will be our big girl. Isn't that so sad and corny? I have decided mommyhood makes one that way. I would feel like a monster if I didn't feel so sappy.
Still need Halloween costume ideas. I have a deadline people! Need to go to the Halloween store this weekend!
Also.....found some new candy it's the RAVE! Let me copy and paste what I sent to Mellisia.
"http://www.gingerpeople.com/ Last weekend me and Jeff and B were at Target and I found a box of candy at the check out called "ginger chews". And they looked sooooo weird I just had to try them for a dollar! Plus I never ate any ginger but always wanted to buy some while I was grocery shopping and try it out, so I thought this would be like a sample of it. Well it turns out those are the best damn things I ever put in my mouth! They are sweet and spicy and feels like you are chewing on a warm cup of spicy tea or something. So werid and addicting! The box was a 2 oz 10 peice box I ate in two days! The minute I ate the last one I got online and ordered 5 lbs of it!!!!! lol Just wanted to share! If you are all about trying something new then try these if you ever see them! I don't think Wal Mart carries them but Target and Specs does! I ordered the 5lbs special for Halloween assorted peices. lol it costs me 35 dollars! Jeff was laughing at me sooooo hard! Then I got online and read all about the benefits of ginger. Turns out it stops cramps and helps with indigestion. hummmm interesting! Sorry to sound like an advertisement but I am totally hooked. "
The end. Will provide house pics and me eating chinger chews later next week.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
COURT
First off downtown Houston is no joke. We parked 3 blocks down the court house and walked there so nervous about what all was about to happen. We didn't know who was going to be there or who we would see or talk to. Or if this infamous judge of hard ruling would be that strict. We got in, found the court room and went inside to sit down. It was about 30 mintues before roll call. I had never been to court before but apparantly they have all the trials for the day meet at 9 am to do roll call and then the judge comes in and brings up each party to the front to hold them at different times thru out the day. Very confusing.
So anyways we don't recognize anyone, and besides that there are a bunch of people there for different cases. So finally in walks Penny, our CASA workers supervisor. In my eyes, this woman rocks and rocks it hard. She is super CASA and knows her stuff. She says hello to us and Jeff's parents since they came too and then takes me and Jeff outside to the hall to talk about something. Once we were out there she says, "The father's attorney is here and he called her last night to let her know he had a change of heart and is willing to sign the papers but wants to know if your willing to send him pics of Brittany once a year? You are not obligated to actually do it or follow thru with it but it does help to say yes so he will sign the papers. You don't want to agree to too much." Of course we are like, "Yes of course he should be able to at least have some pics" so she says "Okay I will let the attorney know and I will get you guys if we need anthing else. Don't stress it's just court. Just sit back until the judge calls us up and answer anything he asks. Also Camille is here (previous FM who ditched her family)."
So then we went back into the court room. We were thinking, "Okay why is Camille here?" because we know that previous foster dad has been talking with CPS to try and get Brittany back into his home so maybe she is there to spy on things for him? Are they even back together or whats going on? Maybe she just wanted to see things thru. Next thing I know she is sitting in the back of the court room. She waves hi and asks "Are you the foster parents?" I say "yes" and then that is it. We continue to sit there. Some time goes by and Camille comes and sits in the row behind us. She starts instantly telling us who is who. What person is CPS's attorney and who is dad's attorney and moms attorney. We don't recognize anyone else still. Anna (CPS) is still not there. Later we realize she has her supervisor Nicole step in for her. And Brittany's attorney, who we knew would not be there has some guy named Gaurza or something step in for her.
The next thing I know the dad's attorney comes up to us and shakes our hands and introduces herself. She sits in the row in front of us and explains that dad is willing to sign the TPR papers if we will agree to send him pics. She says, "You don't really HAVE to do this but it helps soften the blow." Me and Jeff look at each other and then her and say "Yes of course we are willing and have said we have been wanting to do this." In the corner of my eye I can see Adell violently shaking her head yes like the woman is asking her these questions.
I then ask her "Is it possible to ask the dad to return the favor and send us pics as well?" The attorney says, "Oh yea that would be great and I bet he would love that!" She then asks " How is she doing anyways? Do you have any pics we can give him now so he can see how much she has grown?"
The next thing I know Adell is busting out the album and pics a picture while I shuffling thru another one. Adell says "Oh I know the perfect one Heather what about the one where she is playing on the floor" The attorney turns to her and says " Well it's THEIR decision" So not only was I getting irritated by Adell overbearing G-ma attitude but so was the attorney. I hand the attorney one of her playing in the ocean and we had just taken it a this weekend so it was the most recent one of her. She takes the pic and says okay I am going to go talk to him now.
Once she left I turned to Adell and said "Grandma if you don't back up I am about to smack you!" She then says "Well I am just talking cause I am so nervous" I say "I realize that but you need to stop talking for us!" She then sits back in her chair and gets PISSED.
Then Camille pipes her head back to my shoulder and continues talking to me and Jeff about how she can't believe CPS isn't here and where is her lawyer and OMG the system is so stupid and how Mickey is stupid and he is at a class and could have been here if he wanted. So at that time I realize they are so not together.
So then out of nowhere the dad's attorney comes back into the court room and asks us if we would like to come talk to the father because he wants to talk to us. We of course get up and follow her into a room where the mom and the dad are there with their attorneys. They say this is dad and mom and this is Jeff and Heather the foster parents, the dad then says
"What happened to the other foster parents?
We didn' know that she had moved. When did she move?"
and I said "July 15th she came to our home."
The mom says "Why?" and I look at the attroney
like "Do you really want me to tell her why?"
and the attorney looks at me like "Shut up don't say anything"
but tells the parents "we are not too sure things kind of just happen.
They wanted to find a home to adopt Brittany so they found these nice people."
and the mom, who is not an idiot says "I thought the other family wanted to adopt her?"
and the dad says "Well it doesn't matter because I can already tell I like them alot better then the other family. We did not want to sign with the other family and Melissa doesn't want to sign at all but I keep telling her it's best for Brittany and we love her so much but you know we gotta think about her"
So then the attorney explains that we want to send pics if they will send pics and you can totally see their faces light up. They say they will and the attorney explains not to change addresses without telling DDC because that's how these arrangements get lost and they will blame us when it's their fault for not telling anyone they are moving. So then somehow they all agree to go ahead and sign the papers and the attorney goes over all the legalities of what they are about to sign which is really just basic,
" Your signing away your rights as parents. It is CPS intent to have Jeffrey and Heather adopt Brittany if this works out they will send you pics once a year and you will send them pics. If you have anymore children in the future the hospital will notify CPS if there is anything wrong with the child or you at the time of birth" just basic stuff like that we have heard a million times.
Then they sign the papers. In the meantime about 5 more people walk into the little cramped room already and say how great it is they are signing the papers. The mom is crying and the dad is standing there looking sad. The attorney's are laughing amongst themselves and saying how great it is for us. But all we can do is feel so sorry for the bios. We are so happy and blessed and believe they wouldn't have signed without seeing us but it's still a sad moment they did not get to experience well because of their stupid ass attorneys and random people walking in. It was so weird. Then everyone left so we could talk alone to them.
The dad explained how they are not bad parents. He said they tried to work their plan but CPS kept losing their receipts for classes and the more they tried to do the more they were left behind that it got so crazy they just gave up. He said where they live it's hard and is not a good place for a kid and he has a hard time keeping mom safe. He told us to fight for Brittany and wanted to make sure we loved her and wanted to adopt her. He made us promise to send pics and take care of his baby.
Then the mom finally spoke and asked how often I would send the pics. I told her as much as possible and I have a crazy mother in law who takes pics everyday so I would send her some all the time so don't worry. She laughed and you can really tell she felt comfterable with us. I told her we would record her on our camera and make a video and burn it on a dvd and send those to her too. She smiled so big and they both loved it and said how awesome that would be. It was such a great moment. Then the attorney walked back in and said we need to get to court because we are up soon. We said our good byes rather quickly and left. The bio's went home and we went back into court. We got a copies of the papers they signed and we signed.
I feel so good about meeting the parents. It feels awesome to have their approval and to hear them say we like you guys better then previous FP's. They looked thru her lifebook and were so happy with all the things we do with her. They said she looks so good and happy with us and they are so glad we have her and appreciate us taking care of their baby. I have full intentions on writing them letters to send with the pics. Hopefully something great will come of this. It truely is God thing!
Then once we went back into court is was not too soon after the judge ordered our party up to the front.
The attorney that was filling in for Brittany's was in the hall and holding it up and the judge was getting huffy. Earlier when I went in there to get some more pics for bio's he was yelling at CPS on another case about "dropping the ball." he said "I don't know how many times you dropped the ball on this case but you single handedly lost this child from the parents." and then he told some attorneys "Two first year grads could do a better job then what your doing!" so judge Phillips does NOT play.
When all the parties were there CPS attorney started off by presenting the TPR papers and the other attorneys would chime in saying they had nothing further and then the moms attorney showed moms papers and dads attorney showed dads papers and then judge asked cps where the child was and the cps attorney said if current foster home of the bucks and pointed to us and judge nodded to us and he asked how long she was in our home and they all began to shuffle thru their papers!
NO ONE KNEW.
Not even CASA.
So I chimed in "July 15th"
It was kind of scary but the judge immediantly looked at me and realized I was the only one with any answers and smiled. He then asked the attorney's if she was eligable for subsidy and they all didnt know because they didn't know the laws and the judge got pissed and aksed the CPS attorney if she would explain the rules of subsidy to us and she said
"Judge it is not my specialty I would prefer if CPS went over this with them "
and he said "Well do you know anything at all?"
and she said "I believe if it is a minority child at the age of two they are eligable but I am not sure"
and he said "No you do not know but you NEED to know and you need to MAKE IT YOUR SPECIALTY"
Then he said "How old is the child?" they all said "2"
and the CASA says "1" and I said "16 MONTHS"
and the judge says "When is her birthday?"
and they all went shuffling back thru papers and I said "April 15th"
and the judge smiled at us and said to bring in someone from his team to tell him the rules of subsidy and the lady came in and said
"As long as they wait until the child is 2 to sign the intent to adopt she is eligable for subsidy and college tuition"
the judge then stops everything and turns to us and asks Jeff "Do you understand this sir?"
and Jeff says "No"
and the judge says "DO NOT let CPS pressure you into signing anything until she is 2 years old. You wait and hold off so she can get what is hers"
and then he smiles and CASA steps up and says
"Judge can we get a court order to hold the child until she is adopted into the foster parents home"
and the judge says "Yes "
and CPS shakes her head and makes a snotty face and says "So that means CPS cannot move the child without a court order?"
and the judge says "That is my ruling and that is what I am saying"
then it was over!
SOOOOOOO AWESOME!
SO basically we get to adopt her unless we screw up! And CPS has to go to court to get an order to remove her so they cannot pressure us into signing anything until April by saying "You have to sign these papers if you want to adopt her now or we are moving her!"
CASA freaking ROCKS!
Then as we are leaving a lady from the freaking STATE OF TEXAS calls and is coming out Wednesday to do a random survey and inspection of our home to make sure CPS and DDC are doing their jobs correctly! OUR FREAKING LUCK! LOL
So anyways we don't recognize anyone, and besides that there are a bunch of people there for different cases. So finally in walks Penny, our CASA workers supervisor. In my eyes, this woman rocks and rocks it hard. She is super CASA and knows her stuff. She says hello to us and Jeff's parents since they came too and then takes me and Jeff outside to the hall to talk about something. Once we were out there she says, "The father's attorney is here and he called her last night to let her know he had a change of heart and is willing to sign the papers but wants to know if your willing to send him pics of Brittany once a year? You are not obligated to actually do it or follow thru with it but it does help to say yes so he will sign the papers. You don't want to agree to too much." Of course we are like, "Yes of course he should be able to at least have some pics" so she says "Okay I will let the attorney know and I will get you guys if we need anthing else. Don't stress it's just court. Just sit back until the judge calls us up and answer anything he asks. Also Camille is here (previous FM who ditched her family)."
So then we went back into the court room. We were thinking, "Okay why is Camille here?" because we know that previous foster dad has been talking with CPS to try and get Brittany back into his home so maybe she is there to spy on things for him? Are they even back together or whats going on? Maybe she just wanted to see things thru. Next thing I know she is sitting in the back of the court room. She waves hi and asks "Are you the foster parents?" I say "yes" and then that is it. We continue to sit there. Some time goes by and Camille comes and sits in the row behind us. She starts instantly telling us who is who. What person is CPS's attorney and who is dad's attorney and moms attorney. We don't recognize anyone else still. Anna (CPS) is still not there. Later we realize she has her supervisor Nicole step in for her. And Brittany's attorney, who we knew would not be there has some guy named Gaurza or something step in for her.
The next thing I know the dad's attorney comes up to us and shakes our hands and introduces herself. She sits in the row in front of us and explains that dad is willing to sign the TPR papers if we will agree to send him pics. She says, "You don't really HAVE to do this but it helps soften the blow." Me and Jeff look at each other and then her and say "Yes of course we are willing and have said we have been wanting to do this." In the corner of my eye I can see Adell violently shaking her head yes like the woman is asking her these questions.
I then ask her "Is it possible to ask the dad to return the favor and send us pics as well?" The attorney says, "Oh yea that would be great and I bet he would love that!" She then asks " How is she doing anyways? Do you have any pics we can give him now so he can see how much she has grown?"
The next thing I know Adell is busting out the album and pics a picture while I shuffling thru another one. Adell says "Oh I know the perfect one Heather what about the one where she is playing on the floor" The attorney turns to her and says " Well it's THEIR decision" So not only was I getting irritated by Adell overbearing G-ma attitude but so was the attorney. I hand the attorney one of her playing in the ocean and we had just taken it a this weekend so it was the most recent one of her. She takes the pic and says okay I am going to go talk to him now.
Once she left I turned to Adell and said "Grandma if you don't back up I am about to smack you!" She then says "Well I am just talking cause I am so nervous" I say "I realize that but you need to stop talking for us!" She then sits back in her chair and gets PISSED.
Then Camille pipes her head back to my shoulder and continues talking to me and Jeff about how she can't believe CPS isn't here and where is her lawyer and OMG the system is so stupid and how Mickey is stupid and he is at a class and could have been here if he wanted. So at that time I realize they are so not together.
So then out of nowhere the dad's attorney comes back into the court room and asks us if we would like to come talk to the father because he wants to talk to us. We of course get up and follow her into a room where the mom and the dad are there with their attorneys. They say this is dad and mom and this is Jeff and Heather the foster parents, the dad then says
"What happened to the other foster parents?
We didn' know that she had moved. When did she move?"
and I said "July 15th she came to our home."
The mom says "Why?" and I look at the attroney
like "Do you really want me to tell her why?"
and the attorney looks at me like "Shut up don't say anything"
but tells the parents "we are not too sure things kind of just happen.
They wanted to find a home to adopt Brittany so they found these nice people."
and the mom, who is not an idiot says "I thought the other family wanted to adopt her?"
and the dad says "Well it doesn't matter because I can already tell I like them alot better then the other family. We did not want to sign with the other family and Melissa doesn't want to sign at all but I keep telling her it's best for Brittany and we love her so much but you know we gotta think about her"
So then the attorney explains that we want to send pics if they will send pics and you can totally see their faces light up. They say they will and the attorney explains not to change addresses without telling DDC because that's how these arrangements get lost and they will blame us when it's their fault for not telling anyone they are moving. So then somehow they all agree to go ahead and sign the papers and the attorney goes over all the legalities of what they are about to sign which is really just basic,
" Your signing away your rights as parents. It is CPS intent to have Jeffrey and Heather adopt Brittany if this works out they will send you pics once a year and you will send them pics. If you have anymore children in the future the hospital will notify CPS if there is anything wrong with the child or you at the time of birth" just basic stuff like that we have heard a million times.
Then they sign the papers. In the meantime about 5 more people walk into the little cramped room already and say how great it is they are signing the papers. The mom is crying and the dad is standing there looking sad. The attorney's are laughing amongst themselves and saying how great it is for us. But all we can do is feel so sorry for the bios. We are so happy and blessed and believe they wouldn't have signed without seeing us but it's still a sad moment they did not get to experience well because of their stupid ass attorneys and random people walking in. It was so weird. Then everyone left so we could talk alone to them.
The dad explained how they are not bad parents. He said they tried to work their plan but CPS kept losing their receipts for classes and the more they tried to do the more they were left behind that it got so crazy they just gave up. He said where they live it's hard and is not a good place for a kid and he has a hard time keeping mom safe. He told us to fight for Brittany and wanted to make sure we loved her and wanted to adopt her. He made us promise to send pics and take care of his baby.
Then the mom finally spoke and asked how often I would send the pics. I told her as much as possible and I have a crazy mother in law who takes pics everyday so I would send her some all the time so don't worry. She laughed and you can really tell she felt comfterable with us. I told her we would record her on our camera and make a video and burn it on a dvd and send those to her too. She smiled so big and they both loved it and said how awesome that would be. It was such a great moment. Then the attorney walked back in and said we need to get to court because we are up soon. We said our good byes rather quickly and left. The bio's went home and we went back into court. We got a copies of the papers they signed and we signed.
I feel so good about meeting the parents. It feels awesome to have their approval and to hear them say we like you guys better then previous FP's. They looked thru her lifebook and were so happy with all the things we do with her. They said she looks so good and happy with us and they are so glad we have her and appreciate us taking care of their baby. I have full intentions on writing them letters to send with the pics. Hopefully something great will come of this. It truely is God thing!
Then once we went back into court is was not too soon after the judge ordered our party up to the front.
The attorney that was filling in for Brittany's was in the hall and holding it up and the judge was getting huffy. Earlier when I went in there to get some more pics for bio's he was yelling at CPS on another case about "dropping the ball." he said "I don't know how many times you dropped the ball on this case but you single handedly lost this child from the parents." and then he told some attorneys "Two first year grads could do a better job then what your doing!" so judge Phillips does NOT play.
When all the parties were there CPS attorney started off by presenting the TPR papers and the other attorneys would chime in saying they had nothing further and then the moms attorney showed moms papers and dads attorney showed dads papers and then judge asked cps where the child was and the cps attorney said if current foster home of the bucks and pointed to us and judge nodded to us and he asked how long she was in our home and they all began to shuffle thru their papers!
NO ONE KNEW.
Not even CASA.
So I chimed in "July 15th"
It was kind of scary but the judge immediantly looked at me and realized I was the only one with any answers and smiled. He then asked the attorney's if she was eligable for subsidy and they all didnt know because they didn't know the laws and the judge got pissed and aksed the CPS attorney if she would explain the rules of subsidy to us and she said
"Judge it is not my specialty I would prefer if CPS went over this with them "
and he said "Well do you know anything at all?"
and she said "I believe if it is a minority child at the age of two they are eligable but I am not sure"
and he said "No you do not know but you NEED to know and you need to MAKE IT YOUR SPECIALTY"
Then he said "How old is the child?" they all said "2"
and the CASA says "1" and I said "16 MONTHS"
and the judge says "When is her birthday?"
and they all went shuffling back thru papers and I said "April 15th"
and the judge smiled at us and said to bring in someone from his team to tell him the rules of subsidy and the lady came in and said
"As long as they wait until the child is 2 to sign the intent to adopt she is eligable for subsidy and college tuition"
the judge then stops everything and turns to us and asks Jeff "Do you understand this sir?"
and Jeff says "No"
and the judge says "DO NOT let CPS pressure you into signing anything until she is 2 years old. You wait and hold off so she can get what is hers"
and then he smiles and CASA steps up and says
"Judge can we get a court order to hold the child until she is adopted into the foster parents home"
and the judge says "Yes "
and CPS shakes her head and makes a snotty face and says "So that means CPS cannot move the child without a court order?"
and the judge says "That is my ruling and that is what I am saying"
then it was over!
SOOOOOOO AWESOME!
SO basically we get to adopt her unless we screw up! And CPS has to go to court to get an order to remove her so they cannot pressure us into signing anything until April by saying "You have to sign these papers if you want to adopt her now or we are moving her!"
CASA freaking ROCKS!
Then as we are leaving a lady from the freaking STATE OF TEXAS calls and is coming out Wednesday to do a random survey and inspection of our home to make sure CPS and DDC are doing their jobs correctly! OUR FREAKING LUCK! LOL
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
1200 Congress
I am nervous. This is an understatement. I am petrified....no wait mortified about tomorrow. Tomorrow is court day.....supposed TPR day. Let me explain a bit about how the process works.
When a child is taken into custody thru CPS there is a court date after the initual 30 days with a judge to determine if the child should return back to their biological parents or if the child should remain in custody of the state. They are given a court appointed attorney, a CPS worker and sometimes if the case is severe enough, a CASA worker, which is a Child Advocate worker. Then lets say the child, like our little butt monkey, remains custody of the state the bio parents are given what is called a case plan and visitation rights. Another court date is set up in 6 months. At that court date the judge reviews all the progress of the case and determines if the child should remain in custody or if the parents are doing well enough to receive full custody of the child at that time or a later date. I know Brittany's last court date was in June, at that particular time the bio parents were not doing their case plan and their visitation rights were completely stopped in May due to some problems with something or other, we are not too clear on this. The judge, who we have been forwarned from CPS and her attorney, is one of the strictest most old fashioned judges in Houston. So at the June court date he basically said unless a miracle happens he would be terminating the parents rights (TPR) in Septemeber when the next court date was set and didn't want to see their faces ever again because he was so disgusted at the case. So now September is here and CPS and the judge and everyone is all in favor of TPR except the parents which refuse to work their plan but refuse to voluntarily sign over their rights so they are basically asking for the judge to terminate for them. So sad. Heres the deal though, here's the ever so lingering loophole I am worried about. In the state of Texas a bio parent legally has 12 months to complete a case plan, if at that 12 month point, which for us is tomorrow, they can prove that CPS has been neglectful to help them follow their plan (which is bacially what all bio's claim at the 12 month point because they have nothing else that would back them up) then they can be given a 6 month extension but only....ONLY by the judge. We know good and well this is gonna happen. Either the bio's are gonna say "Oh poor us we didn't know such and such, CPS lied the whole time and we had no help with working our case plan give us an extension." or they will have a change of heart and walk into the court room pen in hand to wave their rights.
I suspect a good fight, in which case the judge will say negative, extension denied, my decision rules and kicks ass. THEN he gets to decide what will happen to butt monkey. At that time we will be presented to the judge that we want to adopt her, he will view our homestudy and recommendations from DDC and CASA and CPS and make a decision. Please keep in mind here, CPS (hates us) and will be present tomorrow, CASA (LOVES us) but will be on vacation, her supervisor on the other hand who is just as big of a bitch as CPS will be there and I am under a good impression via CASA worker that she is in favor of us as well (I know so many people and so confusing I hope you are keeping up) and Brittany's attorney (who likes us) will also be on vacation. So yea.....like no one in favor of us will be there, BUT their reports will........okay this blog is good and definetly helping to hype myself up. We have nothing to worry about right? RIGHT?
So me and Jeff are going to wake up and take Brittany to school (we like to call daycare school, it makes butt monkey happy) and then we will travel downtown for court at 9 am, with Jeff's parents literally attached to our ass. I swear if something stupid goes down I am gonna be so pissed.
Or if like they reschedule and forget to tell us, or something completely gay. I know I sound like a crazy but I am actually handling myself pretty well as far as keeping it together on the outside.
When a child is taken into custody thru CPS there is a court date after the initual 30 days with a judge to determine if the child should return back to their biological parents or if the child should remain in custody of the state. They are given a court appointed attorney, a CPS worker and sometimes if the case is severe enough, a CASA worker, which is a Child Advocate worker. Then lets say the child, like our little butt monkey, remains custody of the state the bio parents are given what is called a case plan and visitation rights. Another court date is set up in 6 months. At that court date the judge reviews all the progress of the case and determines if the child should remain in custody or if the parents are doing well enough to receive full custody of the child at that time or a later date. I know Brittany's last court date was in June, at that particular time the bio parents were not doing their case plan and their visitation rights were completely stopped in May due to some problems with something or other, we are not too clear on this. The judge, who we have been forwarned from CPS and her attorney, is one of the strictest most old fashioned judges in Houston. So at the June court date he basically said unless a miracle happens he would be terminating the parents rights (TPR) in Septemeber when the next court date was set and didn't want to see their faces ever again because he was so disgusted at the case. So now September is here and CPS and the judge and everyone is all in favor of TPR except the parents which refuse to work their plan but refuse to voluntarily sign over their rights so they are basically asking for the judge to terminate for them. So sad. Heres the deal though, here's the ever so lingering loophole I am worried about. In the state of Texas a bio parent legally has 12 months to complete a case plan, if at that 12 month point, which for us is tomorrow, they can prove that CPS has been neglectful to help them follow their plan (which is bacially what all bio's claim at the 12 month point because they have nothing else that would back them up) then they can be given a 6 month extension but only....ONLY by the judge. We know good and well this is gonna happen. Either the bio's are gonna say "Oh poor us we didn't know such and such, CPS lied the whole time and we had no help with working our case plan give us an extension." or they will have a change of heart and walk into the court room pen in hand to wave their rights.
I suspect a good fight, in which case the judge will say negative, extension denied, my decision rules and kicks ass. THEN he gets to decide what will happen to butt monkey. At that time we will be presented to the judge that we want to adopt her, he will view our homestudy and recommendations from DDC and CASA and CPS and make a decision. Please keep in mind here, CPS (hates us) and will be present tomorrow, CASA (LOVES us) but will be on vacation, her supervisor on the other hand who is just as big of a bitch as CPS will be there and I am under a good impression via CASA worker that she is in favor of us as well (I know so many people and so confusing I hope you are keeping up) and Brittany's attorney (who likes us) will also be on vacation. So yea.....like no one in favor of us will be there, BUT their reports will........okay this blog is good and definetly helping to hype myself up. We have nothing to worry about right? RIGHT?
So me and Jeff are going to wake up and take Brittany to school (we like to call daycare school, it makes butt monkey happy) and then we will travel downtown for court at 9 am, with Jeff's parents literally attached to our ass. I swear if something stupid goes down I am gonna be so pissed.
Or if like they reschedule and forget to tell us, or something completely gay. I know I sound like a crazy but I am actually handling myself pretty well as far as keeping it together on the outside.
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