Life as a foster parent

It's been about 2 months now since Sonja & Bobby joined our lives... Seems like it has been longer in so many ways. They have wormed their way into our hearts & caused us to try & figure out how to become the parents we never were. They are so different than our children and grandchildren. They have seen & experienced things I hope they will never have to again. My grandchildren are so sweet & kind. Gentle in so many ways. I am proud of my girls and how great they have been parenting their kids. All 7 will be productive & outstanding adults just like their parents. I know that Matt & Janet will be amazing parents.
Going to counciling & attorney appointments with Sonja & 3+ hour visits for Bobby... Things kids shouldn't have to think about... Wondering who they will live with. I pray that the time with us will be a time that will make a difference in their lives.

Kids kingdom in Redding CA!!!

This was the answer to my question where do you want to eat your lunch?
Collin & I had gone there months ago & he had made friends with a boy named Zach.
He got to go to a birthday party there & was told it was in Redding CA by his mom! He told me "I love that park"!!!
So he spent about an hour running swinging. Hanging upside down just having fun & being all boy!

A double digit day!

Happy birthday to our sweet Drew! It is so hard to believe you could turn 10 years old today! Seems just yesterday we were welcoming you to the world! Papa & I love you very much!!!

Garbage day!

This week is April Cean-up in the Great City of Anderson !!! Monday, Wednesday , Friday trash was taken in different spots ... For Free! Today( Friday) was in the Anderson River Park. We started at 8am & after filling 3 HUGE dumpsters full of everything imaginable (plus all of the metal & electronics that were separated out...) At 12pm we stopped for the day. I didn't think to take a picture of anything there so I guess I'll have to share a picture of what Pinterest made me bring home!!! After hefting trash into the dumpster, driving around & picking up trash from different areas in the park I think it is okay to have stashed a few usable things in my car... Saving space in the landfill, recycling or up cycling... Right !!!
I'm sure that the few of you who read my blog will agree with me!!! It's for my ART!!if I ever actually use these beauties I will have to post "after" pics!!!
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Who's walking who???

Today(hallelujah ) the wind stopped!! I got to spend the day with Easton & Malee & we took a walk! As you can see by the picture it wasn't clear who was walking who!!! Easton is 2 & Malee is 1!! Lacey is 10 & is Daisy's momma!

What is a tour?

Today Collin & I had the opportunity to have a tour of the Round About that is being built. When I told Collin what we would be doing he wasn't sure what that was or if he wanted to have a tour... He offered to sit in the car! I explained that we would be seeing a bunch of big pieces of equipment and that the City Manager would be telling us about what was going on. Then he wanted to know about what a city manager did...and when I explained that he wanted to know if he was the manager of all of the businesses in Anderson! So I tried to explain how city government works telling him that I (and the other city council people ) were his boss... Then he wanted to know why he was going to tell me what was going on!!! Any way... We took the tour & saw a lot I thought it was very exciting! I took this pic of Collin so that someday when he is a grown man he can say "I was there before it was finished & I even have a picture of it!" I also told him the tour was only fit special people ! He asked me if he was special... I told him he is very special!

Onward & Upward!!!

I  really wanted to put Day 7 of our trip onto my blog and because of this I haven't written for months! Well I tried to do this today and because of transferring all of my photos to my external hard drive I can't do it easily! So....I will continue on with an unfinished trip!!! I hate not finishing stuff but, oh well!
Life in the Anderson Baugh house is always busy and I am trying to get all of the paperwork and training done for our Foster Care Certification!  After being rejected by the Shasta County  Foster Care I found a private agency who will take us.  I had almost every paper filled out for the county (doing this on our vaca) when we were informed by the county council that they didn't want us in their program. Now, I have had to trash all of that and start over. Thankfully when you go through a private agency you don't have to do as many hours of training and there is a higher compensation fee!  I am hoping to be able to be certified soon. I just need to get Les busy on his hours of training!  We are in the phase 2 of 3 in the certification process...
I am excited and scared at the same time!  I am scared of having my heart broken again & excited to have a baby in the house!  We probably have a few more months before we will have a placement. I will try to keep you updated!
On Thursdays I go over to Katie Warner's house and play with Easton & Malee for the day!  Easton is two and Malee is 1, they are a more like twins in many ways.  Being only 10 months apart in age they like the same toys and doing the same things!  They are sweet and fun and I really love my Thursdays!