trust and other five letter words -

How do you explain to a 9 year old that once trust is lost it is very hard to get it back? He stole a credit card from mom's purse. Two hours later we found it in the couch.

How do we know it wasn't lost there? The couch is a sleeper sofa that is used everyday as a bed.

On Friday we meet with Juvenile Court. Am I doing a disservice to my kid if I don't mention this to the judge? It isn't the first time that he has stolen from us. It happens so frequently that he is the first one we look at if something is missing.

His teacher has to fill out a psych profile on him. We found that paperwork in my son's collection of stuff. How do we know? It has a note on it addressed to the teacher.

Juvenile Court

Got notice today of the pending court date for the one who attacked his teacher a few weeks ago. It has been a rough day.

He slept in, had breakfast. Then he stole pie, when confronted about it, he said that he couldn't have thirds of his cereal. When we discovered that he threw away his cereal he denied saying anything about thirds. uuuuuughhh... I feel like I am losing my mind.

Obsessive Compulsive... oh yeah. Oppositional Defiant... oh yeah...

Such a joy. He seems unconcerned about the fact that he has to go to court at his age for assaulting a teacher. When we explained that he could get taken away from us for this behavior, he had the good grace to look surprised.

But then this could all have been avoided if the school had provided him with the aide that we and his doctors told them he needed.

Thankful ---

For as much as I wish that our lives were "normal" I would trade none of the blessings that my family has for all the money in the world. While it would be nice to be debt free, have a regular job, not have to travel a couple of times a month to see the doctors, or pick a kid up from school for behavior issues, the blessings that they have make them the people that they are.

All of our hopes and dreams can be summed up in one word: THANKFUL. I am THANKFUL that the Lord has blessed us with the family that we have. I am THANKFUL that most of the time I have the patience to see the positive aspects in the blessings. I am THANKFUL for the support that my family gives us while we help the boys along life's path. I am THANKFUL that the girls are the people that they are and appreciate them more than I can possibly say. I am THANKFUL for a wife that works a regular job and leaves the house stuff to her husband...

I am THANKFUL for the joy, the dreams and the experiences that this life has brought me.

morning fights...

Why does every morning start out with a fight? argument or general difficulty with my kid? Attitude is everything, and his attitude since he attacked his teacher has not been good. Nice and wonderful thing the oppositional defiance. ughhh...

I am torn...

I work for myself. Lately I find that my boys are taking up more time than I can devote to my business. I expect it to get worse before it gets better. With that in mind, I have decided to close my business and work from home.

The family is infintely more important. Besides the business is costing more than it makes. We will be money ahead in the end.

It has been a quiet weekend, even with everyone being cooped up in the house because of the snow. This week is Thanksgiving. Then we start the Christmas time.

Sometime in the next three weeks, my youngest boys school will be having a meeting to determine if he gets an IEP (Individual Education Plan). While that happens, I will be applying for SSI for him. According to the doctor, we can be expecting to get turned down at least once and maybe twice before we get approved for SSI. How insane is that? Oh well, more later.

A quiet day in the house...

All three of my boys have had their hair cut, now they look like boys again. :) yes, I am the family barber. The girls won't let me near their hair. evidently barber doesn't equal stylist...

Tomorrow we will tackle snow removal from the drive. :)

What a week!

So my son, who doesn't have any need for an aid in school, attacked his teacher. Pretty scary. Feel bad for the class and the teacher.

My son has issues with being obsessive compulsive, oppositional defiant, adhd, and pediatric bi-polar disorders, is on meds to control his temper, and sees doctors regularly for this. Now we are suspended out of school, and when he can go back, he has in-school suspension, plus he was cited for assault, so we need to go to juvenile court.

Pretty scary for a 9 year old, hopefully some of this might stick to him and he will realize that he can't do what ever he wants when ever he wants, and that there are consequences for his behavior.

Thanks to the birth mom, he will struggle his whole life to maintain some semblance of what other people call normal.

My son is pretty nervous, the last time he threatened his teacher, doctor said that he would hospitalize my son if he did anything like it again. My son went well beyond the threat.

Rushing....

Why do mornings always seem to blur by in a rush? Seriously? The kids are all mostly up and around by 7. Then the race is on for breakfast, using the bathroom, getting shoes on, and ultimately getting into the van to go to school. This morning one child slept in until it was almost time to leave for school. ughhhhh...

Ah well, barbecue for supper tonight. made from a roast, not ground beef. should be quite tasty been in the slow cooker for a couple of hours already.

mornings and nights...

Nights seem to last forever since I am up to make sure someone doesn't get into anything if he happens to wake up. Then it seems like I close my eyes and it's time to get up and start the day already... Our youngest was born with an addiction and a lot of blessings. Those blessings include the ability to not need more than 4 hours of sleep at a time.

Group Dynamics

I once took a class in group dynamics. Imagine the dynamics of a large family...

Our oldest two kids are girls. The other three are boys.

Finding myself...

I find myself frustrated sometimes by my nine year old.

Maybe I should start at the beginning...

Born in 1972 - adopted. blah, blah, blah...

My oldest was born in 1993.
I met my wife in 1994.
Our oldest was born in 1995.
followed by another in 1997, 1999 and our youngest in 2001.

Together we are seven.