Hi Everyone,
I hope you are having a great week. Oh, how I would love to tell you that we have made marvelous strides toward at least one goal, but, alas, it has not happened. Sigh.
We ARE making progress, but it is excruciatingly slow. Slow, like watching grass grow, as a snail crawl, molasses pour, banks do their job. Sigh.
I will not name names, but there is one very large bank that I MUST deal with in all this and evidently their faxes, email, phone and PERSONNEL systems do not work or communicate with each other. I am losing count of how many times I had had to fax the same paperwork to the same number only to have them tell me they have no record of it. I’m pretty sure that is the definition of insanity. I have quit praying to God for patience because when I do He sends me more paperwork from this sorry excuse for a bank. Ok, rant over. Moving on.
I know that many of my readers check in here to check on Miss L. so I thought I would give you a brief update. I want to protect her privacy so I limit what I put out there in cyberworld. I’m sure you can understand that considering not only her situation, but the dark side of our world.
Miss L. is doing great! I checked in with her homeroom teacher (who she really likes) and I got a lovely report. Her grades are still excellent. Her reading score is off the charts. She is participating in class and is making friends. Don’t tell her, but I love sitting in the car line and seeing her talking with friends and not paying any attention as to whether I am there or not.
She is playing soccer. None of us have been overly impressed by the soccer organization at the moment, but it’s fresh air and exercise so we will finish the season and re-evaluate afterwards. Miss L. has also gained some healthy weight. D. and I are borderline health nuts who cook at home 95% of the time and rarely eat much junk food (ice cream being the regular exception). At first she resisted eating anything she had not tried before, but now gives new food a try (that’s all we ask, is that she try it) and most of the time finishes a plateful. When we went clothes shopping I gave her the choice of a tried and true fast food restaurant or an unknown entity…Greek food. SHE CHOSE GREEK FOOD and really liked it!
Miss L. is now a regular at our church Youth group meetings and started singing with the Youth choir last week. She loves to sing and I think she will love this group. Ms. Jenny had ordered 25 sets of music for the new year and Miss L. made the 26th member so there will be more music ordered. I raised my two kids at this church and in this Youth group and even though it is a 45 minute drive for us each way, I know the huge amount of love and support that surrounds each young person involved in this group and it will be worth the time for Miss L.
Next week we start with doctor visits. After two months of agonizing attempts to get her health insurance that is finally done and I have vision, dental and regular doctor checkups lined up. I also have grief counseling scheduled for her with Hospice. With all the enormous changes that have occurred in her life in the last three months I am amazed at her strength. Yes, she has times when it all gets to her, but overall she has handled it very well and we want her to have an outlet and knowledge of how to handle what will be a long process.
Probably the biggest adjustment any of us have had to make is just getting to know each other and living in the same house. Although we all saw each other several times each year (for me it started about 5 years ago, of course D. all Miss L.’s life) that is NOT the same as every day. D. and I are fairly old school parents who think kids need rules and responsibilities. I’m not sure how many rules Miss L. had on a regular basis, but I suspect not many and very few responsibilities. There have been a few “adjustment” moments for all of us as the settling into new roles has occurred.
Right off the bat, Miss L. had to take regular responsibility for Dinah (her dog) and Sweetie Pie (her cat). We already had several critter mouths of our own to feed. Dinah had always been an outside dog. I have no idea how that tiny fluff ball survived three years outside, but she very likely would not survive outside up here with the high level of predators that would consider Dinah a snack. So, I taught Miss L. how to house train a dog. Every two hours she had to take fluffy butt outside whether either of them wanted to go or not. Fast forward two months and Dinah is pretty reliably house trained. If there is an accident now it is human error, not canine error.
Miss L. gives Sweetie Pie the cat her daily food, water and snuggles AND she has discovered that she enjoys feeding the horses. Most days now she helps D. get the three pasture ornaments fed. At the very beginning of her days with us, Miss L. informed us that she has a bird phobia. Even though she will not get very close to them, occasionally she will even help feed the chickens. She also gets to clean her room each week, keep up with all her school papers, help with all the house chores and has added bean picking to her resume. We will be working on cooking this winter.
That’s the update on life in Crazyville right now. Miss L. is the easy part. The bank…not so much.
I hope your week will be slow in a good way! Until next week…
Pencils, Paint & Paper 