Hey! Did You Miss Me??

So, yeah, I am back! We got home Sunday evening from the family reunion. This is where we went. We stayed in the Group Camp which has a main building, and then various sized cabins all around the camp. There's a volleyball court and a playground for the kids. Destiny spent pretty much all weekend playing outside on the playground. She doesn't get to go play outside that much when we're at home, since we live in an apartment and don't have a yard. It was nice to just let her go, and not have to worry too much about her. There was LOTS of little kids out there this year! At least 3 one year olds, including Meghan. Meghan didn't know what to think about people her size!

All in all, we had a great time and the weather was absolutely beautiful!! A little bit on the hot side, actually. This is the first time in several years that it wasn't either raining, cold, or both. Just windy like it always is, but not too bad. I wish my family did stuff like this, but they don't anymore. This was MrKB's side of the family, and I look forward to it every year.

Wasn't too much harder on us having two kids with us this year. It'll be different next year when Meghan is 2 and running around more. She's still not walking yet...we thought she might start over the weekend after seeing the others her age all walking around. She walked a little bit with one of those toys they can hold onto and walk with, but she took a nasty little fall and hit her mouth on the concrete floor, making herself bleed all over the place. She didn't want anything to do with walking after that! She's okay, btw, no stitches or split lips, just a little bruise and some swelling.

I took lots of pictures, but I need to sort through them and decide which ones to post. I'll try to do that in the next day or so.

Anyway....

We went back to court on Monday about the kids. Told the judge what Andy's foster parents and we had decided regarding where he stays. She seemed pleased, and said how much she liked it when the parents can come to an agreement without mediation for the good of the child. So at least we weren't on the chopping block in front of the judge this time.

Our caseworker, on the other hand...

She is ALWAYS late for court, even with her office being just two floors up in the SAME building. She usually at least gets there before the judge (who is always late, too, but she's the judge!), but not this time. Believe it or not, we were actually the first case called to the bench, and that NEVER happens. We all get up there, and since the caseworker wasn't there, we had to go sit back down until she got there.

She arrives a few minutes later, and we all go up in front of the judge again. They discussed the oldest sibling, who lives with her grandparents currently, but apparently is going to be staying with an aunt and uncle after school lets out. They discussed the meth baby, they verified the status of Destiny and Meghan...meaning they're still with us and we still want to adopt. Then Andy. Now...his fosters want to get this case moved forward so we can get through the adoption proceedings, and we want to also...We can't do anything until the caseworker gets the paperwork done for "separation of siblings"...The judge asked her about it, and she said "Well, I've gotten started on it this past Friday, blah, blah, blah." The judge was nodding her head, and saying "Okay"...then the CASA worker (the same one that I don't particularly like, that got into it with my MIL over the whole smoking issue) spoke up and told the judge "The caseworker has known about the decision regarding Andy since FEBRUARY, and should have had the paperwork done a long time ago. Nothing has been done, and this case has not moved forward at all since our last court date in January." That's when the judge said "Oh really? Well, then she has until the next court date to have the necessary paperwork completed. Does May 30th work for everybody??" Normally the next court date would be 90 days away.

The caseworker was mortified!! She's in all kinds of hot water with the judge.

She came for a visit to see the kids the next day, and she was telling me how she went right from court to her office to get the paperwork started and worked on it until 7:30 that night. Yeah...about time someone lit a fire under her ass to get shit done!!

We were all (us and Andy's fosters) talking to the aunt of the oldest sibling...she is at court to get legal guardianship. We were telling her how long we'd been waiting for something to get done, and that is should have been done long ago, etc. The aunt just kept saying "We're not in her shoes. We're not in her shoes." and we're all like "Lady, you have NO idea. Just wait until you've been in this awhile." Yeah, things moved quickly for us in the beginning, when we were getting the girls placed with us, but after that, heh.

So anyway, for once we were happy about what went on in court. That's about all I've got for y'all right now. Pictures later! :)