Evie

I got three different calls from DSS yesterday.  The first time, I answered the phone and they just wanted to know if I was attending the foster care banquet.  Make my heart race for nothing! 

The second call was needing a placement for a sibling group of a 1 year old and a 7 year old.  I told them even though my license is for 2 children, I am really only wanting to take one for the first placement (and my license is actually only for 0-5 years old anyway so I really wanted to stay in that age range). 

The third call came about 7:30 last night and was for a sibling group of a 4 year old and a 3 year old.  I told them I was not equipped to have two different children in beds (I can accommodate a crib infant and a child in a bed), but would take one if they needed me to.  And at 9:00, I opened the door and there was 4-year-old Evie (blog name - not her real name) with a rat's nest of hair, no shoes* (only socks), and clothes the completely wrong size (18 month shirt and size 10 pants).  After a bath and some painful combing out of the hair, she settled down to sleep pretty easily; but then woke up throughout the night every 1-3 hours crying and/or wanting me to come in the room with her. 

* I have a pretty significant stockpile of clothes that have been donated and/or purchased for really cheap, in all sizes/genders/seasons.  However, I haven't purchased any shoes, with the thought that if they are the age to NEED shoes, they should show up wearing a pair and that would get us through.  Funny how the first placement I get shows up with no shoes!  Thankfully, I have had some different people donate some shoes; and my cousin had given me one pair that fit perfectly (and at the time I thought those were probably too big for the age children I would be getting).  Thanks, Becky!  You saved me from dragging a barefoot child into the store to buy shoes!

Today, we have gone to my storage unit to get the box of clothes in her size, visited the daycare, and went by my work to get some ethnic hair care advice.  She has been pretty easy so far (she even humored me and ate three carrots at lunchtime without a fit!)  Right now she is resting (I think asleep actually!) and then we're off to the store for some hair care products and clothing accessories. 

I don't anticipate that she will be with me for an extremely long time, but from all I have read about the foster care world, it's really hard to make any predictions whatsoever since things change in the blink of an eye!