This is what we did today...

Dishwasher Detergent

Here is another one of my "sick of spending so much money on soap?", "tired of loading the dishwasher after dinner and finding you are out of dishwasher soap, again?". Save money and grocery store trips and make your own. It's really easy and last's forever!

Here is what you need.

 Dishwasher Detergent ingredients:
1 box Borax (4lbs 12 oz or 76 oz ) (2.15 kg) found in the detergent isle
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (55 oz or 3 lbs 7 oz) found in the detergent isle
24 packages of unsweetened lemonade drink mix, like kool-aid. (**Note: lemonade will stain soap dispenser yellow, another option would be to use citric acid instead of lemonade. You can usually find citric acid in the canning isle )
3 cups Epsom Salt
Lemi Shine rinse aid (this recipe does not work very well without it) You can find Lemi Shine in the dishwasher detergent isle at just about any store. You can also use vinegar as a rinse aid. If your dishes are coming out with spots on them that means you do need a rinse aid.

Christmas

This year was different for us. We decided to shake things up a little and do the twelve days of Christmas with Lauren. The hard part was being organized enough to make sure that I had something everyday. I had to get my shopping done early. We started on the 14th and ended on the 25th. This big hit was her American Girl doll that she had been begging for the past year. She said that she wants to do do the twleve days again next year so I guess it's going to become a tradition. If you read the history behind the twelve days it actually isn't until the 25th through January 6th...Lauren wouldn't go for it...we tried! We spent the weekend just hanging out and having family time. Saturday we are leaving for Mississippi to visit Paul's family. We are looking forward to getting away and seeing people that we only see once a year or so. Not sure how restful it will be with a six year old and a five month old, but the change of pace will be welcomed!

Pictures!

Here are a few pics that a friend took of Lauren: (I have some of the baby but I can't post them. Sorry!)

Lauren

With all of the court stuff last week I completely forgot to share on here the good news. Lauren had a neurology check up last Monday. He was able to change her medication to one pill a day instead of six pills. That was nice to hear and our insurance company will be happy. We had been seeing her neurologist every six months, but he is letting us go a full year this time! Yay! When she is seizure free for two years we can start to wean her off her medication to see if she is growing out of it. The marker for whether or not she is going to grow out of them is puberty. If she hasn't grown out of them by then the neurologist said that the seizures would manifest into a different kind of epilepsy with possible gran mal seizures. All of that to say that we are just playing the wait and see game. The only side effect that we have seen from all of this is that she is a little slower getting things accomplished. Slow as in each task takes more time than usual. If that is the only issue we have then I can live with it!

Peace

Well, we passed little W off to his new family yesterday. I am praying that this is the last stop for him. They say that before the age of three all the moving around doesn't effect them, but I disagree. The chances of him being placed back with his mom are very slim, so that is a blessing. I spent the day praying for a peaceful feeling about all of it and I think that God has given me that. I got to sit down and talk with the other mom and  we got to talk about his last four months and the ways that he has grown. I truly believe that she loves him and cares. It all seemed right. Of course we are sad because he brought a lot of joy to our house.

God is in control

I have been waiting to update the blog because I wanted to see how the court hearing went that they had this morning. So, the judge ordered that W (the 18 month old) be given back the people that were taking care of him before he came into the foster care system. This is what we have had to prepare our hearts for since the beginning. Of course I am not happy with the judge's ruling and don't understand it. The positive aspect is that W knows these people and has a bond with them. As of now we still have A (the 4 month old) for a few more months. Letting go is the challenge of being a foster parent. You know where they came from and you pray that they go back into a better situation. Not knowing whether or not they are going to continue to help him learn his words or put a bottle back in is mouth is what is so hard. I feel like I have worked so hard over the last four months and I pray that he remembers and it wasn't in vain.