I have become a bad blogger lately.

But it's partly because I can't share much info on what is going on with the kids due to Foster Care rules. Anyway, the two older boys continue to be a little crazy at times. They sure try our patience at least once a day. They have improved on some things, but still the same on others. We know things don't chance overnight, but the younger kids don't need to deal with some of the crap they pull. I think something may be happening soon with this.

So Anna has been away to a short conference in Burbank. It has been an okay time. We haven't done too much. I did cook some ribs last night that were pretty good. It was my first time cooking them and they turned out really well...other than a little overseasoning. We had Glen and Jeannete over. We are going on a couples only trip in October with them to their time share in St. George. It should be pretty fun as we haven't ever done that...actually we did go up to Park city with Geoff and Alisha a few years ago for a weekend.

Overall things are going pretty well. It has been crazy trying to balance our schedules this summer since school has been out. Anna's work has been more than accomodating. It just has never calmed down. And it won't really do so either as we are headed to Montana in two weeks for camping. And we have a day off this Friday...not sure if we are doing anything. Court is next Monday...not much will happen this week.

So our Tahoe, SF and Sacramento trip went well.

No major issues or blowups. The kids got along well and we the kids didn't break too much.. We hope they will be able to come with us to Montana for camping as well. We'll see what happens. There may be a few changes coming with our situation.

So the kids will be with us for awhile...

I'm not sure what is going to happen later on. But we have some tough decisions. Hopefully the therapists can help us sort things out.

Be of Good Cheer!!!

That was the title of the EQ lesson I gave today. It was okay, although the thoughts didn't flow too well. But I hope some people got the gist of the lesson. It was about being happy in our lives. I think some people don't know how to be happy while on the ride of life. It reminded me to enjoy the simple things as there is so much cynicism and pessimism in the world. I want to be known as someone that is happy and optimistic. Someone who see's the good in others. Not someone who needs to rip others down.

So court is Tuesday. I don't expect much to change, but it will be interesting to see what the judge says. So sad...

I survived.

So last week ended up being okay. No big issues. It seems like the boys have calmed down for whatever reason. Not as much cussing or agressive behavior.

So we are not sure how long the kids will be with us. Plans have kind of changed and things are up in the air at this point. I feel terrible for these kids...not knowing what is going to happen.

I am excited for our trip to Tahoe. Going to be gone for 10 days in Tahoe and Sacramento. It's going to be nice. I am going to brave the waters of the big lake...just like I did as a kid. Hopefully it's warm...

So Anna is gone until Sunday!!!!

The first two days haven't been too bad. No major blowups and got a decent amount of work done today. My claims load has been going up and up...and now another person has left my office. Not sure what happened, but is gone. We are down so many people. Another guy is retiring this week as well. A few others were fired last month. I don't have much time to do anything other than handling my claims these days. I have also been backing up two other adjuster the past 3 days.

Home life has been getting better. We had a very good 1.5 weeks...then hell since the kids saw their mom last week. I think it may have finally sunk in what is going on. It's rough..not sure how I would deal with it if I was away from my family so much in my young years.....

I'm pretty excited for our long vacation in a couple of weeks. We are headed to Lake Tahoe and then hanging out in Sacramento for a few days. Maybe we can go to a baseball game or something in the bay area. Maybe I will ask for the day off after my birthday too to be able to have an extra day to travel.

Good night

It sometimes feels like such work to have a good

Sunday. Church is crazy, trying to convince kids, who don't give a rats about anything, to be quiet. They have very poor social skills while in public. That was one of the reasons we cut our Canada/Montana trip short was due to this. It just becomes too much to handle. But we made it through the day without any big bumps...which is more important at this point. There is some progress, but we still have daily issues with disrespect, name calling, cussing among other things. This has really tested our ability to be patient and loving...while at the same time being firm with what is expected. There is only so much verbal abuse and cussing we can take at this point in time.

Anyway, court is tomorrow. Hopefully the judge does the right thing...whatever that is. -