A friend called to tell me about a baby abandoned in Brasov. She was initially taken home, but the family is rather disorganized and the baby has a thyroid problem. The doctor sent her home with treatment and instructions, but the family didn’t give her the medicine at all. And brought her back and released her from their care and responsibility. The emergency placement locations in the county are at capacity so the baby is still in the hospital.
My friend who also has two adopted kids asked me to share this burden, pray for the baby and think or reach out to people who might be able to take her. It’s a five hour drive to Brasov.
She also told another friend who has toyed with the idea of taking a baby in foster care, and she also has two adopted kids in school.
These kids of ours laps sometimes in their reactions to triggers, and take a lot of our time and energy at this stage. I was just feeling at capacity and was trying to figure out how to streamline my schedule more. The neighbor we share the carpooling is off duty. Their daughter is sick so I do again the three trips into town for two kids and many appointments.
Today was negative 9 and I had a rough time defrosting the window on the inside. Then jackie forgot her lunch. Then she forgot her phone. She has music after school.
I feel used and abused – because I let it, by my kids’ schedule and when they also complain about waiting for one another or the entertainment or lack there of while I drive… it really makes me want to tell them to get on the bus and be done with it.
I know it’s cold. I bet they would both run themselves into the ground with spending hours in the cold, walking down the hill to the bus stop, and up the hill when they get into the neighborhood. We do pamper them and protect their sensibilities and I wonder every day if we do right by them. They become so soft and spoiled because they have a taxi service that they complain about too.
Today though I was not pleasant with jackie. She forgot her phone and wanted me to bring it with some money so she could go to the mall with Miriam. It’s a school night and homework needs to be done and music school to be attended. I woke up to the reality that I don’t want hanging out at the mall to be the activity pf choice for my daughter. She gets lost even in the mall, she can’t take the bus to and from, but she feels mature enough to go spend money at the makeup store. It enrages me.
She missed some important communication on her phone, though eventually she did open it. Burt she is more interested in the updates (the social media of whatsapp) than what the colleagues are communicating – homework, projects or surprises for other colleagues. Then she feels excluded by no fault of anyone else.
I wonder if her capacity is also at its limit. Attention span, ability to juggle so many events and school activities, friends and chats. Homework and stretches for her back (which she has not proven to take responsibility for).
Ivy does her homework without reading the Instructions so she does it wrong. And then blames me because I confirm her spelling. But you can spell correctly all you want if you are not writing the right words.
Conrad’s insurance lapsed and he is waiting for a job offer. From a company that is not very good at following through in a timely manner.
I just paid our taxes, property and income, soon I’ll have to do a lot of IRS paperwork and to be honest, the year feels a bit overwhelming. Not in a hectic way but just really really heavy.
Does that mean that we are at capacity?