Adoption recap with a photo that I'll soon take down! I'm a hodge-podger, plus added stress

Monday:  the adoption went well. Some sappy SOB squeaked the words out during the poem portion of the proceedings, so that was, er, embarrassing. The poem was light and fluffy till the last few touching-moment lines, so why did the emotion ooze out of me like jelly from a jelly donut from the get go? 

I asked our lawyer for permission to read something and she had to ask the judge. He adopted a few older kids himself, and he was great. Also, he has a club foot (the topic was referenced in my poem and afterwards he was like Club foot over here too!). My lawyer said she'd never had anyone ask to speak/share something. 

What? I guess I watch too much TV or movies or something. Am I alone here? 

Sibling support surprise  Backing this bus up to let you know that all six older kids came home and attended court. No one was late. Phew. 

Sunday late afternoon I snuck out of the house, drove to ND with a stop at Midway (believe it or not there's another airport adventure to share. Put on your Depends though, because Mini was in the car and it was high-larry-us). Four hour round trip later, I walked in and Kay was sitting on the couch and when she heard Reg talk, she spun around, and was like HOW? HUH? Rae's face was pure joy when she saw the college kids. 

The talk:  Coach and I did sit Kay down Sunday night. Per our therapist we told her We show up for you always, and we're the first people in your life to do that. We're working hard here to make you part of this family. Time for you to do some work. I referenced all the big kids in the next room (you could hear them laughing and chatting) and how they were all here for her. We asked if she wanted to be part of this family. YES, she does. Let's just say, we made our point. 

In attendance:  The grade school principal. My mom's sister, even though I didn't call her till the day before. Had to read her directions over the phone because she doesn't do GPS. She has a phone which is lightyears ahead of my folks, so there's that. The girls' social worker and two other DCFS people. Two of Rae's girlfriends plus their moms. Kay's bestie. The court room was packed. My bestie zoomed it and managed to video the whole thing, which was great because Coach's folks weren't able to work the zoom. They live over an hour away. Coach's sister and a nephew zoomed. His sisters sent sweet personalized gifts and there are enough flowers in our kitchen to put a wedding venue to shame. 

How can we balance out this crooked looking sign -
Oh, here's a recycling bin and a seat from the minivan.

Chaos:  We took the elderly folks and our kids to breakfast and then everyone dispersed for work and Coach and I drove the girls back to their prospective schools. When I got home, I put flowers in vases, and cut Reg's hair. Fearing Coach wouldn't have time for the banner because he took Tank, plus a part of a sectional couch downtown (an hour one way) and then had to grab the girls from school and drop Ed at the train, I devoted four minutes to banner hanging duty before doing my reverse ND/Midway trip. 

Twice in less than 24 hours is a lot of driving. 

While I was driving, Coach texted Mini. "Did you see how Mom hung the banner? I need to fix this, any ideas?"  I think it's cute that he didn't think she would tell me what he texted her. He dismantled the backyard volleyball net to use one side of it. Big improvement. 

I'd like points for being the best hodge-podger out there.

Since then stress in the shape of:  

* my dad landed in the hospital later Monday afternoon, blood in stool. He came home last night (Wed.) after having a colonoscopy and an endoscopy and they can't find the source of the bleeding. He's frustrated. They're acting like, All good. But is he really? 

* On Thursday last week, I got an email from the camp the girls attend quarterly (same camp they did before the fam portrait). The camp was being restructured which we knew (extending the umbrella to kids with trauma background and not just those whose parents have been on drugs), so 8 days before the Sept 12th weekend camp (like NOW!) - they alerted us that they rescheduled it for mid-October. 

* Coach and I are heading to Creighton for family weekend and now we have no childcare for the girls. It was supposed to be so well timed. Damn it. My focus last weekend was on dealing with sneaky behavior, creating banners, writing poetry, and driving two four hour trips - so now we're scrambling to find coverage/rides, etc. Not.Fun. Especially because we feel like Kay has to be watched like a hawk. 

I told one of my girlfriends today who I hit up for yet another favor, "If only I had sisters." 

FYI:  f you have a WordPress blog, I'm not able to sign in for some reason. Sometimes I can comment and sometimes I draft a lengthy comment and it kicks it out. (Kari, sorry but that happened and I haven't been back to figure it out yet). 

*****

What was the last thing you hodge-podged? Have you gotten choked up unexpectedly?