Saturday May 24th 2014
Alarm up at 6:00am again, but this time the whole family is up and loading into our new Mini Van aka our Mormon assault vehicle. We sprung for a car with lots of bells and whistles. It even has two pull down electronic babysitters AKA video screens and 2 DVD players. And boy did we need it as we started another 3 1/2 hour drive to Roseburg.
We were all set; big new car, bags all packed, hotel booked. We only had one real problem, we had no idea where we were going. We knew we were to meet at the foster mothers house, but no one had given us the address. So at the last rest stop before Roseburg we started the phone calls and E-Mails to the caseworker and our own adoption clinician.
Unable to get the info, we decided to head to our hotel, a Best Western, while we waited for the address or a flare or something. Until then we would have to camp out at the hotel.
The hotel staff were super nice to us and let us check in 4 hours early. The hotel itself was clean and the room was ok for the one night we planned to spend. But the staff were super great (did I mentioned 4 hours early?). We had only been in our room for about 20 mins when the front desk rang and told us the boys caseworker had called and left us the foster parents address. Seems we are not hard to reach at the only hotel in town.
We all piled back into the car and headed over to the Foster Families home. The home was only a 5 min drive from our hotel, heck everything in town was only a 5 min drive from our hotel. Before we knew it we were knocking on their front door.
Elijah was very excited to see us and Gabriel was asleep. We got to see their room and their trampoline, which Jayme and Elijah at once were jumping on together. This begin the short honeymoon period for the boys, where they seemed to love or at least like each other.
Then began the oddest family get to know you event we have ever been on. On advice from the powers that be, headed out to the Wildlife Safari. Which worked out to trapping 3 children in a van for 2 hours driving very slowly looking at bushes looking for animals. Oh and Gabe HATES being in his car seat. It was a huge out of the frying pan and into the fire moment for the Dads. It was also on this trip Joshua was given the glorious job of the first diaper change.
The visit to the zoo was mostly a flop. We turned the car north and headed back to the Foster families home and dropped Gabe off for a nap. We then took Elijah and Jayme back to the hotel to go swimming. This was much nicer and allowed for a lot more one on one time.
We dropped off Elijah and said our good nights and then headed back to our hotel for then night. We had two queen beds so Jayme had a huge bed to himself, he passed out within a few minutes of his head hitting his pillow.
The next morning we woke and tried out the hotel free breakfast. We just nibbled as our next stop was full breakfast at the foster families home. Their meal was was much nicer and we got to learn about the boy’s eating habits.
After a nice meal we loaded the boys stuff up into the van, because they where coming home with us for a 2 night sleep over. This was pretty hard on everyone involved. Hard on the foster family, hard on the kids (9 hours of car travel time before they could move in) and hard on our family who just wanted them to stay.
Before we headed home it was decided that we should have a meeting with the Boy’s older sister (she is about a year older then Jayme). She was not placed with the boys for reasons, but she still cares very much about them. It was felt saying goodbye would be helpful for her. The Dad’s didn’t think it was a good idea for Elijah as this weekend had enough heavy emotional stuff for him. But, we are not in charge. We just have to clean up the messes.
The drive was not a fun one. Elijah did great, he loved watching TV all the way up with Jayme. Gabe… hated this trip. The joke their Foster mom made was to give him a teddy gram cookie every 10 miles. The reality was more like every mile. Joshua and Anthony took turns siting in the back with Gabe trying to keep him calm. It was a long 3 1/2 hours.
Driving down with Jayme
Meeting at foster parents house
Trip to the Zoo
Back home to foster parents for Gabriel
Swimming with Elijah
Late night coffee and sleep
Breakfast at Foster Parents
Playdate with big sister in park
Joshua – with big sister moment
The long drive home
Pizza for dinner
Hard first night