Phew!

That was a long time to go without posting! My apologies to all of my faithful blog readers (all 8 of you!). It's been a jam-packed couple of weeks. I hate to do another list of things that we've been doing, and since I've been laying low today with a summer cold, I think I'll keep things short and sweet.

The Andrejczyk family is still alive.

There you go. That's all you need to know, right?! Haha...I'm going crazy from the ice cream man's extremely annoying song that plays over and over and over while he drives slower than molasses down our street and neighboring streets selling ice cream, yes, but also other things, we're quite convinced. After all, who buys ice cream at midnight? Hmm? Welcome to Camden.

Anyway...we're doing fine here. The kids start their supervised visits at the DYFS office with F's dad and their mom on Tuesday of this week. We think. Caseworker still hasn't ironed out the details. (This is not the time or place for me to rant about my extreme disappointment with this caseworker and DYFS as a whole...suffice it to say, I don't think we'll be fostering again, unless the kids are in need of permanent placement. It's a ridiculous hassle and way more involved emotionally and physically than I think either of us expected.) But I digress. The kids are both doing great, though we're very nervous about what these visits will do emotionally to both of them. How do you explain to an almost 2 year old that yes, you can see Mommy for an hour, but then you have to go home to the A's, then do it all again next week? We're not sure what to expect, but are assuming it's not going to be an easy few weeks. Pray we're wrong!

This is the last week of UrbanPromise's summer camps, so J and Mike will have a few weeks off and home together before school snd AfterSchool Programs start back up. Mike is thinking about keeping F home during that time so they can all hang out.

I had a great first 1:1 meeting with my "new" boss, Jackie, on Friday afternoon. Received some very positive feedback from herself and the rest of the team, and was also warned not to try to be "Hercules" and carry them all on my shoulders. Which, knowing my personality, was a very wise thing for Jackie to say! I'm learning to draw boundaries and speak up when I'm overwhelmed. Hopefully with the end of the fiscal year behind us (7/31) and the compensation process over this week, I'll get a sense of normalcy and really discover what this job is all about! So far, so good, though!

And one thing I'm most excited about with this job is...VACATION TIME! It's been a LOOOOONG time since I've had a real job that allowed paid vacation time, and didn't hassle me about trying to take it. Jackie expects us to, and doesn't care when, so I'm planning a trip to Belfast to see my beloved Rosy in December/January. I can't wait! A trip to CA would be wonderful too...I haven't seen Jenny in years!

So that's it for now...9:00 on a Sunday night and Mike and I are about to crawl into bed and watch a movie together. Enjoy the week, everyone!