Well, I won't say much about it because I'm not sure exactly what is going on and am pretty sure it's not typical of the organization, but things have changed with Olivia's wish. Due to different reasons, we've decided to follow her second choice for a wish... a trip to Disney World. Things still have to be more fully finalized, but it looks like it will take place the first week of August and my parents will be coming with us. Olivia is very excited about it. We've never received our own wish granter/s, so I really hope the rest of our experience is still similar to what I've heard of other's trips, etc. I want Olivia to have the best experience she can as this is a once in a lifetime thing. The end result isn't really the whole thing, it's the process and the experience we were both so excited about. Anyway, enough of that, I know she will have a great time. :)

We had a sort of makeshift slumber party last night. A few weeks ago I had picked up new sleeping bags for Olivia and Braeden (at the thrift shop I frequent). I figured their Sesame Street and Pocahontas ones were getting a bit young, and we passed those down to Liam and Girlie. I found two practically brand new ones that the kids love. Braeden got Bob the Builder and Olivia got one that has monkeys and says "Princess" all over it. Braeden has been begging me for a few days to sleep in them, so I told him that when I was better and we didn't have school/work the next day we'd do it. So, we situated them on the rug in front of the tv with popcorn and drinks, I put the little ones to bed and then took up residence on the futon near them and we watched The Muppet Movie. They loved it! Then I put in a Chris Rice cd and we went to sleep. They thought it was the coolest thing and it cost nothing and was something they'll remember for a long time. Very fun!

I realized after my post on Olivia and her brother yesterday that some of you probably don't know or don't remember what the situation was/is with her brother. Here is an old post to let you in on the situation... ***Prior to their adoptions, Olivia's name was Jakala and Braeden was nicknamed Bo*** (Thanks to Sara for pointing that out!) :)

http://little-did-i-know.blogspot.com/2006/05/siblings.html

Since then, we had only a couple visits. I tried and tried and tried to no avail to get them to do visits. I even brought it up at her ACR. And the times we did spend with him he always asked me why I never wanted to visit or call, because that's what his mom told him, that she would call me and I wouldn't call back. Nice. Our last visit was scheduled for Feb of 2007. The morning of the visit they called to cancel. Said that his mom's mom had cancer surgery the day before and she wanted to be there with her. HELLO! How long ago must you have known about the surgery!? And they were the ones who had chosen that date. We haven't heard from since, even though we've sent bday and Christmas cards. My heart goes out to Olivia.

Well, Girlie has an "official" leaving date.

Yesterday I finally had the chance to go to our agency and talk with our counselor there regarding all that I have seen with her and my thoughts and concerns for her future. She was very surprised to hear all that she is already exhibiting at such a young age. She concurs with me that she will most likely be diagnosed, pretty soon, with RAD, but fears there are other "issues" running tangent to the RAD as well. What I also thought. We also talked about the possibility of getting her "specialized." In IL, you need to get children with exceptional behaviors, etc labeled this way to get them into homes of parents who have had extra training and knowledge with many of these issues. Specialized children "count" as two placements and their foster parents are paid extra accordingly. It would be a huge benefit if she would qualify as such.

The past few days I've decided that instead of giving them a "whenever" about her future placement, I thought it would be best for all if it were to be done this summer. Summer will definately be the best time for her to transition. She won't have day care and will have time to meet the new family and visit with them without all the chaos of work, etc. So...

I emailed the cw today and told her my thoughts. I said that ideally it would be good if she could finish out the school year with us, then go along on our trip to FL planned for after school gets out. We will be back home June 22 or 23, and she could spend the last week of June visiting with her new family, moving in with them on July 1st.

That would also give me time before school starts to switch my license to the other local agency I've been wanting to move to for a while. My friend J moved hers there this past winter and just received her first placement from them of an almost 2 year old girl. They are so very different in so many ways from our agency. Most importantly, they listen to and respect the foster parents. One of the things I love about them the most, they spend every morning before work in PRAYER together over the upcoming day and the children and families they will be servicing. What a concept. :)

Anyway, my cw emailed me back and asked that I submit my plan in writing and that they are glad to have my cooperation in helping her to transition, etc. I decided to just get it over with and wrote it up and brought it there after work. The regional director was there so I was able to give it to her and we talked a bit about the situation. It sounds like she really knows what would be best for her in finding a good family. She wants me to be there when we "disclose" to the potential family so that it is all "out there" and there are no surprises. Perfect! The only problem I foresee is that while she seems good on all this, the supervisor and cw are kind of worthless and I'm fearing that they will doing most of the work. I am putting this situation in God's hands and praying for the "perfect" family for her to be found.

So, it looks like Girlie will be a part of our family until July 1st.