While I'm sure my mom is going to come ask me why I'm sitting and not doing anything at any moment, I'm taking this opportunity to ignore work and blog. I mean, honestly, why do we have so much stuff?! It's out of control, and the storage pods aren't even being delivered until tomorrow!
We were also able to find a place to get Chinese food tonight, even though it was Sunday and not Chinese Food Friday. It was actually pretty great food! We had been nervous about needing to find a new place, but this exceeded my expectations! We also went out as a family after dinner to find a place that sold ice cream and Italian ices. It wasn't the same as our place in New York, but it was pretty good anyway. It was nice to sit outside as the sun went down and eat a sweet treat together.
Now, I know I've been so busy with the move that I've barely written about anything substantial, but I do want to touch upon something related to foster care tonight. I learned something from reading about someone else's experiences with foster care. Last night, after we were all in bed, I happened to be scrolling through Facebook when I came across a link that my mom's cousin had sent to her. It was a blog post from someone who had been a bio child in a foster family, but her family hadn't taken in foster children until she was sixteen. She wrote about how she had felt so angry because the new kids were taking so much of her parents' time and she didn't like having kids there for quite a while. It wasn't until she started really growing up that she realized how much those kids needed her parents and a safe home. I read her post, and while most of it I did not agree with, I did find some similarities between her life and mine. Each new child that comes into a foster home requires a lot of time and attention from the parents. It can definitely be frustrating to have to wait to have a conversation with your mom or dad because a new kid is taking up their time. But that period of need doesn't last forever. The kids learn to live in your home, adjust to having a stable environment around them, and become more independent. Unless, you know, if they're a baby or something.
Maybe it was because I was so young when we became a foster family, but I never regretted having kids come into my home. I don't even really remember what life was like before having siblings, so it was always just natural to share my parents with kids who needed their time and attention. I was always a willing participant in being a foster family. Maybe now I wish I didn't have so many siblings because I can never get a full sentence out (just kidding... Love my siblings even if they're too loud!), but I never regretted taking kids in at any point in my life. But that just goes to show you how different each foster care experience is; not only is each child and each case different, but each bio kid's experience is different as they start their foster care journey as well.
I only have ten days to reach my goal of 150 likes on my Facebook author page by the time I'm celebrating a year of blogging on July 29th. I still need 43 people to hit that "like" button and I would be really grateful to everyone if you could like and share my page. It's as simple as clicking the two buttons at the top right of any blog page, so it only takes a few seconds of your time! As I've mentioned before, when I reach 150 likes, I will share information about the novel that I've been working on, so I'm really excited to hit that milestone!
I’d greatly appreciate it if you would share this blog with friends and family through your favorite social media sites. If you’re sharing on Twitter, don’t forget to tag me (@TayTayK02) and use the hashtag #TaylorTalks.
Thanks!
Taylor