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I'm excited to share another interview for my Foster Parent Friday series tonight! Sarah, a foster mom in England, was nice enough to share some of her thoughts on foster care. Though she's still relatively new to being a foster parent, Sarah had some wonderful answers and I'm happy to have another interview to share with you all!

Welcome back to Taylor Talks!

Who remembers Foster Parent Fridays? Last year, I was featuring interviews with foster parents on Fridays as a special series. Unfortunately, as all good things do, the series came to an end in October. I had no more interviews to feature, and there was nothing I could do to propel the series forward.

About two weeks ago, I decided to put the word out again to see if there was any interest in doing an interview for me. I went on the foster family pages that I'm part of, and asked around, and I actually received two responses. While I hope to feature more interviews in the future, I'm happy to at least share the experiences of these two women for now.

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Have you ever taken a nap and then woken up in a daze? Like you're not even sure if it's the same day anymore, because you have no idea how long you've been asleep? That was my night tonight... I was completely exhausted and figured I could fall asleep for an hour while everyone else ate dinner (I just wasn't hungry at all), but instead I slept for two and a half hours and then woke up unaware if it was even Friday still. Luckily, it was still Friday (only 8:30pm at that), and I woke up in time to say good-night to all of my siblings.

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Last week, I went on Facebook and put out an all-call for anyone interested in doing a Foster Parent Friday interview for me. I had run out of interviews to showcase, and was hoping that I wouldn't have to put an end to the interview series just yet. To my surprise, I received a question in response: What if we haven't been a foster parent for very long?

Amanda Blakely, who lives in Texas, is new to being a foster parent, and wasn't sure if I only wanted to showcase experiences from foster parents who have been caring for a long time. Actually, I was excited for the opportunity to post the perspective of a new foster mother, because I think that someone like Amanda would be the easiest person for future or new foster parents to relate to.

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For a week in which there was a day off from school, it certainly felt like it's taken forever to get to Friday! I can't even imagine what next week is going to feel like when there is an entire week of school again. The kids have had Mondays off two weeks in a row now, and it's going to be a shock when they only have a two-day weekend this time. And yes, you're right, I'm not the one going to school, so it shouldn't be tiring me out, but I do set my alarm for 6:30am every school day to help my mom with the twins, so I'm exhausted too.

Tonight's Foster Parent Friday interview comes from another blogger who's located in Utah, Mary M. Her blog discusses her personal experiences with foster care and adoption as a mother, and I have to say that it's a beautiful blog. Mary also has a running list of other foster and adoptive blogs on her site, which may be of interest to those of you who are trying to collect as much information as possible about the fostering journey before embarking on your own adventure.

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My mom is still going through old paperwork, and one of today's finds was so funny that I had to share here... Please, take a look at the note for yourself. I had to take a picture because my mom and I couldn't believe that she had actually written this note to herself.

We don't have any idea what this note means, but it's an odd one. Why would there be orange kangaroos in Denmark? Why did my mom need to remember that there weren't any orange kangaroos in Denmark? Sometimes going through old belongings just leaves you super confused, but at least it's fun to get a laugh once in a while!

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Wow, this week has just flown by! Another week of school is over for my siblings, which meant another week filled with pretty imaginative reasons for why the kids should be able to stay home instead of going to classes. It also means another week of new experiences here in Florida. For example, as I type (in my room with the door shut), my mom and my aunt's best friend (who came over for Chinese Food Friday) are in the living room trying to catch a lizard that came in for some cupcakes... yikes! I liked holding the little guy outside, but do not come into our house!!

That reminds me, twice now, I have had lizards hitchhiking on my car. The other day, I saw it in my side mirror. I opened the window to take a picture of it (a picture of the mirror reflecting the lizard on the back door) but then the lizard came right up to the window! Luckily my sister got out of the passenger seat and went around to get the lizard away. I flipped out and jumped from the driver's seat into the passenger seat and got out that door! Then today I saw a lizard actually sitting on the side mirror, hanging on for a ride... it's crazy how many lizards are down here!

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Have you ever met someone and instantly bonded with them? I felt like that today. My aunt's best friend lives only fifteen minutes away from us here in Florida, and she came over to visit for the first time today. I actually met her for the first time at my aunt's funeral, but I was only four years old and I don't remember that. Today, it was so great to get to talk to her, and hear stories from when she, my mom, and my aunt were younger. I'm excited to have a relationship with her now that we're living in such close proximity, because not only was she a lot of fun to hang out with today, but I feel like I'll hear so many more stories about my aunt when she and my mom get together. I feel like I already bonded with her today, and I know that my mom was so excited to see her again. They kept calling each other sisters and saying how great it was to be living near family; it was really nice to experience that.

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There was so much going on today! My mom went out with my brother and sister to take care of some last minute things before school starts on Monday, while I stayed home with the twins. I had promised them that we would bake cookies last night, after I found a new recipe that they could eat (I just had to switch out the butter for a dairy-free version), but Twin B fell asleep before we even ate dinner last night. Unfortunately, that meant that Twin A had to wait to bake until today. But luckily, being home alone with the two of them gave us the perfect opportunity to whip up some Jell-o Cookies!

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Today is Friday, the end of the school week... oh man, we're going to have to start saying that around here soon enough. Only a few more weeks until the summer is over! The move took up so much of the summer this year, but the good news about moving to Florida is that it'll still feel like summer long after school has started! Today also marks three weeks since we moved into our new house, which seems insane! I can't believe how time has flown by since we arrived here! With all that's been going on over the past few weeks, I've actually skipped a couple of Foster Parent Fridays. With things somewhat more relaxed around here, I wanted to feature another interview tonight, this time from a foster parent who wishes to remain anonymous.