I haven't written for a long time. I had a hard time seeing the humor for the last year. We placed our daughter back into the foster care system since it wasn't safe for our son for her to be here. We have since reliinquished our rights. Our son became pretty unsafe at home even with her gone and too much for me to handle when I was alone. In early December we took him to a boys home that our therapist recommended in Kentucky. He has made very slow but steady progress. He has been fairly honest with us on the phone. The home is VERY structured and they attend school there. We will go for our first visit in a few weeks. They have a strict policy about how and when and how long for phone calls and visits too. Everything is planned to give the child and parents gradual steps. It is expected that Jonathan will talk with us about how he behaved at home before he returns home.
Our trip to take him was kinda interesting. He had been VERY out of control at home and we took him to respite for a few days after a therapy appointment. We had hoped that it would all work out when we took him to therapy, which was the day after his incident. The therapist called the respite provider and she agreed to take him and we arranged to pick him up in a few days and we flew him to the home. He acted like we were on a vacation the whole time. The respite provider advised us not to tell him until we were on the property. I certainly didn't want to tell him until we were off all flights. I was sure he would've made GREAT use of his captive audience - LOL!!!
We got to Nashville and no luggage arrived. We took him to the home anyway and they had things to get by for him. He was thrilled with all our driving until we drove up a road and that had a very large house. Then he says, "what have I gotten myself into?" Hmmm - I wonder? We got inside and I took him in my lap and explained what was happening. We went into the office and rules were discussed and Jonathan was taken by an older boy to get some clothes and then the goodbyes came. It was still hard even though we knew it was the best thing for him.
We have heard maturity in his voice as he talks to us on the phone over time. He isn't whining and he sounds much more grown up. Usually very serious. One time he told us he was working to come home. He said he didn't want to see the therapist anymore. I let him know that he would still need to work on things once he came home and would need to see him. He accepted that with, "yes Mom."
The next phone call was a much lighter tone of voice. He was still respectful but just sounded like he was settling in better. Then we called from Canada when we visited the older kids. He got to talk to his big brother. He knew that we were with everyone. He was sad when it was time to hang up. Hard things to face at ten. But, my little boy has a tender heart in there. I have seen it many times. I'm looking forward to seeing him and hugging him in a few weeks. To seeing what he's been doing. To seeing what changes have occured in him. I know he still has a long way to go. We've been told to expect this to take a year or two. It will just be nice to spend some time seeing what his life is like right now and getting a feel so we will be in touch with what he will need when he does come home.
I know - not as much of my humorous side or fun stuff in this post. I haven't blogged much on any of my sites. Just trying to kinda get back into it a bit.
