Hope for the Future

Spending most of the month of July camping in Canada, and I’m not sad about it. That said, I knew there would be differences, and tried to prep myself for international travel, but we are still struggling.

We had to upgrade our phone plan to include data while in Canada

We got a nail in our tire on day two

Tried to have the tire repaired at Costco, but they only take Mastercard and I don’t have one of those

Gas is pricey—at least $30 more to fill up than we pay in the States

Rest areas are different

We are adjusting and learning as one does when traveling to different places. Also, eating beaver tails and poutine and that pretty much makes up for any challenges.

I’m driving an hour each way into the city and then it’s about three hours there. Today three of the kids had appts at the children’s hospital across town so I dropped DH off, drove another 20 minutes to the other hospital, and then went back across the city to collect DH. Now I’m waiting to get gas in the very long line at Costco.

H’s ADHD is the worst I’ve ever seen in someone. It’s actually debilitating. I don’t know how to help him. We are going to try a new med, but I’m not hopeful. We tried a therapist which actually made things worse, not better. I don’t know what else to do.

I saw this author speak a few weeks ago. I had not heard about him prior to attending the speaking event. While speaking, he mentioned he authored two books. I checked this book out from the library over the weekend, and have managed to make time for it every evening this week.

It’s a tragic foster care story. He was taken from his mother due to mental illness at age seven and plunged into the Los Angeles foster care system. Prior to that, he had lived with his loving grandmother in Chicago.

He eventually grew up (in foster care), went to law school, and sued the foster care center he spent time in while in care.

Having mortality smack you in the face as a middle age person with a lot of kids at home has got me doing a lot of processing.

I’m really struggling. The funeral was packed. At least 600 people. We live in a small, rural county and he worked for one of the local cities, so he was well known personally and professionally.

We haven’t seen each other regularly in a number of years, but he was such a present person during my formative years. His wife graciously allowed me to come to his house and see him/say goodbye one morning last week, and he ended up passing away a few hours later. He wasn’t awake while I was there, but I’m so grateful I got to hold his hand and talk to him one last time.

Animal adventures over here…

E has a dog walking job that she does three days a week. That dog owner let us take her dog home, bathe him, dry him, buzz out all of his mats, and get his nails trimmed. She didn’t want him to go any shorter with his coat, so no need for an all overall haircut. E was very patient and encouraging to the dog, and did a great job despite the challenges. I was impatient just watching from afar. I’m continually impressed with her.

On our walk to school this week, we found that three baby squirrels got blown from their nest in a big storm we’d had the night before. Only one was still alive. We scooped it up and took it home with us, and kept it warm until we were able to drop it off at the local wildlife hospital. They said he’ll make it.

H has been feeling pretty low lately. I think he’s depressed. He desperately wants to fit in and also feel like he doesn’t. He is such an incredible kid! I’m super concerned due to DH’s history of depression.

Idk if this is the right move or not, but in conjunction with other steps to help him out, we volunteered to take on a litter of foster kittens. We got them yesterday. I was praying that the shelter would call with a bunch that would work for us and us for them.

They arrived yesterday. Five. All girls except for one boy. So far we have Hank, Midnight, Mittens, and Shadow. We need one more name. H is in charge when historically it has been E at the helm with these things. I’m hoping taking care of something will help him feel capable and responsible and also good about himself. You may think this is the wrong move and you may be correct. Time will tell.

I’m also having a lot of difficulty getting him to write, so I’m hoping this will help with that too as I told him he can create a book about caring for foster kittens as part of a 4H project.