The Revolving Door of Adoption!

One of the things you can expect when you adopt kids from the foster care system is visits from social workers. Lots of visits. From lots of different social workers. Actually, though, since we've been with the private agency we've had consistency in the social workers we see, which has been nice. In the old days it seemed like we had a new one every month.   Now, they've all been pretty nice, for the most part. One of them left her Elvis Presley umbrella and since we never saw her again we were unable to give it back. It's a nice umbrella, but I've never used it. I think I'd feel funny using an Elvis Presley umbrella. Never really been a fan.  Once we even had an unexpected visit from the DA's office. That scared me to death. The boys were little, Missie Lou was a baby and we had just gotten home from a birthday party.  And there was a knock at the door. I was a little flustered, the boys were sticky and tired and I opened the door and there was this guy flashing his badge at me. I felt like I was on "Law and Order". I let him in. The boys were fussing. The baby was still in her car seat. The man didn't say much, but took a bunch of pictures of the house. The baby's bed. Her clothes.  And then he left. It was all very surreal.  So, you just never know.  Yesterday, I had two visits. One was scheduled. The other wasn't. The first social worker came just as we were finishing up history. I told the boys to finish up their coloring page and I chatted with D the social worker for a while. I assured him that everything was fine and dandy, and so he left, we had lunch and then my mom came to pick up the boys and I took the girls shopping at the Salvation Army. I had just gotten home from the Salvation Army store when the phone rang. It was the County worker. She usually calls shortly before she comes, just because of her schedule. It's hard to explain.  Anyhow. She said she'd just knocked on the door and no one answered and she thought she was calling my cell, but it was the land line and, lo and behold, I answered. She said she was in the area and would like to stop by if she could. I said, "Sure. Where in the area are you?" and she said, "I'm parked in front of your house." I went out the front door waving a pull-up and said, "Wow, I didn't even see you when I pulled in," and she said, "That's ok, I didn't see you when you pulled in. I was doing paperwork." So, I let her in and we chatted for a while. I don't know why it is, but she always intimidates me. She was looking at books with Cee-cee and asking her if she knew her colors (which she doesn't, but she is learning to count) and I kept thinking, "I'm a terrible mom. My 2 year old doesn't know her colors!"  But then I told myself, "I'm not a terrible mom. A lot of 2 year olds don't know their colors. But, she does know how to count!"  So, that visit went fine. But when she left, I was tired. It's just kind of tiring having people come into your house and evaluate your home life. I know it's just to make sure the kids are ok and they aren't really judging me, but it's just tough.  But, it's part of what you gotta do. So, we do it!