Our first overnight visit

Miss K was here for three days this week. Of course we were excited and had butterflies about our visit. When she arrived I gave her a tour of the house and showed her her bedroom. I told her about the quilt I made for her and how I had been waiting for her to see it.
When you have three kids at home and really want to have family time together, you have to plan and think of things to do! We did not want company (and we are waiting until the next visit to introduce her to our parents) and didn't want to be busy with errands.... just at-home time getting to know one another. We didn't get to go to the community pool because it was raining and we didn't get to have painting time, but I am sure we will have the opportunity to do that in the future. Our next visit is scheduled in two weeks. A Friday-Monday visit. We will be able to attend church together and meet some family on Father's Day.

Here are some of the things we did together:
Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies
Made a scrapbook of our first meeting at the zoo
Played outside in the kiddy pool and bubbles
Made homemade playdough
Read many books each day
Made a spaghetti dinner together
Had family game night
Made smoothies and baked french toast for breakfast
Made earrings
Went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart
Sidewalk chalk
Went to the park and played and walked
I flat-ironed her hair
She took an hour long bubble bath
Had computer time, loved playing games
Called and checked in with foster grandma
Went out and had Mexican food
Painted nails
Watched a family t.v. show before bed
And more... but this was all my brain could remember!

This time of transition for her and for us could not be more perfect. Summer has that carefree type feeling and that is exactly what we need. I think this would be harder during winter and taking her in and out of school to have visits. Oh, trying to get back and play catch up in school would be so hard on top of all the other changes in life. We praise the Lord for His timing on bring Miss K into our family.

Both our social workers called to check-in with us after they dropped K off at home. (One worker drove her to OKC then the other took her the rest of the way home.) And they both said she was non-stop talking about our time together. They both asked how her time was with us and she said, "perfect." She gave them both the play by play of each activity we did together. I was amazed at how much she remembered. She told them we had a hot-tub in our bathroom. It's just a bathtub with jets, but I thought that was cute. Her favorite topics to tell them about was, making playdough, reading time, cooking meals and making earrings. I am so thankful that we used our time together to the fullest.

We plan on sending some fun things to her in the mail over the next couple weeks. We are working on a get-to-know-you sheet with lots of questions for her to answer. We will fill it out too and we can learn more about one another. Adam and I will also have our first meeting this week with our family counselor at church. We will have a debriefing about our time with K and discuss our joys and concerns. We plan on establishing a relationship with him and turning to him for wisdom, prayer and guidance, as family counseling is his gift from God.

Thank you for sharing in our joy and ever-growing family.
Something from my reading this week that was sweet was in Hosea 11:11, "'I will settle them in their homes," declares the Lord.'" Seemed perfect to me : )

We will keep you updated!
The Perryman's