Well, I'm sitting here at the hotel room taking a slight breather. This has been a whirlwind of a few weeks. Scott got home safe and sound. In fact, we were actually able to see him 12 hours earlier than we had hoped because he got an earlier flight! Every 12 hours counts! The kids had made cute little posters welcoming Papa home (of course on the back of Fred Meyer Jewelers posters). It was pretty cute: we were waiting for Scott to come up the escalator, and people were smiling and pointing at the kids and their posters. It was a very touching sight. Scott finally got there, and oh the happiness! I'm not sure who was more happy, the kids or me. For the next fe
w days while they were with us (they went into respite care during the termination trial), the kids were all, "Papa! Papa! Papa!" They just wanted to show and tell him everything! And I listened to them crawling all over him and showering all of their attention and didn't feel one bit abandoned or dissed. In fact, I relished in it! I let him drive everywhere and basked in the ignorance (that's the right word for the act of them ignoring me, right?). That weekend we went to Olympia and let the kids spend one last bit of time with their Mahoney and Brehm cousins. We had a full weekend full of ice blocking, the Puyallup Fair, and swimming. The kids had a blast at the fair. We spent about 8 hours walking all around looking at exhibits, and riding rides, and smelling farm animals, and eating fair food. Of course being me, my favorite part was riding the roller coaster with K and the swings with R. Papa was AMAZING at ice blocking! He must have gone up and down that hill 100 times riding with E on his lap, and R on his lap, and in trains with all the kids. I fell in love with him all over again as he just played and played with them, and I got to sit at the bottom of the hill and record them, only being forced to go down a couple of times.
The termination trial was set for Monday through Thursday. The Thursday before, we got a call from the kids' Guardian ad Litem, letting us know that no judge was available for the trial, and it was most likely going to be continued another six months. Guess how we felt about that? Man, was I happy Scott was home to receive that call rather than me. I am so grateful he's so passionate and such an amazing advocate for the children. He somehow was able to put the fear of God into someone important, and we were able to get a commissioner pro tem (basically a substitute judge) to be there on Monday and essentially hold our spot.
Monday came, and we went and sat in front of the commissioner pro tem. Bambi was a no-show (deep sigh of relief), and her attorney asked the judge for a continuance since she had spoken to her client only once three weeks previously, and despite her best efforts, she had been unable to make any contact with her since (deep breath of fear). The judge essentially rolled his eyes and said this had gone on long enough (deep sigh of relief). He said he would give her a continuance, though (deep breath of fear) for one day (deep sigh of relief), and pushed our case into the afternoon docket for an abbreviated hearing. So basically, we still need to have a hearing, but since Bambi didn't show up, her attorney didn't have any witnesses or any information to go on.
Tuesday afternoon came, and there we were in the courtroom again. The real judge showed up (deep sigh of relief), and the Assistant Attorney General (AAG - CPS's attorney) and the kids' counselor testified and their social worker testified for the State. Bambi's attorney didn't have anyone to testify, then the Guardian ad Litem testified. All very good testimonies about how enough was enough, and Bambi was all talk and no action. Bambi's attorney did have a very good argument that Bambi hadn't received all the services she needed, and at the time of judgement, the judge agreed with her (deep breath of fear) except that she hadn't participated in any of her other services fully that she had been offered, so it was reasonable to drop her from some services (deep sigh of relief) so, long story short, rights were terminated (deep sigh of *insert multitude emotions here*).
So... the kids are legally free! Or they will be in a month when it is officially finalized. Of course, Scott and I are moving to Juneau tomorrow, and there is a TON of paperwork to do in order to move the kids up to Alaska with us. Bless my sister and her family (the Fowlers) and their deep feeling of family. They're being licensed as foster parents so that the kids can live with them until we're able to all be together again. You ask how long until we're reunited? Well... so do we. We're saying six months. We're obviously hoping for less, but prepare for the worst, and hope for the best, right? While the two states are communicating with each other, we'll be moving into our home (glad we decided to get one big enough for all the kids!) and I'll be looking for a job.
Well... looking for a job is a weird way to say it. I've been searching for a job for the past eight months since I was laid off from the State. I finally was offered a job as a 911 dispatcher at the same time Scott was offered the store in Juneau. We decided to take the Juneau one, even though this job was the only one I'd even gotten a nibble on. I prepared myself to start all over again in Juneau, this time without any connections. The funny thing is, though, since I started applying, nearly every application I sent out I've been asked to interview for. The difference is ridiculous! Tomorrow, the day I fly in, I have three interviews in one afternoon, and this week (Monday and Tuesday) I've done two phone interviews already. Oh yeah, and I'm starting a temp job on Thursday that the company is hoping I'm going to be permanent. I'm actually feeling a little nauseous about making the decision on which job to take. It would be much easier if there was just one job, and the decision is easily made. What a trial to have, right? Too many good things happening? I never would have thought this would be my blessing/trial even three weeks ago.
But anyway, I'm so excited for my new Alaska adventure to start tomrrow. I'm falling asleep as I type this, so I'm gonna finish up. Hopefully I'll do better keeping y'all up to date in the future!
