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It is such a simple word...only two letters...only one syllable...and yet at times it can be so hard to say. Granted if you ask my kids, they'll tell you that I say it all the time. And I would agree, I really don't have much trouble saying no to them, or to the daycare kids, or to telemarketers. But when someone I know, or kind of know, asks me for help, if I can help, even if I really don't want to, I just can't seem to say no.

So, about a month ago, I got a phone call from somebody looking for daycare for a 9 month old. Since I already have a infant part time & a full time infant who will be starting back next week, I'm technically full. But they went on to explain that it was for an emergency "relative placement" foster child, and that is should only be for a couple of weeks because the mom was supposed to be going to a treatment facility that allows the children to join their mother. And so, since the part time infant's mom was actually on medical leave for several weeks, I said I would watch him.

You'd think I'd never been involved with foster care before! I mean, really, the last time they placed a child with us and said it would only be for a couple of weeks, he ended up staying with us for a year and five days. So it really shouldn't have surprised me when mom failed to go to treatment. I mean, if anything, I should have felt a little badly for not warning the aunt that it rarely goes as quickly as anyone hopes.

The main problem with that was probably the fact that this aunt is a single mother, who has a full time job including most Saturdays and her youngest child is almost 12. She was not exactly wanting to have an infant for an extended period of time. So it really shouldn't have surprised me when the phone rang about 2 weeks ago with the caller id showing it was Human Services. Although I did have a WIC appointment coming up, so maybe it was just my reminder call??? Of course not.

It was the social worker who handles the cases in my county involving children 8 & under. He said he had an infant in a relative placement in town that was not working out, and was wondering if we would consider having him placed with us. My brain said NO...what kind of crazy person who already has 5 children, 3 of which are between 18 mos & 4 years old would even consider taking on a 9 month old? I guess that would be me...because my mouth said yes.

He did say that they were still trying to find another relative to take him, although it was kind of unlikely. Which meant there was still a chance we wouldn't get him. And when the social worker didn't call back for 5 days, I was really starting to think we were off the hook. And then he called last Thursday and said he was about 99% sure the child would be placed with us. And then he called Friday and said that he had officially placed the child with us as of that morning, and since he was already here for daycare, he'd just send out the paperwork.

And so, in addition to our own Caleb, we now have a Baby Caleb staying with us. We've decided to call him CJ to avoid confusion. The only good thing is that he paternal grandmother does want to adopt him, but she lives in another state right now, so she can't have him unless the parents rights are terminated because the parents have to be able to visit him while he is in foster care. So, I can hope that it is a short term placement, in all likelihood, it will be several months so we just have to remember that at least we will NOT be adopting him!

I'm not planning to post a picture of him since he is in foster care, and isn't going to be a permanent member of our family, so you'll just have to take my word for it that he is absolutely adorable!