self talk

We had a great weekend in San Antonio!  Abey didn't try to sabotage anything and seemed to enjoy the weekend as much as the rest of us.  She really is "just one of the kids".  We did start talking about some of her negative self talk and how that can really be harmful.  It's mainly things like "I have bad memory"that we are working on.  She is responding well to the corrective things we say.  I know how much she wants those goals and dreams of hers to become real.  When our case manager came out for her first visit of the month Abey told her how much she loves it here with us.  It's good to know that she is saying that to other people too.  Gaining a teenage daughter has certainly change the family dynamics a bit, but all for the better.  We are now starting to look for brothers for Mykhal!  Yes we're nuts!  But it is a unanimous consensus that a pair of brothers would be a wonderful addition to our family!  So we are putting our info out and letting God bring the right kids to us!
Later this month we will be providing respite for a little 7 yo boy for a weekend.  I have heard he is a real handful, but he is also very artistic.  So we are planning to have plenty of art supplies for him to play with and I'll plan a kid friendly menu. 
Another thing we have been talking about is doing respite for under school age kids to see if that is an age group we want to work with or not.  And in doing respite we are helping other foster families!  Everyone wins!