OH MY!!!

Sheesh...this past week has been about the craziest week we have had since I got married!!! Let me just fill everyone in on the past events. You all read about the trip to Twin Falls, the blow out, and all of that, but oh....there's more!

Wednesday, we got a call from Health and Welfare, and in a nut shell, my mom was being charged for child endangerment and child abandonment. Because Ben was with us for spring break, we were given protective custody until there would be a court hearing. My brother Caleb, who was staying with my mom for his spring break, had to be put in a temporary foster home. No one could get in touch with my mom, no one knew where she was.

Thursday, we got a call back from the social worker telling us that the court date would be on Friday afternoon. We were told, because we do not have any custody or guardianship rights for Ben, then if we could not get an attorney to file for guardianship of Ben, he would have to go to foster care.

So...in all the craziness and chaos, we hired an attorney...hopefully we won't cringe when we get the bill, and are now in the process of getting guardianship of Ben. He is now staying with us, we are not sure how long, but he is transferring to the elementary school here on Monday and will finish out third grade with us. After we got back from court on Friday, Saturday we spent trying to get our house in order from all week, wash our laundry, and recover from all the suddenness of what has happened!

Saturday night, even though Russ and I were exhausted, we began preparing for our talks that we were asked to give in sacrament meeting on Sunday! I was up until two in the morning preparing mine, while Russ slept on the couch! He prepared his talk in the morning, 20 minutes before we had to leave, and had only 2 index cards with a few scriptures and notes jotted down!! I had two pages that I typed, as well as two talks with all the high lighted parts I was using for my topic!! It makes me crazy that he can pull off a great talk in church with so little written down!!! I have to have everything on paper!!! But we survived and it actually felt good to finally have to speak again. The last time Russ and I spoke at church was when we were first married...over 4 years ago!

Ben loved church and had a great time! He looked really good in the suit we bought for him! I will post pictures later of everyone. We have been through so much, too much to try to explain in words, I believe, but one thing I can say is that I am overwhelmed by the support we've had from both sides of the family and from so many friends, old and new, neighbors, ward members, from people near and far. Thanks you so much for being our strength and support, for without it, we would have never been able to get through all of this.

I still feel like I am in some sort of shock, and as difficult as this change has been for me, Russ and I could never have made a different choice as to what we have done. We will have to make a lot of sacrifices to keep Ben here with us, and sometimes I wonder if we can make much more than we already have. Some moments it seems like too much for me to handle, I feel like I worked so hard to overcome my past, to work through it all, and live my life and create my own family where I felt like we could create our little heaven on earth, and now we are the responsible guardians of my little brother too. It seems incredible and crazy, and yet now I am playing the role and seeing through my own eyes what many of my aunts, cousins, and grandparents saw and went through when I was around Ben's age! I know this is what Russ and I are supposed to do, and so we will take one day at a time, and do our best with what we have been given.

But....sheesh......oh my! What, oh what an experience this has been!