The August Family Update

Here is a little update on the Fosters.  Things are definitely complicated right now.  Our plan and Heavenly Father’s plan definitely isn’t the same but we’re doing our best to align them.

Daniel is still doing as great as ever.  He is learning and growing perfectly.  He has finally gotten the hang of one long nap.  He still wakes up once at night to nurse but I’m so used to it now that I can handle it.  He has gotten into being very independent when it comes to eating.  Sometimes he won’t even try something until I hand him a fork and spoon.  He is a great climber, is still wildly obsessed with anything that resembles a ball, and loves to swim.  He is very loving and thoughtful for a boy just barely 15 months.  He is incredibly active and has a mind of his own which can make church interesting.  Is it really 3 more months until nursery??  He is very observant and does great at mimicking.  That is where he learns the most.  We sure do love this wonderful son we have!

David was given the green light to get back into basketball shape awhile back so we are still working on pursuing his goal of playing professional ball for a little while.  It has been a slower process than we hoped, but we are trucking along.  We were hoping to have an idea of our future plans by the end of this month but that is not possible anymore.  After discussing his ideas and plans with someone who recently finished his professional basketball career our plans have changed.  We are now going to take as long as needed for David to be fully prepared to try out for teams.  This means we will be staying in SLC because he has vast amounts of resources here.  While the resources are our goal, this is not as easy as it sounds.  Currently David has a part time job and I am being phased out of my part time job.  We can no longer afford our apartment since rent has gone up significantly when our contract ended and we are now paying month to month.  We are currently asking many around us if they know of anyone with a basement apartment, someone with a vacant house, an older couple going on a mission, SOMETHING that will help us cut on expenses so we can follow this dream.  It has been a hard realization for us but we have many that would like to help and after discussing it with a few people and David, we are hopeful something will arise.  I am ready for some stability and fun, adversity has been my longtime companion these last two years.  So world, if you would like to join in on the cause, we would love some help finding some temporary housing for this small (in numbers) family of ours.  We are hoping to know by November what the next step is so the housing would probably be needed until November or December.

Now me.  I have been struggling a lot with our current predicament but David and I are very good at discussing our concerns with each other.  He has helped me realize that we are doing our best in every other aspect so we can only do our best in this and see what happens.  We can not allow ourselves to get ahead of the situation.  When he comes home with new ideas and plans after discussing it with coaches and supporters I only get more motivated that something will eventually happen.  Even if it means our faith will be tried even more.  Of course I have terrible days when I have to cry for a little about it all.  What we are going through is not ideal.  We are using our savings to pay everything else but rent.  This includes COBRA for me, car payments, school loan payments, food, utilities, and the now rare occurrence when we like to indulge ourselves with a meal out or a dollar movie.  I have to admit that I am not good at being poor and managing situations like this.  I don’t want to worry about getting my favorite pizza from Whole Foods or my favorite burrito from Chipotle, but I DO worry.  Luckily Daniel is such a light in my life that I do end up finding myself smiling a lot during the day.  He doesn’t care if he’s walking around with only a diaper on all day because I forgot to do his laundry again.  He doesn’t care that my hair is in a ponytail pretty much everyday.  He doesn’t care that his summertime fun isn’t the water park, it’s the park across the street.  I have to view myself through his eyes when I have terrible days.  To him I am the world.  I am his comfort, food, love, learning, fun, and he isn’t complaining so why should I?

I am definitely not the best at it and I have had some ugly cry days but today I am hopeful.  I have the love and support of the two most important people in my life.  We work through things together.  We will get through this even if it means a few more grey hairs for me.  We have a wonderful ward that is concerned for us, friends and supporters that want to help us follow our dream, family that have reached out to help us in whatever way we let them know we need.  We will get through this!  Then hopefully when we do and Europe is our future then I will have lots of lovely adventures and pictures to post about.

If you would like to help or would just love to send your support, we would really appreciate it.