What's going on with Bill!

I haven't written on this blog in quite sometime and decided that it was time to share some of my brilliant insights with all of you.....haha...Life has been quite a roller coaster the past year. Robin and I have had a lot of great experiences as a result of receiving our first foster child. Jeffery has brought so much fun to our everyday life. He is so animated that it is hard to keep up with him sometimes. I always worried how good of a father I would be, still do to an extent, but this experience has given me confidence that I can be a good one. I struggled with the thought of being a Mr. Mom.....as a man you want to be the bread winner in the house and that can take a toll on your psyche. I have realized that at this current juncture in our lives me staying at home with Jeffery perhaps is the best thing for him. Once and if we adopt him I can then think about going back to work or school. We struggle financially but Jeffery is getting alot of one on one attention during the day and he might need that structure because he definitely was not getting it from his birth parents. I also wanted my wife to not be stressed out because she has started a new job that requires alot more of her. Robin began teaching at the Martin Luther king academy near over the Rhine and it has definitely been an adjustment. I am tremendously proud of her because she went from a class of privileged kids to a class of children who come from broken homes and have very little to be excited for in their home lives.
The biggest adjustment for Robin and I has definitely been dealing with Jeffery's birth parents. They are drug addicts and dealers and having to interact with them is torture at times. They always play "the victim" and that they have done no wrong. We suspect that there is alot of domestic violence going on between the two and I can't tell you how hard it is to look n the eyes of two people who possibly could have been abusing your son. We try to maintain a positive relationship with them but that becomes increasingly harder every week that goes by. The thought of Jeffery going back to them makes me sick to my stomach. Robin and I may go crazy if that ever happens. I have sympathy for people who become hooked on drugs if they are trying to fix their problem but his parents have done nothing but try to fool the system. They were recently caught with frozen urine which they were using to fool thecmandatory drug tests they are given. They just stopped coming to the weekly visitations with Jeffery without calling or letting anyone know why so for about 4 weeks in a row i would get Jeffery all ready and take him all the way up there just to find out they weren't coming. I could go and on with the things they have done but the more I write about it the more furious I get.
I feel that over the past year or so that I have definitely grown as a person. The new addition has really changed alot of things. I think seeing the dark side of parenting every week you realize how good you had it growing up. Just sitting in the lobby at the visitations breaks your heart seeing all of these children without parents. Clermont County is so overrun with drugs right now that they can't keep up with all of kids that are in the foster system. Robin and I have given thought to another one but want to get Jeffery adopted before trying. Dealing with two foster kids isn't what scares me, it's dealing with two sets of birth parents. Yeah no thanks......
I am looking forward to the future. I really hope that future involves Jeffery as our son. No matter what happens he will always be my son....I can guarantee you that Robin and I will do everything in our power to keep him here. I will be updating my blog on a more regular basis for all my relatives and friends who want to know what's going on in our lives.