Happy Father's Day

Hello Friends, Family, and Random Readers

I love you guys!

I know, it's been a while.. shame on me! Lots to update you on..  but, just in case you stumbled upon this blog- I want you to know that this is about the ups, downs, and in-betweens of parenting. In my case- single father foster parenting. So with that, let's begin!

This is me. To the left is my sister Rose (she and I are very close) and my nephew Jason (more like my little baby brother). I love these two people! Other than my boys at home, I spend a lot of my time with them and my niece Devin. 

Since the last time I updated my blog, tons have happened.

As you may know, I have a teenager (17 years old) and his name is Daniel. I can speak freely of him on here (he's the only one I can do so about) because he is 'legally free' of the system... Well anyways.. he has just graduated from high school! Whoop Whoop!  Here he is.. :)

That's quite a feat and I am proud of him for making it this far! You know, living in foster care most of your life.. I can't imagine the hardships and heart aches. Kudos to this guy for rising above the statistics! Now he is off to my alma mater (sp?), USC Aiken!

My family has grown too since my last post.. we are now a family of 6! Of course, I can't go into great detail but.. I will tell you a little :)  One of the new ones may soon be adoptable.. so that gives me some new, exciting feelings.. I would love to adopt one day and you know what? This kid is adorable.. he's sweet and cute- anybody would be lucky to have him! I sure will be praying about God's will and hoping that I can be the dad he is already calling me... 

I have another couple boys that are relatively new and they are doing well with the transition and changes too.. one is slightly.. aggravating.. but funny too. And looks up to me.. so I choose to enjoy having him. Each day. lol  One of my kids has a little extra weight.. and really, all of 'em are a little lazy and grew up eating junk food so I have been trying my very best to make healthy meals for them and keep our activity levels high!! Although always have been active in my home, feeding 6 mouths is that much more difficult when you have to avoid unhealthy foods!!!!

I also have had another "first" recently when I got a phone call from a fellow foster parent asking for respite care. (This is when you watch someone else's children for a short amount of time for them..) When I got the phone call, I was in the middle of pulling up all my carpet in the house.. with 4 children.. lol.. however, it was for a 2 year old.. and Lord knows I cannot say no to that!!! So I said YES! haha.. and well, turned out that there were 2 toddlers that needed watching.. no, actually 3!! Yes, 3.. 3 little tots added to my 'entourage' for the weekend! Of course I could have declined.. but as I said before, I don't know what "no" means and really, who can decline those little guys!? We had a blast together.. they are so precious at that age and despite the "terrible 2s" notion.. they were actually way more behaved than my boys! (which I did vocalize, mind you!) lol  I took them to a nice community pool and we pigged out on raisins and watched Cars, twice! :P It was a lot of fun but it was also sobering.. it's not easy foster parenting when you have to see what these kids have been through or.. let them go.... and my hat is off to all of those foster parents out there that take these young, young ones.. I would fall apart letting go of a baby or toddler. It's always hard of course, but those lil' ones bond quickly and I don't see how y'all do it!!!!

We're on summer break and staying pretty busy.. I've been trying to redo my floors but it's taking a little more cash than I had planned.. it's gotta be done by the end of the summer.. hopefully sooner! I will be so glad to be rid of all the nasty carpet that came with the house! The kids have been driving each other crazy but that's usual right?! (My teenager is especially annoyed with them..) We did a week of Kids Kamp recently.. I had planned on just attending to keep an eye on my kids but ended up volunteering with the 5 & 6 year old group and as usual, loved it! That age is my favorite and I really got to know those little people. We had a lot of fun learning through different skits and worship songs. They had inflatables, popcorn, snowcones, crafts, horseback riding, etc.. all for free. It was a great time!! We all came home pretty exhausted... so this week is going to be a little more low key than before. Then we will have a week of VBS at a local church followed by another week in which we are going to family camp--- this is what I can't wait for!!! It's a full week out on this ranch, full of water sports, 3 meals a day, camping, inspirational talks, and relaxation. :) Well.. as much of that as you can with 5 kids :P The following week we will be going down to Florida to visit my dad's side of the family (also exciting!!). It will be a very busy end to the summer!!!

The tank we built from cardboard!!

In closing, today is Father's Day.. and well, I wasn't told 'Happy Father's Day' at all today by any of my kids until about 3 o'clock.. when we saw an old foster child of mine.. and he hugged me and told me I was the best dad ever :) (I want him back!!!) :P  However, I like to focus on the most influential Father of them all, my heavenly one!

Michael Sutherland

PS. Comment Please!

Summertime and the Livin is Easy...

Click here for satisfactory, check there for hispanic,
Finishing these report cards may end like titanic..
Frantic, Frantic- trying not to panic- feeling sort of manic
My to do list is gigantic, larger than the atlantic!
If I get any more, the stress'll be volcanic
Assessments and paperwork are surely satanic! :P



With that now aside... let us look ahead to the summer.. oh, summer.. how I long for you. You are just out of reach yet I sense you are near. Will you please come to me soon?? :)

What are you doing this summer? I need some ideas.. we are planning on hitting each and every VBS that we can! lol So far though, I am not sure what's going to happen. There's a summer camp for Boys & Girls club that we may be able to get into. It is usually fun and has a lot of outings. We are also going to do a local baseball camp- the boys don't know yet but I'm sure they'll be quite excited! (I have 4 of them now, by the way...) I plan on doing some camping with them too.. maybe a trip to the beach. We shall see.. I don't really want to spend a lot of money so I would love to know what all of you are planning!

We have been doing tons lately.. we are trying to live/eat healthier so we have gone out on a few walks around town and I am trying my best to make healthy (and fulfilling!) meals. I could use your ideas there too!! I can make anything.. I just don't know a whole lot of ideas! (Comes from a lack of food network.. no cable, you know!?) My dishwasher is on the fritz, apparently it's been storing up some water somewhere so we got a nice, funky smell yesterday coming from it when I discovered that... :P  Anyway.. I have a couple kids that could really benefit from some exercise.. so, less sitting around for us! (Which, well, we don't ever do anyway so... lol)

"Southwest" Salad we had last night...

So.. foster parents, birth parents.. whoever you are reading this.. take 2 minutes and reply to my post! :) Tell me what your plans are for the summer. Give me some suggestions. Invite us along. Whatever.. And, some healthy dinner ideas would be great too! Thanks for reading!!

Michael

Live from the Foster Parent Conference!

Welcome! If you are a regular, thanks for stopping by again! Your time, attention, and support is appreciated :) If you are visiting for the first time, I want to personally say thanks and that I truly hope that you enjoy what you read!

I am currently attending the South Carolina Foster Parent Conference in Greenville, SC at the Embassy Suites. We arrived in town at 7am.. I had been under the presumption that we could check in early into our hotel rooms before the first class at 9. Well.. I was incorrect. And well, I am one of the few foster parents that did not ask someone to watch my children for the weekend. Hu Hu.. so yeah, you see my dilemma!? I thought I would just check them into the room and they could just chill in the pool or watch the tube. (I do have a responsible 17 year old, btw). Fortunately, Greenville has an awesome downtown atmosphere with a great park full of water and rocks and other boy-friendly stuff! So I dropped them off at the park.. told my teen that I owed him big time, and headed over here for my first session. Views at the Greenville Reedy Falls Park!:

Everyone here has been very friendly! :) Many of the foster parents are very cordial and thus far, willing to participate in the sessions. The hotel is very nice! (I did pay for it!) We have a roomy suite on the top floor with cable (2 tvs!) and wi-fi downstairs. I attended 3 sessions so far.. the first session was about habits for success. It was very informative and helpful. The presenter was great! The second, the one I am in right now (Shhh!), is about child advocacy. The title and description is very interesting.. and that is all. :\ It's not really that relevant or interesting. :P Sorry.. just being honest! *Now, adding to my blog later in the day, I have just gotten out of the 3rd session, all about play! My specialty! (I am a guy afterall!) It was an excellent session full of great insight and lots of laughter. I stayed up really late last night making the shirt I am wearing right now.. first time using the sharpie fabric markers.. it was fun!

If you saw my shirt today and it brought you here to my blog, please say so below! I sure hope someone did.. I want you to feel free to comment on anything you have read here or in previous posts or even tell me all about your foster experience! :) Later tonight or tomorrow night, I will upload my notes on each of my sessions. This is a big job with lots of typing and paying attention (hard for my ADD! lol) so please, check it out. It should be in the menu on the right ----> Although long, this day has been a good one. I love to learn more about something that means so much to me! On a side note, something awesome happened yesterday.... I saw my very first foster child for the first time since he left me 2 years ago! :) I was visiting another school, observing a teacher's math skills, and as I walked around my eyes fell on him. He looked at me. I looked at him. And then the light bulbed flashed on in his head and he showed the biggest grin across his face! We talked for a while about all the things we had done together.. I told him that I still had the pillow that he had brought with him when he came to me (with his name and tear stains..) and he told me that he still had the blanket I had given him. It was such a touching moment and it was so comforting to have seen it all come full circle! :-D Well, now it is time to crash for an hour before heading back to the conference for the "banquet".. whatever that may be. Sounds good! (Except the kids can't come.. !) More to come later, thanks for reading!!

Spring Break at the Beach :)

Good Evening- in fact, great evening, and a great day!

A week ago (or less), I decided that, despite my desire to stay home and clean, we are definitely going to do something with our spring break!! I went to get an oil change for my van and while there- I looked up the prices on hotels in Myrtle Beach. (We camped last year but it just got a little too hot to handle at night in a tent caked down in sand!) I looked up a bunch of places and they were outrageously priced and going up since many other people are on spring break too! I stumbled upon a website for Sea Crest Hotel and I entered all of our info into the registration form.. the hotel said it would only be.. $309 for us to stay from Monday through Thursday!!!!! I was like.. hm, well.. must be run down or something. They didn't have a lot of info on the hotel app site ( I was on my iTouch) and the lady on the phone asked us to bring our own linens... :\ so it sounded a little sketchy but it was in a general location I was familiar with so I went ahead and booked. ! (I do have boys after all, we can put up with anything!)

We got here on Monday at 1:30 (check-in wasn't until 3:30) and the room was ready... we went up to the fourth floor to our room and .. it was nice! Two double beds (with linens!!), a microwave and a big screen tv with cable.. bathroom was clean and it had wifi! So, we were set.. who cares about anything else when the beach is 100 yards away!? :) So that's just what we did- went straight to the beach! It is just beautiful.. the beach was clean, the sun was out but not beating down, and the ocean (although a little chilly) was a salty, refreshing relief! AND on the way back from the beach, (late at night), I looked next door to our hotel (right past our hotel gate) and there was a water park and a indoor pool. I didn't think anything of it....

Today, we discovered that both the waterpark, indoor pool, and.. the outdoor pool, outdoor lazy river, indoor lazy river, and karaoke cafe are ALL part of our hotel!!!!!!!! Can you believe it!? All of that. On the beach. In a nice room. For that awesome price! 

We spent the whole day today at the beach and the water park! We've made a lot of friends.. two families that came down from New Jersey together have hung out with us most of the day and they have been a delight.. we've done everything on the "beach- to do list". I buried my youngest kid in the sand and made him look like a sea turtle. My teenager and I played football on the beach. We all swam endlessly. We built an awesome sand castle. I look like a lobster. And now we're relaxing in the room. :) I couldn't ask for better!

-Other randomness that I forgot to fit in...
     We went to Broadway at the Beach, shopped at the Stupid Factory where I bought a magnetic mustache for my van. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe too. Mmmmmm
     We walked the beach and found a few sharks teeth.
     My teenager met a girl that he really seems to like.. too bad she'll be going back to Jersey soon!

Needless to say, it's been a blast and we're thoroughly enjoying ourselves. I don't know what else is on the list yet.. there's a local branch of our church here in Myrtle Beach so we may check that out tomorrow night. It's suppose to be cold(er) tomorrow so we may get out and do some things. We'll see!
  

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

That's what I'm doing.. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing :) (It's a song by Jack Johnson). You see, without revealing too much to the public world (ie. current employer), I had a very important interview a few weeks ago.. if God wills it, and I am offered the position, it will be a HUGE life-changing decision. I've been 'sitting and waiting' on this for some time now. Overthinking. Google-ing the "new location" a thousand times. Praying... and 'wishing' that the suspense would end! You're probably dying to know by now, right? Well..

It's a teaching position still (which is what I want! I love my career..), however, it's not around here. It's not even nearby. It's actually not even in this state......... or region..... or continent.. !!! =D

So, needless to say, it's a game changer. I just want what God wants, and I'm willing to accept whatever it is He wills.. but I would be lying if I didn't say I am really hoping for this wild opportunity to be used! I would appreciate it, if you- the reader- would say a prayer for me. I was told that a decision would be made close to the first week of April... deep breath & sigh.. :)

I know you want more info about.. where. (And if you are a facebook follower you may already know and my whole "suspense" jive was absolutely for nothing.. :p)

But here's a clue:

Oh yeah baby

See what I mean... THAT, is hard to wait on..

-Michael

PS: Blog contest ends in two days... you can only win if you comment!!

Welcome to my blog! This is my very first post and I'll be honest- I don't really have a clue what I'm doing... I started blogging to: 1) Share/Archive some classroom ideas 2) Update people on life in general and 3) Accompany my resume. Not sure what will become of it or how much it will be procrastinated, so if you are reading this, help me out by commenting! The more you inquire, question, and share on my page- the more I'll be forced to commit :)