A Little Bit of This and a Whole Lotta That!

This last week has been like a rollar coaster, full of highs and lows.  

We are still in the "process" of moving. Last week we packed our whole house up, except for beds, dressers and clothes and moved everything to our Philpott Builders warehouse space just outside of town. This was supposed to make it easier to finish "flipping" our house and to get it ready for the buyer. The agenda includes finishing up this weekend, pressure washing the outside (brick, it's a David thing...)the garage and making sure that if we can go to closing early, next week possibly we will be close to turning over an awesome house worth every last penny.

Since we have been living in a sparlsey furnished house, with no tv's and no satellite (except in our room, afterall David does still live here) I started reading the kids the Jack London classic, White Fang!! They love it, even 4 year old Addy!

And this week, Philpott Builders purchased a lot in the brand new, west Searcy subdivision, Ridgewood. The houses in that neighborhood will be moderatly priced, geared towards first time homebuyers and young families. The prices should run around the 140's, so they are very affordable priced. We will be building a 1400 sq ft spec house, with the same features we make standard in more expensive homes. Features like 10 foot ceilings, hand scraped hard wood floors and granite countertops will be available in these homes! I'm real excited; I think Searcy needs a neighborhood like this. http://ridgewoodsearcy.com/

Also, beginning next week, Philpott Builders will begin taking steps to become certified "green" builders. I'm not keen on this. I think this whole "green" crap is just that-crap. Now hold on, let me explain. It's not that I disagree, it's just that now all of a sudden it's considered "cool" and "hip." When really, most our grandparents were "green" only during the depression it was called being "frugal!" Now I'm all about not wasting, and saving and making better and decreasing waste, and all that...I just think this whole green business goes a little overboard. But it's all good and I think we can become better builders by keeping others in mind first.

Also last week, I am sad to say, but feel that since so many of you follow this that are interested in foster care, you should know, we experienced one of the lows so far for us. Saturday, our foster son left us and it was not a happy occassion. It was not something we wanted for sure and I'm willing to bet he really didn't either. We miss him and are still concerned for him and will continue to lift him up in prayer. However, and I'll say this again, as foster parents, you absolutly have to keep your own children's well-being at front and center. If that is compromised, either in fact or threat, you got to go. Period. And then to quote Forrest: "That's all I got to say about tha-at." Well, and I'll also say no one was hurt in anyway...but by gosh, my kids ain't gonna be either.

Monday we started our fall session of "foster parenting continuing education" classes held at the First Baptist Church in Searcy. As President, I word as a liason between DHS and the foster parents of White County. But I feel one of my primary responsibilities is to find interesting and educational speakeds for our classes. We receive 2 hours ce credit and I just wanna do a good job. So I invited Carol Rangle from the Little Rock DHS office to come speak on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. She had lectured at our area wide conference in April and was magnificant!! She does this little demonstration that proves that no amount of alcohol is safe for a fetus. She takes a regular egg, right out the carton, and breaks it open in 2 ounces of alcohol. Just 2 ounces! And you know what?? Instantly, the egg begins to cook!!! And by the end of the lecture, the egg is as rubbery as a kids egg you might find in your daughters play refridgerator! It's amazing! Did you know, FASD is the ONLY birth defect that is 100% preventable and 100% irreversable!! And it's biblical: Judges 13:7, "Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a son; and now drink no wine or strong drink." I asked John to come witness the demonstration, since someday he'll get married and have a wife and children and I wanted him to see just the effect, his future wife, drinking alcohol could have on the unborn child. He was impressed for sure. I did not however let Presley since she's only 10, but I really should have. She was ticked that I left her out and she's really interested in the subject. I was too concerned about her age and not her maturity, and that violates one of my own rules. I should not base any decision on age alone-I should totally consider maturity. But she did take my notes, lol, and said she wants to do a report on in next month when they start doing reports at school! I think she preached it to the whole 5th grade class!

Since this blog is already all over the place (heck, thats how our week has been!) I'm gonna jump back to foster parenting. Next weekend, the White County Bikers are sponsoring an event to raise awareness of the need of more foster parents in White County. There are only about 24 foster homes in White County and yet, at any given time we have about 90-100 kids. You can do the math...and these leftover kids are farmed out to other counties, sometimes clear across the state. This makes parental visits difficult as well as many other problems that arise from being "out of county." So much has changed in their lives; they've lost their parents, sometimes their siblings, they have to change schools, churches, anything familiar....it can be too much on a small child. We NEED to keep White County kids IN White County. Also, the Bikers are raising funds to help us with Christmas for our kids, school clothes, sports equipment, etc....anything our kids need!! We thank the White County Bikers for Foster Kids!!

The White County Foster Parents Association will have a booth set up as will Philpott Builders, who are a major sponsor of the event. Cool 104 will be doing a live remote broadcast for PB at the event also, to raise an awareness that reaches throughout central Arkansas. This is a great event to attend if you've ever considered fostering, adopting from foster care or ever supported a foster/adoptive family. We will be on hand to answer any questions you may have! I hope to see you there!!

Thanks for reading,
Lola Philpott