CCGC

On Saturday Mike and I made a trip to Dallas to my friend Ashley Mazza's funeral (killed by a drunk driver). During this time our friends Bethany and George were responsible for the munchkins. #1 thought this was so awesome that she put them through hell. In the words of Bethany, "I did not realize the bad behavior was relentless." Honestly, I expected the girls to be better then that since they are usually exceptionally bad for Mike and I.:) A big thanks to the Azaleteys!

The weekend and Monday morning were very difficult. This is why God made two parents because one can't always maintain patience! Come Monday morning #1 had therapy and I brought my Mom to watch the girl in the waiting room while I discussed the situation at hand with the therapist. Therapist informed me that the behavior was more then she could fix and she was recommending a specialist. She felt 100% sure that #1 suffered from full blown Reactive Attachment Disorder. In a way I was relived to hear her thoughts on #1, but at the same time finding a specialist could take months and Reactive Attachment Disorder in #1's case is going to take years of specialized structure and equipping ourselves with bizarre rules and routines.

While I was in the office with Shawn, #1 approached a male stranger in the waiting room and propositioned herself to him. To be more specific she put on her "sexy" face as Mike and I like to call it and her exact words were,"Hey babe, you want to get it on?" Yes, this is our 3 year old. I think my mom was in utter disbelief that phrase actually rolled of the tongue as easily as it did. #1 was disciplined and then had therapy. Once arriving home on Monday our new Case Manager came by to check on the girls. #1 was still out of control and I ended up having to put her in timeout where she continued to act up and laugh hysterically about it. Finally I broke down and started to cry to the old and new Case Managers. We put #1 in emergency respite care for the night (thanks Jessica). On the way to respite #1 intentionally peed in her car seat and she peed again in her pants for the respite family when she was in trouble.

I believe respite went well and I picked her up on Tuesday to go to her Psychiatrists office. After discussing the problems of #1'2 hysteria and hyper-sexuality with the Doctor. She decided that #1 was having a Manic reaction to the Prozac she was on (due to her suicidal behaviors and thoughts) At this point she made the decision to send and admit #1 to Clarity which is a children's Psychiatric hospital in San Antonio.

#1 has been in the hospital officially 2 days and continues to have thoughts of suicide behavior and is having a hard time respecting other children's boundaries. She has a staff member with her at all times because of her age and the reasons that she is there.

On the top of all of this craziness, yesterday we were asked to make a decision to keep the girls or to send them to a therapeutic home were #1 might be better served for her mental instabilities. There are 4 levels of care in the foster system and #1 is already on level 2 and this is the highest level Mike and I are licensed for. Bumping #1 up another level would require the children to be removed from our home and placed in a more advance home. As heartbroken as Mike and I were we knew that this might be the best decision for #1. Not wanting to "abandon and further traumatize" the girls we left the decision up to STARRY. (It was really their decision to begin with) After lots of prayer, phone calls and a group meeting the verdict was made to keep the girls at our house and to evaluate some new techniques for #1. She will soon be starting therapeutic preschool, will be on medication, will have more visits from case managers, two therapies a week, and a weekly visit with the psychiatrist and possible in home respite care for me (I am hoping that this works out).

So praise God that we get to keep the girls! That is the latest from the Whitson house we will keep updating! Please pray for #1 as she remains in the hospital this week and she will be having her tonsils removed next week.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4