My S's 8th birthday, and a baby slumber party

Saturday we went out to Santa Cruz to celebrate S's 8th birthday at the Beach Boardwalk. We dropped a pretty serious wad of cash (I am counting $155 for the day including food but not including gas - we got four of our ride passes at Costco, which has a great deal on them) but it was really fun and I think made a memorable birthday celebration for my big boy, without the hassle of planning a party at home. He is big enough that he could ride ALL the rides, and he even went on the scary rollercoasters and the 125-foot drop (the "double shot"). We ALL had a great time!

Sunday was church as usual - I taught in YW which is always a big boost for me. I love teaching. (I use the manual very little and usually build lessons on the assigned topics from conference talks, instead. This week it was on agency. I found three great talks to help me.)

K stayed in nursery - he cried, but it is time for him to start getting used to being in nursery without me and he was eventually consoled by the teacher, so I felt good about that.

After church I napped (delicious) and then S brought Z over for a visit about 4. How fun to see our angel girl again! She seems bigger. She also seemed a little confused. She took a little while to completely warm up, although she was her happy sweet self the entire time.

I made lamb with garlic and rosemary, potatoes with parmesan,and steamed broccoli for dinner, and birthday cake (devil's food with white mountain icing) for dessert.

I was surprised S didn't come back for Z. She finally called about 8:00 to say she didn't have enough gas in her car to get over here. I offered to take Z over to her but she said no, just keep her overnight! So we had a sleepover with the babe!

I ended up not being able to get ahold of S until about 11 this morning - fortunately I had planned to take the morning off work anyway. Needless to say I was in touch with the social worker this morning. Not that it is going to ruin S's chance but if she shows any kind of pattern of this kind of stuff it might make a difference.

We are praying that S is able to see that she is not capable of being a consistent and dependable mother. Because honestly she is not. A voluntary relinquishment would truly be in Z's best interest. We are also working hard to keep a good relationship with S so that she will trust us if it comes to that. Anyway if you want to add that to your prayers I would appreciate it a lot. Of course we also understand that the big plan here might be totally different ... regardless I think we are doing the right thing trying to support S as much as we can (moral support, not monetary!)

For the first time since Tuesday's emotional debacle (believe me, you all were spared quite a scene by not being at my house or office for the last week) I am truly feeling a lot better. Just knowing that S really is following through on her intention to keep in touch with us is a huge comfort to me.