Update on our house guests

The Carson house continues to be a busy place. Apparently God knew we needed to slow down, so he gave us the stomach flu this week. So far Ellyn, myself, and Meg have had it... I say "so far" because I can't imagine that with nine of us under this roof, we are going to get by with only three casualties.

Today I thought I would catch up by giving an update on our house guests. Halena is a young, single mom from Rosebud Indian Reservation, and she has a 2-yr-old girl and a 10-month-old boy. They wanted to leave the reservation and get a new start at life. They have been living with us for over six weeks now.

There has been so much to do in the past six weeks. We have spent a lot of time trying to find employment and child care, signing up for assistance programs and medical care, taking care of ear infections, dentist appointments, eye appointments, studying and driving to prepare for getting a drivers license. The next step is to look into classes at a community college.

At home there have been lots of diapers, snacks, songs/fingerplays, toys, tantrums, play-do, bottles, books, meals, crying and messes--and lots of laughing! 

Of course, we have also had track meets, band concerts, homework, dance team auditions, piano lessons, business trips, college finals--I can't even believe all that we've done in the past several weeks!

We have an apartment for Halena and the kids to move into in the next couple of weeks. It is about a block away from our house, so we will still be very involved as they transition to living alone for the first time. 

This has not been an easy time, but I am so glad that Halena was able to leave the reservation and have opportunities for herself and children to better their lives.