Richardson Report

I just realized I haven't updated the blog about Francisco. So just a few things. 1.  his nickname is Javi (hah-vee) so you'll see me type that since it's faster and what's in my head. 2.  things are good.  He's in counseling for some past experiences and behavior.  Just started.  Seems to be going well so far.  We called LDS family services for a referral.  That's why the trips to Santa Rosa.  Not really fun but we felt it necessary. 3.  Relationships are sorting out.  Kids are fighting and playing as they should.  Rules are being discussed, mostly followed, and school is happening.  We are navigating the juvenile justice system for the first (and I hope last) time. 4.  Yes we want to keep him with us for the foreseeable future.  We will need to hope and pray that his mom thinks that is a good idea. There isn't really much to say other than that we love having him in our family.  Seven kids now, is how we look at it.  Pretty nuts.

It's been a whirlwind of living around here.  We had a wonderful vacation to Disneyland in February. We came home so exhausted but it was so fun.  Some friends from Utah met us there and we just really enjoyed gorgeous weather and fun activities.   We finally got to the San Diego Temple to check it out and spent some time at the Mormon Battalion Historical Site - found Josh's ancestor on the soldier roster.  Pretty awesome for the kids.   We've spent a lot of our time on the weekends catching up on delayed home improvement projects and running around from place to place.  I'm making bi-monthly trips to Santa Rosa for Javi's counseling appointments, which is a FULL day for me and takes a day out of homeschooling, so we have to make that up on the other days.  We are studying Civil War, plants, and Cinderella stories from various cultures, as well as keeping up with our math, spelling, and reading.  Last month was a sort of lame school month but this month has been mu