We have a snow day today. Where I work, we have a snow chain, where each teacher calls the next teacher on the list, and so on until everyone is notified of the day off. The problem is, once I get the call and then I fumble with the light and my glasses to make my next call, it wakes me up. Then I have to pee, so I have to get out of bed. Then I get back in bed, snuggle under the covers and ... start thinking. Then, I can't fall back to sleep. It happens every time.

JJ had his hearing on Monday, kind of. It was supposed to be a hearing for all four boys involved, but three of them plea bargained, and admitted to their parts in the van-taking and crashing. (they're getting probation, fines and they've been given thirty day notice that they have to get out of the Children's Home) JJ says he was never in the van with the boys, that all he did was find the key, then wrongly gave it to another kid instead of turning it in to staff. However, originally, one of the boys said that JJ was indeed in the van with them, just not when it crashed (which never made any sense to me). Well, at the hearing on Monday, the other boys said they were the only three in the van, and that JJ wasn't with them. So, JJ's lawyer said his best bet was to have a contested hearing. So, that's what he's doing. The hearing is next Monday. The bad part is that JJ has to stay in Juvey until the hearing. I did get to meet JJ's brother, Andrew at the hearing. He looks just like JJ, only bigger and older. He's very quiet, just like JJ. I was so nervous about the hearing that I talked the poor kid's ear off. He's probably wondering why in the heck JJ would want to come and live with me. Although, when it was all over, Andrew asked if I would do him a favor and call his DHS caseworker and see if I could arrange a visit with his brother for him. Imagine being in a situation, as a kid, where you have to turn to a stranger to get help with seeing your own brother. My heart goes out to all these kids.

The Children's Home told me on Friday that due to this situation, and JJ's involvement in it, they're postponing his fostering for a few months. That's going to be thier own punishment for him. When they first said it, I understood. But, the more I think about it, the more I disagree. Sure, he should have turned the key over to staff, and he should have come clean about everything he knew right from the beginning, but he didn't. He made a bad choice. But, isn't serving three weeks isolated from everyone he cares about, not going to school, not playing basketball, not having any visitors, three weeks in the juvenile detention center punishment enough? Is it just my maternal feelings toward him that make me feel this way? I think much more harm than good can come of having him stay at the home. And, on a practical side, I can keep a much better watch on him here than the minimum wage paid staff can at the Children's Home. I don't want him to think that I think what he did was nothing, but for crying out loud do we need to make this poor kid's life any worse? Oh, and here's a picture of JJ and Braden playing video games. Aren't they both cutie patooties?


On to other things...Braden has to take a sewing class at school this semester. His teacher is always yelling at him that he goes to fast, he needs to make eye contact with her instead of staring at what he's sewing...he's a wreck that he's going to flunk sewing. Anyway, on Wednesday after being told about the eye contact thing, he was trying to look at her while he was sewing with the machine, and accidentally sewed his finger. It's not too bad, it didn't need stitches or anything. In fact, Braden thought it was pretty cool that the school nurse had to pull the thread out of his finger.

My sister-in-law is having a lingerie/sex toy party next Saturday night. I'm not sure if I want to go or not. I wonder if they sell flannel pajamas?