Independence Weekend

Our whole family has been looking forward to July 4th this year for the last few weeks. For me it is the signaling that its almost time to start school shopping because September will creep up quickly and once the kids are back in school its Christmas before ya know it....hows that for jumping the gun?
Anyway back to the 4th of July. We got up bright and early and went down to South Norfolk to see the annual parade. The kids had been looking forward to that as its become somewhat of a family tradition and when it comes to kids I am big about traditions. I want them to be able to look back some day and say "my mom and dad took us every year" or "we did this or that every holiday" so for that reason I tend to go overboard with the holiday events. I sat up late the night of the 3rd making cakes and other things to prepare for our cook out...got all the shopping done and planned a delicious menu for our ANNUAL family cook out.
In the midst of all our holiday cooking we received a phone call from Child Protective Services asking if we were able to take an emergency placement. I didnt ask too much about him but simply agreed to take him and silently wondered what kind of people would put a child out of their home on a holiday. The CPS worker offered a little information on the phone stating that he was an 8 year old boy with a lot of anger issues who acted out in the home he was in and was being asked to leave. I immediately got a picture in my mind of what this child was going to look like. I envisioned a huge, brute of a child with anger in his eyes that could possibly take my house apart and ruin our holiday tradition. What a surprise I got....He walked though the door and was just a tiny boy. I went over my family rules with him ...he agreed to abide by them and I put him right in the room with the other boys. So far he has been nothing less than polite and obedient. Not knowing how long he could be here...I am sure time will tell what he is capable of once we get to know one another. I was proud of my other boys working hard to make him feel at home.....when they go out of their way to make others feel at home here then I know they feel at home themselves and that makes me feel good.
So now we are a family of 5 children. They are all tucked away upstairs sleeping in their little beds and hopefully dreaming good dreams. Its funny how one little call can change the whole course of your day.