Property searching, visiting little ones

Mama had to come to Decatur pretty early yesterday for the pre-op work required for the surgery she has scheduled for next Monday. Since she had a couple things to do here she decided to stay in town for the day and since she was here anyway I found a couple properties for her to go look at. I took her to lunch since her birthday was on Sunday and we did not get the chance to go out that particular day. (Any excuse to go to lunch will do for Mama.)

After I took her to lunch we looked for one property that I had found listed but the address was not correct – a least as far as MapQuest was able to find it. I thought all of the farmettes I found listings for were pretty close but one was about twenty miles out of town – much more than I expected. It was doubly inconvenient because it was a real dud of a property. Even though she enjoyed the driving around looking at properties that was not the real reason she stayed in town.

She and one of the ladies from the church had scheduled to meet after I got off work so we could go and visit with the little girls that are in the foster care home next door to hers. She lives in a very nice subdivision just outside of town in the company of doctors and lawyers. If we could buy her place I would do it in a heartbeat even though it is only seven acres.

Mama was interested in the pool and I was gawking at the very large metal buildings that her late husband ran his electrical business out of. Her son runs the business now. Everything was clean and very neat – and oversized. Just the way we like it. Anyway, she walked us over to the neighbor’s house and there was a place set outside for the girls to play while we visited.

The oldest is a very active four year old. The foster mom says she wakes up every morning with that same exuberance and energy. She is a delightful child. She showed me the outside of the home as she rode on my back. Later we drew with chalk in the driveway.

Mama and the foster mom hit it off extremely well and were sharing telephone numbers, adoption information contacts and scheduling future visits by the time we had been there a short while. I am not sure if Mama came away convinced of her desire to take on the challenge of raising the three little ones or if she started to doubt her ability to do so. Time will tell.

Peggy, our church friend, went into the house and got the three month old while Mama entertained the 20 month old who insisted on staying on the familiar lap of the foster mom. As we visited, Mama got a book and began to read it out loud. She was on the second page when the middle child came over to take up a spot on her lap.

All of the children are little “chunkers”. As Mama read to them I could see that it was a little bit of a strain for her to balance the two girls and still keep the book in place. We were outside on regular folding chairs – like we use at church.

It was not the best of venues to fill up a lap, but Mama was in her element.