court

i went to court today and the judge granted the request for the girls to be returned to their parents custody tomorrow. i'm sad but i'm praying for them as a family. when the parents were leaving the courtroom they were beaming and we made eye contact, i smiled at them to acknowledge that we all knew who each other were and their mom said from across the room to me "THANK YOU!" i just nodded my head and then burst into tears with little brother's foster mom. i KNOW it's a good thing. and i know it's the ultimate goal of the courts but it just makes me sad and i hope those parents appreciate their girls more now that they've almost lost them.

it's going ok. our case worker had JUST come home when Paul did so once they were in the door I told the girls "we have some good news." and I went on to tell them how "me and Miss Colleen (their brother's foster mom) went to court today because mommy and daddy had a court date. and they asked the courts if you could go home and the judge granted that request, so tomorrow night when we get home your case worker is going to meet us here and pack up your stuff and take you to your mom and dad's new house." At first they were just shocked and processing it, then they got teary eyed and then they got excited and squealed. So it was cute. Then our case worker helped me go through all their stuff and sort out what needs to go and what doesn't. We ate dinner, then went to a paint your own pottery place and each of us painted one thing and it had to be for them. not me or their mom or their dad, for THEM to use. They picked little boxes that was a heart with wings. Then we went home and packed, I am sending home everything that fits. they went to bed around 11:30, at midnight I put the last load of laundry in. I have NO idea if we've gotten everything but we'll just keep watching. The pottery stuff won't be done until Tuesday so I'll drop it off with their case worker and have her take it down there to them and if we find anything in between here and Tuesday I can send it then.
They had all kinds of questions I told them daddy looked very handsome in a button up shirt and mommy was all dressed up in a black dress with wooden beads over the shoulder. Then they wanted to know "wait, who asked if we could go home?" And I told them "Sharon" (their guardian at litum-the person that represents the children in court) and all night they've been saying "THANK YOU SHARON! Isn't Sharon GREAT?!" it was funny. What little they do understand about it all.