Braden's Home Visit

Bradens first home visit is now history! It went very well "all things considered." My sister Shari, and I went down to pick him up on Wednesday. Here is a tip: do not travel on the day before Thanksgiving. The traffic was awful! Going down wasn't so bad but coming home we were stuck in 6 different traffic jams. Miss Sharon, Braden and I had a short debriefing before he cam home. We went over what is expected of him, how long he would be gone and when he would be coming back. Then we packed up to go. Braden was so excited!

   On Thanksgiving day had brunch, made cookie turkeys, took four wheeler rides, smoked a turkey and listened to story cd's. Braden is used to a very structured play time so free play didn't work so well. Kiana and Joseph had quite a few rough moments. Kiana cried her heart out Thursday evening. She has deep feelings that she seldom talks about. Having Braden home brought back a lot of memories she thought she had successfully buried. She told me she dreams that Braden is doing things to her. She wants to play with him but then she remembers how Braden used to be and it makes her so angry. I feel like the children have moved into the anger phase of healing. Joseph went from loving Braden to pushing him away. Braden's control popped up a few times but as soon as we called him on it, he backed down. So very different from how he used to be. All in all I would say Braden's first home visit was a success!!!! Thanks for all the prayers lifted on our behalf, they played a big part in helping us all enjoy this visit.

                                                                  Four wheeler rides

Listening to Bible Friends

Cookie turkeys that were a flop because I forgot to get corn candy

Dean smoked a turkey. It was delicious!

carving the turkey

Having a chat with daddy. Braden freely talks about how he is feeling

We stopped at Friendly's for lunch on our way down to TAP. Braden chose the monster ice cream sundae.

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