Kids Say the Darndest Things

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Our oldest son, Sam, is in the second grade. They are learning about families in his class. Thursday was his turn to take a family picture to school to share with his class.

Here is a little background information on our family. Sam was adopted as an infant. Then there's Conner. Conner was also adopted as an infant. We also have two other children, Logan and Natalie, that we are in the process of adopting and should be able to finalize later this spring. Both Sam and Conner were adopted through a private agency. Logan and Natalie came to us as foster children over a year ago. Natalie was just a couple months old when we got her, Logan was about eighteen months old. Also to make this story more enjoyable, you need to know that Community Care is a place here in our town that is open longer than normal doctor's offices. You can go there to be seen by a doctor and it can save you the cost of an emergency room visit.

We don't have a recent family picture with all of us in it. I have a large 16x20 with Bryon, myself, Sam and Conner. Then in an 8x10 frame I put a picture of Natalie and Logan. I sent both of these pictures to school with Sam.

Thursday, I arrived after school to pick Sam up. The teacher was outside with the big picture waiting for me to pick him up. As she dropped of the picture she said, "I learned so much about your family today." I told her "Well, only believe about half of it." She then said, "I just have to tell you what Sam said. It has made me smile all day." Then she proceeds to tell me what Sam had said. Sam took both pictures to the front of the room and with the big family picture pointed to each family member and said, "This is my dad, this is my mom, and this is my little brother, Conner." While still pointing at Conner he said, "We got this little guy from Idaho Falls." The teacher said it sounded as if one day we decided to just hop in the car go to Idaho Falls and shopped around for a baby and we wound up with Conner. Then he points to the other picture of Natalie and Logan. He said, "This is Natalie and this is Logan. We are adopting them. I can't remember where they came from. It is like Community Care but it's not." The teacher knowing they were foster children said, "You mean, Foster Care." "That's it!" Sam said. "I knew it wasn't Community Care. Yep, it is Foster Care."

The teacher then asked him to share what his family does for fun. Sam says, "Well my mom comes to get me from school. When we get home she makes Conner and I play outside while she teaches piano lessons. Conner always runs around like a wild Indian. After she is done with piano lessons, we come in the house and she makes me do my math and then we eat dinner. After dinner she sends us back outside for a while and then when it is time to come in the house again, I have to do more math and read and then it is time for bed. That's all we have time to do as a family."