David and Ben asked us to tell you a bit about our family in general – and Austin in particular. This is the first time I’ve ever written on a post, so you’ll have to bear with me.
We’re comfortably settled into our new “cabin” at Table Rock now. Alex and the architects did a wonderful job of designing/decorating it and it feels more like home than a cabin. We sold our place in Florida before we started the new cabin because we’re so content here we don’t feel we need a “get-away” place. We still own our condo in North K.C. for when we (or the other guys) need to be up there.
Now, about Austin. If you don’t remember his story, you might check out David and Ben’s “Back home from the beach” post of August 4, 2016 (you can find it under the “AUSTIN” AND “BEACH” tags). He was five when we started fostering him and he’d had a horrible life up to then. He had been physically and mentally abused and we were his third foster family. As far as we know, his mother is still in prison. Although he’s always been a sweet boy he was a real challenge for Damien and me. When we first started fostering him his nightmares were real bad. We got him with a child mental therapist and that eventually really helped. Actually, Damien and I decided a little therapy for us might be helpful too, so we saw one for about a year. Getting started with our new son was a struggle for sure.
It’s hard for us to believe, but Austin is nine years old now. When we started fostering him we were told he was “learning disabled.” Ben says that’s ridiculous and, in fact he’s a gifted student. He’s speaking a lot of Spanish and French now and loves studying languages. He and Dub have been “best buds” for as long as they’ve known each other and spend lots time together “just doing stuff” whatever that means 🙂 Although we’ve offered to get him a pup, he’s never really wanted one – even though he enjoys playing with the other kids’ dogs. About a week ago, he surprised us by saying he thought he might like to have a kitten, so he and Dub have been doing some on-line searching to see what breed of cats is most compatible with dogs. I’m guessing we’ll have a new family addition before long.
We appreciate David and Ben putting together the pics for this post. They’re the best friends anyone could ever have!
Oh, and one last thing. After Denny’s “corn hole game” suggestion, Austin got Bella one for her birthday and it was a real hit with both the kids and adults. Since it was raining outside, we moved a bunch of furniture and set the game up in Cal and Alex’ living room and had a big corn hole tournament on her birthday. The “court” was only 22′ instead of the regulation 27″ but we decided that was fine. Dub read us the rules and we divided into teams of two (one adult and one kiddo). It took a couple of hours and there was lots of shouting and good-natured banter. When we finished, our champions were “Pop-pops and “Matty” but it was really close with “Bella” and “Denise” finishing second. Thanks, Denny!
We love URD and hope you guys will enjoy this little update. Hope all of you are well and surviving the pandemic and political mess. xoxo Ty and Damien
