Lord forgive me! I just plowed through half a box of little debbie marshmallow pies! Darned stress eating. Now I get to spend the next hour on my rowing machine, working off the sugar and the hair-pulling stress monster.

My little sister called me just a little bit ago, asking if her family could come and live with us. She and her family have been living with my father, who just happens to be rennovating his house. The upstairs is fine, but downstairs is only partially put back together. Anywho, her ex called CPS and told them that the children are being physically neglected.

So, little sis cries on the phone to me about how they have to have a better place to stay by Monday, or they are taking her children away from her. I'm steamed. I'm not mad at my sister, just mad for her. I'm sure that God is wagging a finger at me, for the violent things running around in my head, and I'm sure sorry for them. I do feel very angry and very violent though. So far, I've done the best that I can do by calling DH and letting him know what is going on, and inviting little sis and her husband over tomorrow. I would have them over tonight, but DH is working real late.

I've tapped these keys for over an hour, trying to find alternate housing arrangements for them, but I can't find anything. So, if DH decides that they can't stay here, I don't know what to do. He isn't heartless, and I know that we will come up with something. We may have problems with little sister's husband though. She was over here the other day, crying because of how sad she is because her husband has become quite physical with her. DH and I both know about this, and it sets up an explosive situation. If DH and I were ever to witness this man beating my sister, I'm not sure that the police could get here in time. My husband is very protective of his family, and that includes my sisters, whom he has adopted as his own. *little smile* He doesn't have siblings close in age to us, so we all bonded in weird ways. lol

So, I'm sure that anyone can understand why we would be hesitant to open our home to this man. I don't know that he is repentant for any of his actions, or if he thinks that he can do this sort of thing because "he is the man". Granted, my sister is far from submissive, but she isn't someone's punching bag either. I wouldn't think twice about standing between them if it kept her safe, and DH would take this man apart if he hurt me. It would just be a mess. So, what can I do? The only thing that I can think of would be to sit down and talk with little sister and her husband, and see where things stand. I guess that I can begin trying to piece together house rules and things like that, so I can provide information to DH. He doesn't like the talking, number calculations and all of that. The diplomatic stuff and number crunching is always my job. I'd hate to have things fall apart because I didn't move fast enough and couldn't get him the information that he needed in time. As it is, things are going to be real tight, to have them a place by Monday.

As I've mentioned before, our house is small. It's not terrible, but definitely not made to house 7 (soon to be 8) people comfortably. DD will have to share her room with Babs, not that they will mind so much, I'm sure. They can just get into more trouble by coloring on the walls. *raises an eyebrow* (Babs is 2) Little sister and her husband will have to sleep downstairs in the basement, because there isn't room upstairs for them. The best that I can do for the little feller is to clean up the computer room enough to put his crib in here. That way, we are no more than two people to a bedroom and he isn't in with the girls. That is the only way that I can think to keep CPS happy about living arrangements. As far as any other requirements they might have, I don't know. I've never dealt with CPS before. We are going to run into some pretty rough problems though if it is expected that I frequently open my home for inspection by these people. Oy.

I had better go find that rowing machine and exercise until I'm tired enough to have a calm moment. It's a good thing that God already knows what I'm thinking, because I'm sure that the "talking" I'm doing to Him would confuse and numb the brain of any mortal. *lol* Thank God He's bigger than me, and bigger than this!