Marriage is tough! Marriage with kids is tougher! Marriage with foster kids is possibly the toughest all-around!
Having a revolving-door family, as sometimes couples have in foster care, can leave foster parents so busy and exhausted that sometimes respite care can become necessary for foster parents to be their best.
Respite care is a temporary resting period or break for caregivers. In Texas, respite child-care is defined as care lasting longer than 72 hours. (Therefore, shorter periods of care are not regulated as respite child-care.)
Last weekend, FosterDad and I took a long-overdue couples’ getaway! My sister provided the respite care of our 2-year-old foster boy, Lil Bit, and our 4-year-old, Stinkpot for the long weekend.
It was FosterDad’s birthday, so I surprised him with a trip to East Texas where he attended college for 2 years. Online, I found a bed and breakfast in the small town of Jefferson for $150 for 2 nights.
We stayed at the lovely Steamboat Inn.
View of hallway looking out.
We stayed in the masculine Mens Room
When I chose Jefferson, I had no idea the incredible history and all this small Texas town of only 2,000 folks has to offer! Jefferson is in northeast Texas and was the riverport to the Texas frontier in the 1800’s. You wouldn’t think that now; however, a huge log jam on the Red River connected the town to the Mississippi River and the ports of St. Louis and New Orleans, making the town an important Texas port abuzz with steamboats. The log jam was blown up in 1873 and riverboat traffic all but ceased. What is left is a quaint, little small town that is now the Bed & Breakfast Capital of Texas with over 30 active bed & breakfast inns.
We strolled along the brick roads, enjoying all the historic markers and homes, visiting the antique shops and the Jefferson General Store. We had a romantic dinner at the charming Stillwater Inn and even took a romantic moonlight ride in a surrey with fringe on top!!!
Spending the weekend focusing on us as a couple will help us be better parents. Just in time, since school starts Monday!
