I'll try to make this short, I promise. Everything feels like it has been shaken around and turned upside down all in one weekend.

My younger sister was living with her boyfriend and this summer they were caught doing drugs. There was a sort of 'intervention' done and she and her kids (five and 10 months) lived at my parents for about a month and she wasn't supposed to have any contact with the boyfriend. About three weeks ago she found an apartment and moved in there, and started back to work (she was on mat leave) two weeks ago.

On Friday my parents couldn't get a hold of her at work, and she wasn't answering at home either, so my dad went over that evening to figure out what was going on. The original story was that she didn't go to work because she had a bad headache and then felt better so she spent the day at the mall. Eventually the true story came out that she had taken almost a thousand dollars out of her retirement savings account and spent it on drugs. She's unblocked the ex(?) boyfriend's cell phone and the bill's been run up to $1800. She owes my dad a bunch of money from helping her get settled into her apartment.

My dad finally has come to the conclusion that he's been enabling her and being fooled (they've done this, in varying circumstances, several times). Mom's been at the point of finally letting her go for a while, I believe. The kids are at my parents' right now and they made a call to child welfare on the weekend but don't get to speak with a case worker until this morning.

Mom has asked us before what would happen if the kids ever had to be taken away, and we have said that we would take them. Last night my mom said that she would keep D, the five year-old, and she's just worried about what to do with M, the baby, but as Big G and I discussed it last night with some close friends, we don't feel like she should keep D either. Mom had a nervous breakdown this summer while all the stuff with my sister was going on. She hasn't even gone back to work yet; she's on short-term disability leave. I know she wants to keep him there, but I don't know if it would be best for him. She's really on her last nerve.

So today they will talk to the child welfare worker; I have no idea how this process will work or what my sister is going to decide to do, whether she'll decide to go into treatment or if she doesn't even care. Regardless, we're pretty sure that in the next couple of days we'll be travelling down there (five hour drive) to pick up at least the baby. We don't know for how long. It's hard not to think beyond this day and the trouble it carries and wonder if we will end up with these children forever.

Oh, and we found out on Friday that we're expecting #3.

Please pray for us. We can't do this, we can only trust that the Lord knows the plans He has for us and will carry us through and give us His strength.

**UPDATE**: My parents had a good meeting with the case worker this morning. They have to do an assessment first where they interview my sister, my nephew, probably my parents, etc. This is supposed to take three or four days, but they don't want the kids going out of town while this is happening. So they will stay at my parents' house while that is happening. They are still going to daycare during the day, so my parents really only have them while they're getting ready in the morning and then in the evening, and that seems to be okay with them. After the assessment is done, M will be coming here forsure (the assessment is to determine what the 'contract' will be - if she has to go into a certain treatment center, etc; the kids are not going back with her at this point). Mom thinks she can handle D and that it would be better for him to stay there where he can stay in the same school and see his mom if she's doing well.

So we have a few days to figure out the logistics of this. I understand the argument that it's better for D to stay where he knows and can see his mom, but if this is going to be long-term I think he'd be better off here rather than in daycare. We'll see what happens.