Hmmm....full-time parenting

So not only did we move in the past two weeks but we took our 15 year old niece into our home for the next 4-5 weeks while she finishes out the school year. Seeing as how she currently resides with my in-laws and we moved into their old place, she doesn't need to switch schools at the very end of the year. This all started on Sunday night. Jasmine (Jazzy as she likes to be called) has had a rough life...no doubt about it. Long, long story short, Jazzy's father (my brother-in-law) is in and out of jail/prison with a drug problem. Her mother abused and neglected her as a child before she was taken away by Child Protective Services when she was 3. Jazzy still talks to her but her mother still isn't capable of taking care of anyone.

Enter Adam and Kris, stage right. We're hoping we can have some sort of impact on her life over the next month. Probably wishful thinking but it's worth a try. I would like to regale you with an overview of our first 4 days together...

Monday - Jasmine's first day ever of having to get herself out of bed and out the door to school. I'm off work but I dropped Adam off at school and headed straight to Eagan to clean the old place after we moved all of our crap out. I call Jasmine to make sure she's up (which she is) and remind her to put the dogs in their kennels and lock the handle on the front door as she leaves. At approximately 7:40, already in Eagan, already having vacuumed a couple rooms, I notice I missed some calls. It is Jasmine. She has locked herself out of the house with no socks on and has now missed the bus. I hop in the car and drive allll the way back to SLP (pissed as all hell) only to arrive and discover OH MY DEAR GOD THE KEYS I WAS GIVEN DON'T WORK ON EITHER LOCK TO EITHER DOOR!!!! So I proceed to dump her in the car (ranting and raving the entire time) and head to Adam's school. Because folks, Adam wasn't answering his phone. It was charging in his locker while he was welding. Upon arriving at school, I march into the Weld lab and complete confuse him and at least one other random guy. I get his set of keys and head back to SLP where we did indeed get in the house and were greeted by two dogs who were thrilled we were home! So I get her to school, nearly an hour late.

Tuesday - I'm still off work, trying to get everything cleaned in one place and just making everything dirtier in the other. Jasmine calls me from school and leaves me a voice mail about wanting to go to Applebee's with her friend after school to celebrate the friend's birthday. "They'll pay for me and drive me home!" and all I need to do is call the school back and leave a message and they'll tell her if she can go or not. Being the totally awesome aunt, I decide I'm going to let her go. For those of you keeping track, this is my first mistake. So I call the school and say that I'm returning a call from Jasmine. They proceed to pull Jasmine out of class in order to take my call. I'm so not OK with this. In any event, I tell her she can go, that I want her home by 7 and if she's going to be late, to call me. A couple hours later, I get another call from Jasmine. Wait, they won't bring her home so I'll have to pick her up. I ask where this friend lives. Wait for them - here come mistakes 2, 3, and 4. This friend lives in North Minneapolis so I say ok (#2), I don't ask for a number for this friend (#3), and I tell her she needs to call me by 8pm (#4 for assuming it will happen). She doesn't call until 9:15 after I have strung myself out with worry and spastic-ness. Suffice it to say, I now know a little bit more about handling a 15 year old.

Wednesday - "Can I check my Myspace?" is the line we hear most often. She doesn't have access to a computer without permission which I am A-OK with. So she has to ask. Upon giving her permission to check Myspace, we discover that she is still in contact with the 20 year old ex/boyfriend she is no longer permitted to see or talk to. She has the audacity to claim that she thought she just wasn't allowed to talk on the phone with him! "It's just on Myspace, it doesn't count!"

Thursday - Parent teacher conferences at Jasmine's school. We insert ourselves since we're responsible for her for the next month. She hasn't done a single assignment in a single class so far this quarter and the previous two were similar. (Where the hell were my in-laws?) She's in danger of not passing the 9th grade. So, we got copies of her work and are now going to step her through each assignment in each class and get her caught up.

So there you have it. Just 4 full days with Jasmine and our lives are turned upside down. However, there's a chance that she's learning things as we go so I'm holding out hope for this one. I'd like to think that I could make a difference in her life. In fact, I know I can if she meets me half way.