.. plaster and lathe walls are a surprise to a teenager used to punching through drywall.

.. your child decides to take vitamin C morning and night so a foster sister won’t feel awkward taking her medications.

.. a whole big hullabaloo is caused by a mosquito bite, scratched until it bled.

.. you are holding one screaming child while your phone takes a voicemail about 5 more who need beds tonight.

.. you waste an hour waiting around for a relative to pick up a child for a visit.

.. you just have kids picked up and dropped off at your house instead of a neutral location, because today anyone can find your address on the internet anyway.

.. you can’t go for 20 minute walks around the block with your husband after kids are in bed anymore, because your oldest can’t babysit foster kids.

.. 8 sets of twin sheets is only enough to change 1 of the 7 twin beds at a time without having to wait for the laundry to get done before bedtime.

.. everybody wants to sit by and stand next to and play with the new kid.

.. you try to check a child in at the doctor’s office and realize you don’t know the birth date.

.. you drop a child off at daycare for the first time in your life.

.. you can’t remember what number you need when counting off kids.

.. you pray with a child at bedtime who doesn’t know what prayer is.

.. you don’t get to say goodbye.

.. you get to spend a lot more time than normal on facebook on your phone while you “ignore” a tantruming child at the sprayground.

.. you have to take a child you’ve only known for two days to the doctor for an examination of private parts.

.. you should google how to check for lice and buy a lice comb and treatment ahead of time so you don’t have to lose time looking it up and then running to the store with a bunch of kids.

.. all of a sudden a whole bunch of people have your phone number and you are talking every day to mom and grandma and dad and stepmom and transportation worker and doctor’s office and daycare and social worker and sometimes you mix up their names and which number on your call log belongs to who.

.. your kids have to be late to the park because they had to wait for someone to be done screaming about the bread on the sandwich for lunch.

.. you have to pull over in a parking lot and get out of your vehicle to talk on the phone to a worker for 30 minutes while your kids wait inside reading books.

.. you go to bed praying for five brothers and sisters you couldn’t take, because you’ve already got your hands full, who are likely spending the night at the shelter.