Here We Go!

Well, we are on our way to becoming liscenced foster parents! This past Saturday, I recieved my official "graduation" certificate as I finished all 27 hours of PRIDE training. Dean wasn't able to graduate because he had to leave early one day but we still qualify since only one of us needed to finish all 27 hours. It was a great class and we both learned a lot. The last segment of the class was a panel of foster parents talking to us about their experiences and then answering our questions. I left feeling that God is so good. I have wondered a lot about the chances of actually getting a small baby (as new as possible) by going through the foster care system but pretty much every foster/adopt parent that I have come into contact with recently has brought their babies home from the hospital. This was true of almost every one of the members of the panel. Most of them had brought one if not two or three babies home. The actual adoption process can take longer this route, especially if parental rights are not relinquished but need to be terminated. I worry about the chance of thinking we are going to adopt a particular baby and then after a long time have it fall through but I am also learning to let go and trust God. He knows what will happen and will give us what we need.

So now we are taking the next BIG step and mailing off our application tomorrow. At training they mentioned that it takes about 90 days from the time we mail the application until we get our liscence.
Some of the parents on the panel added that once your liscence is approved the calls start very soon after (some even finding out that they got their liscence when the placement coordinator called asking if they would take a child.) Once again I don't want to get my hopes up about getting a call right away but at the same time the thought of a baby being in our house in 3-4 months is crazy. "Pregnancy" on fast forward! The organizational part of me goes into overdrive when I think about it, trying to figure out the logistics of where things need to go, what we need to get, ..... YIKES! Three months isn't that far away and how well can you prepare when you don't really know how old this new one will be? I can honestly say that the "nesting" instinct is kicking in too. Last week I had (and still have) an overwhelming urge to clean out closets, reorganize rooms, get the house in order. Poor Dean, he will never be able to find anything. So now I know that I just need to pray and ask for God's peace, patience, and guidance as we prepare for the newest member of our family! And I once again ask our friends and family to pray with us, that we are able to get the rest of our requirements done soon and that God will make it VERY clear when we get "The Call". Thank you all so much for walking beside us through this new adventure.