With Love, Mommy

We have had a very exciting and wonderful past 72 hours!  We welcomed a new member to our family this week.  In a matter of 3 hours, our lives changed completely.  To be honest, this is not the process we were expecting in the least.  However, we have prayed a lot about the process and we have decided to be flexible and trust that it will work out.  So, we dove in with both feet.  Please keep in mind the rules around confidentiality.  I will share, but much of the information is on a "need to know" basis. There may be many times in my children's life that I tell people that I cannot divulge certain information.  But there are also things I just simply would prefer not to share because it is information that should be up to my children to decide if they want to share later in life.  It is their story, after all!  With that said, here is our little story. Scene: A mom with disheveled hair trying to wrangle a toddler to nap-time, her mind...

The good news is that we are one day closer to meeting our children.  The bad news is that we do not have much to report.  We are trying to stay positive through the waiting process.  We are feeling very hopeful about one particular baby who may soon be looking for an adoptive home.  But with this particular case, we may not hear for a few weeks.  So, for now, we continue to wait and hope and pray.  We just ask for continued prayers that our children find their way home!

We are now certified to adopt!!!  Not only has the state of Arizona said that they think we can be trusted with children, but the court system and commissioner in AZ have also given us the go ahead.  We must be really good parents if the state has told us to take on even more kiddos! :)  As of this morning, our name has been added to the Central Registry, which is "the list."  It's a list of available adoptive families that CPS can look up.   At any time, CPS caseworkers can pull our file and consider us as a potential adoptive home.  Our caseworker expects us to hear back very soon!  We still expect that our family could be growing before the holidays this year.  It's also possible that it takes longer, and we are okay with that too.  This is such a lesson in giving up control! Our licensing worker came by for her quarterly visit and inspection this morning.  When children are placed with us, she will have to visit weekly (for the f...

We got our first taste of foster parenting when we took care of a baby for 4 days as a respite placement.  Of course, the rules of confidentiality restrict me from speaking about the details of this child or from sharing pictures.  What I can say is that this baby was happy and sweet.  It was a great experience for us, just a bit of a practice run.  We saw the areas that may be difficult for us.  It was really encouraging to see that the day to day functions were okay.  We were able to take care of the needs of both children even when it was a little rough.  The areas that were a bit more difficult for us were JT's jealousy (mostly over his beloved toys) and the difference in nap schedules.  I can see where it may be difficult to go out of the house with two kiddos who have different nap schedules.  Kevin and I had a chance to really discuss what we may do differently next time and what Little J needs during this transition.  We are stil...

The waiting just got a little more interesting!  We decided to help out in another way while we are waiting for our "Forever Family" to be completed with adopted children.  We are now opening our home as a respite family.  That means that we may be available to take care of children for a very short time while their foster families get a well-deserved break or if they can't take the children on vacation.  We will not have children coming in and out all of the time because we want to make sure we are keeping Jonah's best interest in mind.  But we hope this will be good practice for us all!

We got some great news yesterday: We are officially a licensed foster home!  The state says that they trust us to be parents!  :)  So, no worries, Baby J is in good hands.  This means that we can be placed with children at any time.  We are still waiting on our adoption certification.  I am told that it has all been approved except for our fingerprints (because our fingerprint clearance from DPS just won't do).  But, we do not need to have the adoption certification before kids move in, we just need it before we actually adopt (which will be months after children are placed). Exciting new things are happening every day.  We have already been contacted more than once about children looking for a home.  We are still unsure about where these roads will lead.  As soon as we have more information, I will update everyone! For now, we are very excited to have next week off work for a stay-cation.  J is growing by leaps and bounds. ...

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update.  We still have not been approved by the state for foster care or adoption.  Our homestudy has been assigned to a worker and our check to the courts has been cashed.  I expect to hear back by the end of next week.  In the meantime, our licensing worker is busy looking for our children. While we are waiting, we are enjoying our time as a family of 3 while we can.  We are planning a fun stay-cation in a few weeks.  And we are so excited to plan super fun things that we can do right here in Phoenix.  We will keep everyone updated as soon as we hear more!