Holding

Good Morning,
To all of our avid followers! Just wanted to give a quick update. We have heard nothing still. Though we are officially licensed... we have been since last June, 2015. We are still just waiting. We have licensing walk through (at our house) every so often, this is a mandatory state requirement when you have a foster care license. We are told by our worker that there have been very few kiddos that have come through with needs of permanent placement... that's good, I think! We are also told that there are only 7 families in our program, so that is good I suppose! Since we are only willing to take one child and under the age of 5, we may be waiting longer. But that is ok! We have so much going on right now. Jeff is slated to have a potential life changing surgery for his eyes in early February, this will require us to travel to California. I know that it will all happen in Gods timing, if we are meant to have another child in our home he will work it out! We have talked about the possibility to open our home to a sibling group of 2 (max) with both children being under 5. But its just talk, who knows if that will be decided or not. For now, just waiting and enjoying life! Thanks to all who read our blog and have prayed for us! Will try to write updates form time to time!

DONE!

We are done with PRIDE!!! So glad to be done with all our "mandatory" classes. 

We have actually been done for quite a while.. this post never published!

Mission paperwork... completed!

Mission - finish agency paperwork - completed! YAY! All of our paperwork that the agency has given us is officially done.. I hope. You see they had given us paperwork on several different occasions. They said that if they would have given it all to us at once, it would most likely have been overwhelming. So I think on about 5 different occasions we were given a folder full of paperwork. Well, here in about 1 hour I will be mailing off the last of what I am pretty sure that we have. Now we just have the PRIDE class "homework" though that paperwork is so easy compared to what all we have had to do for the agency! 

So that brings me to the PRIDE classes. We have three more sessions to complete, which equals out to 1.5 more Saturdays. Each class is 3 hours long, so it makes for a long Saturday. But this is so much quicker than having to take 3 hours a week over 9 weeks. Once we are done with the PRIDE classes and our agency has looked over all the paperwork, we should be having our final home visit and "interview" or a "fill in the gaps home-study meeting." The agency will then put together a 15, or so, page document, which is our home-study, and then, as long as the board approves our home-study, we will just be waiting on our license:) 

Its feels very good to have all the paperwork completed!!!

Once we are licensed we will be open to placement after the first week of August. Unless God has a different plan for us. Jeff and I have taken the position that we are open and ready for whatever God has in store for us. We have handed it all over to God. We are ready for whatever He has for us, whomever He places in our family. We are getting equipped with the tools we need and are ready for what He has in store for us. He has spoken and we are listening. 

Even though it feels like our lives have been consumed with paperwork, classes, and more paperwork, we are still trying to have fun and enjoy our summer. The Peoria Chiefs home opened is in 2 days, we are excited and already have our tickets. We found out yesterday that Charlie Tilson, Jaxon's favorite baseball player, is going to be playing for the Springfield Cardinals, which is the AA minor league team to the St.Louis Cardinals. We are going to be spending Memorial Day weekend in Missouri it looks like. We are going to go camping and then to the games on Saturday and Sunday. This will be our very first family camping outing. The boys have camped in the back yard, so we will see!! We are also having a lot of fun planning our Disney trip (shh its a surprise for Jaxon)! 

An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules

2 Timothy 2:5

PRIDE...

We have started our PRIDE classes through DCFS. We have one class and our next one is tomorrow! Glad to have started... but ready to be done! The paperwork is still overwhelming, but doable! Some of the paperwork is not that bad, just time consuming. We are also required to read three different books... they really need to evaluate this list. The books are really boring!! And repetitive. One book was written more for families to help them understand the process and how to offer some support. We actually gave this book to a couple of our family members for Christmas, so this book was good for us to read! The other two are very similar. More like self help parenting books. I really don't like self-help books, they are sort of boring and there is no story to them I would much rather attend a class/conference! Which is what we are going to be doing! We have a friend from church that works for a child welfare agency and is keeping us up to date on upcoming child training courses (these are classes that would offer extra training on trauma, child abuse etc...). I also attended the Hearts-at-Home moms conference this past weekend! It was amazing, of course!!! I picked up a book about caring for "that child" / the hyperactive child! I believe this will be of a benefit. Luckily this is not a required reading so I can skip around and read at my own pace! 

We are also trying to find time to enjoy this nice weather, and each other! We try very hard to spend lots of time with Jaxon! Luckily the weather was very nice last Wednesday and the boys spent most of the day outside! Jaxon was very excited about this! I never thought that I would ever say this.. but I am actually excited for baseball to start! 22 more days until the Chiefs home opener... we already have our tickets!!! We also have our tickets for the 2015 Midwest League All-Star league game! 

Jeff is also going to be going to Man Camp! Its a guys church retreat in Michigan. Our church has 20 guys going! He is pretty excited... some of there "selling" points is that the will get to grille their own steak and eat bacon! 

Jaxon and I are planning on spending quality time together.. we are going to paint pottery in Peoria! I am pretty excited.. I think Jaxon is too! We also might grille out a steak... but prob will skip the bacon! 

Jeff and I also got to go see Eric Church last night.. it was a lot of fun! So we are spending time together also! We also have gotten really involved in our church! I LOVE our church! I am so glad that God has placed us there! Lots of great friends and wonderful support! 

Overloaded

We have been overloaded on paperwork and more paperwork. Or as the agency likes to call it "homework" I feel like all I have been doing is answering the same questions over and over again. I am pretty sure it would have been easier for the agency to just sit down with one very long interview and get all the questions out of the way.

We are officially done with round one of classes. Those were the easy ones! In addition to the foster care PRIDE classes, our agency requires us to take additional classes. These classes are supposed to better prepare us for the children that will one day join our families! Glad that'd done!! Though, the next classes are 9 sessions and three hours each session.

Now those of you that know us probably thought that we had already started the PRIDE classes. Well, there was a miscommunication with our agency, and they never actually registered us for those classes. So, after I looked at the scheduled, I had to get creative... We are taking the classes with some mild adjustments (we are jumping in on 2 different classes for our sessions... its complicated, but it worked).

Mostly that's pretty much where we are in the process! Just lots and lots of paperwork and more classes! I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed at times! I am really stressed out over all the paperwork that we have to complete. Its just writing, and a lot of it.

Jeff's brother is going through the process, though not sure their plan is working out the way they had hoped for. They had a child in their home and was hoping for another but has fallen through... I think? For one reason or another its not working out how they wanted. They never keep us updated and let us know how the process is working out... I feel like I can't even offer support without getting yelled at.

This was what I was afraid of... there situation was totally different from ours. They were doing the route of foster with hopes of adopting, this is what our agency calls a huge "legal risk" The parents still have legal ties to the child, and they working toward terminating rights. Though, they would ne in the very early stages of that. The parents may still have visitation and some say over the child. So depending on the family situation, they could still work to get the kids back. Our agency would be trying to potentially help the parents out at this point. Of course, there are some situations where they would be moving more toward termination of rights... each case is different!

There are varying levels of legal risk in our agency. Some just like stated above, and others where there is minimal risk, and even others where there would be none. Since we are not going to be foster parents to the child, we are going to be their forever family... there would be very very minimal legal risk to none.

I want to offer support to my sister-in-law, but every time I try to ask how things are going or how she is doing, she just gets mad and tells me (in a harsh tone) that she does not want to talk about it and has lost trust in the whole process. I wish she would talk to me, I might be able to offer some insight into things since Jeff and I have had to take additional classes (they would not have taken them since they are going through a different agency and a different route). I am just upset and not feeling needed support from certain family because of their situation. I also feel like we have to keep this quiet and we can't be excited about our process and talk openly about it at times (only with certain group of people). I am respecting their wishes about not talking about their situation, but does that mean we can't talk about ours? That we can't be excited? Just struggling with all this...

Do not be terrified, do not be discourages for the LORD your God will be with your wherever you go - Joshua 1:9

Where we are... at this point!

We have completed paperwork, we have gotten our physicals (well almost, Jeff's is next week). TB test have been completed. Finger printing... check! So whats next your ask...? Classes, lots of classes. We have class next week, and then start classes in February.. held every Saturday through early March. We have been told that more paperwork in on they way. We also have to draw up a "blueprint" of our house/property. It does not have to be as specific as a real blueprint, but we do have to include several details about our house and property. I have been putting this off, but the time has come. I might try to work on this over the weekend. I want to have this completed before any more paperwork is given to us.
We also have some required readings. I have been trying to read one of the books, but its really hard. The book is geared more toward the families of those who are adopting, so its hard to get in to it. I am trying really hard, its just going to take me some time!

We have been keeping busy with life... and Church activities! We have started our small group bible study on Orphan Care. It talks about what the Bible says about orphans and the "instructions" that God has set for us to care for the Orphans.
Psalm 68:5 "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation"
Psalm 82:3 Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

Just last week we talked about how we are all orphans and how Jesus has made this possible. 
Ephesians 1:5 "He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will"

Its been a great group and I have learned so much already. Plus its been wonderful to have the support of a few that are currently foster families. Even though we are not going to be a foster home, there are a lot of similarities between the two. 

So we don't have a lot to report this time around, just been hanging out waiting for the next step. Classes are our next step. 

Survived the initial walk through

We survived the first home visit. It was so silly.. she was there for about 20 minutes. It was just an informal walk through. She said that there would be another one. One that would last a lot longer. Though she did not see anything of any concern,. She was not worried at all. 

Next step, more paperwork. I feel like that's what I do all the time. PAPERWORK (for any of my past nursing classmates... PUT IT IN YOUR PAPERWORK (Brook would get this best...lol) We will be scheduled to take one set of classes starting in February. This is a 9 week class, we are condensing it down to 4.5 days. DCFS offers the class either one evening a week, 3 hours each session, for 9 weeks, or there is one session that is all day Saturday, 6 hours, for  4.5 Saturdays. Jeff and I will be taking that class. We will also be taking a 3 day class at some point and then an additional 1 day class. We should be well prepared by the time all our classes over to be able to do this adoption thing! We are excited but overwhelmed by paperwork and its just the beginning. I know there will be a lot more to come.

Jeff and I are excited to start a new bible study with some great people at church. We will be diving into the book "All in Orphan Care" Our church is starting a new ministry to help support anyone who will be fostering/adopting/or supporting. They are so many needs out there. Not just needs for the actual kids. But needs for the caseworkers, social workers etc.... 

Romans 8:28 says; And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose

Jeff and I truly believe that we are being called to do this. God has opened up our hearts and given us patience. He has helped to calm my nerves and not make me so anxious. He has helped me to see the here and now, and helped me to accept that He has this! 

Deuteronomy 31:6; Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."