So remember I mentioned I had been cleaning like a mad woman over spring break, it's because we were having our foster care home study done that week. That's right foster care. We have signed up to be foster parents with the Department of Health and Welfare. We took our 27 hours of training classes in March (Wayne too!) and are currently awaiting our first placement. We have signed up to take 1-2 children at a time, ages 0-3. We picked this age range hoping that we could ease into it a little bit. And we picked 1-2 children because Wayne so kindly pointed out to me that's all we can fit into our car! (Note: They could have licensed us for up to 6 if we wanted to broaden our age range! But I'm not that crazy!)
Since we have known this was going to be happening, over the last few weeks I have been buying some essentials. I bought a crib, a toddler bed, and a stroller. We are also asked by the department to have on hand or access to things like diapers, formula, and clothes since placements often don't happen during store hours. And children often only come with what is currently in the diaper bag, if they have one. So I thought it would be important to grab a couple of outfits in each size to keep on hand. I grabbed a few thing at a DI swap at church and stumbled upon a 25 cent sale at a thrift store. I thought I was doing good. Julie mentioned she still had clothes from her boys and was willing to pass them on to me. Of course I said yes.
My pile of clothes before Julie:
My pile of clothes after Julie:
I have been knee deep in plaid button ups and striped polos for the last 3 days!!! I've decided Julie has a weird obsession for those things! I finally got them all put away into boxes yesterday afternoon. We are completely prepared for boys. I'm guessing that means our first placement will be a girl!
Now it's just the waiting for "the call". I think this will be are hardest part for me. I'll admit, patience is not my finest attribute. But I'll deal with it. Every time the phone rings my heart skips a beat.
Ellie is super excited! When the worker came to do our home study, Ellie was very quick to tell her that she wanted a baby. When the worker asked about a 3 year old, Ellie told her "That won't work!" The worker then asked, "What about a 3 year old and a baby?" Ellie replied, "That will do." I wouldn't describe Jake as excited, but maybe interested is a better word. He is more concerned with the changes in general. Like the other day, he mentioned something about us having to cancel some of our camping trips this summer since we will have extra kids, which he was perfectly fine with. When I explained that we could just take them with us, he was delighted. We have tried to prepare our children with the changes that might take place but we simply can't. Every situation is so different.
Wayne is very quite about the whole thing. He's not much of a talker in general. He is definitely supportive and on board with it. We wouldn't be this far into if he wasn't. Remember, he's already invested 27 hours of classes. I think he will love the children that come into our home just as much as I will.
So with that said, YES the stork is coming! Hopefully with many children! Our first placement will definitely be blog worthy. But I need to mention, I will not be able use the foster children's names or give out any info about them. I'm not legally able to. You will probably just get a letter (like J for Jake) instead of a name.
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