Only a Month or So Left!

As promised, here is an update of what is going on lately. I don't think this one is going to be quite as insightful as the last one, but nonetheless, here goes.

I have to say, this isn't really sinking in yet. Bob and I have a nursery in our house, and it's just weird. It doesn't seem real. Once we got the room done, our 4 month old niece was here, and we had her in the crib as they were here all day. It's hard to think that there will be another baby in it soon.

The training that we are doing right now is designed to help us understand how to help meet these kids' needs, and also to understand how their experiences might be affecting their behaviors. It's also giving us lots of real-life examples of why these kids can end up in foster care. I'm telling you, it's enough to break your heart to think what these kids, as young as 8 months or even younger, have gone through. I can't explain in words the feelings that I have when I hear these stories, but they're feelings that tell me that I'm in the right place, and doing the right thing.

We are about four and a half weeks from being licensed…maybe five. I think we have four more books left, but five classes? We've been going every Monday, so our last class should be either September 29th or October 6th. In addition to our classes, we have had to get our house ready, do some training, and some other things so that we can get licensed. My mom, Amanda, and Jaime (I love you guys!) have been terribly helpful in this matter. No kidding…they spent 2+ days here helping Bob and I clean, de-clutter, and organize our house. I can't thank them enough, and I owe them…big time.

We have to have all medications (vitamins, cold medicine, prescription medicine, etc) locked away. We have to have anything that has "Keep out of reach of children" on it (hand soap, dish soap, laundry detergent, lotions, perfumes, etc) childproofed. That was a huge roadblock for me, as we've got a lot of that stuff in this house. Our social worker, Ann, came last week and we talked about a lot of it, and she put my mind more at ease. Then when my mom helped with the house, we got it done. DONE! Other than getting physicals, getting fingerprinted, and getting our dogs vaccinated, we are ready to be licensed! Yay!

Everyone keeps telling us how great we are, and what great parents we're going to be, and how inspiring this is. I tell you, it doesn't feel like we're doing anything special…it just feels like we're doing what God is wanting us to do. I think I said this before, but the farther and farther I get in this process, I really 110% feel like things happen for a reason, and that I don't think things like this come together by chance.