The first

We have a foster child living with us! It was last minute (which wasn't surprising) and has gone extremely well all things considered. He's a he and is five years old and has been great with the girls. Josie is already smitten. She follows him around and loves that he will let her play with him. She echoes him and grins at me from across the room. It's so sweet. Thankfully, he enjoys her company and is willing to put up with her selfish toddler ways.

It's a huge adjustment, but not in the way I expected. I have no idea how to entertain a five year old and a boy for that matter. We have a bunch of girl toys but they are much more appropriate for girls and kids two and under. I don't know what is normal when it comes to things like bathing, using the bathroom, changing clothes, etc. I'm so thankful to have a husband to help me out of those awkward situations.

Another difference is that sometimes there is more "down time" for me because the kids can actually play together. On the other hand, five year olds talk a lot more. I swear my ears are ringing. I've answered more questions today than I have ever answered before. Seriously. The kid's curious. 

I'm so glad to be doing this. I know this is the honeymoon stage, and that we have no answers to our many (many!) questions, but today, this first full day as a family of five (temporary as it is) was a good day. A day that I am truly thankful for.



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Josie says with a little bit of Josie does

Today my 21 month old decided that she was too big for plain cheerios. She took it upon herself to add her milk to the cheerios that were no longer in her bowl but were instead in her kitchen pot, the perfect size for a toddler's breakfast. She then proceeded to eat the cereal "like a big girl" and didn't even make a mess. When did she learn to do this? Grammy's. It must be at Grammy's. 

There are still toddler antics involved. She decided to "have tea" with her cereal, and chose to use the teapot's lid as an alternative to her spoon. I'm still impressed.

You will hear her say "hey dad" as casual as a teenager in passing at all times of the day. "Hey mom" is thrown in too, but that one isn't quite as teen-like. I don't know who told her that it was okay to refer to us as "mom and dad". I like the childish "mommy and daddy" but I guess she's too old for that.

Hubby's newest story: At night, right before turning out the lights but after reading a story, he prays a prayer with Josie with his hands folded and eyes closed. He's not delusional - he knows she doesn't have her eyes closed most of the time, but lately she's taken to grabbing him by the beard and pulling his face right up to hers before saying "I'm talkin' to you!" right in the middle of it. Needless to say, he has to hold back his laughter each and every time. And yes, it's happened more than once. 

She's also done this to me, but instead of grabbing my nonexistant beard, she puts both hands on my cheeks and pulls me in close. 

After church on Sunday, we were all piled in the car (including aunt Lara in the middle between the girls), and suddenly Josie started to softly sing the ABCs. She got all the way to LMNOP perfectly and then continued to loop that part over and over. We just looked at each other surprised - who knew she knew that much of it? She said each letter clear as day. She also knows the ending - "now I know my ABCs..." so we just have one small part left to learn.

She's full of surprises.




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Buttons, new looks, weekend updates, and more

I did it. I made a blog button (such a huge deal, I know). I was bound and determined to figure out how to do it, and it only took me a few hours. Does that show you how techy I am (not)? Regardless, it's on the side of my blog and you are welcome to grab it if you would like. 

I'd absolutely love to do a button trade, so if you are interested in that, let me know please! I also have my blog list on the right side, and would love to add more to it but don't always remember to update it. Let me know if you'd like to be on that too. :) I'm always up for helping out other bloggers (even though my little blog is just that - little).

And also - did you see my new blog look? If you are reading from a reader or through your email you'll have to go to my actual blog page ... I think it's worth it though. I like it. It's nothing fancy but it fits me and isn't as wintery/dark as the last one.

We had a great weekend. We finished up the training for foster care and had dinner with friends on Saturday night. Sunday was great. After church, my sister took Josie to the circus and my parents came up to hang out with Audrey. That left hubby and I to have some free time and we spent it doing the most romantic thing we could think of... shopping! We hit up a few places we had been meaning to go and got back to the house just in time to scarf down some Italian food before my sister and parents hit the road to drive back in blizzard-like conditions(isn't it mid April?). We spent the evening playing with play dough and making rice krispie bars. It was a great day, definitely one for the books.

After church but before we went on our "date," we did a 20 minute clean up where we both just ran around putting away the random things that were homeless and cleaning random floors, toilets, and rooms. I love those short little cleaning spurts when we both motivated at the same time. It felt so good to see the weird little things get done and the house just looked more put together afterwards. I was beaming all afternoon just from that 20 minute session. It's the little things, right?

They stayed for the whole first half (pretty good for a 22 month old) and apparently she hated cotton candy but loved the pickle on a stick. I'm not even a little surprised by this.

Audrey decided to redeem herself from the previous time we were with Grammy and Bappa where she screamed almost the whole weekend prior to her magical chiropractor visit. This time around, she cooed, smiled and giggled for them for most of the afternoon, officially wrapping them around her little finger.

Twas a good weekend.

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The Next Step

We've had a lot of major changes in the last year. I got pregnant with our second child, quit my job, started a piano studio, had a baby, said good bye to our dear Buckley, and grew our (my hubby's) business to be just about twice as busy. With all of that, we still felt a calling from God to add one more major change. We just finished the steps required and are now licensed to do foster care. 

It's something that has been on my heart for a while. I have acquaintances that have recently had foster children, I have come across (purely by accident) a few blogs that were either starting the journey or right in the midst of it. I heard about it more and more through social media and the news. Really, it was right in my face. I felt the familiar nudge of God pointing me towards something, but fear kept me from going after it aggressively for a relatively long time. My biggest fear was bringing this up to my hubby. He loves our kids but isn't what he would refer to as a "kid person." He's never been drawn to other people's kids and didn't feel like he would be good at it. I've learned since we started this process that it is very common for men to feel this way, and that gave me more confidence to continue looking into it.

The process is not simple, although it's not too crazy either. We had to do background checks, get our fingerprints taken, do a home study to make sure we have a safe house, have three references, get interviewed multiple times by a social worker, and then take 24 hours of educational classes. The classes were the most time consuming and took place over three Saturdays. I'm thankful for them, though, because they answered a lot of our questions and addressed a lot of our fears, some that we didn't even know we had. 

Although I did not mention it publicly via Facebook or this blog, we have been talking about it with different people in our lives. It's interesting to see the different responses, most  filled with caution. People have heard horror stories and are quick to pass them on to us to "rescue us" from a bad decision. Others are concerned that we will neglect our children or have our marriage disintegrate. While frustrating to hear, they are valid concerns because these things do happen. I'm most thankful for those in our lives that have been supportive from the very beginning. We have numerous people that have already voiced their willingness to help out when needed and be prayer warriors for us. Occasionally we do hear people say things like "wow that is so great of you!" or "You are amazing for saving those kids!" I promise you, that just makes us feel uncomfortable as we know that we are not any more special than anyone else but are just following what God is calling us to do. Also, from what we have heard, these kids will most likely be huge blessings to us, so "saving them" just doesn't sound right to us. Whew. I'll get off of my soap box now.

Within 24 hours of getting the call that we were officially licensed, we were contacted about a potential child needing a home. I scrambled around the bedroom we have started preparing trying my hardest to get it warm and comfortable for a scared and confused child that would be coming to live with us for a while. There's nothing like last minute news to get this procrastinator moving! I had the entire room cleaned up with the bed made and the drawers empty in about two hours. That particular child did not end up staying with us, but getting the call got me moving to get those loose ends wrapped up. Now at least the room is closer to ready. 

The very beginning of the process: new bedding. I'll post more pictures as the room comes together. It was previously filled with boxes of books, sleeping bags, Christmas decorations, Christmas wrapping paper and supplies, a guest bed, all of my grandmother's paintings, and more (if you can even imagine that being possible). We managed to relocate most of that stuff and the room is cleared out for the most part. Now the problem is that it feels so cold and bare. Definitely a work in progress!

The next day, we got another call. When I talked to my hubby about it, we talked about how ridiculous and sad it is that within such a short period of time, we'd already had two calls. How can there be that many kids that need to get out of a bad situation quickly? We had no idea that it was going to be that quick. The seriousness of what we were doing really hit us then. These kids need a safe home, someone they can trust, someone that can show them Jesus. It's no small thing, and we pray that God is working on our hearts to prepare us for this. (That placement also did not happen. It's a good thing when the placements don't happen because it means that the are either safe at their home (hooray!) or that they have a better home for them already like a relative or someone they know.)

It will be a journey, that's for sure. For privacy reasons, we aren't allowed to share anything about the child or children that we have stay with us. There won't be pictures on here with the child in them and I won't be talking much about him or her. I won't stop blogging of course, but that part of my life will not be public. I'm open to discussing the process of foster parenting. Please let me know if you have any questions! 

We hope you will join our "team" by praying along side us. We're cautiously excited to see what God has in store for us.



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