Only 2 more classes!!!

Last night in class we went over the court process. We started with removing a child from a home and the court proceeding that follow that all the way through to adoption. I was a little discouraged. It may take MANY years before an adoption is finalized. We are both confident that this is what God wants us to do and so we will wait and deal with everything as it comes. I guess it all comes down to being faithful that He will provide our every need.

Good news, we finished painting the room that will belong to the child. Its so cute, I am excited to get things in it. The crib still needs to be painted as well as the dresser, but the changing table and book shelf are all done and found their place in the room.

We had an AMAZING weekend. We got to see some friends from Josh's work who are in the process of adopting from Vietnam. We celebrated families, how ever they come together. It was fun spending time with my husband and our neice and nephew. It was a late night, but definately enjoyable. Sunday we went to Chicago and saw Kooza with my ENTIRE family. My cousion and his gf flew in from Boston too. It was great to see Him since its usually only at christmas and thanksgiving. His Gf is really nice, I think they will get married. Kooza was wonderful and dinner afterward was delicious. It was another late night, but we all had a blast! We are soo blessed to both come from great families. Its definatly something we take for granted to often.

Josh has had this week off which has been nice. We have been able to get somework done and even find time to nap! He is going back to work next week to teach summer school, which is another HUGE blessing. It will be about 3 weeks of work and extra pay! Extra money is always good!

Well I hope you all are having a wonderful week!! Only a few more days then its the weekend!!! Love you all so much thank you for your support and prayers through this time!!

Class # 5 and 6

Only 3 more classes left!!! Then we are one step closer to welcoming our first child!! This weekes classes were on visits and punnishments. Kinda borning, but a good refresher.

We also had our meeting with the Pastor at ECFA. It went well, I was nervous but there was nothing to be nervous about. Josh and I each got a change to share our childhoods with him. And then we explained our life together. It was good.

Josh finished his masters degree this week! I will now be able to see my husband. He is happy to be done and already looking to "whats next."

We are excited to finally have a weekend together!! Tonight we are spending time with our very best friends!!! Tomorrow we get to take our AMAZING neice and nephew and sunday we are going to Chicago to see Kooza. My aunt bought my entire family tickets for christmas, and we are finally going. After the show we are going to dinner. I am looking forward to it.

I am STILL sorting baby clothes. I will post pics soon!

Class #4

Have you ever experienced loss? Loss of a loved one, loss of self-esteem or loss of basic needs? Im sure we have all experienced loss at one time or another. Sometimes our loss is expected and sometimes is not. Either way its difficult to deal with loss and it take time to learn to cope. Well in class number 4 we talked about the loss these children will experience when they are removed from their home. We discussed the mental/physical process we go through when we have loss. Like all our other classes we learned a lot and will definatly use it to make loss eaiser with the children placed in our home.

Things are moving along here at home. We are collecting more and more stuff, which is great! We registered at target and babies r us for the shower. I think like we are slowly getting prepared. We have an AMAZING collection of girl clothes 0-12 months. Boys stuff we have a good start but are still in need of some little boy stuff. Toddler clothes we have none of at least not 2t or 3t. It will come I am sure. We picked up some more toys from a freecycle member. I am planning on taking photos of all this stuff when I get my act together. Who knows when that will be. I will post more on tuesday! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

E and J

Class number 3

Tonight was all about attachement issues and types of abuse/neglect. Not an easy night emotionally. We watched some pretty tough videos and talked about some pretty deep things. We are learning so much!! I feel like after this class we will be prepared to be foster parents and even better parents when we do finally adopt. A quote keeps comming up in our classes and that is "its not about you." I really think I am going to paint this on my wall somewhere. Its a good reminder and something that we all need to keep in mind in our daily lives. When I think about finally being able to give the child back to their birth parents (that is the ultimate goal, but we are praying that god places children in our home that will never be able to go home and therefor open for adoption.) and how sad we will be. We need to remember its not about us, or how we are feeling. Its about the child, not us. When we see the child behaving poorly due to past circumstances, we need to remember that they are not acting out towards us and that they are our focus. This is something I think we are going to need to remember on our path. We are not doing this for ourselfs, its all for the kids.

We also found out that DCFS does NOT supply us with furnature or carseats. We need to be prepared for that and its our responsibility. AHHHH. Our trainer suggested a Foster to Adopt shower. And my good friend is busy planning our shower!! YEAH! Its going to be a different type of shower but we are praying that people are open to the idea. We are also praying that people are willing to open thier hearts and provide for a child. Even if its just a sippy cup and an outfit. It all helps.

Josh and I have been busy going through clothes my sister in law gave us (thanks Katie). We have been washing (they have sat in the basement in boxes for 2 years) and organizing them. Its amazing the amout of baby girl clothes we have. Its definatly a good start. I will take pictures once I get it all wased and folded. Its soo fun to wash baby clothes. Well have to get going the dryer just beeped at me, another load done!

FreeCycle

Josh picked up a bunch of free baby stuff from a lady on free cycle. Some of it was good, some of it was not so good. Either way I am happy, we got about a box of girls clothing, a bassinett swing (a good travel crib if nothing else), toddler spoons and a few (def. used) bottles. I am going to keep the bottles in case we dont get any others, but would prefer to get a few in a nicer condition.

I am so quick to worry. If you couldn't tell by last nights post. Every need in my life has been met in some way or another. There is still a ton of things we need (I actualy made a general list today and its about 2 pages long) but I believe that God will provide it all for us.

We have another meeting tomorrow, class number 3. Woo Hoo.

Welcome to the Jungle

We picked out the bedding for the "babies" room. We wanted to do someting neutral because we have NO idea what gender the first child will be. We just bought the sheet thus far and will be adding to it over the next few weeks. We picked out wall color and we decided to go with a "crushed cracker" color. Its a tan/brown. We also got paint for the crib and changing table and paint for the dresser and book case. All of which was given to us (thank you to all of you have been so willing to share!!!). Here are a few pics of us painting. The theme of the room is "Welcome to the Jungle" and you have to say it like the song.

Josh painting the night stand, it was blue but soon will be green. The changin table is in the background, its brown.

My best "Welcome to the Jungle" face, complete with claws.

Josh and his best face...his claws are way better than mine.

Here is the sheet we picked out. Isn't it cute?

Here is the best pic I could find of the quilt.

Lately we (mostly me) have been feeling...ummm...whats the best word? Hurt? We are in need of sooo much "stuff." We couldn't possible go out and purchase it all, we simply can't afford it. Think about all the stuff htat is needed for a baby. Yea, we need it all. How are we going to get it? No idea. (Thank you to all the people who have helped make this list smaller, we really dont know what we would do without you) Anways, back to why we (mostly me) are feeling hurt. I have always been a person (not to toot my own horn) who will give everything to someone in need. Weather it been money, "stuff", support or encouragement. I am often told that i put others needs before my own. Which is true in some cases. I have always felt blessed that we have never needed anything. God has always provided more than enough for us. I want to share that with others, so I give. To me it doesnt seem like a sacrifice, because I always have enough. However at this momment in time...I am in need. I(josh too) need support through friendsip and family. We need stuff for the baby that will be comming into our house soon (could be a toddler, not sure) We need boy things and girl things. Toddle things and baby things. We need to be prepared, we could get a phone call at 2 in the morning saying that they need a home for a baby right out of the hospital. We need to be ready. So at this momment in time, Josh and I are in a great need. And the more I think about it, the more I realize its not things we need for ourselfs, its things for a child. A child who didn't ask to have suckey parents, and child who doesn't deserve to be neglected. It hurts me to think more people in the world are not willing to give to them if not of thier time, at least some of their treasure. Maybe I am being selfish, i dunno. I am just frustrated that people are not more supportive through this time. I do know that God is in control and when people around us fail, he will will be there.

Call #2...Done

We are already finished with 2 of our classes...only 7 more to go! YEAH. Everything went well on thursday night. We talked about teamwork and that we MUST have teamwork to create a positive outcome. Josh and I as Foster Parents will be part of a team of professionals that will help make decisions for the child. But we will also be in teamwork with the birth parent(s). Josh and I will need to model good parenting to them. We are nurturing the child just as much as the parents. Most people dont understand that, but its sooo true. Josh and I are getting ready for this adventure, its overwhelming, but exciting. Class number 3 will be tuesday!

Class # 1

We are done with class number 1. It was good, and went by super fast. We had trouble finding it, my wonderful husband forgot the directions at home, so we were about 15 mins late. For those of you that know me, being late is my BIGGEST pet peeve. Anyways, we made it, better late than never I guess. We watched a short video and then dicussed our "ideas" of foster parenting. We were able to share a little about ourselves and get to know the others in our class.

Here is the paperwork we got tonight. The stack on the far left is homework! Yuck. The Blue binder is what we are going over in class. The other stuff are things we need to read on our own.

Here is Josh doing his homework. We just got home and he started right away, I will wait till the last min.

Me with the binders. I look happy, but inside I am worried. How in the world are we going to be able to remember all this info? AHHH....

So i am frustrated and I am going to tell you why. 2 times today I have heard people say that "she had dreams she could change the world." THe first time I heard it was at work for a lady talking about a special ed teacher who quit after less than a year of teaching. My coworker claimed that she "didn't succeed" at her job becase she thought she could change the world. Tonight as class our teacher (who is a case manager) made a comment about the turn over rate of case workers. She said that young women right out of college come in "thinking they can change the world" but quickly realize they can't. This way of thinking makes me sooooo mad, you truly have no idea. Hear me out. 1 person cannot change the world, I get that. However, 1 person CAN change the world for someone. If we all changed the world for 1 other person how much better would we all be? I think more people need to believe they can change the world, its the people who think they can't that cause those of us the believe we can to fail. So maybe we should all believe that we can change it. Perhaps then we would have a world that would give for eachother rather than just take for ourselves. To all you who believe you can change the world, keep believing. To all of you that think you can't, change your way of thinking and see what happens, think you will be surprised at the outcome!

Good night everyone... and tomorrow...I WILL change the world, even if it is just for one person!

E and J

July Already?

Wow, I can hardly believe it is July! Our summer is flying by as I am sure many of yours are as well. We are enjoying spending time with friends and family. We have spent many of hours in the pool and I must say I am getting tan. This is an accomplishment I have worked toward for many years. My legs are still white as can be...but I am taking baby steps.

Tuesday this week we atart our PRIDE class. I am not exactly sure what to expect. But i will find out soon enough. I am sure I will have a TON to write after tuesday nights class. Be looking for it!

Today is Sunday and my favorite day of the week. I love getting up, eathing breakfast with my husband and then heading to church. There is something about sundays that just scream family. Today we went to church like normal. However, today, i left feeling filled up spiritally. I really felt God was confirming our choice to become foster parents! Although i have never doubted Josh and I's call to minister in this way, there have been times when I question if it is something I am totally ready for. I think about all the things that are going to change. All the time and energy that will be put into these children and we might not get to see them as the grow up and become adults. Thas hard to think about, but God is reminding me daily that He is incontroll and that I should trust Him. It's not always easy, but I know that my God is bigger than anything.

Today after church we went to lunch with some friends. Their friendships have been amazing and a true answer to prayer. I honestly dont think they know how much they mean to Josh and I. So friends from Re:Group if you are reading this, we want you to know how much you mean to Josh and I. Thnks for opening your hearts to us, good friends are hard to find. And to think we have so many, we are truly blessed.