Wow, the last month
has been crazy busy and we have several updates! We’ve now moved
into a home large enough to accommodate four kids. It’s been a
rush of unpacking, getting bunk beds and dressers, and just overall
working to get our new home ready for kiddos.
There are several
things we’ve had to do and buy in order to prepare the home for
foster children. We had to post a fire escape plan on each floor of
the house (and we’ll need to practice it with kids once a month),
and since we have more than one story, we had to purchase a fire
ladder. Every single power outlet in the house that is not being
used now has a child-proof cover.
Oh, and here’s one
that I never would’ve thought of as being a hazard; we had to put a
highly visible sticker on our glass sliding door so kiddos won’t
accidentally run into it. I’m hoping I’m not the only one who
laughed when I heard about that! I may or may not have also imagined
kids running into the glass and wondered if the resulting smudge
marks could count as our “highly visible sticker.” I hope I’m
not a terrible soon-to-be parent for thinking that, haha!
So, with all of our
I’s dotted and T’s crossed, a caseworker from our agency was able
to come out for our home study this past Friday (7/22 – the day
before our five year anniversary!). It was a four-and-a-half hour
interview that will be used to write a 30-page document about what
Sesha and I are like and what our home will be like for any kiddos.
The caseworker estimated that she would finish writing our home study
in a couple of days and then the agency will have two weeks to either
approve or disapprove us to be foster parents.
Now it’s starting
to feel more and more real. Two weeks! In only two weeks, we’ll
hopefully be approved and then we can start learning more about
specific kiddos. We’ll need to narrow it down to the sibling group
that will be the best fit – for both them and us. Since we’re
looking at older kids, we’ll then arrange one or two meetings (to
make sure they don’t hate us or anything like that) before bringing
them home.
We’re so excited
(and nervous, and thrilled, and anxious, and every other emotion that
probably applies to the majority of first-time parents) that this is
finally about to happen! Our quiet evenings will soon be ending.
We would very much
appreciate your prayers. Please pray for our future kids. They’re
likely in the foster care system right now and wondering if they’ll
ever be adopted. One of the groups we’ve been looking at is
currently separated (two groups of two), so they’re probably
wondering if they’ll even get to grow up together. We don’t know
what past traumas kids will be dealing with or how they’ll feel
about moving to a new home. Please pray for our future kids and
especially for all of the kids that we won’t be able to bring into
our home.
Please also pray for
Sesha and me. We have what are probably normal worries about the
demands of parenting. Additionally, all of the expenses of preparing
our home for four children have taken a serious toll on our savings
and I’m worried about the expenses yet to come. Please pray that
God will continue to provide.
Hopefully, our next
post will be in a few weeks after we’ve met our future kiddos! For
legal reasons, we won’t be able to share their names, photos, or
any specific details about their past, but I’m sure there will be
plenty of great stories for this blog nonetheless!
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