Not all fun and games.

     Well, for those of you wondering, yes, we're still alive! We survived the 6 grueling weeks of the Foster Care classes, which means 36 HOURS of information. Including homework that had to be done in between classes and on the weekends. Not to mention we both work full time and attempt to have somewhat of a social life in between.
We made some amazing friends in the class and through this process and are truly glad we stuck through it all. We had so much information thrown at us in those short 6 weeks, we're more prepared to be parents than most of the population around here. You think I'm kidding...I'm totally not!

We learned so much about how to deal with the issues that will come with these foster children. Remember, these children are in "the system" for a reason. Reasons that can include: physical abuse, emotional abuse, starvation, sexual abuse, neglect, torture, drug addictions, etc. I don't even know where to start to tell you what kind of horrible situations some of these babies and children come from. So I won't go there... the point is, we'll probably end up with a little person who has a large attitude.

The main thing we learned about in these classes is to love unconditionally. To listen, to pay attention to what the child is freaking out about, to understand, to be there as a shoulder to cry on but not to be overwhelming, controling, or too pushy. Every one of these kids have trust issues. They don't want to become too attached to anyone because they always end up getting hurt. Yes, if we end up with an infant we might not run into this issue, however, most of these babies never had the care that a typical baby would have. Some things as simple as even being held as newborns, or maybe they cried all night and no one ever came to feed them. Maybe they spent 3 days in the same diaper. Who knows! These kids have gone through the worst, and they deserve a family who will love them! The more I learn, the more fired up I get about adoption. It's so easy. Not as easy as taking a quick trip to Target in your little mini van, but all things considered, I honestly can't believe we still have so many thousands and thousands of orphans in America. At this point I'd like to go into a very long rant but...I'll save you from Sarah's soap box. Just this once.

I've had quite a few friends and family ask me where we're at in the whole process. Well, we're kinda stuck somewhere in the middle. We still need to complete our CPR class, get ourselves fingerprinted, have physicals done and have paper work filled out by our Doctors... send in our home visit application, which can take a while to process, and have our social worker come see our house and discuss what type of baby/child/siblings we are open for.

This all sounds simple but it all takes appointments and planning which is hard to do when you're at work 5 days a week. Most of these appointments are scheduled to happen in the next month and a half, however, we still need to do a little prep-work before the home visit. Apparently, we need to have everything ready when they do the home check, including car seats, cribs, beds, etc...the only problem is, we have planned to take any toddler, baby, or sibling set age 4 or under, any sex, any race. So, preparing our house for any of these might get pretty interesting. But Matt and I are together in this and we are ready for the challenge!

On a happier note, I get to register for baby stuff someday soon! We are both super excited to get to do this together. I just have no idea what the heck I'm supposed to plan for!
Most girls, when they get pregnant, know that at the end of 9 months, they will be having a baby. I, however, know that at the end of some months from now (and I have no idea when), we will get a call and poof! There will be a baby, or a toddler, or a few toddlers, or a toddler/baby, standing at my door and we'd better be ready! yikes.
All we can do for now is continue on the path that has been layed before us and get all the necessities taken care of, along with trusting God's plan for our lives as we continue to move forward into our unknown future.