Foster Care: Our First Placement

PHEWWWWWWWW

 

This weekend was a busy busy one lol.

Friday around 1pm I got a call for a placement and my husband and I agreed to take it.

So at 6:30pm they arrived, dirty faces, snotty noses and teary eyes.

Twin 2 year olds (boy&girl) and a 9 year old boy.

Yes we are crazy to take three our first placement. Yes we are crazy to take twins

And yes, we were overwhelmed immediately.

 

But like they say it gets better. Friday night was full of lots of tears and rocking the little ones to sleep. I have not slept a whole night since. Baby girl gets up every night at 1:30 like clock work and I have to curl up in the toddler bed with her to get her to go back to sleep.

 

Saturday we made a run to Wal Mart. They came with no diaper or wipes and very little clothing. Luckily we had been collecting clothing from family and friends and we had a few things the little ones fit into. We also had to purchase a table booster and car seat because we never expected twins so we only had one each. That night there was less crying.

 

Sunday morning we got everyone up and ready and went to church. Its funny something so common to us like church on Sunday is so different to little ones that have never been. But they all seemed to enjoy it. Baby girl is already clingy to me so I was surprised she stayed in the nursery the whole time. So proud of her and the boys! That night we figured it out.... My husband played the guitar and sang to the babies while I laid with them and they went to sleep without crying!

 

Each day is a little better. Baby boy is coming out of his shell and turing out to be quite the ham lol. They are all adjusting very well and very quickly. In fact they didn't even cry on the way home from visitation yesterday! I thank God that they feel comfortable and loved here in our home. I know He will give us the strength and patience to love these kiddos till they are back home with family.

Foster Care: Nesting.... Preparing Our Foster Rooms

    We live in a 3 bedroom house. When we first decided to do fostering we were going to keep one room as an office, put a crib in our room and bunk beds in the other room. And so we did. Two months later we made the decision to some how find places for/ get rid of our whole office, split the bunk beds (they are the kind that separate into two twins) and move the crib. So NOW we have TWO foster rooms! One is a girly room with one twin bed, the other has a neutral jungle theme with a crib and a twin bed.
   Here are a few pics of our ready rooms. And I will list where we got some of the items.

This is our girly room.

The stand is from Target, I have had it for years.

With the exception of the loopy toy, everything on the top and first row we already had.

The tea set, dishes and fake food are from Target.

Books were given to us by some friends.

The ride a long Zebra was a yard sale item.

Stroller also from Target.



A few outfits in a few diff sizes.

Its always good to be prepared in case they come with nothing.

Its sad, but it happens.

 



I had one of these when I was little!

This barn set came from the same yard sale as the zebra.

When the lady found out we were doing foster care she just started loading up our arms with toys and told us to take them. What a blessing!

 



For the beds we used blankets we had already. We want to be able to take the kids to pick their own bedding later, so they feel like its more their room!

(my mom made this jean blanket)

The flower decals are from Wal Mart.

 



 

Jungle Room

The changing table and white totes were $20 from our local yard sale pg on FB.

The Evenflo saucer was free from a yard sale. (I'm totally okay with yardsaleing, just clean the item thoroughly with Clorox wipes lol)

The bumbo came from a craigslist haul where we got several baby items for $75.

My diaper bag on the right side is from the same CL haul.

The diaper holder and rug are from the set my mom blessed us with!

 



 

 <<<OUR CRIB>>>

We got the crib and mattress from my husbands cousin for $80 (they also foster, go them!)

Like I mentioned my mom got us the crib set. Its so cute. It's Lambs and Ivy brand, I believe they have it at Target and Babies R Us.

The baby activity mat is from our Craigslist haul. The twin beds are a bunk bed set, we traded a queen for their bunks. And the little basket at the end of the bed is a bowling set from a yard sale.

 

 



The closet has a small dresser form Wal Mart. The clothes are all hand me downs from my neighbor. The wooden dino on the dresser was made for us by my step dad. Jungle photo was from set from mom. And that cute bouncer is from our Craigslist haul.

 

    In the few months that we have been certified I have re washed the bedding and clothes and dusted the rooms so many times. Not to mention how many times I have rearranged the toys and decor. Sometimes I just go sit on the beds and pray. I pray God protects and comforts our future foster children, that He holds them close and gives them hope for something good to come.

 

 

 



Foster Care: Quarterly

Yesterday we had our quarterly inspection with our foster care agency. (We are with a wonderful agency rather than county). As expected he gave us the green light.

 

 

 

He was surprised we have yet to get a placement and assured us it shouldn't be long before we do. He also commented on how impressed he was with how prepared we are. Apparently many people just ready the minimum requirement for the child's room ex. bed and dresser. Personally I would feel so ill equipped if we only had a bed and dresser. Oh my I cant imagine lol. I want our future fosters to walk into their rooms and feel happiness, peace, comfort, and love. Anyways... feeling excited and anxious to get our first placement soon. Praying for our babies daily:)

Infertility: Let The Testing Begin

      At the beginning of this month I had an annual apt with my OB where she suggested we start running some tests to find the cause and hopefully cure for why we haven't been able to get pregnant again. She ordered labs and ultrasounds then told us if those both come back normal we should try on our own a few more months (actually she gave us a deadline of July 1st lol). So I did my ultrasounds on the 12th and the labs two days ago. My arm is still all bruised up from the lab techs needle skills or lack of. And now we wait, man is God strengthening our patience skills or what lol. Fingers crossed that everything is normal. I am so happy we are taking these next steps and I'm excited/nervous to be getting some help and hopefully some answers.

Everytime The Phone Rings

Sometimes the waiting game stinks. We have been foster certified since late November and have yet to get a placement. But its kind of our faults.... We were called the first week of December with one but we weren't home. We were on a vacation that had been planned 6 months in advance. So they passed us right by and we waited some more. Then two weeks ago we got a call for a placement on a Friday and we weren't going to be home that weekend! Seriously my husband and I rarely go anywhere farther than 15 miles from home. We are home-bodies and our weekends are usually packed full of helping out friends and family with anything from electronic issues (hubby is a genius and can fix practically anything) to moving, or DIY home improvements. Anyways they skipped us on the second placement as well because they couldn't find a respite (someone who has training, background check and who's home has been approved to temporarily care for a foster child) for the weekend. The two rare occasions that we go out of town and we get calls lol. That's just how life works sometimes. We trust God and trust His timing. He will make sure we are home when its the "right" time.



We are so excited and my heart races anytime the phone rings!! When I see an unfamiliar number on the screen I think "THIS IS IT, this phone call could lead us to our children". But we are being patient and getting pretty good at this waiting game. In the meantime..... Our foster room is all set up, decorated and ready to make some little kiddos feel right at home. Maybe I will do a blog on "foster nesting" and include pics...

First Post... Our Story, well the short version.

I have been telling my sister for months now that I wanted to start a blog so here goes....

My husband and I just celebrated our second year anniversary and are still madly in love with one another. We live in a little nothing town in Cali. My husband is a Microsoft systems admin and I am a housewife or as my grandma puts it... domestic engineer lol. We have two dogs that are very much part of the family. And here is where we get to the part that will be the focus of this blog...

My husband and I have been actively trying to conceive for almost two years. We started TTC in March of 2012 just a month after we wed. My dreams of a big family began to grow dull with the passing months. It seemed like everyone around us was getting pregnant on "accident" and here we were wondering if our stork got drunk and lost our address. After months of being asked "well are you trying", 100s of prayers and lots and lots of "baby dancing", there it was... TWO LINES!!!Thank you Jesus!  Jan 14, 1013 we found out I was 6 weeks. I had never been so excited. But our excitement turned to shock and disbelief 7 short weeks later. At our 13 week apt we were told our baby had passed and would miscarry naturally. I felt all my hopes and happiness disappear, my faith diminish. We mourned the loss of our baby for weeks. (Our miscarriage story is so full of Gods grace and I will post it fully later on). In July 2013 God opened our eyes and hearts to foster care and we began the certification process. After months of paperwork, classes, and inspections we became foster certified in November 2013. We have yet to get a placement but have been assured that we are next in line. And so we wait.

In the mean time God has not closed the door to having our own children. We are still TTC and I have recently had an apt with my ob where she expressed she fears I do not ovulate. She has scheduled labs to run some tests to see what we can do to get pregnant.

We have FAITH that God will fill our nest, weather it be by foster children, adoption or pregnancy.