This week we...

     This week, I haven't officially checked anything off the list. I finished sewing some fitted toddler sheets into flat sheets for the toddler bed, leaving the bottom third fitted so the kids can't kick the sheets off the bed in the middle of the night. This cost $12 for each set (2 fitted crib sheets) to purchase, and by turning one sheet in each set to a flat sheet I made bargain toddler sheets. So, now I can have match the room perfectly instead of having character bedding that each kid may not like, and saved over $40 from having to purchase designer solid toddler sheets. Thank you, Target, for coupons and a great weekly ad.

     I've been compiling the paperwork for our family profile, and filing out more background checks for all the counties and states I've lived in the last five years. Foster training classes are over and the real work is just now starting. The kids room still  has a huge pile in the middle to be organized. I still have to find a place to move all the office stuff. I'm hoping to get everything organized and in place in the next few weeks so that I can post a master list of all the paperwork and to do list items needed to make it through foster parent training and approval... but I'll wait until we get our final approval before posting all that for you.

     There is a box with bunk beds sitting out in the garage. I'm considering returning them. DH talked me into getting them, but I'm not sure I'm convinced on the color. I'm thinking I want to continue the white furniture though all the bedrooms. DH did make a good point though- if we have boys join our family, that are anything like DH, they may not like the "clean, girly" white. Haha! This is true, I suppose. I'll wait until DH gets back from his temporary military deployment to decide. It can sit in the project filled garage until then, while I work on the house, classes, foster paperwork and work. I'm so excited to get this underway and make some progress.

                         

               Next to the closet in the kids'                     Some accessories for the
               room, activity table and                              rejuvenated glider.
               stuffed animals.

                             
                                 The fabric Madre got us to make quilts for the kids.
                                 I'm about halfway done with one, and I can't wait
                                 for finals to be over so I can get back to work on this
                                 precious project.


As always, thank you for standing with us in prayer as we continue this journey. We are so very thankful for all the notes and emails of support and encouragement! .... and hand-me-down clothing, we are so very thankful for all the children's items that we have received. It has been such a blessing to us and fellow foster parents in our area. We can't possibly thank you enough.

We're Halfway There, OH, Livin' on a Prayer...

Thanks to Bon Jovi for the inspiration to get through this week.

The to do list was already backing up, but this week we added more to the list than we took off. The Fire Marshall's office came by class to tell us about what we need to have on hand and around the house in case of emergencies.

In the house:
Flashlights
Secondary Heat Source
Disaster Supply Kit (highly recommended)
First Aid Kit
Smoke Detectors
Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Working Phone Line
NO Double Key Deadbolts
Emergeny Fire Ladders (2nd story bedrooms)

Mounted in the house in plain view of all family and guests:
Fire Extinguisher (at least a 1A is required, but going up a size to the 5lb is recommended)
Evacuation Plan
Emergency Contact Numbers (911, Poison Control, Emergency Services, etc.)

Necessary Certifications:
First Aid
CPR

Luckily, we have most of this covered, but there is still a ways to go. I guess it is about time to type up a master to do list and start checking things off one at a time. Nervous excitement doesn't begin to cover how we are feeling at the moment. Staying positive and speaking the good into existence this week.

Please stand with us in prayer as we complete my job interviews, DH's overtime, makeup school work (DH, Red, and I), foster training workbooks, our family profile, household projects, and the kids' room. And especially pray that we get most of it done before DH is deployed in April, so I have helping hands to get it done sooner, instead of struggling to finish by myself before our deadline.

Have a wonderfully blessed weekend!

3/8 Through

     I've been a little delinquint on updates as of late. DH and I have been doing hundreds of pages of foster training homework. We're on book 3 of 6, and had the third of eight classes the other night. By Wednesday, we will have turned in all our consent forms for multiple background and list/record checks, and we'll be fingerprinted. We are rather fond of the group of foster parents in training with us, they are a wonderful and animated group of couples. We all have no problems asking our social workers and supervisor both hard and hilarious questions.

     One thing we've been asked to question in the process of becoming foster parents if whether or not we will just apply for foster status or if we will dual apply for fostering and adoption, in case we were to adopt in the future, it would save us some time and paperwork then. I've always known I wanted to foster and adopt, and fostering now would be such an incredible blessing, but I feel that we are already stepping out in faith and I am afriad applying to adopt too would tip the scale and I'll fall on my face. Crazy, irrational fear? Maybe. DH thinks so, but I just can't help the uneasy feeling in my stomach. So, right now we are just applying to foster, but we are staying open minded to all the possibilities God may have for us in the future.

These verses especially touched my heart this week, as I was in the Word -> Isaiah 43:4-7 (ESV)

⁴ “Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I love you,

I give men in return for you,

people in exchange for your life.

⁵ Fear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you.

⁶ I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from the end of the earth,

⁷ everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

What a wonderful God we serve!

DIY Sewing Adventure #1 - Glider Cover

     The last time I was behind a sewing machine was in the 6th grade. WOW! I'm feeling a little old right now. So, I brought the glider from Madre's house, the one that was in my nursery way back when, to our house to use in the kids' room. The original cover was a bit stretched out and had only a couple stains and dried glitter glue on it, not bad considering it had 12 years of hard use through 5 kids before it retired to the basement. It was time to retire the old red cover, but buying a new cover to fit was impossible, so it was time to pull out the sewing machine and get to work. I went to my local fabric shop and picked out a printed number that fit the brightly colored jungle theme I was aiming for.

     It wasn't perfect the first time around, the second, or even the third, but, after a couple hours, Madre and I had it done. Needless to say, I love the results!

                                                    The Original

                                                    The New Cover

Hats off to the Canadian furniture company that made this sturdy beast of a glider! Old, but still kickin'. We definitely love it. And, just in case you were wondering, yes, that is a Kraft Macaroni and Cheese colored accent wall. I just about had a heart attack when I realized what color it was drying, but, now that we have other bright colors in the room, it works... and we love it!