We still intend to adopt. Fostering to adopt definitely comes with a risk. The child may or may not become available for adoption. There's a risk of getting very attached only to have the child placed back with their parents. But a lot of times, the child does become available for adoption, and the foster parents usually are given the option of adopting them first. So that's what we are hoping for. I sat down with the boys and explained to them what foster care was, and the differences between fostering and adopting, and explained to them that just because we get a child, doesn't mean she is here to stay. They need to be prepared for that, because it's going to be very hard on them.
I also closed down my shop. There are still a few items left, and you can find them at my Facebook page, For Beautiful Baby. I created an album trying to sell the last bit of clothing. My sewing room was set up in the spare bedroom, and we will probably not get much of a notice about a placement. Usually when they take the child out of the home, they pretty much bring them straight to us. So we have to be ready!
Here was some of the mess, although I hadn't started taking things out of the closet. I wish I had taken a picture of that so you all could understand just what a big mess we had! You couldn't walk in there. But a huge shout out to Hubs who worked all weekend toting boxes and doing all the heavy lifting for me. What would I do without him!?
Here it is all cleaned out, except for my remaining dresses. I'm still trying to sell those rather than store them.
And here it is, empty except for a nightstand and an old bed.
Once we get the call, and know what we're getting (we're open to any age between 0-12) we can set it up quickly. I still have the crib and bedding I made in storage under our house. The bed that's currently in there is very old (the mattress is an ancient artifact wrapped in plastic, but we had to have a bed in there to pass our home study). If we get an older child, I want to buy a new bed, but I don't want to do that now in case we get a baby, in which case, we'll toss this one out and set up the crib.
I spoke to my amazing boss, and told him the chances of me getting a call and just not coming back in were pretty high, and he was very excited for me! He is completely understanding, and letting me stay on until something happens. I have an amazing, supportive group of after school staff, and they will be able to carry on without me without missing a beat, if it comes to that.
Y'all, I am so excited, it is just about impossible for me to be patient any more! It has been a long 3 years. Please, please pray for us! This is going to be more challenging than I think, but whatever God has in store for us will be so worth it!
