The Room!

As promised here are pictures of the nursery! The wall color didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to, but once we get a permanent placement I will make it more girlie if needed.

Our baby monitor is FREAKIN AMAZING! It's a video/sound monitor and my friend found it at a garage sale for $5!
I need to add additional wall art & curtains... I know.

It's Almost Time...

Well there hasn't been too much activity going on around our place, just a lot of preparation. We finally received all our baby furniture (thanks Auntie Autumn!) and Big Swigg has been putting one piece together each night. We had some friends donate 3 other dressers to us so that will be helpful if we ever end up taking on more than one child! I ended up using one of the dressers as toy storage and that seems to work well! I really admire Big Swigg for putting all that furniture together. I picked up a book case from Big Lots last week & I attempted to put it together... let's just say it's not my best work! I'll post pictures of the nursery soon but I need a few more ideas for wall decor. I've taken a few things from pintrest, but I don't know if that's enough.
We sign our contract with DHS today. That will make us eligible for payment. (Our fingerprints are finally back). So after today we should start getting calls for our first foster placement. I'm both excited and nervous at the same time! I still have more things that  I need to purchase. Just last minute items like a humidifier & laundry basket... They aren't anything crucial, but things I know I will eventually need!
Lucky for me I have a small variety of diaper sizes in my stockpile, but I'm relying on friends to let me borrow a few other sizes enough to get me thru one night just in case I get a baby in the middle of the night and who knows what size they will be!

It's been a big week

This week has been a big week! Big Swigg & I had our first P.R.I.D.E. class last Saturday. Oh my that was uneventful! The information was fantastic, but unfortunately it was delivered so poorly that Big Swigg & I almost fell asleep! We will come back next week well caffeinated so this shouldn't be a problem anymore!

Sunday was fantastic celebrating Mother's Day. I had cousins in from out of town that we got to see. They weren't aware of our choice to foster so we talked a lot about the need for good parents. That afternoon I got the nursery painted! That's a HUGE check off my to-do list! The paint is all dry now, and I've moved most everything back in that room and have it all organized!

Monday Big Swigg had a job interview and by Tuesday he had the job! That is such an answer to prayer! We are so pleased that he will be working 8-5 M-F no weekends. I believe they have great insurance too, which could come in handy later on! We are prayerfully considering what needs to happen with me and my job and we are waiting on God to direct us in exactly what He wants us to do.

Last night, we bought a mini van! We've been looking around for a while now, but just got serious about it a few weeks ago. We knew we wanted to pay cash for it so we didn't have to mess with another car payment. It was frustrating because every time I would find something I liked online, I would call and be told that "it just sold". That happened again last night, but with a follow up of "we have the same car one year newer that I will sell to you at the same price!" So the price for this car was 5900 and we got it for 3999! SO excited about that!!! I know, I know, it's a mini van, but it's a Honda and I love it. I really wanted a mini van to tote all these kids around that we are going to have! It has the sliding doors that can be opened and shut with the key remote (which I think is a MUST). I also know that some people have experienced trouble with those doors, but we take good care of our cars so I'm not worried about it.

I think that's about all that's happened this week but WHEW it feels like a lot!

Status Update

I thought I'd give an update of what's been going on. I went to a HUGE consignment sale at the fairgrounds last week and scored a ton of baby stuff for great prices! I've also been blessed with friends who are showering me with gently used toys, clothes and baby supplies of all genders and sizes! (You all know who you are, and THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!) I feel like the bedroom is coming along. We bought paint (another shout out to a friend who gave us a gift card for the paint) and I plan to start painting this weekend. Once that is done, I think I will feel like the room is ready for whatever is in store for us! I know that's silly, but i just think a fresh coat of paint will help visibly make things look new in that part of our house!
DHS has called all our personal references and is planning on getting with my parents to go look at their home soon. We start parenting classes this weekend. I'm pretty interested in what I will learn from that. I hope it's not boring, and I actually get some good information out of this. If not, it's going to be a LONG 6 weeks!
I've been preparing the house by making sure all my outlets have covers, and all our chemicals are out of reach. Russell installed a few cabinet locks in the kitchen yesterday evening. In my head, I'd always played that out to be a "big deal" and such a fun exciting experience. So you can imagine my disappointment when both of us were frustrated because screws were stripped out, we put the lock on backwards the first time and... it was WAY less "magical" than I had dreamed up in my head. I had to laugh about it while we were installing them. I was able to take my self out of the situation, realize that I had created a fantasy for myself, and enjoy the frustrations we were experiencing. More than anything, I was glad that Big Swigg & I were together!
I already know how I'm going to rearrange the kitchen when I have to make way for bottles and bibs. I'm SO excited, that I'm ready to clean them out right now!!! However, since I don't know the exact age we will get placed, I will try to relax and hold off on that for a few weeks.  
That's about all that's going on lately... I'm sure I'll put a blog out about our 1st experience at parenting classes next week!

Home Assessment Complete!

Last night we started and finished our home assessment with DHS! The girl who came over said it could take up to 4 hours, but it only took us 3. I think we actually finished in 3 hours last night, only because I’m an only child. Getting information on Russell's sisters took about an hour of the process! They asked a lot of repetitive question. But this girl was MUCH more helpful than the last guy who came over. She seemed to be able to answer my questions and give me suggestions of where to read more information about fostering and adoption. We had to answer questions about happy and sad memories of our childhood. If our parents "practiced what they preached". We had to determine if we would accept a child of another faith - and we said yes as long as they could be exposed to our faith too and their faith doesn't completely contradict Christianity. We had to list people in our "inner circle" and "outer circle" then they asked a lot of questions about our medical history. Any surgeries and all medications we are on. My part of that was easy too but Russell's took a while. Oh yeah and job history! That's another area where mine was so much faster than Russell's.

The next step:

We have to get fingerprinted, get physicals, and get a copy of my divorce decree from the courthouse. (I guess what I gave her before wasn't good enough). Then parenting classes start on May 12! I'm pretty excited to hear all the things we will learn from that.

Because of the age range we will be requesting, she suggested that I read up on how I can help babies form attachment with us and the bio parents. Currently I have no resources of where to look for that, so if anyone has suggestions please let me know!!!

We're doing this!

We started the process of trying to become foster parents... almost a month ago. Today DHS called me to schedule our home assessment for foster care. She told me that they have a goal of getting all the paperwork done in 30 days so they really need to schedule our assessment next week. THEN she asked if I could take off work to complete this 4 hour interview! I told her that wasn't possible with my work so it'd have to be after 6 sometime next week. THEN she drops the bomb on me that she would like us to have our physicals completed by then. I called my doctor but they cant get us in until May 1st, so she'll just have to deal with that! There has been some questions about if we needed to get our own fingerprint cards or if DHS would provide them. She told me that she would bring the fingerprint cards when she came out but that we needed to "get that done quickly" so that we could get them sent off. I know she's just doing her job. But since I'm a planner, she's starting to stress me out! At least I know we start parenting classes May 12th.
In the meantime, I'm trying to get my spare bedroom converted from a "junk room" into a kids bedroom. We have a pile of toys that were donated. We just need to separate them into toys that need to go in a bleach bath and toys that need to go in the washing machine! Then my plan is to separate them in to age specific toy bins, so depending on what age we get placed, I can have those toys out and ready. I think I have a friend who will get us a convertible crib and a changing table, then I have another friend who is getting us a car seat. I feel like we are on the right path, but I still feel like there is SO MUCH more to do.