Happy Birthday, Baby J!

Today is our foster child, "Sweet baby J's", 1st Birthday! What a milestone for us to be a part of!

Other milestones we have been blessed to experience with J:
- Saying: "Mama", "Dada", "Baba" (bottle), "Bye-bye"
- Clapping, Waving, Peek-a-Boo, Pat-a-Cake
- Sippy cups, solid food, table food
- WALKING!

Happy First Birthday J! We are so blessed to have you in our family for this time. You are such a joy and we have all come to love you so much these past few months. Our fervent prayer for you is that our Lord's Will be done in your life. We pray that the small blessings we are able to pour into your life in this season will be seeds that will create a harvest for you to reap when you are older. More than anything, we pray that you will come to know and love the Lord early and walk in the shadow of His wings and feel the grip of His hand.

Thank you Lord, for not only entrusting our beautiful children to us, but also for this precious foster child to care for.

Sweet Baby J

As many of you know already, our family has welcomed our second foster child into our home and hearts. We refer to him as "Sweet Baby J". With big brown eyes, curly eyelashes and hair, he can sure draw a crowd!

J is a sweet and beautiful 10 month old baby boy who has transitioned into our family so seamlessly! It has been some adjustment on our parts, getting used to a baby in the house. Nap times and hand feedings are things that have been long-since forgotten around here.

I so wish I could post some sweet pictures of our little guy, but since I decided to go public again with the blog, that is a big no-no. So if you have yet to have the pleasure of meeting "Sweet Baby J" you will just have to use your imagination... or have me e-mail you some privately!!

Please join us in praying for this sweet boy, he deserves God's best and a beautiful life!

Playing Catch-Up

Hello out there! It's me, I am surfacing!! Things have been so crazy around here the past few weeks, I am behind in a LOT of things, one of those being blogging!

Not much to post tonight, I just decided while things were quiet and I was up by myself that I would drop a few lines to update everyone.

First of all, the reason I am up alone tonight is because Curt is sick with some nasty stomach thingy. So pray that the rest of us stay healthy!!

Second, one the reasons my life has been so crazy the past couple of weeks is because we welcomed our second foster child about a week and a half ago! Jordan is a sweet 10 month old who has a great disposition and sleeps well!! The sleeping well part means a lot to us... we love our sleep! More about Jordan to come, I am just too tired to post pictures and such tonight.

Third, Noah started Pre-K and is really liking it. He goes to school at my parents church here in town and has since he was two. We love his teachers and I like having one more year with my baby boy before kindergarten! He is having issues with the fact that the teachers will not let them play "swords/light sabers" whenever they want. BTW, Noah calls light sabers "life-savers", I love it!!

Fourth, Lauragale seems to be doing well in school but has developed some unexplained separation and performance anxiety. It makes me sooooo sad!! She used to ADORE school but things are different this year. She did have to change schools this year because of re-districting, so that, along with the new foster kids, are probably a lot for a 7 year old to handle.

Fifth, Tomorrow is our first riding lesson since my "Unscheduled Dismount" two weeks ago. Last week Lg was sick, which worked out well for me because I was STILL painin' like crazy and walking like John Wayne!! I am still a little nervous about getting back on the horse, my body can't take another fall like that! I STILL have bruises on my bum!

OK, there is probably lots of other random stuff I could bore you with, but I will stop with those exciting highlights. More to come soon, I promise!!

Love and blessings to all!

Goodbye, Zachary...

On Friday, we received a call that a friend of Zachary's family was approved to care for him until his mom is able to bring him home.

It is a bittersweet time. We knew this would happen at some point, I guess we just thought Zachary would be with us longer than 3 weeks. In any case, this is our ministry. We are here to impact a child's life in a positive way whether it is for a week or a year.

We couldn't have asked for a sweeter first foster child. Zachary was an angel. Yes, we had to work on some things... and sleeping was not his favorite activity, but what a great first experience for us all. I hope he feels the same way.

We should find out on Tuesday who our next placement will be. As always, I will keep you all updated...

Because I have made this blog private, I feel comfortable sharing a couple of photos including Zachary. Most of you have met him at church, so you already are familiar with him...

Love you Zachary...

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:27

Home Study 3 of 3

Well, not much to add to the Home Study story. Our worker D came by the house once more to talk to Noah and ask him a few questions about how he felt about the whole foster care thing. He gave great, honest answers including the one when D asked him how he would feel if a child was in the home and wanted to be with me all the time and call me "Mommy".

He calmly said, "Well, they could just go be with their mommy."

D then went on... "Well, they won't be able to be with their mommy, they will need to be with you and your mommy." To which Noah replied, "Well, that should be okay!"

After that, Curt and I were given a copy of the "REPORT" which we proof-read and returned signed. It was interesting to see your whole life summed up in 14 pages!

As of right now, everything we are supposed to do has been done. Our fingerprints have gotten back to our DHS worker from the OSBI and we are clean! haha Now, we are just waiting for our report to be received and approved by DHS. After that, we will receive our placement referral!

It could be hours, it could be weeks. I will keep updating as events require!

Home Study 2 of 3

Sorry it has taken me so long to write about it. Between the trip to St. Louis (blog to come) and prep for the trip, i am a tad behind!

Monday was our second home study. D came to the house again, but this time we were able to schedule it during the day since Curtis didn't have to be present. The meeting was much shorter this time since D only had to ask a few remaining questions in order to complete our biography and her report that will be sent on to FCS (Family and Children Services) and then to DHS (Department of Human Services).

Our last Home Study (date still TBA) will consist of us being presented the report and we have to review it and sign it stating that it is accurate and we are in agreement with the contents. After we sign off on it, it will go to the superiors at FCS, then DHS and after that... we should be receiving our first placement referral from our DHS worker W.

Soooo, we seem to be in the "home stretch" as it were. Curt and I refer to it as the "hurry up and wait" time. All we have left is our last class (make-up) on Saturday and the last visit with sign-off on the home study report. Then the waiting begins! Our child will be at home with us as quickly as two State agencies can review and approve and home study report. Needless to say, we are not holding our breath! (Nothing against all the hard-workers who are helping to make this possible, it is just not a quick process under any conditions.)

Our sources say the approximate time for the placement is around the middle to end of August. We are praying it is sooner, and it could be... we would love the kiddo's to be able to spend some quality time with the newbie before school starts and they are off in different directions.

Now matter what, we know God's timing is the best timing!

Love to all,
Brent

Home Study 1 of 3

So with our paperwork mostly complete, background checks cleared, training classes coming to an end and fingerprints approved, our last hurdle before our Foster Parent Certification is our three home studies. Monday was our first home study with Family and Children Services. It went really well! I love our worker D. and she was so helpful and patient.

The visit consisted of LOTS of questions including ones about our parenting styles and personalities, views of each other, how we were raised, how we feel about our parents and siblings and how we have prepared ourselves for our upcoming commitment to another child. Poor D.! She has A LOT of paperwork behind and ahead of her! She has to even construct a biography of the two of us!!! THAT should be interesting!!!

Another facet of the visit is the home tour. I think I was the most nervous about that part. I spent the whole day straightening all our closets and not allowing the kids to drag out their toys!! (DORK!) AND I made Curt scrub our shower just a little extra before the visit. Like my friend Kim said when I admitted to my dorkiness, "You think their not going to let you be a foster parent if your closets are messy or there is some soap-scum in your shower?" I know, I know... I figured THAT our after D. had to ask if we had working hot water. "Uh, yes."... I was amazed she asked, but she assured me that she has to... it can be an issue in some homes. Whoa...

In any case, my unrealistic fears were not realized as D. just took a casual roam around the house to make sure it was safe and adequate and only looked in some closets because her tour-guide Lauragale made her!!

So where do we go from here? Our next home study is this coming Monday and I am not near as nervous. D. assures us that it is not as involved, and Curt won't even have to be here... I guess I can manage on my own!! We will have one last home study after that one and our last training class is on the 12th. At the end of that class, we will receive our certificate!! Graduates!

Next? Our placement referral!!!! How exciting!!! Now, I have been told two different stories on this subject. Our trainer told us this week to expect that "the ink on your certificate will not be dry" before you get a call for your first placement referral. YIKES!! Now, our liaison with Circle of Care Child S.H.A.R.E. told me today that there could be more like a three week lag between our certification and the first placement referral. Hhmmm... I am going to have D. be my tie-breaker on Monday!! I will let you know what she says!

Now if you are wondering why I am calling the placement a placement referral, it is because we always are given a referral with the child we are matched with and have the opportunity to accept or deny that referral. If for some reason we deny the referral, there will be another referral made until we agree on a placement. DHS already has guidelines made by us on what child we are willing to foster. We have given DHS an age range (0-5 yrs.) and list of physical/mental/emotional/behavioral limitations that we are willing to accept. These will be taken in consideration (hopefully) when they make a placement referral.

Well, that is where we are as of now in our foster care journey. It is exciting, scary, joyful and stressful all at once! Whatever the feeling, we know we are following God's calling on our life and our motto throughout this journey so far has been "God does not call the equip, he equips the called!"

Now, we just pray everyday for the young child who God has chosen to soon join our family for an unknown (to us) number of days. I sit and think that the child that will soon join us in our home and hearts is probably enduring some sort of neglect or abuse at this very moment!! That is so depressing. We also pray for our children and their ability to cope with this upcoming change in lifestyle. (to say the least!)

Would you join us in these prayers? Knowing that this process is covered in prayer will give us even more peace and joy.

We love you all and I will continue to offer updates on our progress.


Praising God for his continued blessings!
Brent

The Beginning

OK, well, I decided that it might be a hoot to do a little blogging... I am not really the blogging type, (whatever that means... no offense anyone!) and I am definitely not a great writer, but hey, why not! I really am wanting to do this to archive some of my life's funny happenings, my weird thoughts, my children's antics and our journey through the Oklahoma DHS system as we try to become a foster-family.

I will go ahead and start by explaining why we have decided to be a foster family... Just so you know, we have not had plans of doing this for years nor have we had the plans for months... I would say by now, it has been more like weeks. I have always had it in my heart to adopt one day. I know this was instilled in my spirit by God before I was even born. As long as I can remember, it has been a part of me. Now I can't say the same for my hubby, he was more like "talked into" the idea a few years ago and it seems to have grown on him. (I have no doubt that it has been God working on his heart!)

Well, having no issues in having our own children, and other than some ex-racing greyhounds, a few stray cats and the most-recent sweet terrier, we have not had the privilege of adopting or fostering anything human yet. I guess you can tell that we are willing to open our home to anything that needs one!

Recently though, I have been wondering if we are getting closer to trying to adopt. We weren't really seeking anything out when I felt God encouraging me to seek out foster-parenting. You know, when you are totally blind-sided with a calling on your life? You are so not heading down that path, at least you don't think you are, but He has other plans! It is that tug on your heart, that whisper to your spirit. You know it's Him.

After feeling God's leading, I approached Curtis with the idea and he was surprisingly open to it. (God-Thing #1) Then my pastors wife came to me after being told by a friend how concerned I was after reading an article about over-run emergency shelters in Oklahoma. She asked if I would be interested in helping by being a foster-parent. (God-Thing #2) Of course, after this, Curtis and I prayed a lot!! One night I woke up and sat straight up in bed... I looked at the clock and it read "5:26". For some reason, I knew that this time represented scripture. As I made my way to the bathroom I thought, "Well, there are a LOT of 5:26's in the bible!!" Then the Lord spoke "Jeremiah" to my spirit. I immediately looked the scripture up and this is what it reads:

"Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch men. Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor."

After I read this, I was a little confused so I checked out the commentary at the bottom and this is what IT reads:

"People and nations who please God treat the fatherless (orphans) justly and care for the poor... Some defenseless people- orphans, the poor, the homeless and the lonely- are within your reach. WHAT ACTION CAN YOU TAKE TO HELP AT LEAST ONE OF THEM?"

Well, I just bawled!! I knew this was the Lords confirmation to me that this was His plan for us. (God-Thing #3) So, when Curt came home that evening, I shared the scripture and commentary with Him and he was just as blown-away as I. Needless to say, just a couple of days later, we were completing our background check papers and starting this long process to help at least one of the defenseless of this world.

So where are we now? Well, we have met with our liaison with a non-profit agency and she has come to the house and helped up fill out ALL the paperwork and got us signed up for our 9 weeks of training classes that we will be taking through May and June to become certified.

So starts our journey of and with, "GRACE AND FAITH".