Foster to adopt

Mark and I are in the process of foster to adopt.  We have been trying to get pregnant for over a year and we decided that we didn't want to wait any longer to start our family.  For us, we feel like we don't want to wait until we are a lot older to start a family.  Plus I didn't want to have to go through a bunch of procedures to make it happen.  For me, as a nanny I knew it was possible to love a child, even if it wasn't biologically my own.  Some of the kids, I always said if anything had happened to their parents, I would take them in.  I loved them completely.  So even though we would have loved to have a child of our own, we are going to start things out a different way, and hopefully eventually God will bless us with a child of our own too.

We chose foster to adopt because an international adoption can take about a year to complete and costs a lot of money.  With foster to adopt, we will foster the child for awhile before we will be able to adopt them.  While we are fostering, the state will pay for everything, including their medical costs and even give us a monthly allowance to help with the child's expenses.  Luckily a friend of a friend had chosen to adopt her son this way, so we were able to talk to her before making a decision and find out how it worked for her.  Ours is quite different from her adoption because we are going through Milwaukee county for foster to adopt.  This was good because it helped us go through the process much quicker.

We have made it through the initial background checks.  Now we are working with our licensing agent to get through all the paperwork.  So far things are coming along really well, and the process seems to be flying by.  Luckily for us, this process takes a shorter amount of time, only 6 months,  rather then 9 months for a pregnancy.

Today I went for my TB skin test, and Mark had his physical this week as well.  We are just needing to get our bills together to show that we aren't doing fostering to make money.  Next week we get to do fingerprinting.  It's kind of crazy to go through all of this because if it was a child we had on our own, we wouldn't have to go through all of these things.  But in the end, I know it will be completely worth it.  Plus, I don't have to actually give birth.  ;)

I'm nervous because next time we meet with our licensing agent we start interviews.  She said we are going to start with the couples interview, and that seems like it should be pretty easy.  Just have to talk about how we met, how we handle disagreements, stuff like that.  Mark and I are pretty solid so I think this should go pretty well.

I'm still working through figuring out what I can get together before the child comes.  We decided on a child 0-4 years old, and either gender.  So the agency expects us to have a convertible seat, which I've already found one.  Also, we have to have a twin bed and a pack 'n play, or a convertible crib.  I think starting out we are gonna use our full size bed and hopefully borrow a pack 'n play from someone until we actually meet the child.  It's just hard because I would love to get toys and clothes and other things together, but there's such a difference between those ages to really know what to get. 

Anyways, we still have a lot to do with getting licensed.  We have some classes coming up next month, which I think will be helpful in answering some of the questions we have and helping us to get prepared for this journey.  We are set to get licensed 1/3/2014!  With the house getting done sometime before Christmas and the holidays coming up, it will be here before we know it.  We can't wait!

life lately...

Things have been great lately! 

First off, I quit my job at Walmart.  And actually my last day was on my three year anniversary.  There were many reasons why I quit that job.  Mostly because I didn't enjoy it anymore and we had too much stuff going on at home, it just made more sense for me to stay home.  But the thing is that unfortunately some people who don't know me too well are judging the fact that I'm staying home, but it's no one's right to judge.  They don't live my life, so they shouldn't worry about it. 

Second, we are so busy with house planning now!  Perfect time to not have to go to work because I have been REALLY busy making decisions for the house.  The house is coming along pretty quickly now and I am so excited about it.  At least right now I can kind of see an end in sight.  The whole structure of the house is up, and all the walls on the inside are up.  The rough plumbing and HVAC are done.  The rest of this week will be dedicated to electrical, which I have a meeting with my electrician on Thursday. ;)  Even though he is my husband and even though he will live in the house too, we still had to set up a meeting to make sure that he understands everything I was thinking of for the house too.

Third, we are currently fostering a new dog!  We ended up doing this sooner than I thought we would want to, but she has been a real joy.  Her name she came with was Missy but we changed it to Remi because we are considering making her a part of our family permanently. She has some difficulties which we have been trying to work on and work with, but hopefully she will be like brand new soon!

Lastly, we are working on our foster/adoption right now.  We have to get licensed as foster parents, and the date for the license to go through is January 3rd!  That is not very far away so we are planning like crazy!  We have a lot of paperwork to get through, and some stuff we need to get together for our new child.  We are so excited about it!  It's kind of a different process and a lot of things we are unsure of, but we know that we will be bettering the child's life and our lives by taking this journey and we are very much looking forward to meeting our future child hopefully soon :)

To my Luna

My dear sweet Luna,

You were my best friend, my baby, my red girl, my copilot, my old lady.  I'm still so sad and confused by everything that happened yesterday.  I don't think I'll ever get over it.

We took you to go swimming because you are a fish and you were meant to swim.  We were swimming for only about an hour, you've done much more than that in the past.  But when I came back from the jet ski ride you knew something wasn't right.  You hid from me which was very unlike you.... and then I don't know what happened.  You had a seizure or a stroke or something terrible happened to you. Something that you didn't deserve.  And within about 15 minutes you were gone.  Left us to be with God.

I know it's selfish but I want you back here with me.  We had you in our family for only about two years and it wasn't enough time.  I always thought to myself that since you were already about 5 or 6 when we got you, that even if you lived to be 13 that it wouldn't be enough time for me.  I couldn't imagine my life without you and now that is my reality.  I just don't know how to go on without you.

Your sisters miss you.  They keep looking for you.  Especially during dinner because you would always lick each others bowls, and now yours isn't there anymore.  I was holding your collar and Stella heard your jingles and went to find you.  Marley was walking around the house looking for you too.

Our family is no longer complete.  We are missing the glue.  And not only us but everyone you met in your short time with us misses you.  Grams even said you are the perfect pet and we all know Grams isn't much of a dog person, but that never seemed to bother you.  Oma and Opa and Auntie Sara all loved you the most and are all grieving your loss.  And all of the rest of your friends miss you... Starla, Jake, Penny, Maddie, Jett, Grandpa Jeff, Grandma Kris and many, many more...

I was so proud to be your "owner" but really your Momma.  You were a Momma to so many puppies and you deserved to be babied too.  I would have babied you forever if God would have let me.  How will we ever move on?  How will we move from our home, the only home you had ever known?

I will miss your big bug eyes.  I will miss your dancing.  I will miss your snoring.  I will miss your big ole' kisses.  I will miss your excitement over a squeaker.  I will miss how when you ran, you hopped like a bunny.  I will miss you scratching at me so I will let you sit on my lap.  I will miss our walks to the mailbox.  I will miss snuggling with you.  I will miss watching you swim.  Most of all, I will miss your unconditional love for me, cause I know I definitely had that for you.

I know Lil Grams is so happy to have you there with her.  I know she will take care of you, and take you for walks and watch you swim.  Maybe you can make friends with little Winston too.

Please know how much we love you and how much you meant to us.  You touched so many lives and we will forever miss you.

I love you my dear sweet Luna.  My Luna Tuna.  My LuLu.