Adoption Update: BIG News!

Hey, Y'all! I told you I'd keep you in the loop about our adoption, and I am here to keep that promise!

Catch up on previous posts by reading these, then this...

• We completed our PRIDE classes. Yay! The classes were 9 sessions long, 27ish hours of classes, but we were on a double schedule so we had two classes per day, which was pretty tough!  Since our classes fell over the Thanksgiving holiday and a snow storm, we had a couple of reschedules, but no big deal. 

• After the classes were completed, we had the official home inspection and our interviews.  Being me, I took to doing my "Research" online, spending countless hours, scouring the internet, reading horror stories about the interviews taking 8+ hours or even multiple days to complete! I had worked myself up so much about them that I could hardly sleep the night before. Honestly, I'm not sure if our licensing worker was so nice, or DCFS policies don't include 8+ hours of questioning, maybe we didn't have things in our lives that required 8+ hours of interviews, I don't know. The only thing I do know is that the interview day came, about 2.5-3 hours and WE WERE DONE!  It wasn't that bad! 

• Now, one of THE hardest things is waiting. Well, the most frustrating part is all the paperwork that needs to be perfect. There is quite a ton of papers that need to be perfect and turned in. Sometimes, you're waiting on others, sometimes you're waiting on yourself, and it's just a period of waiting. It's the hurry up and wait for sort of situation, which is hard when you're thinking, gimme all the babies! But, just waiting for things to line up, things to get from one person to the next, things to all come together, the stars to align, waiting for God to advance a prayer for you to become a parent along a little further, is THE hardest waiting in my life. And the moment when I can say this... it makes it worth it....

So, where are we now? Well, our licensing worker emailed us last night and....

We're officially a licensed foster home!!!!!!!!

What does this mean? This means we will start getting calls from case workers about children who need foster homes. As a family, we've had MANY discussions about what will work best for us, but I truly feel that God will lead us to our child, regardless if the child or situation is completely opposite of what we had pictured in our minds! 

That's the latest. We still ask for your prayers for us on this journey. Prayers for the child, or children. We have to remember that even though we will be thrilled to add a member(s) to our family, they are losing members of theirs. And it can be downright scary for them. Prayers for smooth transitioning. And you know things get stressful and hectic, so throw in a prayer for our patience, if ya don't mind!

Another way to support us during this process is to help the adoption fund! Check out my Etsy shop here to support the fund AND get yourself something really cool!

Etsy Shop- The Artsy Cajun

The uber cute  (and funny) Mr & Mrs. Awesome pillowcases are in the shop in time for the upcoming wedding season, so get a jump on your gifts now! Don't worry, I have to traditional personalized pillowcases with the couple's last name also!

So, how's your Thursday going?