Just Stroll-ing Along . . .

... we've got lots of stuff going on as i type - money stuff, kid stuff, prep stuff - but i'll update later when i know more. hopefully my good mood will last :o)

on a separate issue - my kd is leaving for disney on sunday for like 89 days and i am very put out. i'm pretty sure i heard her promise that she is bringing me back something really large & expensive, so maybe that'll help me get over her leaving.



only 6 more pages of my 30+ application to fill out ... by morning. brian has about 20 left. wish us luck.

happy weekend, lovelies.

... i'm also loving night owl paper goods as well. so sweet & chic. i just ordered 2 sets of notecards from them ... everything about their site is darling.

these bed linens

this poster, which is ready to be hung over our bed

this crib bedding, and this crib bedding

lauren graham's stuttery-ness & fast talkinged-ness
(that's not just on the show, y'all)

this lady and

this fella

this & this

this rug from pier 1

these velvet drapes

adorable pillows

my to-do list is currently longer than my arm.
a few things to do this week:

finish & turn in applications to lccs.
paint hallway ceiling.
go through closets & make trip to good-will.
watch the season premiere of gilmore girls (tonight)!
pack up kd's (late) birthday gift.
clean up yard, plant mums.
visit with the granny & the grampy.
make more delicious caramel apples.
baby shower for andrea on sunday...
oh yeah ... make andrea's gift.

the pleasure of my company, steve martin

i got a call this afternoon from the adoption assessor who is handling the adoption leads for the 12 year old girl i mentioned earlier, -let's call her vee. we talked about the process - from homestudy to finalizing the adoption - and what it all entails, for us and for vee. i told the nice lady that while we do not want to get ahead of ourselves, we are very excited and willing to do whatever we need to do to make the process go as quickly as possible. obviously i want to keep things confidential for vee, so i won't go into any detail on her hobbies or anything, but she seems like a lovely, active girl. this is all happening so fast - it is - but it will all slow down once we are done with our classes. homestudies take a while, i've heard, and after that we have to be "rated" and there are only about 20 other things that have to be done before we can even meet her.

brian and i are thrilled - absolutely thrilled - that we decided to do this. is it going to be easy? no. none of it. easy to love, most likely, but easy to let the county be 100% involved in our lives, no. easy to parent (especially a child that is older, and not ours biologically)? no. family gatherings won't be easy, for people who aren't accepting of an adopted child. there lots of reasons to not do this, but i think the pros outweight the con on this one. loving a child, providing a home, giving a child a fighting chance ... those things make it all worth it for us.

like i said ... all ya'lls prayers are appreciated.

i wish i could come up with good post titles.

Amelia sits, looking at her delicious golden OREO. A pause fills the air, and then she speaks.

"O-R-E-O. Cookie!"

brian FINALLY took me to see little miss sunshine on saturday night.


LOVED it.

hilarious. heartwarming.

I'm starting a few projects ... this Nappy Bag (with fabric in purples, pinks & black) for a friend of mine who's having a baby in early December, and several Ditty Bags for some special nieces at Christmastime.

I am VERY excited about what I just bought my dad for his birthday ... oh it is exciting. I'll let you all guess!

So as you will see below, I've posed some notes from our first two traning sessions last Saturday. All in all, we were really pleased with what we learned and were very warmed by the fact there were almost 130 people in this class with us. That means potentially a lot more homes for children and a lot more support for us! We are still asking for prayers because we still have 4 more weeks to go - meanwhile the application process begins and then a homestudy - which is nerve wracking. The earliest a child would be placed with us is probably early-mid December, and that is if there are no complications with our application and they get busy with our homestudy.
During the first part of session 1, they had an adoptive case worker come in and tell us about several families of siblings that are available for adoption, as well as at least half a dozen older single children. Brian and I immediately looked at each other and inwardly SQUEALED. While we are happy to be foster parents, our ultimate goal is to become adoptive parents - whether we foster after that or not, I don't know. I imagine we likely will be foster parents as long as we're able. At any rate, after our first session was over, we went out into the hallway where they had pictures of all these children and little snippets about them. We expressed interest - to LCCS - in a few - a family of 3 siblings - 2 boys and 1 girl - ages 4, 2, and 1; a brother and sister, ages 6 and 4; and a single child, a girl, age 12. Brian is convinced that this 12 year old girl belongs with us; and after going back to what her profile said and praying about it over the weekend, I believe so too. Now, whether or not anything will happen - since it will take us to December to be qualified - I don't know. I would hope, for her sake, that she would have a permanent home by then, but there is part of me that hopes we would be able to call her ours. And there is the fact that she doesn't KNOW us -and she is 12- and obviously it would take more work getting to know her and her trusting us. I don't know. Like I said, we definitely need a lot of prayer.

Last week I had another more difficult work week and it's becoming clearer to me that I need to make a move, job-wise. It's not that my job itself is difficult, but situations around me that should be different. So I'm looking and looking for another full-time job, and putting a second-shift part-time job on hold.

I'm making a week of comfort foods, since it is cold-ish and rainy in these parts. Last night I made cabbage casserole (like chopped up pigs in the blanket) for myself and a greek salad (weird comfort food) for Brian. Tonight we're having sausage gravy and biscuits. Mm, yum!

Random notes from Session 1 -


- Main goal of fostering parenting is to be a loving caregiver to a child(ren) until their parents have been rehabilitated and they are able to be placed back into their home.

- Foster parenting is temporary, but the relationships are forever.

- Can we parent a child that isn't biologically ours?

- Are our values going to be in conflict?

- Can we commit ourselves to this child(ren) every day?

- GOAL - Initiate and promote support systems
- GOAL - Promote child advocacy!
- GOAL - Reunification for foster children
- GOAL - Lifetime commitment for adoptive children



Random notes from Session 2



- Reiterate to birth parents that we are only caring for their children until THEY are able.

- Do not be judgmental & critical of birth parents - BE SUPPORTIVE OF CHILDREN.

- We especially need to be encouraging COMMUNICATION between us & child(ren).

- Be prepared for acting out/behavioral issues - in older children this may come in the form of a suicide attempt.

- PRAY for this child(ren) as they have suffered extreme loss. PRAY for comfort. PRAY for understanding. PRAY for their souls.