Dates for my foster care diary

October 5, 2008

Today Pastor Mike said "Are you using the resources that God has given to you?" Aaron and I really talked about this after church and after finding out that he had been thinking about doing foster care again, we prayed about it and decided that I would call Ready for Life and see if we could still do foster care. They said that they saw no problems with us pursuing it again and I had to just talk to Community Care Licensing to make sure. I called them and left a message. They returned my call and said that would be fine. I can't even wait to get started!

October 15

Sandra from Environmental Alternatives came to do our first meeting at 9:30. She did our home inspection and we passed everything but we have to get a gate for around our fireplace and turn our water heater down to 120 degrees. I am very excited. I went to Eureka and got our DMV printouts.

October 16

I went back to Eureka today to get fingerprinted and then picked up Aaron in Fortuna during lunch and took him to get fingerprinted too. I turned in our Live Scan for both of us and our DMV printouts.

October 21

We had our second meeting with Sandra at 12:00 to go over our paperwork and handbook. She had talked to Community Care Licensing and found out it was ok for us to go forward with the whole process.

October 22

Aaron and I had our physical today and a TB test.

October 24

We got our T.B. results read today. Mine was quite funny now that I look back at it. So, I went in to get it read and the secretary lady looked at my arm and said, hold on, you need to have that checked by the nurse. So, the nurse grabs me and puts me in the very back room and comes in with a MASK and a magnifying glass to look at my arm. Talk about FREAKING ME OUT!!! Thought I had TB!!! She said it was a false alarm and it was negative. But man, that was not very fun to live through.

November 3

I went to St. Bernard's in Eureka to fulfill my CPR class. It will be good for one year. (Aaron did not do his.) Only one of us has to be certified in CPR. I could have taught that class.

November 4

Sandra arrived at 3:30 to visit with the boys for the first time and to start my psych evaluation. She said our fingerprint clearance came back just fine. I think Zackery shocked her. When she asked if they had any questions for her, Zack said "Do you think that GOD is happy that we are going to bring children into our home and take care of them?" The look on her face was priceless. She didn't know how to respond. She had NEVER been asked that question. Go Zack!

November 5

Aaron and I both went to St. Bernard's in Eureka to fulfill our First Aid class. This should last 2 years.

November 10

Sandra came to our home at 12:00 to finish up the psych evaluations and family history for Aaron and I. She checked off our fence for the fireplace and our water temperature. She stated that we are all done with our meetings and she has to just type up our papers and we should be certified by next week!!! We still need to do a water safety course but that will be held the first weekend in December. We don't have to have it to be certified. Now, just waiting for a phone call!

What's up in my life

So many things have changed in the last few weeks. I feel like my life is a whirlwind. I don't know what to think right now.

I'll start my story from my birthday, Sept. 28th. I was sitting at church listening to Pastor Mike and realized that God was really trying to grab my attention. I had a pretty hard day and cried for most of it. I went to our small group later that evening and had my friends pray with me. Aaron and I talked about things when we got home and decided that I was going to leave Humboldt State University to stay home with our boys. HSU was really not the college for me anyway. I was in the car 2 hours a day, 5 days a week just traveling to and fro. That sure wasn't fun and very non-economical. The boys were thrilled with our decision and we were too. I have been loving my time with the family and they sure like the clean house and home-cooking. It's been nice. Weird not studying or writing a paper and having all of this free time. I am not used to it.

The following week while we were in church, Pastor Mike said something that begged for my attention again. Dang - he's good! He said, "Are you using all of your resources that God has given to you?" Wow. Our family talked about it and we realized that God has given us this amazing 6 bedroom house, and it is pretty empty. We decided to look into doing Foster Care again. This is a huge step because it brings back some very sad memories. But, our hearts are open again and we definately have the room for more. We have started the process and we should be certified by the middle of November.

The biggest thing on my mind right now is that of my brother-in-law Randy. My sister's husband has just been diagnosed with Cancer. It is so hard for me to say that word. It brings back so many memories of my dad. I can't believe we are going through this - again. I am praying for strength to stand behind them and be like a rock for them. Today is finally better. I haven't cried - yet anyway. It is so hard to be here and not with them, holding them and just being there. Trying to do the best I can from over here. Mostly, praying. We will be going to Redding on Friday so that we can see them and lift them up and encourage them. Spend some quality time with our family.

My sister Jennifer is coming over from Hawaii this week so I am stoked to get to see her! I miss her and my niece Aubrey so much. There are going to be a lot of people there Friday. Kristy and the gang, Jenn & Aubrey, Grammy and Papa, Arlene and her family and my girlfriend Elaina with her daughter Alex and her new man Buzz. Going trick-or-treating with so many people will be fun!!! I can't wait to get there and enjoy our new family tradition of eating a warm bowl of chili and then looting for candy. Yeah!!!