Patience and Trust

I have been learning a lot about these two things. This fostering adventure has only barely begun and God is already beginning to stretch me in these areas. I knew that this was where I would grow the most and here it is - I'm growing before I even get a placement!

As I sat reading my Bible this morning, I read this verse "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." (Matthew 18:5) I was struck by how this verse articulated what I felt about fostering. Welcoming a child into my home is my way of saying Jesus I welcome you. Not to part of me but all of me. To my life. Convenient or not. Lack of sleep or not. I welcome you.

As I was journaling about this, Glee's version of Justin Beiber's "Baby Baby" came blaring out of my phone and my heart skipped a beat - Methodist was calling! A 3 week old little boy who the case worker was 98% sure would need a safe haven. My heart soared. I confirmed we had day care for the week, notified the roommate and my boss and waited. 5 hours later the text came that the mom found a family member to place with. And so here I sit, another night without a baby.

Even as hard as it is to have my hopes go up and then come crashing down again, it's worth it. It's worth it to know that even though it is hard I am following the way I am supposed to go. Patience to know that when we are supposed to get a placement, it will happen. Trust to know that God's plan is so much greater than mine. His love for each and every one of these babies we have gotten called for is SO much greater than mine.

I can't wait for the day when I can post that Baby #1 is here. In my arms. But that time isn't now. So I wait. Patiently. With expectation. And slowly with His help, joy.

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him." Psalm 62:5

Life Update

I haven't blogged in a couple of months. Life has been crazy busy with closing out the school year, shutting down my classroom and getting started at a new job. I had a month break in between the two jobs and didn't do a whole lot. Then we found a rent house. My car broke and was in the shop for 10 days. Started a new job. Went on vacation. Elizabeth moved us while I was in Colorado. Came back and have been unpacking. The past three weeks have been a whirlwind! But the dust is settling and routine is coming back and that is good.

I love my new job. What do I love?

1. Not being stressed.
2. Feeling like I am good at this, even though I still have SO much to learn.
3. The people I work with. They are fun. And funny. And awesome.
4. Not leaving my house until 7:45 in the morning and getting there early if I leave then! (Considering I used to get to SCHOOL at 7:15, this is a drastic improvement. :))
5. Leaving work at work. Nothing to take home with this job. I leave at 5 and I'm done. (Did you see that? I LEAVE WORK AT 5PM! AND I'M DONE!)
6. I can eat when I want. And go to the bathroom when I have to and not worry about 12 year olds burning down my classroom. Or punching each other.

I miss things about school, like getting to buy school supplies. Or the excitement of a new group of kids, but for the most part this is a GREAT change.  

As far as fostering goes, it has been a long time of being certified and not having a placement. We are going on 2 months now. Our home study was updated today and completed since the move. I found out that they got a call about a newborn today but didn't think we could do it because we both work. So they passed on that placement. I corrected that assumption QUICKLY. We have had tons of friends volunteer babysitting services and we would figure it out. Not to mention Elizabeth gets off work at 2 and has random days off during the week. So, with that assumption corrected, we will see if a placement comes. I'm past ready.

I think those are the big things. The new house is great. Life is settling into a predictable pace until a baby gets added to the mix. Ready to see what the next few months brings. It should be interesting at the very least!

Big Day

Oh friends! What a big day today has been. Something has been brewing for a couple of weeks and I am just now able to share! On Mother's day, I went out to lunch with some friends. One of whom I used to work with at PC, but he moved to working at a design firm in town. We got to talking and my job from PC came up. I jokingly said, "If you have something open at your company, I might would be interested." He said there was an opening and it was basically doing what I did at PC. After I finished turning white as a sheet and throwing up in my mouth a little bit, I got some more information. My friend emailed me a job description and I applied for the job.

Long story short: I got a new job today! After two years of teaching, I am returning to the business world. I am an Account Executive/ Traffic Coordinator and I am SO excited. I start July 5th, so I will be getting a little bit of summer. :) God has dropped this opportunity into my lap and has seen it to completion. It is such a huge God thing that I can't even begin to describe.

On top of this, my license was approved today! I should get my copy in the mail at the end of this week. But this means we could get a baby any day now! Elizabeth is not working currently and so we said bring it on. She can watch the kiddo for the two days of school I have left. Then four weeks off. Then on to the next chapter.

Now I just have to find a rent house....



(Side note, as I told my mom I don't do things in small doses. Hey, get a baby for the first time, a new job, and move all within two months. Sounds like a plan, right? ;) )

Update!

This week has been a big week. I turned in all of the final paperwork on Monday and we are DONE! I thought that we had one more visit, but we do not. All that is left is for our agency to write our home study (which takes about 6 hours) and submit it. It should not be a problem to be licensed by the end of school! I. Am. So. Excited!

I only have 13 more school days with students. I am ready for this year to be done. They are ready for this year to be done. But we have to have some fun moments along the way. Today was one of those.

Part 1 of story:
We were working on sales tax and discounts in my PAP class when a question saying that a music player (aka iPod) was sold for $199. The kids flipped about how expensive that was. We discussed how much iPod touches and iPhones cost and they all realized it was not an unreasonable number. This led to a kid talking about his iPod shuffle and me mentioning that I have an original iPod shuffle named Peabody. They requested to meet Peabody.

Part 2 of Story
I have a student who every Friday sings me the "Friday" song. You know, the youtube cheese fest. He sings it every Friday, because I won't let him sing it any other day.

Part 3 of Story
Today I brought Peabody to school and had "Friday" sung by the glee cast preloaded. We had quite a lot of fun singing along. Then they office paged my room to send down a student and it was awkward. But totally worth it. :)

That's all my updates for now! Have a great weekend!

Where did March go?

So I feel like I blinked and my Birthday is almost here. And my birthday being close (March 30) means that March is pretty much over. Where did the time go?!?

I've had some people ask how the fostering process is coming - we have progressed by leaps and bounds. All that is left is CPR/First Aid training and the house inspections. The person who volunteered to our CPR training has been in Israel for the last two weeks, and so I'm sure that will get taken care of some time in the next month after she and her husband have recovered from/ processed a little of that trip. Even though our certification will be complete, we are not going to accept a placement until after school is over. This has been a heart wrenching decision for me, but I know that it is the wisest and best course of action. We will do respite care from whenever we finish training until June 7th. Then it will just be a matter of waiting for a placement. CRAZY!

Birthday celebrations are beginning tomorrow. The goal of my party is to get a massive group picture of all of my favorite people in Tyler. There are going to be around 30 people there. I. Am. So. Excited. I have to submit a picture of the fostering family for my paperwork. I'm really tempted to the huge group picture in the packet, because the reality is that this baby's Tyler family will be that big. Instead I will settle for finally having a good picture of me and the roommate.

At school we have hit full fledged TAKS review. The next four weeks are not my favorite of the year. They are necessary, but it is going to seem rather long.

At church we are reading through the Bible in a year. I had gotten behind when I was sick right before Spring Break. I finally caught up today. It involved reading the entirety of Joshua in two sittings. And it was awesome. To see the whole story play out quickly instead of spreading it over weeks was inspiring. And showed me so much of who God is.

And that's the update. I'm off to do clean, run errands, and finish my school stuff since tomorrow is the super exciting party. At the rate this year is going, it's will be over before I know it and there will be a new little someone in my house!

A Different Set of Glasses

Spring Break has begun. A week of rest and rejuvenation. I've been fighting a sinus infection for over a week now. I really should have gone to the doctor, but didn't put two and two together until my friend Amy said something at dinner last night. I'm going on Monday to get a general physical and if the doctor thinks I need it, some antibiotics.

My whole world is viewed so differently right now. Being sick for the past week made me think about how it would be to be sick and have a baby. A friend posted on his facebook that there are 13 Sundays until summer staffers come to training where I used to work. That means I could have a baby in less than 13 Sundays. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Trips to the store now are viewed with, what would this be like with a baby. Lazy Saturdays of sleeping in are enjoyed before they become a distant memory. My time being my own is thought about and rested in and enjoyed. These days are coming to a close.


This whole process has gone so much faster and so much smoother than I thought it would. And I feel inadequate. Oh so inadequate. But then I stop and think - I'm not doing this on my own. I have amazing friends and family surrounding me. A roommate who is willing to join the insanity. But most of all, I have a God who is more than adequate. He is excellent. And I have a feeling I am going to learn so much more about who HE is through this than anything else.

So I'll accept these new lenses. This new world view. And embrace it. They may not be rose colored, but it should be fun to see where it all ends up.

And it gets real...

Today I took a step in the fostering process:

Babies R Us is doing their exchange program. Turn in an old/expired car  seat and get 25% off something new. A friend had an expired car seat for us to use and so tonight we went and purchased a crib!

It might have been a little bit more than I would have paid elsewhere, but I LOVE IT. It is simple and chocolate brown and wonderful.




Otherwise, I am slowly plodding my way through the fostering packet. I have answered a lot of the questions but I think they are multiplying. For every one I finish, four more appear. :) We have another training in a few weeks. Spring Break is going to be big. I have made some Dr appointments. (I'm actually going to have a general physician! For the first time since college.) And the plan is to finish questions and work my way through some of the self-paced training.

Buying the crib makes it all seem more real. And I'm excited. Onwards and upwards. Here we go!