So fast!

It's hard to believe that at this time last week I was getting a little boy ready for bed. We were taking a bath, putting on puppy dog pajamas and reading books. And this week I am pondering dinner and what movie to watch while (finally) hanging some things up on the walls in my room. Hard to believe that Little Man went to a different foster home after only 4 days at my house. There are so many things I want to remember.

1) He LOVED books. Especially Gallop. He would sit and look at it for long periods of time which was pretty much a miracle. We read at least 3 books before bed every night.

2) The freezer box left over from the move was the greatest thing to play with ever. He would take his flashlight (his second favorite toy) inside and shine it on the walls. He would pull the flaps in and wave "Bye" as he closed the doors. So CUTE!

3) He loved to snuggle. If he was tired, unsure, scared, you name it, he would come to you arms up and just lay his head on your shoulder. In the middle of the night when he was unsure, I would get him out of bed and rock him back and forth and pray for him with his sweet head snuggled on my shoulder.

4) He was smart. In his 4 days hear, he started pointing at me and calling me Jo, knew Zoeys name, could open and close all of the doors. (YIKES) and many more things. As he was getting comfortable, his personality was coming out as were new words daily.

5) You could tell when he was done eating because he would hold food in his mouth and refuse to chew or swallow. It usually take a finger swipe to get the food out. So frustrating at first, but it definitely got better over time.

I know there are many more things about placement #1 I am forgetting to write here. He profoundly affected my life in the 4 days he was here. I am so thankful I said yes to the placement, even though it was not what I had planned for. My mom got to come and meet him. She was going to be coming and her visit happened to coincide with the 4 days he was here. She was here when he left as well. I found out at 5:15 he was leaving and they came to get him at 6:30.

I have been pondering a verse to have painted to hang in the Baby room at the house. I have had many go through my mind and my heart and the one that sticks is this:

The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121:7-8


This is my prayer for all the foster babies that come through my house. That the Lord will keep them from harm. That he will watch over their lives and their comings and goings from my house and where ever they go after here. That he will watch over them. I know that placement #2 will be just as precious and special as #1. Just totally different. I'm excited to see how that plays out and I will continue to pray these verses. Over the kiddo that just left and the many more that are to come. Because I have a God who cares and who watches over both their lives and mine now and forevermore.

I should be sleeping...

I have a story for you. This afternoon I went to Chick-Fil-A Thursday with some fabulous friends. I then headed to drop off some prescriptions at Walgreens and was foiled by the long lines at both the drive thru and inside. On my drive from Walgreens to work, I remembered that I had put my phone on silent that morning and had never turned the sound back on. I thought "Wouldn't it be funny if Methodist had called me with a baby and I hadn't heard it because it was on silent." I took out my phone and checked it, and they actually had called!

My hands shook a little bit as I called back. I wavered between excited and nervous. They answered and said that they had a one year old needing placement. My heart sank. The plan was a baby. Little. Use the bouncy seat and bottles. But after two months of waiting do I say no? I expressed my concern and they told me that they had other families they could call. I told them to check with them and then let me know if no one else would take him. I promptly called my mom. (What else is a 28 year old gal to do?!?)

I asked her to pray. That I would know what to say if they called me back. She said "If they call you back, I think you know what God's answer is." I knew she was right. They called back and I said yes.

At 6:30 tonight a sweet, little boy entered my house. His eyes were red with tears. One of the first things out of the case workers mouth was, "He cried a lot when m-o-m left." We found out that he might be 1 but in reality he is 21 months old. Almost two. And never what I would have asked for. We took a trip to Walmart to get food. I definitely didn't have whole milk at the house for him. Got some toddler friendly meal options. Stopped to meet some dear friends. Once we got home, we watched a Veggie Tales and then it was time for bed. The case worker had said to not expect much sleep and to not expect for him to go to bed easily. But this little man set out to prove her wrong! He laid down in his bed when I put him down and I haven't heard a peep from him since.

Little Man is so sweet. He can high five with the best of them. He loves goldfish. He has words that we will get to learn over the next weeks. I'm thankful to be a place for him to stay for however long is necessary.

I should be sleeping in case he wakes up and is scared, but my brain is running WAY to many miles per hour to sleep. So now that this is done and his story is preserved for all of internet-dom, maybe sleep will come. But I do know this. I am going to sit and reflect on the great things God has done. And pray for the sweet little boy sleeping down the hall. And for his family. That the Lord's will will be done in their lives. Because that is what is most important of all.

This is Not our Home

I have had a song playing on repeat in my iPod, my mind, and my heart for three weeks now. Laura Story’s Blessings was played at church on a Sunday when I desperately needed to hear it. The whole song is incredible, but there have been two sections that have been rolling through my thoughts over and over.

First:

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win


We know that pain reminds this heart


That this is not, this is not our home


It's not our home

Second:

What if my greatest disappointments


Or the aching of this life


Is the revealing of a greater thirst


This world can't satisfy?



And what if trials of this life


The rain, the storms, the hardest nights


Are Your mercies in disguise?

I have seen some of my friends go through some rough stuff over the few weeks. One friend had a miscarriage late in pregnancy. For the second time this year. Another set of friends had to say goodbye to a foster baby that they wanted nothing more than to add to their family. And just this morning, I found out that a friend has now lost his mother in law and father in law in the last week. My. Heart. Aches.

My comfort comes in the reminder that this is not our home. That there is something beyond this world filled with pain and hurt. That one day the pain will be gone. The hurt will be gone. And better than that, Jesus will be there. So I pray for my friends. And live with the hope that this is not the end. That this is not our home.

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!