One Wednesday, I went to my mommy group at church. That week I had been fighting the urge to call the FFA to see if they remembered us. As I was sitting listening to the speaker my mind took a tangent and I continued my conversation with God about waiting to be foster parents and why the wait. I thought of the restrictions that I had given about what age girl we would take - 4 to 7-years-old. The reasons I said those ages were: I didn't want someone too old sharing a room with Sarah (safety concern), I didn't want to deal with all the time requirements of a baby, I didn't want to worry too much with potty training or have two kids in diapers, and I liked the idea of having a kid that gets to go to school. Most of the reasons were for pure easiness. I wanted to choose what seemed easiest knowing that things would be tricky to begin with. I wanted some control and wanted the least amount of fears involved. I made the decision to talk to Jonathan (my hubby) about telling the FFA we would take babies - 7. I let go of the control I wanted to have and decided I needed to trust God knowing that whatever child we find ourselves living with it will be by His grace, wisdom, and strength that we will get through (not because I found the easiest way). I, then, refocused on the speaker :~).
As I was driving home from the mommy group, I got a call from our FFA saying they had a girl that they thought would be a good match. That placement fell through but the placement worker still came out and met me and saw our apartment. That requirement was completed so they wouldn't need to do that step if there was another child that they wanted to place with us. The placement worker asked me about if I would be willing to take younger kids and possibly a boy 3 or younger. I said I would be willing.
The next week we were called to see if we would meet a 3 (almost 4)-year-old JJ and take her by the end of the week. We met her at a mall with a social worker. She was beautiful and tall for her age (which we actually didn't know her age at the time because there was some confusion about that). Her biracial (European and African) curly hair was pulled back into a pony tail. She already started calling Jonathan, "Daddy." This was interesting to note because from our understanding she didn't know why we were meeting her. We later found out she uses the terms Daddy and Mommy with many people.
We agreed to take JJ. I researched haircare and prepared ourselves and Sarah for the new edition. She came 2 days later.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Training and then Waiting
I quite enjoyed our training. The owner of our FFA (he runs the place, do FFAs have owners?) came to our house once a week (maybe once every two weeks) for a few months and went over packets of information and discussed required audio and video homework. We really felt comfortable with him and trusted his insight into what type of family we were and what kids might be a good match for us.
We got our apartment fixed-up to meet requirements and filled out all the paperwork. We became certified in October. Then we waited. We knew that if we didn't get a little girl before the beginning of November they wouldn't place anyone with us until we returned from our trip to South Africa over Christmas and the New Year.
We came back from our trip and waited. I was tempted to call the agency and let them know we were home now and available. I knew they knew though. I practiced patience and enjoyed my time with Sarah. As the waiting went on I realized how much I enjoyed my one-on-one time with Sarah and started to pray more specifically for the changes that would occur when someone else joined our family and that we both would be prepared.
I started to only randomly think about the possibility that at any moment we could be called and our life would be turned upside down. It was no longer in the forefront of my mind like it was right after we were certified.
I found it interesting which of our acquaintances would remember and ask us if we were still going to foster. Some people were really concerned about Sarah's safety and questioned our thoughtfulness towards her in our decision making. Jonathan and I discussed many times our concerns for Sarah and how it would affect her. Anytime I started to become anxious I would left those thoughts to God and continually received a peace in our decision and yet a realistic understanding that this wasn't going to be easy and that Sarah would definitely be affect but hopefully for the better.
We got our apartment fixed-up to meet requirements and filled out all the paperwork. We became certified in October. Then we waited. We knew that if we didn't get a little girl before the beginning of November they wouldn't place anyone with us until we returned from our trip to South Africa over Christmas and the New Year.
We came back from our trip and waited. I was tempted to call the agency and let them know we were home now and available. I knew they knew though. I practiced patience and enjoyed my time with Sarah. As the waiting went on I realized how much I enjoyed my one-on-one time with Sarah and started to pray more specifically for the changes that would occur when someone else joined our family and that we both would be prepared.
I started to only randomly think about the possibility that at any moment we could be called and our life would be turned upside down. It was no longer in the forefront of my mind like it was right after we were certified.
I found it interesting which of our acquaintances would remember and ask us if we were still going to foster. Some people were really concerned about Sarah's safety and questioned our thoughtfulness towards her in our decision making. Jonathan and I discussed many times our concerns for Sarah and how it would affect her. Anytime I started to become anxious I would left those thoughts to God and continually received a peace in our decision and yet a realistic understanding that this wasn't going to be easy and that Sarah would definitely be affect but hopefully for the better.
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