The Best Christmas Ever

I am overwhelmed with joy! This is going to be the best Christmas EVER! We will be able to Skype with our kids for a few days before Christmas, and we will meet them on Christmas Eve. We will visit with them for several days and bring them home for the new year. Despite all the challenges of pregnancy loss and the loss of our foster children, God has truly blessed us. I cannot imagine things any other way. I am so emotionally overwhelmed that I cried from my dentist appointment to the pharmacy and then all the way home - not just little tears overflowing, but ugly, scrunched-up-face crying. Ridiculous!

What are we giving our kids for their first Christmas presents? My husband suggested something cuddly, so I made them each a tie blanket (two Cars and one Tinkerbell). I wanted to give each child their own theme of blanket, but, in the end, I decided to give the toys boys the same thing because I know they both like cars, and I don't know what other interests they have. We are also giving them each a book about forever families and adoption. I cried as I read the sample pages on Amazon. Once again, not a cute, happy cry - I cried loudly as I read the pages to my husband. He had to get two tissues to clean up the mess.I even cried a little when my husband brought me the printed schedule of our visits. What a huge blessing!

ICPC approved!

Today I got the best email I have had in quite some time. Our ICPC (the piece we have been waiting for the last 3 months - to the day) was approved today! Tomorrow we will hopefully receive a date and a timeline to pick up our kids! A little part of me is thinking things like this:

Oh my gosh! I still haven't ordered our daughter's bed! Should I wait until that is on the way? I already set that date with my husband to go see Cirque du Soleil - can I really hire a babysitter right after they get here? Do I really want to miss my students' Christmas party? What about that project I have due before break? Can a sub take care of that, or should I stay until that is done?How long do the kids need to process that they are moving before we can get there? A few weeks?

Then another part of me is thinking things like:

I can be available to go get them next week! I will cancel all plans I have and empty my bank account to get there in record time (Does anyone have a jetplane I can borrow for the weekend?). Can they show the kids our welcome book tomorrow? Is that just rushing it? Are people going to work over the holidays so we can get our family? How horrible will it be to have to wait until after Christmas?

I am sure there is a happy medium somewhere. I guess that is why we have a worker and the kids have a worker. Those people will guide us so that the best for all involved.

Another hoop successfully jumped! Waiting for the next one!

Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy is one of the vocabulary words in my classroom this week. That is very ironic. As I spend nearly every evening filling out paperwork that I have completed multiple times over the last 21 months, I understand bureaucracy. I feel frustrated because I don't know how to be my own advocate and say, "Hey! I have already done fingerprinting for the state and FBI, reference checks, and home inspections. And, by the way, I paid $400 for a home study in May, so why are you doing another one?" From what I have been told, we don't really need to do all this again, but when the lady in charge of my fate tells me to do it, I can either try to prove she is wrong or I can spend that time in quiet compliance, hoping someone else will tell her and save us from the pain of going through this process again. I wish I knew a way to PROVE that we don't need to do this all over, but I just don't.

Welcome Book

After all the ups and downs since August, we are finally looking forward to the next chapter in our lives. I have spent the last few days sorting through tubs of clothes and toys, taking some courses on attachment and parenting, and working on a welcome book for our kids. I have taken pictures of all our home, church, school, neighborhood, and places of work. We have requested pictures from our family members and friends as well. I have written a sentence or two for each person and place, and I have included our family rules and daily schedule. How exciting! Would be great if we could meet them soon to give them their welcome book!

We have been contacted by the local agency to work on the ICPC, so that is another huge step in the right direction. I recently ran across this Bible verse from1 Samuel 1:27: "For this child I prayed, and the Lord granted me what I asked of him."