School is crazy busy this week, interims are supposed to be due, which completely snuck up on me. I am beginning reading groups, which is good, but hectic in the beginning. Tomorrow night is PTA Open House night, so I will be at school until at least 7:45 pm. Laundry in never ending. Money is tight with the holidays fast approaching and us still trying to adjust to the added expenses of having a baby in the house. Last weekends PRIDE training (for new CALL families)was fine, but the childcare has been a mess, and we still have a whole weekend to go in two more weeks. Oliver is STILL peeing in the hallway heading to the babies room several nights a week; he may need a new home soon...only kidding...sort of.
And on and on...

I am so thankful for the wonderful husband, family, and friends I have to keep me grounded during stressful times. And knowing God is going to handle all of these things is a huge relief, now if I could just get Him to go ahead and tell the plan now, instead of making me wait and continue to wonder, worry, and anticipate over it things would be perfect! I know, though, its all in His time, and the IS the perfect time.

I've just spent 4 hours grading papers, I'm done now though, at least until tomorrow, when the kids do more work. I will enter grades during my planning tomorrow, and maybe try to get interims printed so I can get busy writing comments on those. I have two huge baskets of clean laundry in my living room floor waiting for me to quit blogging and go fold and put away. Then laundry will be done, at least until tomorrow, when more dirty clothes will appear.

I have a prayer request: Baby L has a review scheduled in court next Tuesday (9/22/09). I would really appreciate prayers for L, the judge, his lawyer and case worker, and Steven and myself, as we all try to navigate L's case and do what is very best for him. If you want to read a bit more on my feelings and prayer needs concerning this, or just to look at a few new pics of L, gohere.

The story of how we became Foster parents

I have been working on the scrapbook I am going to keep our our Foster Care experiences, and part of this ins going to include an explanation to how this all came about. I decide this would do good double duty as a post on my blog!
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Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans...in their distress. -James 1:27
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How we got to this place...
God knew, from before we even met one another, that Steven and I were destined to this place: being Foster parents. We had to figure it out on our own though. We had an excellent premarital counseling experience. The couple, Merlin and Rita Hagan, who did our premarital counseling were amazing; they really challenged us as individuals and as a couple. They spent time talking with us about how when God brings two people together in marriage, He has a higher purpose than just to make those two happy. God has a plan for that couple to serve Him together in a unique way...they wanted us to consider if we might know what God may be calling us to as husband and wife. We both knew we wanted to serve children, and foster care was something we discussed at that time as being something that may be in our future (I'm sure we both thought it would be in the very distant future though!). That was put on the back burner though, as we embarked on our marriage, and all the craziness of life.

As Steven and I began talking about starting a family, we tentatively planned in our mind that we would begin trying to get pregnant in the summer of 2009. That seemed like a good time, we would have been married for four years, and had really settled down into our lives. In the fall of 2008, as we both looked forward to starting a family and having children of our own, God intervened and shook up our plans! Around the elections in November of 2008 Foster care in Arkansas got a lot of media coverage due to a controversial bill that was on the ballot. A group was speaking out and using this media attention to spread their cause. This group is The CALL. The CALL stands for Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime. This is a non-profit Christian organization that had partnered with DCFS to help recruit Christians to step up and answer God's commission to us, to take care of the fatherless. I did some Internet research, and started learning more about this group. We began getting more and more excited as we learned about The CALL. We signed up for the next informational meeting, which was scheduled for January 19, 2009. As we prayed, thought about and anticipated our introductory meeting, we both knew this was where God was calling us at this time in our lives, even before the info meeting, we had already made up our minds and decided Foster parenting was something we wanted to pursue. So I got in touch with the CALL and got us signed up for our PRIDE training classes. The 30 hours of training is divided between two (long) weekends, and we attended these classes in February 2008. We continued working through the process of becoming Foster parents all through the spring. We had to get physicals, take CPR classes, attend support group meetings, and on and on; through all of this we kept praying to God to lead us wherever He wanted to use us. We scheduled our home study for late April, and even survived that stressful, intrusive experience. By early May we knew we were very close to being “done” though it was actually just beginning. This process was much like a pregnancy for us in the emotional aspect. Though we had no real knowledge of the children that would be coming to us, we were preparing ourselves to become parents. To be a dad and mom, to any child the Lord entrusted to us, even if just for a short time.

We were are often asked how we made the decision to become Foster parents: the answer is simple, we wanted to serve God with our lives, and He has given us both a passion for children. The more we worked through this process, the more obvious is became that this is exactly where the Lord wants us. Even when we began to question whether or not we could “do” this, the answer was clear: it would be disobedient for us not to do this. God has made His intentions for us so obvious, who are we to question that. And though this journey is sure to be hard, emotional, and heart breaking at times, He will sustain us. Our mantra became 'If the Lord brings you to it, the Lord will bring you though it.'

So, thats how we became foster parents, we are in this place as an act of obedience and faith to the Lord. Our Father has plans for us on this journey, which we will learn as the days unfold. We no longer have “plans” concerning our family. We are going to let the Lord grow our family in anyway He sees fit. We don't know if we will have any biological children, we will most likely adopt out of Foster care at some point...but we are not in control of this. God is.

On May 18, 2009, I met with Shay, the DCFS liaison to The CALL. She came to our home to do our final walk-through, and to officially “open” us to begin receiving Foster care placements. And on that very afternoon, we got our first call...and so the journey began.
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Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.
-Martin Luther King, Jr

Days get away from me...

I didn't mean to not post for 3 days straight! Oops, I've been very busy though, so that's my excuse. I was in professional development for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week. Baby L started daycare and has done great. His teachers love him (of course!) and say he has adjusted and settled in like a pro.
He is sleeping very well also. He is only waking up once a night, for a small (2 oz) bottle, and I think we may be able to cut that one out within the next couple of weeks. He loves to play, standing up, holding your fingers for support! That's an instant way to make him happy.
He and I went and had lunch with Aunt Tanya and Uncle Gary today. They are Steven's aunt and uncle, from Conway, who have also began fostering recently. They are actually starting the CALL in Faulkner County. I love them, they are so great. Any who, the needed to give Christie (Baby E's foster mom) something, and mentioned to her that I was having lunch with them in LR, so they all were sneaky, and surprised me when Christie brought Baby E by the restaurant for me to kiss and love on for a minute! I was so excited. He looks great, very happy, and continuing to heal. It was fabulous to see his sweet self! Made my day.
Baby L is actually laying on my mom's couch right now, taking a snooze next to me. Steven is picking him up shortly, and they are having a boys only night, while i have a girls only night over here at mom's. I get to fill in for one of the "card ladies" for their monthly card game! I feel so honored to be allowed to join!
Look at Steven cuddling Baby L the other night, soothing him to sleep, I love seeing my husband hold and love on our babies!

If you want to see more like this, but with that precious face shown, go here.

Weekend in Review

We (Steven, myself, and Baby L) have had a very good, busy weekend. The big item on our agenda was my coordinating the PRIDE training that was held at our church this weekend. This is the class all perspective foster and adoptive families have to take. The CALL hosts it every month, and they condense the 30 hours of training, that is traditionally done over ten weeks, and cram it into two weekends. These are long weekends for those involved, Steven and I did this in February, but also very helpful to families for two reasons: its easier to schedule two weekends, as opposed to one night a week, for 10 weeks, and it also helps get the classes done more quickly.

Any who, so L and I were up at the church Friday, setting up, then there again Saturday morning to open things up and greet the participants. Then L went to Mom's to play, while Steven and I grilled burgers and took them back to the church for their lunch. Then back again in the evening to clean up and close up when they were done for the day. Then, today we hung out after church to greet them again, then this evening I went back to clean up and lock up again. I was at the Summit ALOT this weekend! Its a good thing I love that place so much!!! I also taught the one year old small group for the first time today. I am now officially the JV toddlers small group leader for the 11 o'clock service at The Summit Church. And Baby L was in the church nursery for the first time today, and he did great! He really seemed to like having all the other babies around; which made me more excited to take him for his first day of daycare tomorrow. I hope he likes it as much as E did, if he doesn't I'll feel really bad for having to take him!



Then, tonight, Brooke and Justin came over for dinner. We all got to visit, which was nice, I'm fairly sure its not why they really came though...having a baby around makes you very popular, babies attract people!


Highlight from the weekend:

Baby L loves bath time. We had been doing bathes in the sink, and he was having such a big time splashing that the floor was getting soaked! Saturday night I was going to take a bath myself, and I got to wondering...if he like bathes in his baby tub in the sink, he might LOVE a bath in a big tub with lots of water. Guess what? I was right! I had him in the bath with me and we had a big time!

If you want to see more of Baby L, go here.

Extra, Extra! Read All About It!

Its official: Steven and I are "open" to begin recieving foster care placements! Shay said it could be today that we get a call, it could be tomorrow, but she said she believes we will get a placement this week!!! The CALL has been sucha great blessing, to us, and all of the people involved in foster care in Pulaski County. Praise God from Whom all blessing flow! And let the games journey begin!

Variety Show

I had an excellent day...and I have so many things to share!

#1
Teyerra, our social worker, who works through the CALL and has done our home study, called...she is done with the report!!! Alicen will be picking it up from her tomorrow. Then it needs to be filed/processed and then that's the last step. We will get our license to become foster parents!!!! YAAAAHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I am sooooo excited. I think we should have our license in hand by one day next week. And hopefully a sweet foster baby will be quick to follow. I am so ready to begin serving like God has called me to.
Soon this nursery is going to be being put to very good use!


#2
The Prisoner Escaped again!
Mandy, one of our little min-pins just loves to dig holes under our fence and go roaming. She does this fairly regularly. Though it had been a while (several month's) prior to today. I got a call from a very nice lady who lives almost a mile away saying that Mandy came up to her wiggling and wanting attention when she was working in her front yard. So the lady too her to the back yard to secure her, and give her water. She also used Mandy's tags to call me and let me know where my prisoner was so I could come and retrieve her and return her to jail home. Thank goodness for kind neighbors! As you can see, Mandy immediately jumped into the back seat and began searching for an escape from the prison transport vehicle my car so she could find more adventures!


#3
I am LOVING my new camera. I purchased received it yesterday as an early birthday gift from my unaware wonderful husband! Its by far the best camera I have ever owned, and I am really enjoying taking picture of everything I see! I can't wait till I have foster kids running around here to photograph. For now though, my sister and students will have to do!

Shout Out

I want to give a shout out to my dear friend and colleague, Nancy Morton. She was honored last night at the LRSD Crystal Awards for being chosen as teacher of the year from Williams Magnet (our school) by all of us. Then, after receiving her 'Crystal Award', she was named the LRSD Elementary Schools Teacher of the Year!!! This was a huge honor and all of us in attendance at the banquet began hooting and hollering our excitement and praises for her. I can think of no one who deserves it more! Thank you Nancy for all you do for the kids, and all of us as well!

In other news, I emailed with Teyerra, our social worker with the CALL, who is doing our home study. She is working on finishing up her report. My prayer is for her to finish up and have it all submitted to DCFS by the end of this week. Then it would be a matter of days to no more than two weeks until we would be "open" for business foster care!

...and now exhale.

Teyerra just left our house. She was here for our Home Study for a little over three hours. Things went very well though. I really liked her, she seems so nice and genuine. She actually even invited Steven and I to join her small group at church! I feel really good about the visit. But we won't really know anything until she issues her final report, she said that should take her around two weeks. So, continue to pray for us, for peace of mind and trust in God's will as we wait to hear back. Hootie Hoo! Glad that's over with. I'm grinning from ear to ear though with enthusiasm about the experience!

Take a deep breath...

its about to begin. Our social worker from the CALL, Teyerra, should be here any time. She is like the big, make it or break it, person in this whole process. I'm nervous, jittery, and excited all at once! And ready to go. Lets do this, and then keep moving forward, to open our home and begin loving on these sweet children!

Weekend Review

*Please excuse all typos, I am posting from my blackberry. I am currently sitting in the lube shop at Wally World getting my oil changed. So I decided to make use of my time and blog.

This weekend Steven & I were in PRIDE training for 15 hours. From 9 to 6 on Saturday, and 1 to 7 on Sunday. This is the training class that all perspective foster parents take while obtaining their certification. Normally though it is a 10 week course where you go for one evening a week, for 3 hour sessions. Instead, the CALL is trying to condense the classes and make it easier for families to fit these mandatory classes into our schedules by putting everything into 2 cram-packed weekends.And a full (somewhat overwhelming) weekend it was! Steven & I are both sore and crampy from just sitting for such extended periods. The material we covered this weekend was very informative and we both felt like we learned a lot, but it was intence. The kids we will be working with potentially have many weighty issues they might be deal with. Just learning about some of the conditions kids come into custudy with as a result of whatever brought them to foster care is enough to turn your stomach. Plus hearing examples of some of the abuse and neglect we may see as foster parents was sobering. We met some other couples who were neat, and the teachers were great, one of them is a foster mother and she was able to share some good info from her personal experiences. It was a really cool thing to be there doing this with other Christians, who see this as a ministry and a service to God. The mindset and additude is so positive, in light of the many “down-sides” to adding this to our lives.

CALL Info Meeting

Steven and I attended our Informational meeting with The CALL in Arkansas Monday night.

It was phenomenal and energizing and just such a blessing. Every concern or question we had was addressed and spoken to in this meeting. It just felt like God say, "Here, I solved that one, give me another, I fix everything to make this doable for you...quit questioning me and do this!" Steven was even a bit emotional with all the overwhelming feelings of joy and assurance we both left there with. This IS the path God is leading our lives down. This is where he wants us to serve. We are learning and trying to be better followers, and just trusting in Him. I am such a worrier and planner by nature, and I just feel so good about this, even with out being able to plan and pick it apart piece by piece, I just know its all going to be alright. That is a God thing for sure, me facing a major life change and not wigging and stressing out to the max!!! I am hopeful that we could be able to begin taking kids as early as April, but defiantly by this summer. So, maybe I'll just be a "stay at home (foster) mom" this summer, instead of taking more classes, or getting a summer job.

This journey is bound to be challenging and heart wrenching at times, but there are going to be so many blessings and amazing things we will experience that we could miss out on if we don't take this step of faith and follow where God is leading us. I am so glad to know we are going where He tells us, and knowing that Steven and I will grow closer to God through this obedience and the gift He will bring to us.

While we try to teach our children all about life,Our children teach us what life is all about.

-Angela Schwindt