Storytime

Seth looks forward to story time each week and today they talked about alligators and one of the books was about an alligator on a girls head...Seth wore his alligator hat through the whole story.  :)

More Steps...

Last night we had our last official meeting/interview to become licensed for Foster Care.  Now she just needs to put all her notes together and submit them for approval and then we will officially be licensed.  Craziness!  I have mixed emotions, but overall...I feel relief.  It's something I've desired to do and felt called to do for years and for a variety of reasons it didn't happen.  I'm not sure what it will look like and I'm sure at times it will stretch me farther than I've ever stretched before, but we have to at least try.

I'm currently helping a friend and watching her adorable baby girl during the day until the end of May when her daycare will be available.  Even once we are licensed we will be put 'on hold' until I fulfill my commitment.  We may have an extra child for a weekend as 'respite care' for other foster parents that are unable to watch their foster child for a weekend, but overall nothing will happen until June.  I'm kind of bummed about that, but at the same time it might be good to hold off until the end of the school year anyway (that's what I keep telling myself anyway).

Some things I've learned from doing daycare that may (or may not) apply when we do Foster Care:

- my love isn't limited to my own children

- my children are willing to accept another child into their life

- it creates challenges and changes our 'normal' routine

- my freedom with a 4 year old during the day is TOTALLY different from my freedom with an infant and a 4 year old...I joke that it's like riding a bike though, I've done it before and it comes back to you pretty quickly

OK, there are a ton of other things that I've thought of recently but because I didn't write them down at the time I can't remember them now!

Design on a Dime

There's a show with this title and they have less than $2000 to re-do a room.  Well, $2000 to re-do a room would be a lot of money if you ask me.  I've wanted to re-do our bedroom for a while and as I've found good deals I've slowly been accomplishing this goal.  Maybe someday I'll show you the finished product (I really like it, but 1. it's not totally done yet and 2. I don't think it will win any awards or anything, so don't hold your breath waiting!!).  

Anyway, we have a HUGE empty wall in our bedroom and trying to find an inexpensive solution to fill the space has not been easy.  I had a Save Coin deal for printing pictures and I found clearance frames, but even still it would have seemed VERY plain and blank.  I was going to buy wood trim and I thought about using fabric for one idea...in the end that was still more than I wanted to spend.  I ended up using Frog Tape (pretty cool stuff!) and a $3 container of paint (a new size at the hardware store) and created this...

It may not be the coolest thing you've ever seen (or maybe it is...feel free to lie to me!) :), but it was around $25 for everything and that my friends was in my budget!  A walk down memory lane for Dan and I every time we walk up.  I love it! 

Family Time - Ears

Last night was Family Time and I am reminded each week how much the kids enjoy this time.  I am so thankful for the blog we have been following for Family Time because it takes a small amount of time to prepare and plan in comparison to a couple years ago when we were 'reinventing the wheel' each week.

We start each week praying and then reciting previous verses we've learned.  They LOVE that there are actions. 

This week we talked about ears and our verse was: 

The Ear: James 1:19-20

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen,

slow to speak and slow to become angry,

for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

As you can tell from the verse, though we talked about our ears, we focused a lot on anger as well.  It was quality time spent together!  Here's the link to the lesson we used -- Ears!

We continue to step...

Last night we met with a woman from Social Services for our first Foster Care evaluation.  It went well.  We continue to step, trusting in the Lord's direction.  I'm not going to lie, there's fear, trepidation and an overall wondering of how becoming licensed Foster Care parents affects our family.  I'm trying to trust that Lord will continue to lead.  I know He will...it's my faith that wavers.

Some moments I long to hold a child that is in need of love and stability...other times, if I'm honest...I want to walk away and pretend that my heart doesn't ache for children in need.  I don't know where this journey will lead us, but...we continue to step.  

Family Time - eyes

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

 For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:18

This was our Family Time lesson this week.  We talked about temporary and eternal things and then enjoyed realizing that though it seems as though a huge roll of toilet paper would take a LONG time to unroll, it reality it was just a few minutes.  Things in this life are 'temporary' though they seem like they will go on forever...nothing, but our relationship with the Lord is eternal.

It's been so good to memorize scripture together as a family and be able to talk about it all throughout the week...we missed Family Time and have enjoyed making it a priority.  Though we read the Word together in the evenings before bed and have quality time then, this time set aside when the kids ask questions, we have a lot of fun as well as discuss and probe into their lives...it's something that Dan and I have really missed.  Welcome back Family Time!!  

I forgot a couple things...

In my last post I knew I would forget a few things...and it wouldn't surprise me if there are still more things I forgot, but here are a few more 'happenings'...

Last week we also went to get finger printed.  Why?  No, we were not thrown in the slammer!!  We have thought about and prayed about doing Foster Care for the past year or so....actually, for the past 8 years. We started the process before I found out I was pregnant with Alayna.  We decided at that time to put it on hold...then we were surprisingly pregnant with Seth...still on hold...Seth = not the easiest toddler we've ever had...still on hold...now...the ball is rolling.  They ask you to get finger printed first, then fill out paperwork and send it in and then we have a few other 'hoops' to go through before we are licensed.  

I'm not going to lie, part of me is overwhelmed with the opportunity to love kids who have no one else in their life to truly love and care for them...another part of me is scared of how it could/will change our family...but a bigger part of me knows that the Lord is asking us to 'step' and so we will continue 'stepping' until the path is made clear.  

Another random thing that happened was my purse was stolen.  That has never happened to me before...thankfully!!  I was in St. Cloud at Target, no cart, just my purse on my arm.  I'm still not sure what happened, I must have set it down for a moment (though I have NO memory of doing that, nor would I normally do that).  I didn't even realize it was missing though until I went up to the check out a few moments later and realized I didn't have it.  I was in the store for less than 15 minutes.  My heart was racing and I'm sure I was sweating a bit wondering what happened to my purse with all my ID and everything in it!  I felt in my coat pocket and was BEYOND thankful to realize I had my keys and my cell phone in my pocket.  I literally walked around Target thanking the Lord for his provision of the things in my purse that I really needed in that moment.  

I called the one other store I had been in and they didn't have my purse.  I wandered around the 3 areas of Target I walked through (looking to see if I could find it) while trying to call Target as well.  They put me on hold for a while...I was still sweating, pacing and thanking the Lord for my keys and cell phone.  They finally answered and I described my purse and they said "Yes, we have it up here".  When I went to get it, I asked where it was found and they said in the Sporting Goods area.  I was no where NEAR that area!  I looked through my purse, nothing was missing and since I had no cash with me there was no money to steal (sorry whoever you are, you tried to steal from the wrong person!)  What a HUGE relief!!  I was so thankful first for the Lord's provision of my keys and cell phone and then even more surprisingly that I got my purse and everything in it back.  HUGE blessing!

A Look Back...

A lot has happened in the last couple weeks and I'm sure even as I type this I will miss a few things, but here goes nothing!

We had Parent Teacher Conferences for Josiah and Alayna.  We have always looked forward to conferences and this time was no different.  Both kids are doing amazingly well and are far ahead of where they need to be and they are both great examples and leaders in their class.  Alayna's teacher said that when there's a sub she always notes on her sheet that if she has any questions or needs help with anything she should as Alayna.  How cute!  They both love school and are excelling, though we are proud of their academic achievements, we are even more proud of the example they are for their classmates!

That same week Dan needed to go to Grand Forks for a tournament game and earlier that week he noticed that his 'check engine soon' light was on.  He dropped it off to have it looked at and got a call that morning that it would be about $600 to repair...bummer, but it needed to be fixed.  Later that afternoon he got a call that there were more issues that needed to be repaired and the cost would be at least $2000.  If you have never seen the "Man Van" as we called it, it was a 2000 Chevy Venture that was rusted, lacked heat, the drivers side window didn't work and the gas gauge was broken.  It didn't leave the city limits and was not worth $2000 (especially when that didn't fix all of it's issues, there would still be no heat, window or working gas gauge!).  So began the decision of fixing or updating his vehicle....we chose to update it.  The kids (and Dan) had off of school the following week and so we enjoyed time at home, time to think through our vehicle purchase before actually purchasing a vehicle that week.  This is what it looks like.  He likes his new wheels and I'm thankful it will him warm in the winter!

 A little later that same week we took a trip to St. Cloud to see Dan's mom as well as my sister.  While at his moms Dan put on a new front door and we pulled the carpet up in his mom's bathroom (she was NOT a fan of the carpet...can you blame her!?!) and put in a new toilet.  Quite a productive couple of days!  I should have taken before and after pictures...bummer! 

After a couple days in St. Cloud we continued our journey to Austin MN where Dan's grandma lives.  It was her 89th birthday!  Seriously, doesn't she look great??  She's 89, looks and feels great and she's a lot of fun to talk to...she is full of history and memories.  When Seth saw her birthday cake he was really excited!  Dan asked him, "how many birthday's have you had Seth?" -- he said, "4" -- "did you know that great grandma has had 89 birthdays?" -- his response, "that's not fair she's had a lot more birthday's than me".  Yes she has and we were thankful we got to be there to celebrate!  He saw this picture when I uploaded it and said, "that's great grandma!  She's the nicest great grandma!"