To be continued...

I knew when we started this journey into Foster Parenting that it would be a wild ride.  I have seen "the state" at work as I have watched my mom deal with things for the passed 28 years of her foster care experience.  I knew there would be frustrations.  Knowing things and processing them are two different emotions.  I called my licensing worker on Tuesday and left a message.  I called her supervisor and left a message.  I'm still trying to figure out where things are with our license.  I never heard back from either of them.  Yesterday at 10:40am I had a 13 minute conversation with my licensing worker and a case worker.  I saw her name come up on my caller ID and assumed she was returning my call from Tuesday.  I answer and she says "Hi Kari, it's _____, I wanted to talk to you about a referral."  My mind moves very fast.  I can have about 100 thoughts in 2 seconds.  My first thought is that I just cannot believe these people.  They can't return a call to let me know the status of my license, but they are calling me with a referral.  Unbelievable.  So I start asking the standard questions, how old is he?  How long has he been in care?  How many homes has he been in?  Does he have any medical issues?  And she puts his caseworker on the line.  The caseworker was very nice and answered all of my many questions.  She said that his current foster mom had given a written notice today.  She gave me all of the info and said she would be in touch.  That was almost 24 hours ago and I have heard nothing.  I am not good at being patient.  I am a planner and I want to know what the next step is.  I'm trying not to call them, trying to wait for them to call me, but I'm losing restraint.  I'm trying not to get my hopes up, as this is the fourth referral we have had, just the second "official" referral.  None of the others has come through so I'm trying not to get too excited.

To be continued when I know more...

Are we there yet??

We STILL do not have our license.  I truly just cannot believe it.  I never, in a million years, thought that I would be close to December 1st and not have any new children in our home.  Never did I think that I would be this close to December 1st and not even have our license.  The last communication I had with them was on November 15th, I was finally in touch with our licensing worker.  She said that the paperwork was sent to her supervisor in Champaign (yeah, yeah, the check's in the mail) and that we should hear news soon.  She said that if they were to get a referral that matched our criteria that we would be considered for placement.  I'm not sure I believe that.  I think the thing that frustrates me the most is that I feel the licensing worker is not being honest with me.  If she would have given me realistic time lines in the beginning, I wouldn't be so frustrated.  She makes promises, to appease me I'm sure, but then she cannot follow up with her end of the bargain.  I would much rather her just be honest and say "the paperwork will take four weeks to process from this point', instead of 'we will rush things through for you and scan things in and you will be licensed in two days'.  Then hide from me and not return any of my phone calls.  I would have much rather her tell us to go ahead and take the 9 week PRIDE course 40 minutes from our house because it will take six months to obtain a license instead of telling us that if we break our necks and pull 16 hour days and do the classes in 5 weeks she's sure that we can be licensed shortly after the class finishes.  Here we are eight weeks after we completed our PRIDE training and we STILL don't have even a license!!!  I can't help but wonder how long it will be from the time we actually get our license until we have a placement.  I wonder if this agency even gets referrals.  If they handle their referrals anything like they handle their licensing, I'm sure DCFS doesn't want to deal with them and would rather give referrals to other agencies.

I have called both the licensing agent and her supervisor today and left messages for an update.

I was praying this morning about this situation.  Again praying for patience, again praying for children that are currently in foster care and children that are in their homes but being abused or neglected.  I was praying for children that are out there that will be coming into our home and then I wondered if that will even happen at all.  I wondered if all of this delay is just God's way of telling us that these are not the plans He has for us.  And I prayed, again, for His guidance and His will to be done.  I prayed that He would make me His tool and to simply have me ready.  Ready to do His work, whatever that may be. 

I pray that when He calls I am ready.

I"m getting that fuzzy feeling

I'm getting that fuzzy feeling.  You know the one that comes around every year about this time.  When your heart and mind are full of jingle bells and big red bows.  Yes, Christmas.  I'm feeling very excited about Christmas this year.  I'm not sure why, becasue it will surley be a different kind of Christmas for us this year.  Every year for several years we have taken a trip at Christmas instead of giving our kids gifts.  We decided long ago that it was silly to spend money on gifts for them when they did not NEED anything.  We decided to give them memories instead.  We have taken them to Mexico, Jamaica, Punta Cana...it has been wonderful.  I look forward to that time of rest and relaxation.  My husband has travled with his job, being gone two weeks then home for the weekend and this was an important time for us to be together as a family and enjoy eachother.  Last year it was not 100% enjoyable.  The kids were a bit nasty to eachother and had a bit of an entitlement attitude.  We decided then that we would not take a trip this year.  So this year will be a bit tricky.  Again, I do not want to spend money on the kids when they don't NEED anything.  I would rather spend money on a charity or donating to other families or organizations.  I think that this idea of Random Acts Of Christmas is a great idea!  However...IF we have foster children in ourhome, I want them to be able to experience gits under the tree and the happiness of unwrapping Christmas morning.  It wouldn't be fair to have gifts for foster kids and not my kids...so we are considering doing this...

I would really like to be doing this...



Me & the kids, Jamaica 2008

but finances and attitudes don't allow for it this year.  Hopefully next year!

Things in foster care land continue to be very frustrating.  It was two weeks ago when our clearances came from Springfield.  I was under the impression that we would have our license shortly there after.  I STILL have not had a conversation with our licensing worker about what is going on.  She has yet to return any of my calls.  I called again this Monday and Tuesday.  On Tuesday afternoon I was frustrated enough to call her supervisor.  The supervisor explained that once she had the clearances she mailed them to Lincoln to our licensing agent.  Then she put the whole packet together and sent it to her supervisor in Champaign.  Then that supervisor signs off on it and mails it back to the supervisor in Springfield where she enters it into the system in Springfield and then we are licensed.  Doesn't that just sound like craziness?  You would think in the world of modern technologuy that system could be much simpler.  So as of yesterday the supervisor in Springfield did not have the paperwork.  As of today, I have not heard back from our licesing worker.  It's all very frustrating.  I thought I would have a house full at Halloween.  Now here it is almost Thanksgiving.  We usually get our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but I am hesitant because if we do get foster kids I would love for them to be a part of cutting down the tree and decorating it.  What kid doesn't deserve to be a part of that?!  Our kitchen is currently in our living room because of a huge remodel so I think we will wait a bit to get our tree.  I am hosting an event on December 8th, so I will have to have things done by then.  Perhaps it will be after the first of the year before we have any extra kiddos with us.  Only the good Lord knows.

I had to share this photo of my girls from the weekend.  They spent the night at my mom's house and she was teaching them to crochet.  It's about the age when she taught me.  I love it.  I hope to make a lot of my Christmas gifts this year.  I find so many great ideas on Pinterest.  This is my gift ideas board here.  Pop over and get some ideas!

Hopefully next time I come here to post news I will be a licensed foster parent!  Hey, a girl can dream!

One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

 Family movie night continures to be a success! Last week was carmel apples and a special Starbucks Carmel Apple Spice.  Can you guess what the movie was?  The hot Carmel Apple spice drink is soooo good and really easy to make!  Did you know that you can buy Cinnamon Dolce syrup right from Starbucks??  For the recipe...heat apple juice on the stove or in the microwave.  Pour into fuzzy cups, add one teaspoon of dolce sauce and top with a dollop of whipped cream!  YUM!!
I had someone home sick last week...

This guy was so interested in the presidential election!  I love this picture!  I think he should run for president!

The girls could not decide what to be for halloween.  They ended up being a princess ballerina and a princess tap dancer.
















This guy was Willie Wonka and his friend was an Oompa Loompa!

















My mom had surgery last week so I offered to help out and take some of her kids for the day. I sure had my hands full!  I had 7 kids!  Two toddlers, two with ADHD and two teenagers!!  Overall it was a fun day!  I thought it was great practice for my foster care days ahead.

Nothing is happening on the foster care front.  We got word last Tuesday that our clearances were in and that my licensing worker was going to have the supervisor scan in our license and we should have it on Wednesday.  I didn't hear anything from them so I called the office Friday and she wasn't in.  I called again on Monday and she wasn't in.  I called her cell and she told me that she wasn't in the office but would get the license scanned in on Tuesday.  Tuesday she had an emergency and would have to get back with me.  We were approached last Thursday by a friend about taking a placement of a newborn that she was associated with.  I gave her the agency's contact information but never heard another thing.  Still waiting...