Earlier this week, I wrote my amazing social worker and filled her in with what had transpired with us while she was out on vacation.

One thing I have learned in dealing with DSS for over a year now is to COMMUNICATE often... even when you think it may be a little much! 

I wrote her to let her know that we'd received not 1, but 2 calls for children while she was out. I remarked about how thankful we were to be approved. Unfortunately, we are not prepared for a 15 or 12 year old.

Then, she wrote me to tell me that in fact, we are NOT approved or licensed yet. We should not have gotten a call at all, much less 2 calls.

At that point, I was clearly confused. A few more emails and we figured out what happened.

I still don't completely understand, but apparently there is a big list and some of the workers were just calling straight down it and didn't realized it just said "potential" foster family. Something like that.

So, then, all of a sudden, we were back to waiting for our paperwork to be processed.

Then, I spoke with our social worker yesterday, and found out her supervisor needed 1 last missing paperwork.

It felt like icing on the cake that just melted everywhere. Apparently, our 2nd Lead Inspection paper was missing.

Freak out. Pray. Freak out. Pray. Reminding myself to just pray. 

Thankfully, I freaked out over nothing, because our Adoption worker was on top of it and sent it right  over, everything was completely resolved by the afternoon.

That brings us to today, where I found out that our file has now entered into the LAST step, they are heading to the STATE office, and it should take 2 weeks or less to be officially licensed!

HOOORAY!!!

I joked with my worker that this is good news, because that gives her just enough time to give us our kid(s) so that they can make it in the Traylor Family Beach photos... we'll see.

Our foster care "sister" family, The Harris', told me that it only took 1 week from the State Office point to be approved.

I joked that the Traylor Family = 5 times as long... haha!

But, the good news is it is happening soon.

OFFICIALLY!

Setting Up A Room For Foster Care

Since, we have been waiting for 9 months on the adoption side of things, 2 months ago Hart and I decided to become Foster Parents. We are pretty sure this is going to be the craziest thing we've done yet! We do pray that God will allow us the opportunity to adopt, but know that it may not happen with certain children in our home since the initial goal is to be reunited with their birth mom. We are finally ALMOST approved on the Foster Care side of DSS and should be approved in 2 - 3 more weeks.

One thing that has been hardest and exciting for me, is figuring out what all we need set up regarding the room, because we could get any age child from 0 - 2 years, boy or girl. Since, we already have an almost 3 year old son, I am more than prepared on the boy side of things and the baby/toddler side of things, which helps a ton. 

We made the decision to only foster children younger than our oldest son, so that we would be somewhat prepared and have an idea how to parent, since we've already "been there" on a lot of issues. We have a pretty good idea of normal child development and healthy child development.

I feel like we finally have the basics covered and I wanted to share for anyone else out there that is wondering what all we've done to get ready!

Our "beloved babies" room Set up: 

We are approved for 2 children, 0 - 2 years. We currently have a crib, and a single bed, and a pack-n-play, if needed. Our crib converts to a toddler bed, as well, so we potentially have room for 2 toddlers, or 2 babies, or should we get 3 children, for some reason, 2 babies and 1 toddler or 1 baby and two toddlers. Although, I think 1 - 2 is plenty to add on right now!

Having extra sheets/blankets, a bed rail for beds, and waterproof mattress pads (still need these), are helpful!

 We have one sort of small dresser and a closet, as well as storage under the crib.

 And a glider.

I tried to make this room as gender neutral and child friendly as possible. I recovered our glider by sewing some slip cushions in some fun fabric I found at Ikea. I want this space to be a happy and comforting room, so there are lots of toys and stuffed animals that Cai, our son, has outgrown in here. A few more baby-ish, books.

Toys and Books

Inside the dresser:

I have washed up some bibs, burp cloths, I have a few girls diaper covers for under dresses, and paci's of a few varieties. Socks of random sizes, a few infant hats and mits, and booties. Mostly boy, but they will do for any gender until we can buy what's necessary after placement! I just don't want to HAVE to run to a store on short notice!

Then, I have two larger drawers that are dedicated to pajamas. (This seems to be the one thing to have on hand, because you could get random middle of the night calls.) One for girls, one for boys and I have a few of each sizes just to be ready. I found a seller on Craigslist that was getting rid of a bunch of girl sleepers of various sizes, and I bought 17 for $10 that were gently used! This will get us started, for sure! Of course, I will need more after we have a placement.

In our closet, I have our changing table. 

 I know, this may be random for some people, but I've always liked tucking my changing table in the closet! I like just being able to turn on the closet light for the middle of the night diaper changes and having more space in the room for other things. In the closet, I hung nicer outfits of various sizes and genders from newborn to 2T, again, just enough to get started, 1 - 2 outfits per size, per gender. Most I've thrifted or were hand-me-downs. I also have a bin of bottles that we tried with my son. Babies sometimes won't take one brand, so I think I have about 3 or so brands in there to try, if necessary. I wouldn't worry too much about have too many varieties of bottles, although it can be helpful. You know a baby will eat when hungry, so eventually they will figure it out!

As far as diapers, it's been suggested to me by another foster mama, to buy packs of random sized diapers when on sale to have on hand. I do have a pack of size 1's and some leftover size 5's from my son and he currently wears size 6's. We cloth diapered Cai, so I have 24 Bum Genius all-in-one diapers on hand, which makes me less nervous about random calls and running out to the store for diapers! I also like the idea of not wasting $ on diapers, if we don't get a child wearing a certain size, etc.

Otherwise, a double stroller (which someone gifted us), extra car seats (we have 2 toddler car seats, but one that doesn't fit as large of a child) and one infant car seat, we have 2 booster seats for the table, and extra forks and sippy cups, snack cups. We added a cd player/radio, and a fan to the room for a noise buffer.

It seems quite overwhelming when you think about all that you need for infants and toddlers, but trusting that God will provide is the main thing that I know to be true! We are a young family without a ton of excess $$, but God has called us to this and we know that when His word tells us he will provide, he will! I remind myself that God loves these children more than we ever will and I know He will provide abundantly beyond what they need or imagine, just like he does for us!

Even though, it does seem like we are prepared, we still have some items that we need! You can view our baby registry here to see what's left (and buy us something off of it!) haha!

Now we just need the KIDS!!!

Meeting Our Foster Care Worker! - Update

Today, we met the woman who will be our Foster Care Worker at DSS! Each family has their own worker and the children have their own workers. Or at least, I think that's how it works.

She got to our house about 45 minutes BEFORE scheduled, so I was thankful I was pretty much ready by that point! Due to not being "ready" in my head yet, I forgot that Abe was laying in the back of the house. Our worker walked in the door and our 100 lb golden retriever Abe came barreling around the corner and literally our worker let out the biggest freak out scream I have ever heard at the sight of Abe.

Note to self... some people are deathly afraid of really big dogs. 

After getting off to a great start (just kidding), we sat down and she confirmed that our age range was 0 - 10 years old... I laughed. I said, no 0 - TWO years! After fixing that, we discussed that we personally don't want a child over Cai's age.

She then reinterated over and over that Foster Care is TEMPORARY care. That she may drop a child off one week and have to take them the next.

We reinterated that we were coming from ADOPTIONS and that we understood what we were taking on (not really), but that we would also like to be able to ADOPT. (ha!)

All in all, we really had a great visit with her and I feel very encouraged about the fact that we will be getting children in our home. You see, on the adoptions side of things, if you say you want a baby or a young child, they look at you like you are crazy and tell you how long you have to wait. In foster care, they are just happy to have you and it seemed very positive to be able to have young kids in your home (even permanently- although she didn't "say" that). Of course, you are reminded of the risk that your child will be taken at some point back to their family.

At this, we have just decided that it's better to love deep, than not at all. I told her that we will be heart broken for every child that has to leave us, because we will get attached and when they come in our family, they will be 100% Traylor while with us.

We have to have this philosophy, because we don't know if when a little one comes to us in the beginning, if they will eventually be ours for real! And we don't want to miss the opportunity to love the way Jesus does.

The only "negatives" we have to work through for our family are that we thought we would be able to get ABC vouchers for day care while I am working, so as not to put added pressure on the grandparents. Today, we found out that isn't an option, if you work part-time. Apparently, both parents must work full-time to qualify. I think this is a loop hole that should really be looked into for helping foster parents. I can imagine there are MANY parents that do work part-time or even close to full-time, and I think it would be helpful to be able to have this aspect of foster care taken care of. Probably result in MORE available families, too! (Sorry for that rant!)

The good thing is that it's okay, to have babysitters and alternate caregivers for the date nights/weekend, etc as long as they have a cleared background check! I think that's great, because I was worried about how to leave the kids if we had a date night. You can also take your foster kids on vacations, as long as you tell DSS where they will be in advance.

For those wondering what they checked out in our home, I believe here is the list:
-Sleeping Arrangements, room set up; we have space for up to 2.

-Fire Alarms, they all had to beep
-Fire Extinguisher, tag was up-to-date
-Pet Vaccination Records
-Overall cleanliness? Who knows, but we/Cai sure cleaned up!

 Cai was very proactive in getting ready for our visit! He helped me suck up all the dirt on our porch!

Due to the adoptions check, I also made sure I had all chemicals/paint supplies up high away from kid level, removed anything "dangerous". lol

Other than that, we filled out some more paperwork. 

So what's next for us on this journey? We have to fill out our Alternate Caregiver forms, send those in. And then we have to wait for our next Fire Inspection on June 26th. After that, it will probably be a couple weeks until we are approved, and hopefully called with our next Beloved.


Everyone is getting excited!

 I think Turner needs a new baby cousin to play with!

Well, and these two!

Please keep praying for us!

On Our Way - Foster Care Update

I remember when that positive sign showed up on that very first pregnancy test. I had no idea how I was going to be a mother. I was so NOT ready, so unprepared, out of my element. It was WAY earlier than I had ever thought it would happen. God was giving us a blessing that I didn't realize until later.

Even moments before our first son Cai arrived, I remember moving forward, but yet not sure what truly was about to happen. My mind was blown when they laid that squishy faced little boy on my chest for the first time.

Our lives changed forever, and he has been a treasure in our lives.

I feel exactly the same as when I first found out I was pregnant, but this time I've been carrying a Beloved in my heart for months that has turned into a year and then some more months, and I feel like my heart is about to burst with excitement and fear and worries. 

I'm ready to meet this child.

Usually when I say we are venturing into foster care, people sort of stare at us like we are crazy or say we must be special people. And I suppose we are crazy...

I feel so NOT ready, so unprepared, out of my element. And yet, I feel like it's in these moments that God has me press into Him.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6

God has the perfect plan!

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Our next step is on June 5th, we will meet with the Foster Care Worker. She will come to our home and check our sleeping arrangements, that our home is clean and safe, check our fire escape plan (which is still on the fridge from our Adoption check), and check our fire extinguisher (that now needs to be re-tagged, because it's been exactly 1 year since we had to get it ready for our Adoption Homestudy)! 

I'm thankful that we have a little bit of time, before she arrives, because our car port currently is a mess and we would probably be deemed "unsafe by all the paint hazards currently at child level". We have been refinishing a table that I found on the side of the road for my brother, (SCORE!!!) as a wedding gift! We are almost done! I need my car port back! And they really need a table! (HA!)

We need to get Abe his vaccinations updated, too! Besides that, I've got spring plants ready to be potted in the yard!

Life is very busy, but after months and months of waiting on the Lord to answer some specific family prayers, we feel like we are finally starting to see life-things falling into a beautifully weaved masterpiece! Keep praying for us! We cherish your prayers!