...then comes baby...kind of.

 

 It has been forever since I have written a blog post, and I have drafted a few in the past year but haven't posted them. A lot has been going on in our little world over here and I feel like I want to share with my people. Since Sam and I have known each other, we have always known that we wanted to foster children and adopt as many as we can sustain in our household--two at a time. Our 10-year anniversary was this year, and in January, we decided that it has been long enough and we are ready to open our home to a little more love since we have a lot to give. We knew this would be a huge commitment but felt like we are finally ready and have the space to grow our family. We started taking foster classes through Utah Foster Care in March and finished by mid-April with everything we needed to do to prepare for a home study. For those of you that don't know much about foster care, a long list is given to families of what they need to do to be ready to foster children. On the list is a home study--a licenser comes to your home and makes sure that your home meets the parameters that the state has given to ensure that when children are placed, they will be safe from any dangers that may be in your home. The list is extensive and includes things like locking up harmful chemicals and medications. We did a lot to get our home ready and when it came time for the home study, we got the A-Okay from the licenser and were able to get approved for two children. You may think that this is the last step in the foster preparation, but it isn't. Once you get listened DCFS has to approve you through their board...which happened for us a few weeks after receiving our foster license. We have been licensed since the end of May and have been exercising patience ever since. We have been so excited to start this journey that we have done respite care a few times for other foster families. This basically means that we babysit for other foster families. Foster children have to be babysat in homes that are licensed for care or by fingerprinted individuals in your own home. I love helping other foster families and I truly cannot wait for us to get the call with a child that needs a home. We are open to any age--preferably 5 or older, and can't wait to see what the universe has in store for us.