final FINAL list…i think

it is the final list until CK sends us more items.

BUT we have been assigned a case worker!!!!!

which in foster world is known as your new best friend since you communicate so much with them.

1. fix koi pond – we have a plan, now we just need to get it done. maybe next weekend.

2. floor plan – we made one for our fire inspection, but it needs to be more detailed

3. home inspection – just need to get the pond filled in!

4. CC book review – i mean, this would take 5 minutes…just keep forgetting to ask dane for it.

5. whole life adoption review – oh, look!  we need to read another book! and write two more reviews! we just found out about this a few days ago.

6. background checks – need these for peeps who will be over at our house frequently. i think i am missing 3 and only need ID’s for 3 others.

also, to be officially licensed, we just need to have 1-3 done!  our new deadline is 5/28.

 

 

just updates for today

- my bestest friend is about to have my nephew.  she is due today, but it looks like it’ll be a few more days until he comes.

- so my mother-in-law is here for his arrival (and has been since may 3rd!) so she has been splitting time between our two places.

- my house has never been cleaner!

- my son has never been happier!

- i feel like i’ve been on vacation!

- and i may or may not have completely changed my living room to something more awesome.  photos soon!

- i HAVE taken some photos of our events, but there’s been no time for editing/uploading.

- i also have another updated foster list with more stuffs to do.  i’m finally learning that each week there will be something new that we forgot about or has been added. new deadline for our license is now June 1st.

- my niece turns 5 on friday so we are headed to stephenville (if my nephew isn’t on his way down the birth canal that morning) for her party.  i’m excited to see family again!

- on a whim, we bought some bikes at a garage sale.  we got C a seat for my bike and we’ve been riding somewhat regularly the past 3 weeks.  we hope to find a good routine for our family to ride twice a week.  dane rides his to the train station everyday now.

- i still hate money.  we kinda ran out of it this month (already!) and the summer is coming.  the hot, hot money eating time of the year.

- 2 year olds are so freaking fun. mine can now name colors, identify numbers, and talk in complete sentences.

more tomorrow.  or never.

 

the FINAL list update (as promised)…

it’s may 2nd. and we’re not finished yet. :/

we didn’t get much done this weekend.  i had Project Mom in Dallas all day saturday (6am to 6pm) and then a session on Sunday.

but, we did cross off one thing…our FINAL training session!

we haven’t made the time this week so the goal this weekend (even though i have two sessions) is to GET IT DONE.

well, mostly.

1. photos (this requires me to have my entire house clean at once which hasn’t happened the past week.  or it was and the babe went down for a nap so i ended up not doing them until he was awake…and then i just never did it. tomorrow?)

2. seal holes (EDIT:  i was just informed by husband via the comment section that he already did this! yay!)

3. fix koi pond

4. weather strip (we’re thinking this is a house manager issue now.  not sure if we can fix it ourselves)

5. home inspection

6. disaster relief stuffs (just need water and a little more food)

7. bank bags

8. required reading

if you see my husband…

please tell him that he was amazing this weekend.

that those words ‘our lives revolve around each other’ was the best thing i could have heard at that exact moment. and that i will never forget them.

tell him ‘thank you’ (from me) for bringing the laptop 2 hours roundtrip because i forgot it for my presentation. the same laptop he let me borrow and loaded my presentation for me.

also, could you just high five him for not only being the best dad to caleb but to ALL the other kids that he knows and that he will ever meet.

tell him to hurry home (alive!) because i miss him, just being near him.

k thx, bai.

 

pool time

it’s still april, yes?

doesn’t feel like it.

also, it’s impossible to take photos of my kid right now.  he makes me look like a terrible photographer.

but he makes me look like a good mom, so i guess i’m alright with that.

ok, but seriously, this is the final list

wow, what a week we’ve had.

this time last week, we weren’t even halfway through our home study (which went well!) and i was wondering what the other side of it would look like.

here we are!

we didn’t do too well during our home inspection so now we need to fix a few things and she will come back and inspect again.  i do appreciate how nice she was about everything, but we were pretty bummed to find out we had quite a few things left to do.

the FINAL (it better be!) LIST:

1. Photos (the agency needs photos of our entire house, inside and outside.  i completely forgot about these since i was waiting on the nursery.  i’ll get these done tomorrow!)

2. Seal Holes (oh gosh, there are two places where the coax cable comes up through the floor.  what the heck???  anyway, dane cut the top, pushed the cable back through and now there are two holes that need to be filled.)

3. Fix koi pond (apparently the renters before us had a nice koi pond in the backyard which is now dried up and considered a tripping hazard since it’s filled with jagged rocks and debris.  our kid is alive, but whatever, we’ll fix it. i guess.)

4. Weather strips (our floor is rotting by our backdoor so there’s a nice open area for bugs and weather to creep inside.  we’ve managed to live with it, but i guess we’ll fix that, too.)

5. Home Inspection (2,3, and 4 need to be done before we can call her again)

6. Disaster Relief Stuffs (we didn’t know about this!  this is a new requirement for Covenant Kids effective in February.  we did our training in November so now we need a box of non perishable foods, water, and various supplies that will last us a week)

7. Bank bags (for medical purposes)

8. Required Reading (we are FINISHED with this, but dane still needs to write his last report and then I’ll send it in)

9. CK Handbook Training (happening this Thursday).

i know it seems like i’m being kind of a brat about fixing some of our home inspection issues.  truth is, i want a safe house for our kiddos.

hopefully, at next week’s check-in this FINAL LIST will be slashed in half (at least!).

goop

in college, i worked as a Student Assistant at the Texas Tech Child Development Research Center. It was, basically, a preschool/daycare with a super great curriculum.

one of my favorite activities in the 2-3 yr classroom was making and playing with goop. it’s just cornstarch and water (and food coloring if you want). the consistency is fantastic.

it’s great for pre-school kids. lots of sensory goodness in this activity.

and it’s great for moms. relieves stress and transports you back to a simpler time.

“no no, it’s not for eating” (gah! he kills me. so freaking cute)

it just feels so good, can’t resist trying it out on the face.

and we’re done! he didn’t like when it was all over his pants and the floor. ha

how is this much happening right now?

1. i’m going to whole foods today for the first time by myself.  i have only been 2 times.  once with my friend, viv, in which case i didn’t purchase anything but lunch at the deli/restaurant and once in california with my in-laws who payed for 3 days worth of stuff for all of us who were vacationing (and i remember it adding up to our entire month’s bill for groceries).  i’m kind of scared.

2.  there are 4 things on our foster list.  by friday, there will only be 1.  and by next friday i hope we are officially approved to be licensed.

3.  had a garage sale yesterday.  we woke up at 7:30 and just pulled everything out of our garage.  every few hours i would come in the house and find more stuff to sell/give away.  we made $140 and only had one truck load to take to a resale shop when we were finished.  success!

4.  i felt so hungover this morning after a full day yesterday.

5.  i love our kid.  we were able to leave the door open most of the day since it was nice so he just went in and out as he pleased, watching a movie or coming to visit new people.

6.  our kid has not been sleeping well at night.  we lay him down at 7:30-8:00 and he doesn’t go to sleep until 10:00!  he doesn’t play, cry, or talk.  he just lays in his bed and kicks the wall.  it’s been happening for 2 weeks now.  poor guy is totally done by 11 in the morning and usually takes an early, short nap.  we’re working on figuring out what’s going on with him.

7. we could have a newborn in the next month.  ohmygosh.

8. or not.

9. we have no nursery.  our home study is in exactly 48 hours. it’s on the to-do list for today.

10.  because we had a garage sale yesterday, my house has been neglected.  i plan to deep clean every room tomorrow.  who’s coming over to help?

11.  friday was date night.  the last date night was march 9th.  we were excited to double date with our pastor and wife to see the hunger games (finally!) and then dane had to stay late.  and then his train was cancelled. and then we couldn’t make it to the showing.  and then i cried.  and then we just ate at five guys. and then we went to old navy.  but,  it was still nice to get out.

12.  caleb’s birthday party is saturday night.  i’m pretending it’s next weekend so i don’t freak out about it.  it’s about 5% ready.

13.  i am still tutoring on mondays and wednesdays evenings.  i have 3 more sessions.  i’m still nervous about my student.  her big test is on the 24th and i hope all the hard work will pay off.

14.  i’m glad i only have 3 more sessions.  my next tutoring job will only be once a week…two nights is too much for us.

15.  i am memorizing the book of james.  i only have 4 verses down right now, but it TOTALLY paid off on friday night with my almost-meltdown.  scripture for the win.

16. on our trip to ikea (45 minutes away) last week, dane and i did a ‘mock’ home study just to prepare our minds and hearts.  it was maybe 10% like the real deal.  and it was hard.

17. we met a couple who just celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.  they came and bought a few things at our garage sale.  i asked the wife for some advice on how to make it work.  she said, “oh, there will be many ups and downs, but you have to remember to pray together.”  they were hilarious together.  and then we got to hang out with our neighbor.  all day.  :)

17.  a lot of people that we encounter and talk about fostering with think we are making a big sacrifice.  90% of the time we are asked ‘how will you let them go back?’ or some variation of that.  thing is, nothing in our life is a true sacrifice.  i think of God and His sacrifice for us.  how He sent His son, Jesus, knowing He would take on the sins of the world and DIE.  He already made the sacrifice for us, so we never have to EVER again.  can i really compare my ‘sacrifices’ to His?

19.  nope

 

 

easter egg hunt

you probably remember last week when DFW was hit with 17 tornadoes.

since i was sick over the weekend, i didn’t get out to see the watered trees and grass until saturday.  everything was so lovely.

then sunday morning it rained and poured.

and rained.

and rained.

and rained.

i invited joel and nicole over for dinner and told them we would have an egg hunt after caleb’s nap.

i was so sad about having to move it inside.  we had been inside all weekend and i knew it would be gorgeous once the rain dried.

well, it stopped raining for a while and we braved the wet and the mud.

my kid was a mess.

like,  take-all-your-clothes-off-on-the-porch-before-you-come-in mess

it was fun.

he was so proud for putting them in his basket that he cheered for himself each time.

he only picked up about half of them…he was too busy opening each one even though they all had the same thing. :)

 

 

 

‘the list’ update

one week until our home study!  how did we do this past week on ‘the list’?  let’s just say we got things moving in order to complete them THIS week.

1. buy crib – (i mean, seriously, we really need one of these.  i got sick over the weekend so this ruined our plans of buying one. also, all our money was stolen out of our account temporarily so there was that, too.)

2. TB tests – (dane and i have to do this AGAIN next week.)

3. Floor Plan – (who has time to come and measure each room in our house and then draw it out??)

4. First Aid Kit

5. Fire Inspection – (back and forth with messages)

6. Home Inspection – (probably happening next thursday or friday)

7. Required Reading (Dane is finishing up the last book)

8. CK Handbook Training (April 26th)

GOOD NEWS, though.  we only have to complete #1 (along with getting the nursery together!!!) for our home study.  Everything else can (and probably will) be completed afterwards.  we just ran out of time!

our home study will be turned in and it will (hopefully) be ‘approved’ once everything else is done.

our plan is still to be ‘approved’ by the 1st of may.

ok, so, april 17th.  1pm. write it down on the calendar and pray for us!  we are having a garage sale this weekend to get rid of a bunch of junk and also clear out the nursery so i can get started on putting it together!  it will be pretty bare for now, but

easter pics coming soon.

i think.