First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage...

We're so excited!  The Hubs and I have started training to be foster parents.  I'm not quite sure how to tell all the details, so I will try to give the highlights up to this point.  

Tim and I have both had adoption on our radars for quite a while... definitely since before we started dating.  I remember being really excited to hear him say that he wanted to adopt some day.  At the beginning of this year we decided that we needed to start doing some research about the process so we began looking at our options. 

Our motivation for adoption comes from our knowledge of God's love for us.  The Lord took us out of our messes, adopted us into His family and loves us completely.  We want to share that love with others.  We want to love the unloved.  "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."  John 13:35

At first, we thought we would like to do a private adoption and adopt a newborn from a birthmother, but the more we found out, the less we liked that choice.  Also in the beginning, I completely rejected the idea of foster to adopt because I knew there would be a possibility of having children in and out of our home and I thought that would be too difficult for me.  

But as we continued to pray, research, and then ultimately wait, the Lord was clearly preparing us to move toward fostering.  

And then we got the phone call.  An application that we had sent in a while back and then forgotten about, for an infant adoption, was accepted and we were wanted at orientation.  What?!  Are you kidding?  Long story short, we turned them down and officially decided to pursue fostering.

Then things started moving quickly.  We chose an agency, completed the initial 20 page application, and started training in about a three week window.  We have learned a lot, but still have a lot of unknowns.  Here's a short list of a few things you might be wondering:

• Our training classes will be about 30 hours over the next three weeks.  In conjunction with that we will be filling out much more paperwork.  Then we will complete a home study and fire and health inspections.  In three to four months we should be licensed for placement.
• Our age range is birth to five years old.  We are open to any race or gender and can take up to two kiddos at once.  
• The goal with foster care is reunification with the family, but if that is not possible we will have the first opportunity to adopt the child.  Which means we could have a few kids in and out of our home.  
• We have not tried to have our own kids yet.  Yes, we probably will in the future, but know that right now the Lord has lead us to grow our family in this way.
• Our parents are excited about becoming grandparents!
• We have a ton of people who have been so helpful and encouraging during this process.  We are extremely thankful for the many who have been behind us in so many ways, especially in prayer.  

I know there are lots of things I have left out.  I'm going to do my very best to use the blog as a way to keep everyone up to date on this beautiful journey, so feel free to follow along, leave comments and ask questions.  We are happy to answer them to the best of our ability and love sharing our lives with others.  So really... ask questions!

Glad you were curious enough to read.