Eye of the Tiger

Before we can start the "waiting step", awaiting the arrival of a child, there is a series of involved steps that must take place- paperwork, training, home studies, more paperwork, home inspections, interviews, more paperwork, and of course, preparing a room suitable for a child.  It isn't the most fun process, but we know it will be well worth it after all is said and done.

Somehow, our last step of this series of processes became our first, perhaps because I LOVE house projects.  About two months ago, as we discussed future possibilities of children, we decided that having the guest bedroom (what would one day be our child's bedroom) at the front of the house might not be as safe as having it across the hallway at the back of the house.  Just a couple of days after our discussion, I switched the office and guest bedroom.  But this ended up being more than just a "switch-a-roo" of rooms.  It was a true transformation- pulling out carpet and replacing with wood floors, taking down popcorn ceiling, painting walls, ceiling, and other bedroom items.  Thanks to my amazing mother, who I hope to become more like as I venture into motherhood, the transformation was accomplished in about two days!  It was WELL worth the hard work!  We are now even more excited to place a child in this "new" room and can imagine how it will transform even more to fit this special child's personality.

The week following this exhausting weekend room transformation began our training classes, called P.R.I.D.E. (Parent Resource Information for Development Education).  We prepared our schedules so that we could attend classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-9 pm for the month of May (halfway assuming that the classes wouldn't actually last that long and we'd probably get out a little early each night).  Our assumption did exactly what assumptions do ;).  Our first class basically outlined the history of foster care and adoption and we also analyzed foster care/ adoption scenarios that we viewed in a 1990ish video.  And yes, the class lasted from exactly 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.  The second class, this past Thursday, highlighted children's needs, where we also analyzed a few different scenarios.  We discussed SIDS and Shaken Baby Syndrome as well.  Lots of information is provided in these classes- which can be both a positive and negative thing for us.  Positively speaking, we will have a deep understanding of all that foster care/ adoption entails.  On the flip side, because of our degrees and careers (especially Clif's), we already are aware of and thoroughly understand the information provided.  It's like knowing how to drive a car because grandma let you start driving at the age of 13, but still having to take driver's ed!

With that being said, we KNOW that this long process is something we have to go through.  And you never know what kind of new information you will learn along the way.  Therefore, with "Eye of the Tiger" as our theme song, we will approach these training classes and paperwork with perseverance and positive attitudes!  We accept all encouragement along the way :).

We will finally be turning in our formal application this week when we attend our second week of training classes.  Pray that it does not come back to us unfinished or needing more work.  In June we have a two-day training session and once this is completed, a home study and further interviews and paperwork will take place.

Praise God for His sovereignty!  There is a child being prepared as we begin preparing ourselves for his/ her arrival!