What happened

When we first heard about Peanut, the social workers told us about some of the trauma she had been through and the resulting medical problems. She has been in foster care for over 9 months now and so most of those issues had been resolved. However, there was some concern that it was *possible* that she would have some long-term developmental delays. Though everyone thought, including us, that she would outgrow these issues as she had been doing up until that point. I suppose we should have thought about this a little more, but I feel like we knew what we were getting into.

Well, that was until her genetic test results came back. They found a missing chromosome that can be a predictor for autism or developmental disabilities. It was a wide range of issues that were possible. It was also possible that she would have none of those. But when we put that together with her current issues, it seemed clear that this was a very real possibility. We thought long and hard about what this could mean for us and what we are willing to take on right now. It was a VERY hard decision. Especially since we had already grown somewhat attached to Peanut and felt absolutely horrible about having to make a decision like this. Ultimately, we decided that we were not ready to accept the possibility of lifelong care. It’s a very personal decision and had we given birth to this child it would have not even been up for discussion. But to actually make a CHOICE about parenting a child with a disability… it was just too much to consider.

We were heartbroken for ourselves and for her. We hope that she finds the perfect family – and that we find the right placement for us. For now we are back in the waiting game.

Things change

We had some disappointing news last night about Peanut. We are not moving forward with the placement afterall. I need to think a little about what is OK to share before I post. So, I will be back soon.

Need ideas

I’ll be back later this week with an update about Peanut and how that is going. In the meantime, I’d love some ideas on what to get a 16 month old to play with… any thoughts?

Little Peanut

Our meeting yesterday went really well. Far better than expected even. At the end of this week we are starting to transition our foster daughter, Peanut, to our home! She is absolutely beautiful and so sweet. We are very excited and anxious to have her with us.

Her current foster mom was wonderful. She has done such a fabulous job of caring for her over the last year. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to let her go after so long. But she was very open with us and encouraging of this transition. We are very grateful to her!

Little Peanut just turned 16 months, but she is wearing 9-12 month clothes. She’s a tiny little thing and everyone calls her a peanut! After meeting her, I think it fits perfectly. She is not quite walking yet, but gets around pretty well and pulls herself up. She’ll take steps if you hold her hands. I’m excited that we might get to see her first steps!

We are told that she’s a really good eater and good sleeper (lucky us!). I’m sure there will be a little disruption during the transition. It’s going to be hard for her to leave the only mom she really knows. Poor baby. We are hoping to make it as easy on her as possible.

Nesting has gone into full force around here. Getting little things at the store, washing some 2nd hand clothes we got last weekend and just daydreaming about having her sweet little self in our home. I’ve started calling my husband, “Daddy” and the look he gets is almost too much to bear. We have waited a long time for this. I am already hoping that we get to keep her forever.

A tad nervous

We had a few phone exchanges today with the social worker of a little girl that might be a match for us. We are meeting her next Monday.

I can’t give many details about her or her situation. But I can tell you that she’s 15 months old and they are thinking she could become legally free at some point in the future (not sure when). She has been in foster care for some time already and they are looking for a permanent placement. Her current foster home is not an adoptive home. If all goes well, we could have her by Christmas. Oh my.

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Two Years

of wedded bliss! Happy Anniversary, honey. You are still my favorite person!

It’s official!

We got an email from our licensor last night saying that we are officially licensed foster parents!!! Wow. We are very excited to have made it this far (finally!) and we are really looking forward to what comes next. It’s pretty cool to look back over the last year and see how far we’ve come in this process. Like the day we made the decision to do this, or the paperwork and classes we took. It’s hard to believe we are on the other side of all that now.

Next up…waiting to hear back from the adoption social worker. We just want to make sure we are on the call list!

Around here…

This is our backyard about a week ago. It’s absolutely on fire right now. I love fall. It’s definitely my most favorite time of year. And November is my favorite month of all. Thanksgiving is this month (also a favorite) and our anniversary is coming up. Can’t get much better than that!

I had a Saturday at home a couple weeks ago and finished this:

This was one I started months ago and finally got around to finishing. I pretty much hadn’t touched my art supplies since Artfest (in April). Holy cow. It felt good to get my hands messy! I had to warm up a bit for my Artfest 2010 projects. I signed myself up for a Fatbook project where I have to create 50 4″x4″ pages! Plus I’ll probably do something for trades to take with me. I’m really looking forward to it this year. Since it will be my second time going I don’t feel as anxious about it. But I definitely need to get started on those projects soon or I will be way overwhelmed!

Halloween ‘09

We ended up not going to the DSHS foster family Halloween party on Friday night. We had hoped to meet a little girl that they are considering for us. When we found out that she wouldn’t be there we decided that we were really just too tired to go. 

So, we had to put our costumes to good use and wore them for the trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. I mean, we spent all that time (about 10 minutes) figuring out what to wear! Without further ado…

Bzzz Bzzz

Who you gonna call?

I love the ugly doll in his pocket. That was our make-shift ghostie. And that bee suit makes me look 400 pounds because of all the stuffing, but it was too cute to pass up!