Moving Forward...

Wanted to give a quick update with where we are in both our foster and fertility journeys:


Foster care: I've been in contact with a DCS supervisor and she is looking over all of our old trainings and paperwork to get an idea of where we need to start with our re-licensing process. We're really hoping we don't have to start ALL over and some of it will carry over. We will probably have to do another home study since we moved from our last place that got approved. I'm not looking forward to having to get our little house foster care ready for just the last two months of our lease but will do it if I have to (we are planning a move mid/end of February). We know we'll have some trainings to do to get up to date again, just not sure which ones. We're hoping to hear back from them later this week.

Fertility: I've been doing a LOT of research over the past few days and even though we'd love to do the procedure that's new to the U.S., it's just not the best choice for us cost-wise. Although we like our current clinic and doctor ok (I've got some issues with how they do stuff, that's a whole other blog post though), we've decided to pursue IVF at an amazing clinic in Syracuse, New York. Even traveling there, the total cost will be around half of what we'd pay here. It's still very expensive but there are some added benefits with how they do things there that make it worth it. I set up a phone consult today for Jan 30th with the main doctor and founder of the clinic. He's an amazing man who has made it his goal to make infertility treatments affordable for everyone. His IVF costs are literally thousands of dollars less than what other clinics charge. He also is very into natural ways to help infertility (diets, supplements, Chinese medicine and practices to help with stress, etc.). Anyway, we're looking forward to talking to him and working with him after this cycle. I am finally starting to get a little more hopeful and excited about this new IVF journey. It's been a hard pill for me to swallow but I'm coming around.

Please be praying for us as we move forward in both of these areas. There are also some unspoken/typed things going on that we'd love prayers and good thoughts about too...2017 is looking like it might be a pretty great year for us! Thank you for continuing to walk life along side us.

Breaking the Silence

I know...it's been awful quiet around here for a while. There hasn't been much to update on. We've continued to wait, had another meeting with our CW to go over some stuff, kept waiting and finally, this week, we got a letter that said we're...
 

...yes, finally, we are approved! So now we wait for a call saying they have placements for us. Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We are excited to be another step forward in our journey and look forward to caring for and loving on some children!

Oh yeah...

Guess I forgot to tell you. We had MORE setbacks. Storms came through on March 2 so we had to cancel our meeting with our caseworker (basically, the whole mid-state shut down). We finally got rescheduled and actually met on March 30. Woohoo! :) We finished our last forms at the meeting and were able to get our fingerprinting done that same day too. However, we were also told that with having to wait on the new reference forms, background checks, etc. our homestudy report wouldn't be written and ready to go before the board (or whoever approves new foster parents) until their monthly meeting in mid MAY. Sooo we wait some more...

Please be in prayer that our last reference forms come in before mid May. I'm not sure what will happen if they don't...I really hope we don't have to wait until the June meeting though. The forms either didn't get sent out, were over looked or something. Regardless, there's been some kind of mix up but hopefully that will be taken care of this coming week.

Setbacks

I know it's been a long time since I've posted...there has been nothing to update about for a while. We've played phone tag with our caseworker a bazillion times since our home visit. It's so hard to get her on the phone to ask questions or work out anything. Nothing bad against her...she's awesome and we love her but caseworkers are just SO busy and have such huge loads. We're still in the beginning of this journey so we definitely aren't on the front burner for anything. Which is ok, I'm glad her focus is on who/what matters, but it is so darn hard to be patient some days!

Like I said, we've played lots of phone tag. After our home visit, we needed to get one more reference sent out and we need to fill out one more form (a parenting questionnaire). She had said she'd send them both out that week but days went by and nothing came (our friends who were to be our last reference never got anything either). I believe things got passed off to the people to send them out but I don't think they ever got sent...even after my calling and asking a few times.

Last Tuesday I was finally able to schedule a time (March 2) for us to go in to the office to do the parenting form with our CW (apparently we have to do that with her, she can't just send it...? ). No biggie, we'd rather have an actual date set and we have some questions about some stuff anyway. I asked about background checks because I know we need them but nothing had been said about them yet. She asked if we had been fingerprinted and we hadn't (they have to schedule it for/with us since they pay for it). We were supposed to get a call about that in the next day or two but by Friday we hadn't so I called her again and actually got to talk to her the same day! :) The lady who does the requests and appointment scheduling wouldn't be able to do it until this week sometime SO I've got my phone beside me waiting for that call! Hasn't come yet though.

The big (disappointing) news from that phone call? They (not sure if they is just the agency or the whole state) have to switch to new forms on March 1st....which for us means that all of our references have to be sent out AGAIN with the new forms on/after March 1st (today). And then when all of those are back in, our CW can start (finish?) writing up our report...which then has to go through the whole approval process. *sigh* I was so upset when I heard this, I thanked her for her hard work and for dealing with us/me calling a lot (she is working so hard) and I got off the phone and cried. I'll admit I was very angry. Not at her but just at the whole situation and that we are at least still another month out from getting approved and licensed. Thankfully I have great friends and an awesome husband who let me vent but reminded me that God is in control of this and He has a perfect plan for us and any kiddos we're meant to have....but it still is frustrating.

We meet with our CW tomorrow to go over our parenting form. It will help us all determine the best kids (age, number, developmental & physicals needs, etc.)  suited for us and our home. We've talked about 3yrs and under from the beginning and that is really what I'd like to stick with but who knows?!

Prayer requests at this point would be for patience in this long process and that things will go quick and smooth from here on out. Also pray that we will be who we need to be for these kids when the calls start coming and that God will continue to shape us. Thanks friends!