moved...

Due to my crazy need for organization, I have moved my posts over to my new blog, www.calledbyfaith.blogspot.com. (don't ask...I probably don't have an explanation that makes sense!) Check me out from now on there!

Love is in the air...

Ok...so it's only been about 3 months since my last post. Promise you won't hold it against me?

I've even decided not to feel bad about it! If focusing on Husband and enriching our marriage needs to come first, then so be it!

That being said...it's been a very interesting last couple of weeks.

...We are finally approved to be foster parents! Yay!!!!!!!!! However, we have not had a placement yet. We've gotten about 6 calls, but the first 5 were all outside of our placement range (we are licensed for 0-8, up to 2 kids). It was finally discovered that we were listed on their "white board' as being licensed for 0-14, up to 3 kids. Seeing as we have only the one twin bed and crib, I don't see that working real well. But they were fabulous and now that we have the age/number figured out, the calls are getting more specific. The agency has had a lot of turn over in the past year, and it seems like they are now getting settled. I have gotten to meet the case manager and she is super nice, as is the parent recruiter that calls me on the phone with the new possible placements. This is how the "almost placement" of last week went (kind of):

Tues -

Recruiter: "Do you think that you could take a 4 year old with some behavioral problems?"

Me: "Let me talk to Husband about it. I will call you back tomorrow".

(later that night)

Me: "They have a possible 4 year old placement. What do you think? He is healthy, but does have some behavioral problems. He's been through quite a lot".

Husband: "I don't know, it's kind of scary to think about! This is the first child that we have even been able to think about saying yes to."

Me: " I know. Sometimes I wonder if it's God saying it's not the right child or if it's my fear holding me back"

Husband: "Let's pray about it and you can call the caseworker tomorrow with the questions we have".

(much praying and sleeping)

Wed -

Me to the Recruiter: "We talked about it, and it's definitely a possiblility, but we have a couple questions. Our biggest question is do you think this child would be able to be in daycare or babysit 5 days a week. With Husband in school full time and me working full time right now, that's the only option we have."

Recruiter: "That's a good question. I will have to check with the caseworker and get back to you"

Later on Wed -

Recruiter: "Well, I spoke with the caseworker and he thinks that this child really needs to be with a family where one parent will be consistently home."

Me: "I agree - we want what's best for this child. We'll just keep praying and waiting for the right child for us!"

Later that night -

Me to Husband: "Well, I guess that wasn't the right child for us"

Husband: "No, but I think God was growing us. Getting us ready to say yes"

Me: "Now I guess we just wait for the right child to be sent to us"

Friday (the same week) -

Recruiter: "We discussed it and think you might be the right family for this child. Could you take this child if we are able to help you find child care?"

Me: "Let me talk about it with my husband and I'll get back to you in an hour"

Me to Husband: "Well, they now want us to take him again. What do you think?"

Husband: "I don't know what to think! We were so sure that God was saying no to this child!"

Me: "I know. But do we now look at it as though He's saying yes? I even have the next four days off from work - is that a God thing?"

Husband: "I don't know. I think it's my fear holding us back. The verse that keeps coming back to me is "I can do all things...".

Much silence and prayer -

Husband: "Well, I guess I need to get out the car seat. Let's do it!"

Me: "Really? You want to! (Smile) I'm terrified! But honestly, if someone left a 4 year old on our doorstep, we'd take care of them. How is this any different? Let me call the Recruiter and tell her!"

Me to Recruiter: "We're terrified...but we'll do it!"

Recruiter: "Great - let me call the caseworker and we'll finalize the details. The placement will probably start tomorrow. I will call you to confirm"

Me: "Can you give us a list of likes/dislikes?"

Recruiter: "Sure (runs through a long list)"

About 10 minutes later -

Recruiter: "Well, I spoke with the county caseworker - they really feel strongly that this child should be in a stay at home parent home."

Me: "That's ok, I guess we're back to waiting for the right child"

Recruiter: "yep - I'll keep you posted"

Me texting Husband: "It's a no go - I guess God is just growing our faith"

Later that night -

Husband: "It's amazing really. It's like God is preparing us little by little to actually do this. First we almost said yes. Then we did say yes!"

Me: "Yeah. I feel like we were on an emotional roller coaster though! I'm so glad we have a God bigger then all this!"

Well...did you ride that emotional roller coaster with us? Like I said though...how glad I am God is in control! I'll keep you posted about future possibilities!

On a more "lovely" note...we had an exciting Valentine's day around here! My husband bought us these adorable T-shirts that I've wanted for some time now! See here and here. I am proud to wear this shirt and it melts my heart when Husband wears his!

Also...we found out mid afternoon that my Sister L and her boyfriend D are engaged!!! Congrats to them - we are sooooo excited. We very much approve of D and love that he is going to be part of the family! He proposed in the middle of an ice rink and she was totally surprised. He even had someone to catch the moment on film!

Congrats L and D! We love you both!

I also wanted to take a quick minutes and thank Betty Beguiles for letting me enter her contest where I won this adorable dress! I truly admire this woman's passion for Modesty!

Time to get ready for church now...may your worship this morning be wonderful and God filled!

Beautiful Bedroom!

See our exciting new bedroom for the foster care kids!!!!

Now if only our paperwork would be processed... :)

I have so not done good at keeping this up!!!! I will admit though...getting Husband through school right now is pretty much taking up most of my energy...but I love Him for doing it for us! We're finishing an English paper tonight...then finals in a week and 6 whole weeks off after that! Soon I'll blog about my newest savings idea!

A Walk in My Shoes

Take a walk with me over the past week or so...

(and this post is totally out of order because I am so frustrated with loading pictures on the site...any ideas?)

These are my wedding shoes..

I am super excited! Husband is taking me away for 3 whole days to celebrate our first anniversary! Yay!

And these are the adorable shoes that Husband bought me for our Anniversary...3 months after I mentioned I liked them in another state when we were on a trip! Adorable!

First Anniversary was Monday. Good day, though Husband had to go to school 9am-9pm. I worked on getting the house back in order after finally having power again. Made a goulash of sorts...turned out okay. It's hard to get back in the swing of cooking again after eating out for so long with no power. We have our last Foster Care class this week...and then we leave for the aforementioned trip! Can I tell you how excited I am to be out of the house for a few days?

Not exactly shoes...

Some of Husband's family came down over the past weekend and brought us a very belated wedding gift - a hand-painted bowl from this beautiful lady. And it matches our living room/kitchen perfectly! But most importantly, it has taken the place of our TV. Yes, our TV now resides in the garage! I was convicted over the weekend that I need to spend more time investing myself in quality activities...and most TV shows don't exactly make the cut. So we moved it out to the garage. Trial run, but I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed. Got to sacrifice for things more worthwhile, yes?

My running shoes...

I started running again. Especially when Husband works late, it's nice to get a run in before he gets home. I need to start running earlier though - it's getting dark too early! My legs feel it, that's for sure.

The cutest, most comfortable nursing crocs in the world.

We had to work all week...with only half power! As a public health nurse, I dealt with quite a few families without power. Tough times for people who aren't used to Hurricanes in their backyards! We were out of power from Sun - Wed, as were my parents. We spend a lot of time over at their house running the generator, as they were off spending 3 weeks gallivanting in Michigan! Good for them!

So much for my creative post. I can't figure out how to get the post to format the way I want. I think I must be missing something. But it will half to wait...the evening is much to short to spend it all working on a computer problem!

Weekend

It's been a loooonnnnngggg week, and I am glad it's Friday! Interesting week to say the least.

Wednesday: We had our young adult group. My parents, who lead the group, weren't there, and so we were playing it a little low key. Several of the kids are taking turns leading the bible studies and so far, most have chosen to use these awesome Rob Bell Nooma videos. Watch the clips! Pretty cool for today's generations. The one we watched was called Dust. How awesome it is to walk in the dust of our Savior. Made you curious, didn't I? Watch it and find out! (Also went to Meijer and randomly ran into a couple that was also using the Grocery Game to shop. First time that's happened!)

Thursday: Had a very fun date with Husband. We went to a Beef O' Brady's for the first time. Family style bar, with a patio that makes summer eating fun. I was craving french fries. And they sure were good!

Friday: Tried unsuccessfully to catch up at work. It's just not happening this month very easily! Met a very adorable baby today. Had a meeting with our pastor (he's mentoring Husband and me for this year). Good discussions - we talked about our prayer life quite a bit. Husband and I have been trying to get up early every morning, walk, read the Bible, and then pray, but we're looking for ways to improve our routine! Any ideas? What do you use to keep your day on track in the Word? After work, I came home and made my corn muffins - Husband's favorite. My absolute favorite recipe is out of my Betty Crocker cookbook. I can even use wheat flour and light butter and it still turns out good. Then cleaned up around the house and now I'm waiting for Husband to get home from work!

Question of the day: What Bible translation do you like best? Why?

Flowers

So I made the pizza...and now I'm waiting for Husband to come home.

Take a look at the beautiful flowers Husband bought me today!

Idea for all those wives out there - tape a note to the underside of the toilet seat...suprise him! They think it's funny!