Hurry Up and Wait...

I'm back! Where were we?

Oh! I know...

Picture it. Fort Lauderdale...Mid/Late-April. Henry and I have only just recently completed our 30 hour/10 week M.A.P.P. class with Childnet.

Not having a 3 hour class every Thursday feels like vacation!!!

But wait! We did take a little vacation after it was over. My first ever visit to NYC.

But anyway...

So, we've made the decision to jump from the idea of just straight adoption to moving forward to become licensed foster parents.

Our file has been transferred from one agency to the other.

After our schedule has been super packed for the first 3 months of the year with work being busy and having our Wednesday nights taken up by being in class until 10pm, I am not mad at the fact that we have to wait until the May to begin the next phase in our plan of action(which includes a Water Safety course, a CPR class, and a couple of other evenings sitting in with the latest graduating class from our future foster care agency, Kids In Distress).

My Mother's here for her yearly visit when suddenly the phone rings...

It's Kids In Distress calling(on a Monday)...

They have had a "drop-out" among the files that they are submitting for approval for the month of April.

They like the look of our file.

Can we be ready to do our State-Required "home study" by the end of the week?

Now, let's back this up for one second. They called us on Monday of the last week in April, and they want to know if we can be ready for our "Home Study," which requires an enormous amount work (painting, decorating, childproofing, the purchase of a bed/crib) on Friday.

Did I mention that we're working this entire work week? While my Mother's here visiting?

Are you kidding me?!!?

Yes. The answer is yes.

The really cool thing about this whirlwind that we found ourselves on for this week is that now we have a little person's room at our house instead of an office...officially!!! My Mom got to go shopping with me for cribs, toddler beds, and bed linens for both. There were paint color decisions to be made, cabinet latches to install, and the fact that we had to lock up all the cleaning supplies and booze in the house!!!

It was crazy.

It was nice.

Don't get me wrong. It was a lot of work.

The "Home Study" went fine. We passed with flying colors, only having to redo a couple of the things that needed a little extra tweaking.

However, we did still have to sit in on few classes with the newest crop of prospective foster parents. We had to arrange to take a private CPR class. We had to do a rush Water Safety course. I had to learn to put new screen in windows so that we would be able to open our windows for ventilation. Henry had to put latches on our back yard gates. Blah, blah, blah...

So we're ready.

But now we're beginning a stretch of life that's making us "slaves" to the Bureaucracy. Since completing our "Home Study," we're kind of at the mercy of the shuffling of papers across desks from here to Tallahassee, Signatures from this or that person at this or that office, e-mails zipping from computer to computer, and the tense laughter (at our impatient jokes) by people who know how anxious/excited we are to GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!!

Your Father making your room look nice...Check!!!

Your own personal guard dog...Check!!!

A place to lay your little head...Check!!!