almost there

Those that have been reading here a while, know that last fall, we felt led to be a foster family. It has been a HUGE test in patience and I guess God thinks we've got that down (though not always with a happy heart) because this week, we finally got the call that everything is done.

We have had everything done on our end since mid February and were just waiting. Emailing weekly to see what the status was and always told that things weren't ready yet. For a couple of months, we were told that we were waiting for our fingerprints to be run. Then, we hear that no, those were back months ago, we are waiting for our homestudy to be read (the same homestudy that we read in 30 minutes when we signed it in February). And so we waited. I finally started emailing the supervisor of our social worker and got a few new responses. This week, a completely new social worker called us to say that things are ready and she wanted to come over so we could "sign our contract and get you some foster kiddos." I was so excited! She actually sounded excited (something lacking in everyone else we have dealt with there). We talked for a little bit and before she hung up, I said, "So are YOU are social worker now?" She said yes and gave me her last name and contact info. Glad I asked - haha.

Clearly we are not doing this to do the easy thing. We are doing this for the children, who don't deserve to be living in a shelter. So, while people keep saying they would have given up, almost to spite DHS, we can't do that. We aren't doing this for DHS' sake, we are doing it for the kids. And so we wait. After we sign on Wednesday, they will mail the contract to OKC and then, we think, we will be finished!

If you think of it, please join us in praying for our family during this season, as change isn't usually easy, and for the children God has waiting for us to care for. Pray that we can meet their needs and show them God's unconditional love. Pray that we can love them as our own and not "hold back" knowing they could only be with us a short time. Pray for C, T, and P as they deal with people in and out of our house and taking our attention. Pray that we have grace with "the system" as they are doing the best they feel they can. We covet your prayers in this whole situation.