Getting Ready

Wow! It looks like I hit the foster/adopt agency at just the right time. The agency that I chose is having their next session of training classes from October 20th - November 8th, and I start the homestudy immediately after that. It looks like I might have a kiddo in the house in the next few months! YIKES!

Most people have nine months to prepare, so I'm cramming nine months of "nesting" into about four weeks. Apparently they like potential families to have things pretty well set up before the homestudy so they know you're prepared. Thank goodness Christy has boy/girl twins and hasn't gotten rid of all of their stuff yet! That should help out until I can pull together everything of my own.

I'm so excited! I've decided to request only infants (under 1 year old) to start out while the twins are still young. They are much more comfortable around younger children than they are with older kids. I'll just increase the ages I'd be willing to accept as the twins get older. Because our family is so close, I need to make sure this is right for everyone. While I think it will be harder to return a baby that I've had from a young age (essential being the only "mom" it has ever known), the day-to-day living will be easier than taking in an older child with more severe emotional needs. I would worry too much about how an older child would interact with the twins. I definitely want to take in older children eventually, but I want to wait until the twins are old enough to stand up for themselves. (Although Ka-Diva is pretty pushy already... My "Mini-Me"... I might be more worried about a 10-year-old foster child if it was just Ka-Diva!)

So it looks like before long, my life will be filled with poopy diapers and paperwork galore. My hope is that the child only poops while in the care of others. That will be our first conversation. "Hi, sweet baby! I'm going to be your mommy for a little while. Please no pooping unless you're at Nana's or Aunt Christy's houses." I'm really excited about the paperwork though. I LOVE lists, forms, and highlighters!!! It's a good thing too, because apparently every little thing has to be documented. I'm going to have to update my "Who I'd Like to Meet" section on MySpace with, "a man who brings me office supplies and changes poopy diapers!" He would make me happy!