Foster Care

     It dawned on me today, for the first time in a long time, that, once upon a time, blogging was my outlet. I did it consistently, frequently and for many years. It was my coping mechanism, my version of therapy. Writing things out to document that they had, in fact, happened and then moving on. I suppose it says a lot about how we (I) have been doing recently given the fact that I blogged once on here in the entire year of 2017. Even The Sister Stories hasn't seen a blog post from me since October 2016.

To recap, it looks like I left things off ridiculously excited about how 2017 was going to play out and the truth is, we ended up exactly where I thought we would. Honestly, I knew in the summer of 2013 that this is where we were meant to be all along. Before we did the two Race to Parenthoods, before we pursued almost every possible avenue of ART, I knew Foster Care would be our final destination. I also knew back then, it wasn't where WE wanted to end up and we knew, in order to embrace this avenue fully and compassionately, we had to feel we had left no stone unturned.

It feels odd to sum up our almost 5 year journey of getting to this specific week in one measly paragraph. It's like describing your entire high school or college career in the sentence "One day I started classes and then 4 (or 5) years later, I graduated". It's a true statement, right? You knew (hoped?) that when you started, you'd eventually graduate, but that statement, while true, does nothing to acknowledge the lessons learn, the personal growth that occurred, the heartache/heartbreak you undoubtedly endured, the people who shaped your days, the reasons you made certain decisions and how you come out a different person in the end.

We wrapped up 2017 by completing all the requirements to become Foster parents and we waited to get our official letter in the mail.

As it turned out for us, we got our first request to take children the same day our social worker told us she would be mailing out our certificate within the week. The details behind our first two requests are too personal, both to us and the children involved, but let's just say we learned some big, important and hard lessons in about two weeks.

And now for the real reason behind this post. I think I would be missing a major milestone in our life if I didn't document it on this blog. My very first blog post said hopefully the main purpose of this whole blog would be to update you on a baby and by gosh, 8 years and 5 months later, I finally get to do just that.

It's been one week....(cue Bare Naked Ladies song in my head). One week of absolute joy. One week since a little one entered our home for us to love, nurture and protect. One week of all things baby.

A week of firsts. Firsts that I think many people don't think twice about.

Y'all. I had a baby (not a niece or nephew either) in Target. I can't be sure, but according to social media, I think having a baby in Target is some kind of unspoken mom rite of passage. Or maybe it's getting to Target without the baby? Oh whatever. I had a baby in Target. And you know what the baby did? That sweet thing let out the loudest, shrillest scream I have ever heard while I was in the check out line and I'm pretty sure every other mom in the store did a quick duck and cover while I resisted every urge to throw my hands in the air and proudly exclaim "Yep, that one belonged to me!"

A week of groggily walking down the stairs in the middle of the night to make a bottle. Of coming downstairs exhausted just to see a sink full of dirty bottles. I'm not sure I have ever seen a more precious, welcome sight.

And boy did I wear those unknown stains on my shirt at work proudly.

This little child was in our care within two hours of getting our phone call. I was able to 'nest' for about 30 minutes while Britt and the children at her house that day played with and loved on the new-to-us baby.

We could not have gotten through our first week without the outpouring of love and support from our tribe. I can't even begin to thank all of you who have provided us with baby items (used and new), who made us meals or yummy goodies, who stocked us with diapers and formula and clothes. We are eternally grateful for how much you valued and cherished this one along with us. Seriously. You made this week easy.

Most importantly, this week, we learned that we are, without a shadow of a doubt, in the right place. Our hearts are here. We remain confidently committed to loving, nurturing and protecting any child that comes into this home, no matter how long we have them. Our future with this baby is uncertain for sure, but we know our paths were intended to cross and this one was meant to be ours, even if just for a short while.