Home Study!

We were assigned a social worker!! Here we go. We have to get all of our animals to the vet. We all have to go to the dr and we have to go to the police station. :)

T-Shirt order

SO!! Here they are. Good news. They will be on a softer blank than the American Apparel T-shirt and a cheaper blank!! So, this means a cheaper price all around. All shirts will be $15.00. The T-shirt is lemon and for ladies you might want to order a size down. It is also available in Youth sizes. I know a few of you ordered a 4T (I still need confirmation). But if you are interested in ordering a shirt please leave a comment.

Aren't they adorable?!!

We appreciate your support in helping out us expand our family.

UHHHH...

So, I lost 4 pounds. But... then I gained it back. I am so stressed about fostering/ adopting. I deal with stress by eating sweets. I know, not good. I don't want to hear it. It's tough. I have anxiety so not having any control is really killing me. I'm sorry. I feel like I am letting people down (especially me). I'll try to do better. In the mean time, if you want to go walking with me then give me a call.

T-shirts

We will have t-shirts for sale to raise money for our adoption. As you know, we are fostering until we can raise enough money for our adoption.

I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Molly!! She had these designed for us, and has been amazing with fundraising ideas!

They are going to be on an American Apparel Tshirt (so that means they are super soft and comfy) in lemon. We are selling these for $25.00 for one shirt, $20.00 each for two, or $15.00 each for three or more.* This is a pre-order and have to meet the minimum of 144 shirts in order to print. So if we don't meet the quota, we cannot print them.* They are available in S-XL. They are unisex so if you are a lady you may want to order one a size smaller. They are also available for your kiddos in size 2, 4, and 6. For sizing please visit american apparel's website http://store.americanapparel.net/2105.html?cid=35 or http://store.americanapparel.net/2001.html?cid=198

These make great gifts for anyone who knows an adopted child, or if you sponsor a child. Just think, this could be a great conversation starter and another family could sponsor/ adopt because of this shirt!! How cool is that!

A bunch of Don'ts

We had our second sets of classes today. I am drained. It wasn't as emotional as the last set. I did cry once when the social worker was telling us about a case she has right now. The little girl is 5 years old who was placed within the month. Her foster mom noticed cuts all over her arm. She asked what happened and the little girl said she was itching herself. Her FM asked what she was itching herself with and she said a knife (her FM had all of the real knives set up high, so the little girl was using a butter knife). The girl watched her birth mom do it and she never "got hurt". She didn't know any better. :( How sad is that. I started crying at that point but then the SW also said upon placement they learned that she was sexually abused. Isn't this the saddest. What a horrible life. And the little girl was removed from the home because the mother was using. There is a chance that this girl would have never been taken. We were talking about this particular case because we were discussing how we won't know everything about a child when they are placed. The SW was never informed that the child cut herself. She was never told that the girl was sexually abused. So, like with any foster/adoptive parent, information isn't learned about a child until they are in your care. Which is fine and expected with us, but I think some of the other couples were having a hard time with that.

We also talked about the fact that we can't touch the child unless it is a loving embrace. I am not talking about hitting (that is obviously a no no). If your child is trying to run away you cannot grab them unless they are running into oncoming traffic. If they are running on the sidewalk, you can run with them, but you can't grab them and bring them back in the house. My big thing is, if she tries to get up from time-out we cannot grab her and put her back on the seat. No Super Nanny parenting there. I don't think it's fair that we will have one child (E) who can't get away with things, but our FC (foster child) can. So, this is going to require us to get a restraint license. I completely understand why this rule is in place. I am sure a lot of FP would abuse this. But I think this is a bit extreme. So, to sum it up class today was a bunch of, You can't do this or this.

On a completely different note, we went to the zoo this week.


The tulips were in full bloom




We were glad they got new manatees. They are cute little babies



I don't know if you can see E's smile in this picture? This is her future husband Corbin. I know, ADORABLE

Class

Class went really well. We are drained. M cried twice. I cried once. We are going to sign with them, so we can get things moving. I was debating waiting until all of our training was done, but we are sure this is what we want to do. I did learn that nobody can babysit your foster child unless they are credited. It makes sense, but that stinks. We are going to have to get our parents trained, because we still want date nights. We are excited to go back next week.

for sale

sike. hahah Our realtor came over last night to tell us what our house is worth, and it didn't go well. We love Tommy. We like how honest he is. We like that he goes out of his way to make things convenient for us. I wasn't hopeful that he would say our house is worth a million dollars. This just further more confirms that foster to adopt is the right option for us (at this time). I am so nervous for our first class. I don't want to leave E all day, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Fostering

Well, we made a decision today. We are going to foster until we raise enough money to adopt from Ethiopia. I was so stressed out about not being able to adopt. So our new timeline is to raise enough money within 3 years. I think this is doable. I don't want to hear any horror foster stories. If anything bad or sad happens, we will deal with it if it comes. I have fostered a ton of kittens, puppies, and dogs; so I think we are capable. I know it will be a lot harder than fostering animals.


We are really excited about this. Of course this means a lot of training. So, every Saturday is going to be booked for a while. I don't know if M will continue working overtime on Sunday's since his only day off will consist of being in a classroom. This also means a delay in our yard sale. :( We really appreciate everyone's help, but with this delay we are hoping to get more donations. I know we were meant to have more kids. Maybe this will be one of the ways we build our family? But, even if this doesn't result in an adoption, at least a child will experience unconditional love and a healthy life for whatever time frame we will have her.

Then, later in the day I opened my email and saw I won a custom made book! http://www.designmom.com/2010/04/blurb-books-giveaway/ I love this blog, and she has a ton of followers, so I can't believe I won!! I feel like I am being rewarded for making this decision. Thank you God! http://www.designmom.com/

sponsor form

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I hope you enjoyed E's post :)

In other news, we have a sponsor weight loss form. If you have any sponsors for your weight loss let me know by leaving a comment below. I will email you the form. (I tried to post it on here, but blogger wouldn't let me). There is now a link in the comment section.

Harold, Maude, and two miles

We walked two miles tonight. I love walking at night, because 1: people won't be staring at my fat butt 2: it colder, and i can't handle the heat 3: i get to carry my knife. hahahh i totally trust my neighborhood, but Bear Grylls has taught me well. I could get lost and need my knife to survive. My sweatpants don't have pockets in them, so I was put it in God's pocket; along with my cell phone. M was trying to convince me to put it in on my pants because that would be less conspicuous if someone were to attack me. I didn't agree. I was complimented on our walk of what a strong woman I was, because I was walking my weight in dogs. That is weird to think of, and that is NOT a good thing. hahha Wow, that makes me really sad actually. I was walking my weight in dogs. Anyway, I loved that it came from a grown middle-aged man walking a maltese. haha


Please don't try to analyze how much they weigh.

Fat

My friend Leslie is the best. She called me this morning with a wonderful idea. Get sponsors to sponsor you for every pound you lose. Let me tell you I can stand to lose a lot of pounds. :) If you are interested in helping me in this endeavor let me know. Just leave a comment below and I will email you back.

April Fools

For April Fools I found a cute meatloaf cupcake recipe. (I used my own meatloaf recipe, but stole the idea) My go to trick was to say I was pregnant, so I will need to find something good for next year. Andrea, my cousin, was not optimistic. M came home and asked what was for dinner, and I said the cupcakes on the oven. He was tricked for a second.





I had a great helper!




You are supposed to use tin cupcake liners. (I think this is vital, but I didn't do it)







I should have just said someone gave us the money for our adoption.

Today, we went to Parky's farm.



It resulted in this