I hate that it has been so long since I posted, but it's been fairly uneventful around here, much to my dismay! Miss M went home last Monday. I grieved for a few days after that - eating ice cream, snuggling with Peanut, working out, reminiscing, scrap-booking, etc.. Then, we headed out of town to visit my family for Easter.
On the road to visit my parents, we received a call about our new baby girl, Emmy (who we don't have quite yet). Emmy has been in foster care since birth, but her current foster parents are elderly and experiencing some health problems. They're closing their home after having 46 foster children over the years, and they need to find a new home for Emmy. Emmy is four months old, so we're hoping to have the best of both worlds that we've experienced so far - a baby who sleeps through the night but doesn't yet move...haha! Unlike Miss M and Zizi, Emmy will probably be with us for quite some time, so we're both excited and cautious about the stability that this will bring. The good news is that we may be able to establish a bit more of a routine and really have a substantial impact on Emmy's formative years. The bad news is that unless we pray diligently and keep our expectations in check, we may have some really painful heartbreak in the end. All worth it!!! But...it's a painful reality for which we need to prepare ourselves.
I don't know much else. Now we're just waiting for DFACS to approve the transfer. As we all know by now, that government institution is not the most efficient entity in the world, so we'll just see when everything comes together. If nothing else, my husband and I will at least meet her on Saturday.
I can't go into detail, but Emmy is coming from a much more complicated past than either Miss M or Zizi, which had us a little fearful at first. However, true to form, the Lord held our hands this weekend by allowing us to meet a young lady at my parents' church who came from a virtually identical past. She is now a sophomore in high school and is a sweet, well-spoken, bright, joyful, beautiful young woman! We don't know what the future holds for Emmy, but it's neat to have that visual to hold onto. Her future could be so incredibly bright!
So now, we wait...and since I'm not very good at sitting idle, I've been rifling through a book that our foster agency recommended. It's called Three Little Words (and no...I don't know what those three words are yet...I think it must be at the end). If you click on the title above, I've linked to the Amazon site where you can see more detail. It is a memoir written by Ashley Rhodes-Courter who spent 9 years in the foster care system. As you can imagine, it's a very sad book, but what an incredible insight! If you are a foster parent or if you've considered foster parenting, this is a must-read!! However, I will caution you to read it with a sense of hope and not to allow it to make the situation feel hopeless. With each page turn, I have thought to myself, "Wow...this is what life has looked like for so many kids who I've met through our foster agency. Knowing that history and seeing through the eyes of a child, how could I make the strongest impact as a parent? How would life have been different if Ashley had ended up in just one loving foster family - a family who took the time to listen to and understand where she came from and show her unconditional love?" I haven't yet finished the book, so hopefully the happy ending is coming soon! This book has just really opened my eyes to the reality of a lot of the legal and personal issues I've heard about from other foster parents and in training - from a child's perspective. It's a great read!
Hopefully I will able to post soon about our newest addition! Until then, I'm going to go finish that book and keep myself busy!
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