Reason 5,432,109 why I love working with the young women

the great slumber party of 2011

This picture is just one of the many reasons I love working with the young women. This week to be the camp leader again. Of course I agreed. I LOVE girls camp! When the girls found out they cheered. When you are having a rough week, nothing beats having a group of teenage girls cheer for you.
I've had such a great experience working with the young women at my church, and with "Little" from the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, that my dream and goal of becoming a foster mother to a teenage girl keeps coming back to me. Oh how I wish I had a real, stable, and well-paying job so I could get myself back into a position where fostering would be a reality again. (New to this blog? I was approved to become a foster mother in Utah just a few days before I got laid off 2 years ago.)
I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but if I did, getting back to a position where I could be a foster mother would be my top goal.
Until then, I'm just glad I get to "foster" and witness things like this-

Owling on the fireplace mantel

Monkeying

 

I have no idea

Drum Roll Please...

Here's what you came to know-

I passed the inspection and interview! In about 4 weeks I will get a form saying I am a licensed foster parent! And any day after that I am eligible to get a child. I will be requesting one particular girl. There is hope that she will be placed with me by Christmas! I am so excited at the thought of getting to provide Christmas for a child. But then, on the other hand, I'm a little scared at the thought of only having a few days to actually get it all pulled together if the placement comes at the last minute! Even if I am not able to get the girl I am requesting, there is a good chance of placement by Christmas. Sadly, many children enter foster care during the holidays due to conditions at home. So, just in case it all does come together, and I am a mom by Christmas, I'm going to go full out and decorate the house, buy a tree, etc. Here goes nothing!!

Also, I can't think of a better day or reason to bring back the happy dance tradition!! Enjoy!!

Life in Progress

I know many of you have been wondering what's going on with the foster care situation. This post is for you. The rest of you can feel free to help me decide what to do next as well.

After waiting months and months to get my home study and personal interview set up, it was finally arranged for next week. And now I have a business trip next week and won't be here for it. Hopefully today we will get the date moved to something in the next 2-3 weeks.

I've heard both good and bad things about the home inspection. All the bad things I have heard from other families who have had to go through one. You have to have everything super clean and organized, locks put on certain doors and cabinets, etc. I need to buy a fire extinguisher still, and get a lock for the closet inside my laundry room where I store the "dangerous chemicals," like bleach. And I need to buy a tackle box that I can lock and keep in there to store medications in. All of this can obviously be done in a busy Saturday afternoon (and will all be done most likely this upcoming Saturday). The social workers I have talked to have all said that it isn't the home inspection I should worry about. They just want to make sure my house isn't falling apart, there's a bed, and nothing obviously harmful about the situation. They have told me it is the 3-4 hour interview that should be more stressful (and not something you can really prepare for)!

Now, for my dilemma. Hopefully without going into too much detail...

My 22 year old brother lives with me. And he lives and acts the way your typical 22 year old bachelor lives and acts. Some people may feel uncomfortable with a possibly sexually active teenage girl in the house with a 22 year old man. For the record, because he is a family member the state has no problem with him. He just has to pass a criminal background check and we're all good.

When he moved in, the idea was that he would be here off and on all summer, and be deployed for several months in November. His deployment has now been postponed till April. And who knows how long he will be gone? 1 week? 1 year? We don't know.

So suddenly I am now faced with the prospect of having him here with a teenage girl. Or asking him to move out? Or postponing foster care another 5-6 months?

You know how long I have been wanting to do this. You know how hard I have had to work to even get to this point. I really don't know what to do.

I have no idea what I'm going to do. For now, I'm proceeding with my home study and interview. I'm also proceeding with getting my brother's background check done, just in case I choose to have him and a child here together.