'The Call'

Today I was on my way home from work and my cell phone rang.... I saw the number and knew it was DSS! I answered not knowing what the result would be.... The resource worker introduced herself and told me she was calling for a possible placement... She told me that a 7 yr old girl and 4 yr old boy were being removed from a relative placement..... She told me all the info they had about both and said she had a placement for the girl but, that home couldn't take both so she wanted to know if we would be willing take the boy 'J'.... it's respite care right now but, will find out next week what the 'plan' will be. He is an adorable little boy. When the worker dropped him off she warned us he can be a handful and we have to be 'stern' with him but, she said he might 'honeymoon' good with us because there are no other children in the home. He arrived about 6:45pm and since then we have watched Sponge Bob, got a bath & PJ's on, ate some cookies and milk and now he is in bed.....

1st night down and so far so good.... Now, we have to figure out how to entertain him for 2 days! It's supposed to rain tomorrow so, we will have to find something inside to do....

So, we got 'the call' we had been waiting for and I am ok knowing this might be just temporary and he might leave in a few days...

I am going to try to get some sleep now! Big day tomorrow entertaining a 4 yr old!

This is me being Patient....

(the picture we used for our home study file w/ DSS)

(The approval letter that came with our license)

(Our license!)

(The envelope our license came in! On my hubby's birthday & I let him open it!)

So, several posts ago I mentioned I am trying to learn how to be more patient and wait for things to happen.... It's still hard.... Yes, we are finally licensed..... But, everyday each time the phone rings I take a deep breath thinking-- This could be the call that will change our lives.... Of course that call hasn't come yet.... No calls from DSS have come yet....

I thought while I am 'waiting' I would post some pics... I have seen/read/followed a few blogs that people 'document' every step of the process and then plan to print it out for their child to have as a keepsake.... Above are pics I took when we got our license in the mail! Sorry about all the white spots but, I didn't want some info to be shown on here for privacy reasons! This was the only way I could think to block it out-- sorry it's a little messy :-)

Hope you enjoyed the pics.... sorry I didn't post them sooner! Hopefully we will get a 'call' soon!

We got mail!

Our official 'license' arrived in the mail today! It's my hubby's birthday so I let him open it! It is so nice to be done w/ the home study process.....

Thanks for the congrats and good wishes!

Verbal Confirmation Received!

The day we have been waiting for since January came today.... Our home study case worker called me this morning and told me we have been approved and she is putting our license in the mail today.... YAY! I was SOOO happy.... My hubby's birthday is tomorrow and I was hoping we would be licensed by then, and we are!

Although I am very happy and excited this day has come, I keep telling myself it could take some time to get a placement at all let alone one that is within our requests....

But, for today this feels great! We couldn't do anything else with out this news so, I am happy! Secretly hoping a placement comes soon though ;-)

Almost there!

I got a call from our home study case worker this past week.... She wanted to make an appt to meet with us to have us read our draft of our home study and if all is well, sign off on it.... I am meeting with her tomorrow at 8am.... My hubby can't get off work to make the appt so, she will leave it with me and I will have him review it, sign off and return it to her office on Tues.... She says Wednesday morning she will take it to her supervisor and once it's approved, she will mail out our license.... She says we might have it by the end of the week....

With that said, then a new waiting period begins.... We never know how long it will take to get a placement... It could be hours, days, weeks or months! But, at least we will be certified when it happens!

We are almost another step closer to our goal! Can't wait!

So far so good!

This past week we had 3 visits/inspections:

Monday 8/10- Fire Marshall inspection- No violations!

Tuesday 8/11- Home lead test w/ our home study case worker- No lead!

Wednesday 8/12- Sanitation/Health inspection- Only violation that I know of so far (still waiting for water test results which take about a week she said) is our hot water temp was 130 degrees so we have to turn it back to 110.

All in all we are thrilled that that is all that went 'wrong'.... When the case worker was here she said once she gets our reference checks finished and the reports from this week's inspections she will finish writing our narative and then schedule a visit for us to 'read' it.... Then we should be certified... She hopes to have us completed by the end of Aug/ begining of Sept!

Wow, sometimes it's crazy (in a GREAT way though) to believe that we will soon be done this process.... We have been working on this since January and with in the next month (hopefully) we will be certified and could accept a placement if one becomes available!

So, so far so good.....

Inspections scheduled!

We finally got the calls we have been waiting for! We have our health and fire inspections scheduled for next week! Monday afternoon will be the fire inspection and Wednesday afternoon will be the health inspection.....

I have a few finishing touches on our house to prepare for both this weekend (finish child-proofing the house and finalize our fire escape plan) and hopefully both will find our home fit for a child and then once our case worker finalizes our paperwork and reference checks we will be certified soon!

Maybe by my hubby's birthday in September we would be available for a placement when one comes available :-)