A New Chapter

Hello Blog. How I have missed you. Well, actually that's not true.  Facebook is quick and easy. I can communicate with hundreds of people in nanosecond and update in thirty.  No more waiting for pictures to upload before publishing. Instant, quick updates on my people. What's not to love?

But for somethings it's just not the right fit.

So here we are. Does anyone do family blogs anymore? Will anyone read this?  In the long run it doesn't matter. It's about recording this marathon of life. Whether breaking a PR or puking behind the port-o-john. The highs, the lows, and the boring parts in between.

Without further ado....the big news.  We are trying to grow our family! But, not in the traditional manner.  After years of talking, praying and planning we have finally started taking steps towards becoming a foster family.  10+ years actually.

When Kurt and I were courting, we discussed my desire to adopt and/or foster kids. Not sure when this desire started, but I honestly thought God had laid it on my heart because He was preparing me for infertility issues.  That turned out to not be the case.  Fortunately God also laid the same desire on Kurt's heart over time.

Two kids later, we started to take the first steps in 2011 in Texas by purchasing a larger house.  After selling our house in less than a week, signing a contract to build, moving into an apartment, nixing the contract, moving to Virginia, and renting for a year, we purchased that larger house last summer. After getting settled in and researching options we are finally in PRIDE training with the City of Richmond DSS.

There is so much to say, but I have to pace myself in hopes or writing more than one blog entry a year. Here's the quick answer on the top three questions we get asked:

Did you get a say what age child you will get?   Yes! You can let them know preferences. At this time, we are open to a sibling group of two kids, ages under 5.  We chose under 5 so that our boys will be older as a protection measure.

How long will you have them? No idea!  We could have kids for a few days before a relative placement is found or forever if they eventually go up for adoption.  The initial goal for all foster care cases is reunification with their biological family.  This is a process!  More on this later!

Are you open to children of other races? Yes, we are open to welcoming any type of child into our family.  On one level it's easy to say race doesn't matter. But the reality is race is still very much an issue in our society.  It does matter and presents unique challenges, but I hope that with those challenges come the opportunity to change all of our hearts on how we think and deal with race.