The Calm Before the Storm

Today is my day to sit back and just take it all in. Thanks to one of my amazing neighbors (and friend!) I am childless until this afternoon! I know I have probably said it before, but it's worth mentioning again. We have been BLESSED to have some of the most amazing neighbors. I honestly don't know what I would do without the ladies that live by me! We have playdates, kid swaps, coffee dates, crafting time... God truly knew what he was doing when he put us on our street!!! Anyway, all that to say that today I have about SIX HOURS to myself!!! Which is good because I feel like this is the calm before the storm.

This morning I called our agency to ask a quick question about some paperwork that they sent us (yes, the paperwork really is never ending!!!) and so I also asked about our license. She said that she was going to look it over today and as long as everything was there and it all looked good she would be sending it to the state this afternoon. Wow! I then asked her how long it would probably take for the license to arrive and she said that our region is typically pretty quick so she expected it to take just a couple of weeks. Oh, my! I'm excited. And scared. And nervous!

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that we will have a placement any time soon, but it does mean that we could! I feel like no amount of preparation will ever really help us get ready for what may come, but I sure am going to try my best to prepare anyway. So today I am going to do a little cleaning, some organizing, a lot of praying, a bit of paperwork, hopefully find a moment for a little fun stuff and make a few phone calls along the way.

Please understand if Ben and I are a little distracted over the next few weeks (or months!) as we have a lot of crazy little things to think about. For instance, in the newest batch of paperwork we have to check the box for "presenting behaviors" that we will be willing to consider. Let me tell you, this list of behaviors is SCARY! Aggressive toward other children, chronic bed wetting, fire setting, sexually acting out, extreme withdrawal, self abusive... and there are about thirty more on the list. So we have a lot of stuff on our minds even though we don't yet have to deal with any of this. I'm pretty sure our distraction will only get worse, and we are trying our best to live in the present, but we also recognize that our lives are about to be turned upside down. One interesting thing that I have noticed is that all of this has really helped me to put things into perspective of what is important and what isn't. Hopefully I can keep that mindset :)

Okay, the clock is ticking so I had better get moving before it's time for Hunter to be back home! Please keep praying for us, for our child/ren and for our sanity! Ha! Things are going to start moving quickly and we will need all the support we can get. THANK YOU for being that support for us, we appreciate it more than you will ever know!

Love you all!

B, E & H