Getting Things Started

    So, we started taking the foster care classes in April of  2011. They are 10 weeks worth of classes every Tuesday. We were very excited to get started with process and hope that it wouldn't be much longer than 10 weeks until we could fulfill our dream of having a family. My parents starting taking the classes with us for emotional support and because we were under the impression they had would have to be licensed to watch them alone. During those 10 weeks we were able to really learn how the foster care system works. You just assume that a child is being mistreated and that parent shouldn't be a parent because they don't want to take care of their children. Well, we learned that the parents were getting help and trying to do the right thing. The main goal is to reunite the child with their birth parents. After the classes were done we decided to look at moving and looking to sale our house. We really felt like God wanted us to stay in Pender County and we asked how many foster parents there were in P.C. and they responded with what I thought was a joke, "7"! I couldn't believe it. I said, "Ok God, there is our sign. We are staying in P.C." From then on, we started looking at houses in the Hamptead area. In July we had our First Aide CPR class for preschool and I knew our instructor had adopted through foster care so I was really excited to talk with him. He explained to me that there were more infants and adoptions that occur in New Hanover County than P C and that P C uses NHC for foster homes. So, we knew we wanted to help infants and we knew we wanted a better chance of adoption   through foster care. We started looking at homes in NHC and it was slim pickens! :) But thanks so a great friend, Gennie Markins, and her working at Ace Hardware we were able to come into contact with our current landlord, who is a great Christian man and loves that we doing foster care. (God thing? I think so!) We were able to get into contact with NHC DSS and transfer things and NOT have to take the class over! Paperwork, fingerprints,background checks, life stories, etc; have all been turned in! We have been licensed for 4 kids at one time. ( I was talked into that one :) ) and we asked that they not be over the age of 5 unless they were apart of a sibling group. We are ready and could get a call any day with a child. All I can say is through this whole process God has shown Himself present in every decision that has been made and I know He will be there in future decisions as well! Picture below is of Me, Ryan, Mom and Dad. They have been there for us through everything and it has effected them as well! We love  you guys so much! Thanks for always being there!