Home Study - Passed!

Thursday we had the last two parts of our Home Study. It had to be rescheduled because of the crazy snow we got a couple weeks ago. Well, the snow wasn't crazy so much asthe people were crazy because of the snow. It was a bit slick but compared to Cleveland it was no big deal. The city pretty much shut down the whole week after MLK Day. It was kind of fun to have nothing to do but watch it snow. It did seem a bit silly since we only had about six inches here, although Tacoma had more than double.

Anyway, Alexa came over Thursday to finish up our Study. She spent the first two hours with John talking about his history. Then we spent a hour or so clearing up what we are looking for in a child and what to expect when we get our license. She also looked over our home to make sure that everything is safe and locked up appropriately. I actually expected much more of a grilling but it wasn't so bad.

She told us that we can expect to be inundated with requests from Social Workers to house children as soon as our license is issued, but that we really should only accept real foster situations that will be a few days in length. The reason we want to do this is because we really have adoption as our primary goal for doing Foster to Adopt and we don't want to put ourselves in a position where we have committed to foster a child and then another becomes available for adoption. It's playing the system a bit to get what we really want. Hopefully we will be able to help some children along the way and the ones who are meant to be ours will come to us quickly.

The last things we need to do are get our TB tests, which have been ordered, and put together a photo collage of our family. Then we wait for our license to be issued, which should be by the end of February.

Negative Space Cats

I am trying to use up my fabrics and also finish projects that have I been neglecting for various amounts of time. This quilt helped with both of those things. I started this quilt in the early fall of last year, but then got side-tracked with all the Christmas gifts I needed to make. It was relegated to the UFO (that's UnFinished Objects) bin until last week.

I had both of these fabrics left over from other quilts, the black I used in Nic's Wicked Witch Quilt and the flowers went into an early baby quilt for a friend. I absolutely love this flower fabric and had been looking for just the right thing to use it in when I came across a cat pattern in a quilt book. I didn't really like the design of the quilt, but I did like the look of the cat appliques, so I made this up on my own.

I love how the quilt seems to be overlayed with the flowers and also looks a bit like stained glass. It's very striking in person, the pictures don't do it justice. It's fun to finally have something I made hanging on the wall.

Here are some close-ups of the cats:

Home Visit 1 of 3 and Prep Work

Wednesday last week was the first meeting with our Social Worker, Alexa, for our Home Visit. The visit is broken into three parts: one to meet with me, one to meet with John, and one to go over the house. So on Wednesday, Alexa came over to get to know me better. She was here almost two hours going over my personal information and why I want to do Foster to Adopt. It was a nice chat, although it felt a bit like a therapy session. Next Thursday she will be back to do the same thing with John and then stay to go over the house with both of us.

This weekend we went out and bought mattresses and all the other necessary things on our list and moved John's desk into our room. I have to say that there are WAY too many options for parents out there and it's no wonder kids throw fits in the stores when they can't have everything they see. How did we ever survive without 20 different versions of sippy cups? Yesterday my awesome friend, Jessica, came over and helped me gut the kids' room and set everything up. It was nice to get that done, except that everything that was in that room is now in the hallway and living room sort of smashed in with all the Christmas decorations I still need to put away. Massive shuffling going on over here and I feel like I'm moving all over again!

Christmas 2011

We had a fun Christmas Holiday this year with my family in Billings. We drove out on the 23rd, taking all three furry children with us. I was shamefully remiss in taking pictures after Christmas Day, but we were so busy having fun that I didn't have time to grab my camera.

We went to Christmas Eve service at Faith Chapel, where John & I were married. Not that you'd recognize it now with the new sanctuary and confusing tunnels of kid classrooms. It is nice to see that the church is growing and doing well.

Christmas morning we went over to Natalie's to meet up with Nic and watch the girls open their Santa gifts. We also made vegan pancakes, which was a new and slightly odd experience for us. Hemp milk is really watery! The girls made a haul, not that we expected anything less. Bella wanted everything Hello Kitty and pretty nearly got her wish, including a Hello Kitty water cooler (who knew?) and a GIANT makeup pallet. Alana said her favorite gift was the Rock Picking Field Guide that John and I got her and she had to take Uncle John out the next day to find her first rocks.

 Bella opening presents.

 Nat and Tony after the hurricane of opening.

On Monday after Christmas we drove over to Bozeman to check out the set-up for John's class that he will be teaching. We had fun wandering around the SUB and feeling old as we talked about all the things that have changed. Then we went to my current favorite yarn shop, Stix (where I ran into a friend I hadn't seen since college), and went out to see John's former advisor, John Miller. After that we drove to Three Forks to see Dad & Reba. We were so excited for our dinner reservations at Sir Scott's Oasis. We had a really nice time visiting with them and there just wasn't enough time in the day.

The rest of the week was spent visiting and just enjoying being together. I got to go to lunch with Nic and fabric shopping with my Mom. John and I got one-hour massages from Natalie (her Christmas gift to all of us) and hung out in the hot tub for way too long. The girls spent the night three or four times at Grandma's so we got to see a lot of them. They are so wonderful! I just love them!

We drove home New Year's Day, loaded down with presents and very rested and grateful for our long break.

The doggies, however, were VERY sad to leave their most favorite place...The Backyard.

But we'll be back again soon.