The process...DCFS style..part one

I am sitting in my living room sipping coffee listening to nothing more than the air conditioning blow and the birds chirp outside my window.  No children to feed this morning (they are at my mom's), no husband to iron work clothes for (he is at a soft ball tournament), just the dogs, my coffee, my thoughts, and a really big grin on my face.

Today I ready our home for the monumental, frequently alluded to adoption-rite-of-passage:  the home study.

Most adoptions begin with the home study.  It's the foundation that all the rest of your paperwork builds upon.  It is the opportunity for licensed strangers to delve into your marriage, finances, childhood, parenting, education, home, sanity, etc.  It makes sense to begin with a home study because you cannot do anything until it has been completed and you have been deemed worthy of adopting (or fostering) a child...so I can finally put words to what has seemed so incredibly frustrating in our situation (which has by God's Grace moved much quicker than many in similar).

In our state, through the foster care system, the home study happens towards the end or more the middle of it all.  You better be firmly rooted in  knowing you're following God's will because when working with the state, you have ZERO luxuries...no sweet-voiced lady on the other end of the line walking you through the next step (I have had contact with two adoption agencies whose sweet-voiced ladies, in and of themselves and their heart's for God and orphans, have sold me on their agencies...my how I have longed for their calm reassurance, prayers, and willingness to share the next step)...no realization of what the "next step" even is.  You have no rites what-so-ever until...wait for it...you got it:  you pass your home study.

 {a tiny taste of what kids trapped in the foster care system go through every single day}

...sigh...

So what does this process look like?  I can share what it's looked like for us thus far.

We began by attending an informational meeting in which we were given "the packet" (remember the meeting we left swearing we'd NEVER EVER foster parent or go through DCFS because we REFUSED to work for the state??  Yeah, I think God laughed at us that night, too).  "The packet" was full of background check information, finger printing, and so on and so forth.  Once this gets mailed back to DCFS the wait-of-the-watched-phone begins.

We were called and told we couldn't go to training because our background checks had not cleared.  This training only happens once or twice a year and God had parted the Red Sea (first of many) in the OA's schedule and heart to allow us to attend.  At this point, I reminded God that none of this was of my will (note NEVER EVER above) and if it was TRULY His plan for us to foster-adopt through the state, He was going to have to handle all of the details for me because all of it was totally out of my control (first of many).  A few days before the training kicked off we were given a pass to attend with the promise that we'd be kicked out if our background checks came back with anything on them.  The social worker then came over and did an initial home inspection.

Two full weekends in June to total 30 hours of training with a 2 hour First Aid and CPR certification in between (OA and I missed our children so much that month) landed us with another "packet".  The first one paled in comparison to this...the red folder...in which financial statements, physical exams, dog exams and shots, kiddo's immunizations (another Red Sea parting for those who know my feelings on this issue), home and auto insurance, emergency plans, diagram of home, home work from training, proof of every imaginable thing under the sun went into this red folder.  It was a labor of love.  Again, all of this we did in between the two training weekends (I thought it HAD to be turned in last day of class..it doesn't...just FYI...so don't kill yourself trying).  The surrendering of the red folder that Monday after training ended was as bittersweet as finishing up a really, really, really long run.

An entire whole story has been written by God in between that day and today...one I cannot wait to slowly begin to share...one that it will take time to put human words to.  Man, when He shows off, He shows off big.  

If I only knew that day why God had so generously given me the energy, endurance, and urgency to surrender that folder so quickly...sigh...I can't imagine what that-day granola would've said to this-day granola.  I'm positive that she wouldn't for one second believe she was about to double her children, soon be raising a teenager, and have a love for two children that defies all logic because seeing as how her home study hasn't even occurred, she isn't allowed to know much more than what their faces look like on a heart gallery photolisting...a place that strangers can even see...knowledge that anyone can know.  Double sigh.  That tired granola who was driving their-then-car with no air conditioning was surrendering so much more than her family's red folder and heart work.  She was about to embark on one of the coolest journeys God has ever called her family.

And tomorrow...tomorrow...we have our home study!!