DCFS called Jared yesterday to ask a few questions and are planning to send us a packet in the mail with paperwork for us to fill out! First we fill out lots of paperwork... Then we have to pass all the background check type stuff... Then we start our training classes for becoming foster parents. One step at a time, right? Hopefully we'll get those papers some time this next week so we can go ahead and get started on them. =)
I am eager to get this show on the road! Does that phrase work here? Anyway... At the moment I don't think I even mind the idea that being a foster parent means I still can't claim the child as "mine". Being a foster parent would make me much more like a real parent than any other "substitute mom" position I have worked in the past. (big sister in charge, nursery worker, babysitter, daycare worker, nanny) Being a foster parent means I get to do things like... Take the child HOME with ME! I get to pick their meals. I get to buy their clothes. When we go camping we can take them along for the adventure. If we get a little child like I'm hoping, the car-seat in the car still won't be for "my kid", but it'll be the closest to "my kid" I will have ever had before.
I told Jared earlier today that if we have a foster kid next mother's day... I think I'd like to keep our tradition of going camping that weekend. I personally like to tune out that mother's day even exists. But I imagine most of you know what that's like. So my favorite place to go, that we've gone the last two years and probably will this year too, is camping. A nice little camping place not too far away that just feels very remote. It's quiet. It's peaceful. And I don't get phone reception at the campsite with little reminders that it's mother's day. At my favorite campsite there is a path that takes you down to a quiet place along the river. It's a shallow spot where a little kid could have some fun too. I really like it there... I can hardly wait to go again.
Anyway... I'm getting ahead of myself again. One step at a time. Next step means getting all that paperwork in the mail, gotta wait for that before I can move on to other things. =)