After taking the classes for licensing for foster care and deciding I wasn't ready yet, we went about our business. We were raising our two cuties, working full time jobs and living the dream!
Eventually "the dream" turned into "the daily grind." Nick got promoted to General Manager at his job and his responsibilities increased a lot. He was working super long hours and while the pay was great, it was becoming a burden on our family. He left before any of us woke up (around 4:30am) and usually didn't get home until around 6pm. The kids were missing their dad and I was missing my husband. He was missing out on coaching the kids' teams and going to practices. He wasn't able to help me take them to doctor appointments or stay home with them if they were sick.
I was able to adjust my hours at work to be able to drop the kids off at school and pick them up four days a week, so that was a huge blessing. I felt better about them being with at least one parent most of the time rather than at daycare or latchkey (no judgement against using those, I just wanted my babies with ME if at all possible).
We were all gathering at home at the end of the day too exhausted and busy to really do anything other than eat dinner, take quick showers and drop into bed. Don't get me wrong--we loved our life, but we were just getting by day to day. Shuffling from one activity to the next.
In August, Nick was done. He LOVED the company he worked for, but the hours and the stress were too much. He knew it was time for a change and that's when we started REALLY praying about his job situation. We had friends praying, our church praying, our families praying....he started looking for jobs that wouldn't require a HUGE pay cut, but that had better hours and less stress! He needed something that would allow him more time with his family and to do the things he loved in life.
At the same time, God was bringing foster care to my heart and mind again. I was starting to feel the "baby itch." I felt better equipped to handle another kid. Not that our lives were any less hectic, but we were in more of a routine and my kids were able to shower themselves, brush their own teeth, get themselves dressed....I had more time in the day because they were able to do so much more on their own. After a lot of prayer on my own about this, I decided to tell Nick that I thought I was ready to look into it again. I wasn't sure what all we'd have to do or if the class we had taken 3 years before would still be valid for our licensing. One night after dinner, I said, "Babe, I'm ready. I'm ready to get into foster care and see what it would take to finish the licensing process." He stared at me for a second and then said, "K."
And I'm all, "Uhhhhh, did you HEAR me? I SAID....I'm FINALLY READY!"
He responded with a little more enthusiasm the second time and said something along the lines of, "That's great, babe!" I told him I'd check in with our MAPP class teacher to see what all we needed to do to complete licensing. We went to bed that night and I felt at peace with our decision to move forward.
The next day I was sitting at work and I heard a little "ping" come from my phone. I looked down at the notification and thought my eyes were going to bug out of my head. I immediately called Nick and said, "You're not going to believe this."
The lady that had taught our MAPP class had messaged me on Facebook. Her message said something along the lines of....."Hey! Did you guys ever finish licensing for foster care? I just started working for Restoration Family Services and thought of you. I have all of your paperwork from the MAPP class, so it wouldn't take much to finish up. Just let me know if you're interested in moving forward."
I. was. BLOWN AWAY. At that moment, I knew that I knew that I knew (as Pastor John always likes to say) that God was confirming that we needed to step out in faith and complete our licensing. Like, there was ZERO doubt in my mind after that happened. I was a little worried about how it was going to all work out since Nick was always busy with work and I was busy with the kids. But I knew God would make a way. I messaged our teacher back letting her know we would love to move forward. Again, we went to bed that night and I felt at peace with our decision.
The next day, NICK GOT A NEW JOB!! I kid you not, THE VERY DAY AFTER WE COMMITTED to moving forward with foster care, he got a job offer at the place he had really hoped to land. The pay cut was VERY minimal, it was a 7 minute drive from our house rather than 40 minutes and the hours were "around 7:30am" to "around 4:30pm." He got to come home for an hour for his lunch break and was told he could really set his own hours to an extent as long as all of his work got done.
Well, okay.
In a matter of 24 hours, our lives changed drastically. My husband turned in his notice, started his new job and we started the process of paperwork and house inspections. It took several months for us to finish everything, but FINALLY on January 2nd, 2019, we were officially licensed. And about 4 hours later, we got news of our first placement.
And it's been a whirlwind ever since....
Eventually "the dream" turned into "the daily grind." Nick got promoted to General Manager at his job and his responsibilities increased a lot. He was working super long hours and while the pay was great, it was becoming a burden on our family. He left before any of us woke up (around 4:30am) and usually didn't get home until around 6pm. The kids were missing their dad and I was missing my husband. He was missing out on coaching the kids' teams and going to practices. He wasn't able to help me take them to doctor appointments or stay home with them if they were sick.
I was able to adjust my hours at work to be able to drop the kids off at school and pick them up four days a week, so that was a huge blessing. I felt better about them being with at least one parent most of the time rather than at daycare or latchkey (no judgement against using those, I just wanted my babies with ME if at all possible).
We were all gathering at home at the end of the day too exhausted and busy to really do anything other than eat dinner, take quick showers and drop into bed. Don't get me wrong--we loved our life, but we were just getting by day to day. Shuffling from one activity to the next.
In August, Nick was done. He LOVED the company he worked for, but the hours and the stress were too much. He knew it was time for a change and that's when we started REALLY praying about his job situation. We had friends praying, our church praying, our families praying....he started looking for jobs that wouldn't require a HUGE pay cut, but that had better hours and less stress! He needed something that would allow him more time with his family and to do the things he loved in life.
At the same time, God was bringing foster care to my heart and mind again. I was starting to feel the "baby itch." I felt better equipped to handle another kid. Not that our lives were any less hectic, but we were in more of a routine and my kids were able to shower themselves, brush their own teeth, get themselves dressed....I had more time in the day because they were able to do so much more on their own. After a lot of prayer on my own about this, I decided to tell Nick that I thought I was ready to look into it again. I wasn't sure what all we'd have to do or if the class we had taken 3 years before would still be valid for our licensing. One night after dinner, I said, "Babe, I'm ready. I'm ready to get into foster care and see what it would take to finish the licensing process." He stared at me for a second and then said, "K."
And I'm all, "Uhhhhh, did you HEAR me? I SAID....I'm FINALLY READY!"
He responded with a little more enthusiasm the second time and said something along the lines of, "That's great, babe!" I told him I'd check in with our MAPP class teacher to see what all we needed to do to complete licensing. We went to bed that night and I felt at peace with our decision to move forward.
The next day I was sitting at work and I heard a little "ping" come from my phone. I looked down at the notification and thought my eyes were going to bug out of my head. I immediately called Nick and said, "You're not going to believe this."
The lady that had taught our MAPP class had messaged me on Facebook. Her message said something along the lines of....."Hey! Did you guys ever finish licensing for foster care? I just started working for Restoration Family Services and thought of you. I have all of your paperwork from the MAPP class, so it wouldn't take much to finish up. Just let me know if you're interested in moving forward."
I. was. BLOWN AWAY. At that moment, I knew that I knew that I knew (as Pastor John always likes to say) that God was confirming that we needed to step out in faith and complete our licensing. Like, there was ZERO doubt in my mind after that happened. I was a little worried about how it was going to all work out since Nick was always busy with work and I was busy with the kids. But I knew God would make a way. I messaged our teacher back letting her know we would love to move forward. Again, we went to bed that night and I felt at peace with our decision.
The next day, NICK GOT A NEW JOB!! I kid you not, THE VERY DAY AFTER WE COMMITTED to moving forward with foster care, he got a job offer at the place he had really hoped to land. The pay cut was VERY minimal, it was a 7 minute drive from our house rather than 40 minutes and the hours were "around 7:30am" to "around 4:30pm." He got to come home for an hour for his lunch break and was told he could really set his own hours to an extent as long as all of his work got done.
Well, okay.
In a matter of 24 hours, our lives changed drastically. My husband turned in his notice, started his new job and we started the process of paperwork and house inspections. It took several months for us to finish everything, but FINALLY on January 2nd, 2019, we were officially licensed. And about 4 hours later, we got news of our first placement.
And it's been a whirlwind ever since....
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