I’m feeling like a new woman this morning. The babies slept eleven hours through the night, two nights in a row…if only Josh and I hadn’t stayed up till almost 11:30pm watching My Sister’s Keeper! It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep does for you psychologically! Moms, you know what I’m talking about!

Our foster children will be leaving soon. Their case went back to court and DFCS is allowing them to go to a family member. Even though we’ve only had them for two weeks, it will be harder letting these three go. We’ve really fallen in love with the babies. I wish so much I could post pictures of them; they are absolutely adorable. And Sister and I have really spent some quality time together. Unfortunately, everything that I’ve observed at visitations tell me that she doesn’t get much attention at home. It’s all about the babies and she’s just another “momma” in the house. It’s sad. She’s such a sweet girl.

Still no news on ‘our daughters’…any of them. The ones from out of town are still in the process of checking out the grandparents, which aren’t expected to be approved, but it can be a long process. And the girls that are with my friend’s parents are going to have to stay put until their parents’ TPR hearing takes place. For those of you not from Augusta, we are about ten minutes from the South Carolina state line. Going back and forth from SC and Augusta is a daily thing for many Augustans, so when I say the girls are in a different state, they are, but it’s only about 20 minutes from here. If they were in foster care in my county, they could be moved to my home and remain there, even before the hearing takes place, but everything changes when they’re out of state. So once again, we wait. I feel like a cartoon character walking around with a huge question mark floating over my head. Someone at church last night was asking me for updates on everything and once I told her all the updates, which were: we don’t know, we’re still waiting, haven’t heard, and should be soon, she just laughed and said, “Girl, your life is just one big question mark right now, isn’t it!” Yep, sure is. But, you know, I seem to rest better in God’s sovereignty when my life is up in the air like this. I guess because I’m a planner and I like to be in control, I have no choice but to chill out and wait on the Lord in situations like this.

Joshua has music this morning and his first recital tonight. I’ll try to video a little clip of his recital. He’s very excited.

So many of my friends are at home with sick kids; fevers and throwing up. I’m so thankful mine are back to being healthy.

Okay, more later!

~audrey

Clearly I’ve been a little busy lately. I’ve hardly even sat down since last Saturday…at least that’s how it has felt. I’m tired.
I have lots to write about:

Joshua’s seventh birthday
Update on our current foster children
Celebration of our 8th anniversary
Enjoying the spring weather…

But…I do not have time right now.
Hoping to catch up tomorrow during nap time.
Don’t give up on me just yet!

~audrey

It has become quite apparent, even though it is only the end of February, that God intends to give us daughters this year. First we had the situation with the two little girls out of town and that is still up in the air, but doesn’t seem promising. Of course right now we have a temporary placement of three children, but they will likely be returning to family sometime in the next week or so.

I got a call from a friend the other day. She said she’d had us on her heart and wanted us to consider praying about two little girls who are currently in foster care with her parents. The girls are 5 and 10, which would normally not sound like the ideal adoptive situation, but the more she told me about them, the more my heart broke for them. By the end of our call, I was ready to go pick them up and rescue them from a childhood of moving from foster home to foster home. It is very difficult to place children of these ages in adoptive homes. Most families that are taking the adoption route are looking for babies.

We are praying earnestly about these girls and plan to meet them in person as early as next week. Please pray that God would give us wisdom in this situation. We came into foster parenting with no intention to adopt. We wanted to strictly foster. I had the idea that if we adopted, then we wouldn’t be able to help any other children. But what better way to help two little girls than to give them the promise of a permanent home with three little brothers and two parents that will love them forever, no matter what? I’m astonished with how quickly the Lord has changed my heart. I now long for the children that we are meant to adopt. The yearning to have “one more baby” is gone. Just a month or two ago, I was ready to be pregnant again. That is no longer the case. Even if neither of these situations work out with the girls, I feel confident that we are meant to adopt any additional children that will be added to our family.

I look forward to keeping you posted!

~audrey