Research and Open Hearts

We've both been reading and researching A LOT over the last few weeks. Mostly through the Department of Family and Protective Services website, but also through other foster blogs and articles. We're trying to find out as much as we can so we can understand the reality of foster parenting in the event that we decide to move forward with this decision.

Some of my favorite blogs so far have been:
- Foster Parents Anywhere
- Aspiring Foster Mama
- Foster Care Dad
- I Must be Trippin'
- Letting Go of Mie
- Adoption Forums - these have been very helpful so far.
- Foster Parenting - I hate the ads on this site, but the info is very helpful.
- I'll add to this list as I stumble upon more blogs that I like.

Now we're trying to decide which Foster Agency we'd like to work with near our home. We've looked into Covenant Kids, Arrow, and Buckner. We'll keep researching and meet with a few agencies in the next few weeks/months.

For now, this is all still very much up in the air and a lofty dream...

Bry and I have been praying for hearts that are truly open to fostering. With no strings attached. We don't want to foster just so we might be able to adopt. We don't want to do it because we think it's the "right thing to do" or because we have the space/money. We want to be sure that we're prepared to love a kid like crazy and then send them back to a less-than-ideal family situation and be thankful for the time they spent in our home. We're praying that we have servant hearts that are open to loving children who need a stable, happy home for a little while. If it's God's plan for our lives, we might be able to adopt a child someday along this path, but we don't want to start the journey with that being our main goal. This was heavily laid on my heart after reading this blog post.

We're also trying to decide the age range and emotional/behavioral issues we'd be willing to bring into our home. While I'd love to say that we're completely open to any and all children staying in our home, the reality is that we both have very demanding jobs and schedules and there will need to be constraints around the kind of children we're able to support. However, we know the Lord will bring the children into our home who need us at that time in their lives.

Many close friends and family members have already asked why we'd pursue this when we haven't tried every fertility treatment available to us. Rest assured :) - we will still continue to try to conceive naturally or with medical help, but after TTC for 26 months, we're coming to the realization that this might not happen for a looooooonnggg time (and possibly never); while we're still trying to have our own baby, we'd like to explore the possibility of loving other kiddos who are unloved and unwanted.

You only have to read one or two posts like this one to understand the heartache and pain we've been through and could go through if we pursue TTC with PCOS. We know the fostering/adopting journey will be a long and hard road, but so would trying for our own child. The Lord knows what we're able to handle and He has a plan for all of this. For our family. HE knows what we need when we need it!

For now, we just keep researching and reading, researching and reading...and of course, PRAYING. Like crazy.