The Call.

What a whirlwind week.

After our home inspection a few weeks back, we were told it would take about a week to get the final approval letter. Turns out, the supervisor that gives the final sign off was out of town during that week. As a result, we were officially approved last Monday.

Oh, and by the way, we also got a call for our first child the same day! We later found out that the caseworker who did the application process with us (she won't be our caseworker during the actual fostering and adoption process though, unfortunately) really took a shine to us. On Monday, hours after being officially approved, she overheard other employees talking about a new case and she told them to specifically call us. Without her stepping in, it's unlikely that we would have received a call so quickly.

Alright, so the child. While we had been hoping for a baby girl under two years old, the call was for a boy. He's actually not even born yet, due to arrive this week or next. Unfortunately, we don't have a ton of information yet about him or his family, as we're waiting to hear back from the county about the more personal details. Wednesdays and Fridays are the county's main court days, so by the time we were able to talk with our agency more last Tuesday, we began running into the busiest part of the county's week. We're hoping to hear more today or tomorrow. We do know a few things, though, which is why we're so hopeful now. Because of the mother's past, there is a very good chance she could lose her legal rights to the newborn as soon as he is born or very shortly thereafter. She already has a number of children that have either been adopted or are currently in foster care. Given that her legal rights could soon be terminated, they want to place the newborn into a pre-adoptive home, which is what we are classified as. Understandably, our caseworker is hesitant to give too many answers other than vague, PC ones. She told Danielle that she doesn't like to give personal opinions on cases because if things don't work out the way she said they might, the foster/adopting parents end up hating her. Once Danielle assured her that we won't hate her if she happens to be wrong, she finally gave us some personal opinions. In her eyes, given the mother's history with prior kids (and given that no other family members have stepped up to take in any of her previous children), it's very likely that we could end up adopting this little boy!! The mother losing her legal rights so early one is a huge step in that direction. Obviously, there are absolutely zero guarantees in this process, so we are being cautiously optimistic. Still, we never thought in a million years that we would have the chance to take in a child days after being born, especially one that we have a good chance of keeping forever. While we initially wanted a baby girl, there was no way we could pass us a newborn, regardless of gender.

As you may have seen if the previous blog entry, we were all set for a little girl. Well, we're pretty sure God was laughing at us as we tried to plan every last detail. While some big items were more gender neutral, we were mostly unprepared to welcome a baby boy into our home. Thankfully, both of our families have been amazing, both emotionally and materialistically. We've been floored at the support our families have given us. In a matter of days, we went from being woefully unprepared for a boy to having enough items to open a small store. So, hey, enjoy some new baby room pictures!

I wanted a Calvin and Hobbes themed room for a boy.  I suppose monsters will do in a pinch.

Monster stuffed animals: nightmares not guaranteed.

The blue blanket is actually mine from childhood.

What, you thought we'd get rid of all the owls?  C'mon.

On our way to a full stocked closet!

Knock off Slimer is pretty sweet.

These are 3-6 month sized.  Which means this kid is all set for Opening Day 2014.

Everything is happening so fast. We thought we would be lucky to have a foster child by Christmas time. If a few things break our way, we could be in the process of adopting a son by that time. We're excited and nervous, elated and scared. Prayers and good vibes would be so welcome right now. Most importantly, we're hoping for a safe and healthy baby to born, regardless of whether or not he ends up with us. We're also so hopeful for a smooth fostering and adoption process, if that's what it meant to be. This is the most exciting thing to happen to us ever (more exciting than the first place Pirates? Yeah, believe it.). Here's hoping we have even bigger news to share with you in the coming days!