Skip to main content

Season of Patience

Fall is my favorite time of year - and I realize I share this sentiment with many others who love the crisp cool air, the pumpkin spice (yes I said it!) best of all - hooded sweatshirts. Last fall was when my partner and I began the journey to becoming Foster Parents. I dreamed that by this fall we would be playing in pumpkin patches with kiddos, and helping families reunify. Unfortunately, the state of North Carolina seems to take their own sweet time when it comes to processing paperwork. I am beginning to feel so impatient with the process, and there are days when I feel like we will never get everything approved. Currently, our pre-placement assessment is complete so we could technically start an adoption process, BUT we cannot foster. It all makes so little sense to me!  It is so hard to remind myself to take a step back and recognize that things happen for a reason and that there is a plan. 

I watched so many friends with their children on Halloween and part of me was so jealous that it almost blocked me up emotionally. Then I realized that those thoughts are ok, I need to embrace them and then let them go. I have seen a repeating theme among foster parenting blogs and it is "choose joy". I think this needs to be something I hold on to, and anchor myself in. I am attempting to make the conscious choice not to be overwhelmed by negative emotions that stem from disappointment but embrace the positive things in the delay of the process - more time to get my home ready, more time to prepare our relationship, more time to prepare our families. 

I am also accepting that this is probably a blessing in disguise - we have been juggling a lot of crazy things lately between work and home life - and I cannot imagine being able to manage a tiny human in the midst of this craziness - between long days and crises as work, battling though my own personal issues, and transitioning into this season of change - I am choosing to be thankful. 

On another note, this weekend we have been surprised with a blast of cold weather which has made for a good evening to bundle up and watch the WFTDA Champs :-) so thankful for technology and being able to watch amazing footage of a sport that keeps me sane! 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Adventures

I have recently taken the position of Director of Children and Youth Education (or some other convoluted title that seems to keep changing) at our Church . Our church is a fabulous one (check it out here) in uptown Charlotte. We have 3 main focuses, Purse Justice, Practice Inclusion, and Promote the Arts and we truly try and live out our focuses in the ministries that the church supports.  The next big thing we are involved with is Charlotte Pride.With that I became intent on providing some of our families with resources for talking about other types of families. I did a quick Google search and came up empty handed outside of a few references to books that are considered diverse, and the occasional blog post. It was amazing to me however to find that there were plenty of seriously not-loving articles on how to talk to your children about  "gay people". This baffles me, for so many of them were filled with inaccurate information and hateful words. Jesus came into this world...
Post a Comment
Read more
Dear Self, It's okay that you are anxious right now. You are scared, and you want to do all the things the right way. You're doing okay. Yes, these days seem long and the information is overwhelming. Embrace it. Give that new diagnosis a big hug, and remind yourself to take life on in the same way your sweet little one does. Arms wide open, eyes wide, heart full. Be confident in your ability to trust your own judgement. Remind yourself that these moments will pass all too quickly.  What I just wrote is what I try and tell myself every day. I need these reminders. As a parent of a toddler with multiple different developmental concerns and deficits, I get caught up in the scary web I weave with the threat of anxiety. I want to do what is right, help her overcome all the obstacles in her path. I want to fight right next to her as she learns new skills, re-learns other ones, and conquers these mountains.  Our current mountains include continued physical developmental dela...
Post a Comment
Read more

Preparations, Challenges, and Growth: A Few Thoughts

I am going to begin this blog by saying I hope you all view this as a safe place, both for me to post my ramblings and for you to come and show support.  We are currently facing the endless challenges in place for obtaining our Foster Care licensing through our agency and the state. It seems that it comes with never ending checklists, purchases of things like fire extinguishers, baby gates, and a medicine lock box.  It is a beautiful journey as we prepare our home for the endless things we may or may not need for children from birth to age 8. We are blessed that we have friends who have stepped up and loaned us furniture, a few baby gear items, and volunteered their children's gently loved items. I cannot say thank you to them enough, and I hope that they know how grateful we are. I promise to pay it forward in the future. I am trying to not get overwhelmed by the impact preparing for this journey has had on us. It is a joy filled feeling, but some days I feel compl...
Post a Comment
Read more