Hello again everyone!

We are halfway done with our foster care pre-service classes! We are learning and growing and opening ourselves up to many options that we thought for sure that we would closed off for us. We are nervous and excited about the process. We still have MUCH to do between now and our first placement, but we are working on it.

After the pre-service classes, we submit our application. OMGoodness there are SO many pages. Just about every trait a child could have, every condition, and every physical aspect a child could have is listed, and you have to say, ‘I will consider a child with this’, or ‘ I will not consider a child with this’. Josh and I spent hours going through the list discussing each characteristic in detail. There were things on the form that we even have to look up because we have NO clue what they are. =D It’s a crazy process, but we do it willingly, and are SO glad that foster parents have to go through this screening. SO glad that there are people making sure kids are going to safe, stable homes.

I don’t want to get preachy, but I heard a factoid that I would like to share; for every foster child in America, there are 450 Christians. Why do we have 130,000 children waiting for an adoptive home in our country?! How many of us have guest rooms that go unused? There are children sleeping on the street each night.

If you don’t feel you can take a kid in there are other ways to help. Donate time, money, clothes or toys to help these kids. I never realized that so many kids were in need until I started these classes. I always thought, ‘ Well, there are people on waiting lists to adopt kids in the U.S…. that’s why people adopt Internationally.’ NOT true. People are on waiting lists for healthy, caucasian, INFANTS. Another little known fact is that while teens are the most common kids who need adoptive families, toddlers are the second largest age group. School age kids are more independent, so they are taken in more often.

When people find out we are going to foster, everyone has had a similar reaction. They always say, ‘we’ve thought about doing that, but…’. If you can’t take in a child right now, here are some ideas for other ways you can help:

Become a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) worker… A CASA is a volunteer appointed by a judge to speak on the behalf of an abused and/or neglected children.

Call your local foster agencies, or Children’s services and find out if they need someone to drive a child to a Dr. Appointment, or a visit with the birth family. It is a BIG strain off of the foster parent, when they don’t have to take time off from work.

Volunteer with Big Brothers Big sisters. Many foster kids need good role models! It’s only a few hours a week, but can make a HUGE impact in a child’s life.

Donate items to a children’s home or foster care agency. Many need school supplies, shoes, clothes, or even toys. Suitcases or bags of any kind are often needed. Did you know that many children go from home to home with their belongings in trash bags? Make sure you donate items that are in good repair. If you wouldn’t let your own child wear it, don’t send it on to agencies or homes. Some places prefer new items so call ahead.

Donate each year to Toys for Tots. Foster kids are able to receive them and they always go to needy kids.

One last way that I can think of is to call your county children’s services and have them do a local background check so you can Babysit for a foster care family! Every parent needs a break, especially when your kids have behavioral problems.

Hope this is inspirational to those who want a way to help kids find safe, loving homes, even if that home isn’t with them!

I wanted to write a little about Ollie while he is still so fresh in my mind. this post is mostly for me, so I can go back and re-read it when the details get foggy… He was so beautiful. and he was TALL! most babies at 16 weeks gestation are 4.57 inches (average) and Ollie measured in at 7 inches! In that respect he looked like an older baby than he was. He was long on his Ultrasound too 23mm at 8 weeks gestation. his growth in the 8 weeks that followed was AMAZING. Ollie looked so much like Josh. He has his nose and cheeks, but my chin… maybe my ears too, they were pretty small like mine. In the hospital I asked Josh what his favorite part of Ollie was and he said his little hands. they were fragile, his fingers were about the width of a straight pin. He had a long torso, like his Aunt Rachel has. My favorite part was his tiny feet i think… I think his baby toe was the smallest thing I have ever seen… about half the size of one tiny piece of Nerds candy. so tiny. One of my other favorite parts was his little tounge… if you tilted his chin to open his mouth, you could see inside and it was so small, maybe something about the size of half a Skittle MIGHT have been able to fit his mouth. you could also see his tiny little ribs and sternum, they were perfectly outlined. he looked perfectly healthy, which makes it so much harder to believe that he will never grow. even the kids’ armpit was cute for heaven’s sake! I’m sure all parents feel that way, but he truly was breathtaking.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers! for those of you who don’t know, tuesday afternoon my water broke, so we went to the hospital. eventually the baby’s heart stopped, so we had to deliver him. We named him Oliver Harbaugh, ollie for short. he weighed 3.5 ounces and was 7 inches long. He was breathtakingly gorgeous! I wish we had been able to know him, but he is in a better place. We will probably post pictures in a few days for those who want to see them.