Heart-felt thanks

First, we would like to again say thank you for everyone's support.  The outpouring of love and all the kind words has been completely overwhelming.  Without the support from family and friends, this decision would have been even harder.

A number of wonderfully thoughtful people have asked us how they can help us.  We thought we'd address the question here on the blog.

First and foremost, please pray.
Pray for us as parents, for our biological children, as well as for W and L who are going to be going through a lot of changes in a short period of time.  We will all need a lot grace and patience as we adjust to this new life.

Our philosophy as foster parents is that we will always treat foster kids as if they are our own.  For us that means, they will receive new school clothes, toys, have birthday parties and enjoy extracurricular activities just like our biological children do.   Much of these expenses are covered with the monthly stipend.   At the same time, our philosophy as parents is to bring all children up to know Christ by raising them in the most positive, Christ-centered environment that we can, which includes enrolling them in Christians schools.  Unfortunately, the state does not cover private schools so it is our decision - place the children in the local public school while our kids attend private or put all the children in the same school.   For us, it's an easy decision; all the children will attend the same Christian school.  We believe that God will provide the funds each month to continue this.

Though we do receive a small stipend from the state to support each foster child, getting our home prepared for two additional children is our responsibility.  We are in the process of re-arranging rooms and looking for additional furniture to accommodate everyone.  We are still need need of a set of twin beds (we are hoping to find a set that can be turned into a bunk bed for when the boys get a little older) and a larger dining room table.  We have found some suitable items at IKEA and are planning on a making a trip up in early August before the kids come.

We still have a lengthy list of items on our needs/wish list and about a month to get all the items together.
If you would like to contribute, we would be truly blessed by your generosity.

School supplies (with four kids in school we have a HUGE list of supplies needed to start the year)
Girl toys (we have absolutely no toys for a four year old girl and we are unsure of what she will arrive with)
kid size lawn chairs (we will need two additional chairs)
Bikes (one boy, one girl)
Pillows (x2)
Twin mattress - we have an older one that will do for a little while but it's not in great shape.
Twin sheets in pink/purple/aqua/white (x 2)
Twin sheets in Navy/white/blue (x 2)
Gift cards to purchase school clothes, shoes, car seats, etc (once upon a child, target, IKEA, Kohls, Payless etc)

Also if you are willing to support our decision to place the children in a Christian school, our school runs a TRIP program which allow us to purchase gift cards and a certain percentage of those cards will be taken off our tuition bill.  For example, we purchase HyVee gift cards with our monthly grocery budget and 4% of that money will be put towards our monthly tuition bill.  It's a simple, way for us to save a bit each month.  Gift cards can be purchased at our school, and if you would like more details on this program, please feel free to contact us directly.

We have been so blessed with so much - a home that will accommodate a large family, a wonderful job and the amazing support of family and friends.  We truly feel blessed to be walking down this new path, knowing God will provide for all of our needs and the needs of His children.  Thanks to everyone who is walking this journey with us, the love that you show to us and the children that come into our home, changes lives.

The count down begins

I just looked at the calendar and realized that it's less than 5 weeks until W and L will be moving in.  At first glance that doesn't seem too bad but during the next 5 weeks, we have 3 trips totaling 17 days away from home!

I am beginning to feel the pressure of the sheer magnitude of our "To Do" list.  I really want to have everything finished around the house so that when W & L arrive, things will be comfortable for them.  I would love for their rooms to be complete, the family room to be re-organized and even the garage, which holds all the outdoor toys, to be cleaned up and the house to be clutter-free.  The monster named "Perfectionism" is showing it's ugly face but I'm taking a deep breath and taking it one step at a time.  I'm attempting to adopt a more relaxed attitude and working at accepting the fact that everything isn't going to be perfect and it never will be.  What fun would that be?  I'm sure this will be a lesson that will be reinforced as we transition into a household with 5 kids.  (FIVE KIDS?!?!?!  I'm still blown away at where God has led us.)

  But the list maker in me can't be completely contained.  I have a fairly long one started.

But we are already making progress. 

 The "Girls room" is being transformed from a dark brown cave into an airy room with a coat of paint.  

We have one bed in the process of being painted to better suit the room and we are making a long list of items for our trip to IKEA in early August.  This has been motivation to finish a lot of little projects that have been lingering for too long.

Before I go and put a very tired set of boys to bed, I just wanted to quickly say how much we truly appreciate all the kind words and well wishes we have received.  We will do our best to keep you informed as we embark on this crazy journey.

Making Adjustments

Since we made the decision to bring W and L into our home, we have been making plans and adjustments.  We are so blessed with a home with a rare layout with 4 bedrooms on the main level and after a game of musical beds, I think we have managed to find enough space for everyone.  Pete rearranged his office and we were able to comfortably fit in our guest bed.  Izzy agreed to give up his favorite blue bed once he heard he was going to get a bunk bed.  So the blue bed is being painted into a clean white bed for L and the bunk bed will be painted blue for the newly dubbed "Boys Room".  Judah and Izzy both have hand painted room signs so we ordered three more signs so everyone has a defined personal space.

When your family expands suddenly storage quickly becomes a concern.  Thankfully we have just the right amount of coat hooks in the entry but four school backpacks simply won't fit.  And all the extra clothes, toys, and carseats, I needed some new creative solutions.  After a rather lengthy trip to Lowes, I think I have solved at least some of the storage issues.  I have extra shelving for toys for the "Boy's room", an extra closet rod for the "Girls room" with the expectation of many adorable dresses and hooks for everyone's room to hold their backpacks.  A place for every thing and hopefully everything in it's place.

We have a long way to go; curtains to make and hang, bedroom to paint, furniture to find and paint and simply just cleaning up the house and garage so we can start fresh.  But I feel like we are making progress quickly.

Honestly, I have so many lists started, both in my head, on notepads and on my phone but slowly I can see that we 'might' get everything completed in time.  I have never been so thankful for my hyper-organized, type A brain.  That may become an issue when the chaos starts but for now, I will run with it.