Dear Dave + April - Announcement....Fostering Love!

Dear Dave,
We did it! We finished all our classes. We graduated last night. We have learned a lot. We get to embark on our journey now....Fostering Love! Wouldn't it be fun if it was an announcement that we were going to put on Marriage Strengthening Weekends? That would be fun...huh? But it is not. I just thought of that. The title could work. But that isn't what we have been working on. Actually what we have been working on excites me and scares me a bit. This new journey could cause a bit of stress in our marriage at times. But I also think that it will bring us all a little closer more than the stress. And my one regret in life....the regret I know that we will always have...not having more children...will be fulfilled in a very different way! And I believe we will feel very full...of love and contentment. So...why don't you go ahead and share the news.....because I can't talk about it without getting teary-eyed.

Love, Me


Dear April,
No. I don't want to do a marriage weekend. I like going to them but I don't want to have to talk at one but a weekend away sounds nice at the beach with my surfboard oops wife. I have liked our classes and am going to miss them. I am going to miss the things we were being taught each week. I felt that they made us better parents especially the discipline vs. punishment class and made us closer in our marriage. We have changed the way we parent in small ways to better disciple our children instead of punish with emotions and it has brought more love into our house. I also like that we learned not to be judgemental of others but to be supportive regardless of peoples situations. I get teary too when I think of it. So why don't you tell them and I don't think it will cause stress because we are good with babies.

Love, D

We are becoming foster parents {well a foster family} for infants. Our plan is to start as foster parents for infants who are in need of temporary placement while waiting for placement with a relative. With Blake's upcoming surgeries we are not sure that a permanent placement of an infant would be best for any of us this next year. But a temporary placement...a baby in our home for a few weeks....sounds wonderful. And trust me, we have been warned and taught of the trials of fostering children and we still want to sign up. We both sat in our classes with six other amazing couples blinking really fast sometimes to keep the tears away. It just feels like the right thing to do. We have been taking classes for the past two and half months, we have been trained and certified in CPR and First-Aid. We have our finger printing scheduled and are awaiting a home inspection and then we will be fully licensed and could have an infant (under 2) in our home at anytime. We will also be a respite care foster family for other foster parents who take infants...meaning that we will take an infant for a weekend or vacation when the permanent foster family needs a break or are going away.

Our hearts are full of love...and yes, we might get attached. In fact, we are planning on getting attached. But we also have been taught that we are just caretakers....a safe, loving environment for these babies and little children until they can hopefully be reunited with their own family. That is the goal in foster care and we are on board. Whole hearts. Whole family. Our children are crazy with excitement. Ready for sacrifices. Ready to love on and help a baby feel loved during an unsettling time. Just thinking about it really makes me teary-eyed. I feel this is the right journey for our family right now. It has been on my heart for a few years now and I couldn't ignore it any longer.

We will keep you all posted. We have some fun things planned in the future with Fostering Love...including a little sponsoring opportunity to donate a handmade item to a foster baby...hopefully the foster babies placed in our home or our new foster friends' homes! Only a few more weeks until we are fully licensed. Yippee!!

And, you are right Dave...we are good with babies. I'm just not sure about the sleep deprivation thing again!!