Mug shots & Fingerprints? Oh my!

Jane Fonda told me to fight the power.

We were fingerprinted and photographed for our FBI background checks last week. (At a whopping $44 a pop, I might add.) We weren't allowed to smile for the photo.Eeekk.
I've had the lucky fortune of never having been arrested before. As a consequence, I've never been fingerprinted nor had my mug shot taken. So, there was a touch of excitement as the lady rolled each of my fingers over the pad.  Then the thought came to me, "What would I get arrested for?"  I dunno? Protesting? Speeding? Crimes against fashion?

Any who, our agency will have our full reports back from the FBI in 5-7 business days.  Cross your fingers.

Loss is coming

My mom's best friend, and a women who's been a fixture in my life for 20+ years, is dying.  This turn of events and rapid decline has been unexpected.  C is 54 years old, my mom's closest friend, the mother of my friend and a cancer patient. Because of the quickness at which this has progressed, I don't have all the details.  She has pneumonia and is in the hospital laboring to breath. It's not appropriate for me to corner the nurses or doctors and have them explain every little detail to me - however bad I want to do it. The details of the ways her body is failing her will come in future conversations, I'm sure.

But for now, I'm watching the life leave her. I'm watching my mom lose her kindred spirit. I'm watching a mother give her daughter permission to let go.  I'm watching a brother thank his sister for loving him so. I'm watching a younger sister wipe the sweat from her older sister's brow.  I'm watching my friend lose his mom at 25 years old.

I've never watched someone die before.  There are no words to describe the layers of sorrow, anger, somberness, holiness, and resolve that are in the room. Everyone of us who knew knows C will carry a loss. Some more than others. It will resonate with us in different ways, but we will all know a new level and association with loss.

I feel the Holy Spirit urging me to observe this pain and remember it well.  Learn from the way C's family carries it and the way this devastation cuts through their hearts and my heart.  He's asking me to remember this clearly because in a few months He's sending me children who will be reeling from loss. They will be drowning in loss. And just like now, I won't know or understand all the details that brought them to this dark place of grief. It might be from a sibling who has passed away, from a parent going to jail or from the experience of being ripped away from the only family they've ever known.

If you're reading this, please pray for C and her family.  The Lord is calling her home and she will leave us soon. She will have no more pain, no more fear.  She will soon be in Heaven, in the front row singing "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lamb" at the top of her lungs.
And please pray for children in foster care who are experiencing loss that they cannot comprehend.
Thank you.

Must work on application

I have an hour and a half to chip away at this 25 page foster parent application.  Hubby is at school, the house is quiet and my belly is full.  I've even created the optimal application-completing environment with a playlist full of Aaron Ivey and a nice cup of  raspberry tea. I have no excuse to get up for the next hour and a half.

I said type!

Plus, I have the wonder-mutt staring me down.  She's made it very clear that I am not to move from this sofa until I've finished 10 pages.

She's a watch dog for foster care and I love her for it.

Creating a Palate

Hello lovely readers,
D-day is getting closer and closer, and along with a mountain of paperwork and several to do lists, I'm mulling over the design for the kids room.  Truthfully, I'd rather contemplate fabric and textures then write essays about 'what my elementary and high school experiences were like'. (that's just 1 of what seems like 1,000 application questions I have to complete.)

Riddle me this -
What color combinations will be happy, soothing, stylish and most importantly gender bending?  If you've been reading this blog, you know we are going to be licensed for 2 kids, boys or girls, ages 0-5. The two kids will share our 1 guest bedroom. The room design must be able to swing from baby to toddler and from boy to girl and back again.

Like the rest of the modern world, I'm obsessed over the grey/yellow color combo.

I mean, am I right? Grey walls are totally delicious. Now, check out this fun find I spotted at a local store.

I wonder if I can make something similar?  I could even make it a storage bin! Ding, ding, ding!
So, today I'm running with a grey wall yellow accent sorta theme.  But if I know myself, I'm gonna change my mind a zillion times before an ounce of paint touches the wall.

Chime in if you have any other gender neutral color combos.  

The Galileo School

We have the awesome privilege of helping our friends set up a brand new school in Northern Uganda. This part of the world has been ravaged for years by a guerilla war group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army.  As a result, there is an extreme lack of basic infrastructure there.  Our friend’s, the Noels, have taken the call to help this region – starting with building a school near the village of Bul Kur (http://www.thegalileoschool.org).

Here's a little back story of the Galileo School.  This project has all come together in less than 12 months. Last summer the Noels went on a trip to N. Uganda to scout out the area for possible schools. During their time there they met a pastor who agreed to be the project manager and they found 150+ kids who needed a school. Then a villager donated the land for the new school.  Bada bing bada boom -- it was time to build a school.  The lesson is, when God says move, you better move because He has big things in store.

We will leave in mid-May and be gone for about 2 1/2 weeks. On our trip we are going to:

1.          Bring basic school supplies to the new school

2.          Provide basic medical supplies and health education to the local village

3.          Business & school consulting to promote self sustainability

4.          Scouting for future school locations, orphanage, etc.

Walls are up! Let's sing.

This will be the only brick building in the area.  Check out this article about the school here.

We desperately need your help for this trip. To be honest, The Galileo School won’t happen without you. Please join us on this endeavor in the following way(s):

·Please pray for the team, the school, and Uganda

·Donate to making this trip and school possible – our team must raise close to $30,000 dollars by April for school and medical supplies, plane tickets, etc. (all gifts are tax deductible - The Galileo School will send you a tax receipt): You can make payments online at http://www.thegalileoschool.org/giveonline.aspx as an Annual Fund donation.  Write “Nick and Jak” in the purchase description. 

We truly believe The Galileo School will have a huge, positive impact and change the trajectory of lives in Bul Kur, Uganda.  We’re blessed to be surrounded by such loving friends and family - thank you so much for your support!  And please pass this info along to anyone you think would want to help out this great school.

I never wanted to be a foster mom

We had dinner with some dear friends tonight. They also happen to be foster parents. Our conversation turned to the children in their home. Their two, sweet kids are in the process of transitioning back to their biological parent's house.  It was heart breaking to hear our friends relay their conversations with the oldest sibling. We listened as they talked about trying to explain to him that there will be a day soon when he and his sibling won't come back. They will go for a visit with their biological parent, except this time it will be different. They will stay there in their parent's house and will not come back to the foster home they've known for almost a year. That's a difficult concept for adults to grasp, let alone a small child.

I came home from dinner and all the fear that lies underneath started to bubble up. I do my best to keep it at bay most days, but tonight it got the best of me.  I don't want to have that conversation with a sweet child who has been through too much for their young age. I don't want to tell her/him that they aren't coming back to our house anymore.

Why are we doing this? Why are we knowingly walking into something so painful? When I was little, I had several ideas of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Never once did that list of ideas include being a foster mom.  Who in their right mind signs up for this? Gentle readers, tonight I am very melancholy and sad.  I kind of want to run away.  I tried to negotiate my way out of fostering. I suggested to Nick that we just skip this fostering thing and start a family the traditional way.
 He said we could have a baby, but that we still have to foster and then I'd be preggo with brand new foster kids in the home. That has "bad idea" written all over it.
Then I offered  a "let's quit our jobs and tour around the wold child-free" deal.
He wouldn't budge. He said we couldn't bail.

Then he reminded me what our foster friends said tonight.  Nick reminded me why we are doing this. It's not about us. We believe that this work impacts eternity.  We will grow to love these children and  want the best for them.  Despite the broken hearts, loss of sleep, and heart wrenching devastation, it's what we've been called to do. And as much as we will love them, there is a God in heaven who loves these little ones infinitely more and has a bigger plan for their lives.

But it still makes me sad and afraid.

Infant Consultations

Don't worry gentle readers, I haven't fallen off the map. I am alive!  I apologize for the lack of posting.  Mid-February is my busy season at work. I survived relatively unscathed and now I can focus on the blog again. Hip, hip, hooray!

This past weekend we had our first overnight baby guest in the home. As you know, we will be fostering ages 0-5 years. So there is a high probability that a tiny person will be placed with us. Thank goodness we have help. THE Mr. Seamus Hudson came to asses the milieu for baby friendliness. You may have heard of him. He is a renowned Infant Environment Consultant from the northwest. I pulled some strings and we were able to book him for the whole weekend.  (It also happens that he's my sweet 4 month old cousin)

He gave us some recommendations for improving our baby knowledge and the infant environment of our condo.  It was truly amazing to watch him work his magic. He's brilliant. Here are the key-learnings from his visit.

#1 Babies wanna be Bono. Always give baby appropriate sized eye wear.

#2 Babies wanna party. Always be prepared to dance battle... with babies. 

#3 Babies love leche, but not quatro leches cake. That's a no-no.

#4 Babies are popular and always run with a posse.

#5 Infants love an inside joke.  Tell them lots of secrets (then all will be revealed).

We also learned some new vocabulary.
Blarg - verb
1: to engage in regurgitating, spitting up.
example: "That leche was so hype, I had to blarg on the first mamasita I found!"
Moby - verb
1: to wear an infant as an accessory on the chest
example: "That shirt is great, but I think you are missing something.  I know. You need to moby. Yeah, that's the ticket."

Mr. Seamus brought along his super cool mom and dad.  They also gave us some great tips and tricks for nurturing brand new infants.  It was great fun hosting my family and I can't wait to see them again!