We Got THE Call

I hope you all will forgive that this post has been in draft all week…the good news is that you get more info since it has taken five days to get up.

This past Monday, October 19 at 3:30pm we got THE call…a newborn baby boy (straight from the hospital) who needs a foster home.  Based on the limited, but very positive information given, we said yes…and spent 24 hours doing the mad dash to prepare.  After all these months of preparation, we realized how unprepared we were. (The hazards of preparing for age 0-6. It makes it hard to know what to prepare for!)

So Tuesday was spent cleaning and shopping – diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, etc. And at 5 o’clock, there he was on our door step.

After an hours worth of paperwork, the CPS lady and our Catholic Charities worker left.  And there we were…with our baby.  Honestly, it is really strange for someone to drop by your house, stay for an hour, and leave a baby behind!

Since Tuesday evening, we’ve grown comfortable with our little man; and he seems to be taking to us quite well too.  He eats really well (and fast), sleeps like a champ (especially when swaddled), and well what goes in, comes out in due course.

Yesterday, we braved the germ factory/pediatrician waiting room (for hours) to have his first check up, which he passed with flying colors. And we had our first bath (I was as wet as he was) and he had his nails trimmed (not as horrible as I was led to believe, and less intimidating to me than me “chewing them off” which was one recommendation).  He is a very happy baby and we are very happy people, who are learning to be parents.

Since I know you all are wondering, we are not sure of the forever potential. After some initial really positive signs, newer information has contradicted what we thought we knew. This is not uncommon. So we are really where we have been “planning” for all along, we just don’t know.  And we won’t, most likely, for months, maybe longer. What we do know is that we have a beautiful, healthy, happy baby boy and our job, and our joy, is to love him and care for him to the very best of our ability.

I think my friend Meg summed up our feeling really well…we just pray that the Lord’s plan for this relationship comes forth on earth as it is in heaven – nothing more, but nothing less than the Lord intends. And we’re trying to be cool with that, and that alone.  Whether we have weeks or years we’re going to love little J. just as much as we possibly can.

One last comment, just to help set expectations…because our boy is a foster baby, we are going to be very cautious about putting his name and photos out in the public domain – so no blog pictures or Facebook for now.  And I won’t be using his name either (so if you know it, please work with me here).  There may also be things you’d like to know, that we can’t discuss. All questions are welcome but if we can’t say, we hope you’ll understand.  So thanks in advance for bearing with us as we protect and nurture our little bundle of joy!