fostering/adoption - Livin the dream!

A little over two months ago our family went from a family of two to a family of three, and as of September 18th we are now a family of four! All I can say is that escalated real fast! :)  Things have been wonderful in the life of the Drury home, our almost two year old is keeping us on our toes and now with a new born, our life is more exciting then ever, and who doesn't want more excitement in their life???
I wanted to share how we got our newborn, we just got back from camping at the beach for our annual beach trip with the family at Carpinteria. As always it was a lot of fun but this time it was more memorable because we had our little guy with us and it was fun to experience all new things with him. We let our agency know that we will start taking phone calls starting the 9th of September for another placement. My husband went to work that morning and around 9 in the morning, I received our first phone call for a placement, they said it was for a 2 year old boy! I said yes, and as soon as I hung up the phone I was thinking, uhh why did I say yes too??? Can I handle another two year old! Well it was too late I said yes. To help you understand how the system works, when CPS takes a child away from a family they send out an email to all the agencies in the state saying we have a child that needs a placement and in return all the agencies call all the families that have a vacancy in the home and if the child's profile meets the families request. When an agency gets a yes from a family, in return they email CPS to let them know the family and their contact number. During that time when agencies are finding families for the placement, CPS is still finding a biological family to take the child, CPS always want to keep the child with families but they have to pass background check before they can take the child. It turned out we didn't get the child, it either went to another foster family that might have been closer or they found a biological family that will take the child. Well within the next ten days I received ten phone calls needing a home for a child. 8 of them were newborns and two of them were a nine months old child and the other one was a two year old. All coming from different situations, most them meths expose and other substance abuse and others physical abuse. During the ten days I was getting frustrated, I was getting a complex of are we not good enough for a child to come into our home. Well that is not the case, and I know that, but one can feel rejected especially when they don't give you a child and you are wanting to open your home to another one. It finally happen! The tenth phone call they said they have a newborn! I said yes, I drove down to the hospital to pick up the little guy. I was excited and nervous all at the same time. Wondering if I can handle a newborn and a two year old at the same time. I was already there, no turning back, I get their to the hospital meeting with the CPS worker, in return having to go right back home because the child heart was racing that night, and they needed to keep watch for 24hrs. CPS said come back tomorrow. That night I didn't get much sleep, I was nervous, thinking of all the things that will be different, how our little guy will react to not receiving all my time and other life changes. The next day I drove down to hospital to pick up our little guy. I walk into the room and there was two babies but I only saw one and it was a preemie, I really panic! I thought, I can't handle a preemie, I'm not ready for that! My heart and my mind was racing and was wondering where is Tom!!! I need his help! Well they pointed to my foster kiddo and he was in a perfect state, sleeping a good size, it was love at first sight. Everything was a peace and I had a overwhelming calming feeling of you can do this. As I was filling out paper work the nurse was not so nice, she looked at me like you can't be a foster mom, she said your the foster mom??? I said yes and she said have you ever had a newborn???? I was taken back for a second, and I know others might think I'm a bad person for doing this but this lady had an attitude and she didn't have much confidence in me, in return I said yes! And she said did you even bring a car seat? I was like yes it right behind the stroller where I had my little guy in. Well we quickly got out of there before she started asking more question and I started to  doubt myself. And the rest was history!
Doing fostering has been an interesting experience for Tom and I so far, when they say you have no privacy they really mean you have no privacy. Someone is always at your house visiting, checking up on you, calling you, asking you for more paper work regarding your life, making sure the child you are caring for is in good condition and so on. If I'm not on the phone with CPS or my agency I'm on the computer scanning and emailing or taking one of the kiddos to a Biological visit, so  they can see their parents. Even with all this extra work, on top of taking care of their physical and emotional needs I wouldn't trade this "job" of being a Mom for anything. I have never been so happy, I love all the up and downs, the lack of sleep, the frustration, and the busyness I have with my foster kiddos. All the waiting I have to do, it is all worth it, because I know that there is a certain child that is suppose to come in our home at one point or another. And one day there will be a child that Tom and I will get to keep forever! But for now our arms, hearts and our home are open to any child that comes into our lives and we can not wait to meet them!