Month Nine

Look at these cute kids, they've been my little Olympic watching buddies the past few weeks:) I am happy to report that it has been another great month in our home. The more our little guy becomes responsive and playful the more fun these two have together. His laughter brings her laughter and that brings me laughter, it's a pretty awesome cycle! Just about every morning that we don't have to rush off someplace Ivy makes the baby a fort in his room with all the pillows and blankets that she can find. The smile he gives Ivy is really sweet, the moment he sees her it almost instantly appears. They have a special bond and I just love that. 

Naturally thinking about the future and what can happen in this process can bring much sadness... Everyone in our family has bonded with this sweet boy which is wonderful and I honestly couldn't have asked for it to be any other way. At the same time it will be very hard if he does leave our home. Jake and I are required to take some classes in order to keep up our foster license and this past month we took one that was on the subject of grief and loss. It was good to start to understand the process of grieving and for me to hear that you have to let yourself do it. It was good to hear that even though we know he can be taken away from us that doesn't make the grief less if it does happen. It can take a long time to go through the process of grief and losing a foster child can feel like losing a biological child. I want to prepare my heart for this possibility. I also want to be completely content right now in the joy that this little life has brought to our family. It's a hard balance and I don't always actually balance it well, but man I try:)

Speaking of grief, we found out last week that baby boy's trial to determine some big decision in his future was postponed again... Looks like things wont be happening until the middle/end of summer. This time I was prepared for another delay after talking to some other foster parents, unfortunately this is very common. It's sad how long so many kids have to wait to find out what their future holds. The good news is that it doesn't look like he will be leaving our care any time soon and for that we are grateful.

Love this time of year in AZ, and here is why! We went swimming last week and it made me excited for these little fish to spend the summer in the pool cause they sure had a blast.

Ivy sure is enjoying life:)

I'll leave you with these two images that make me very happy. The baby got his first Valentine (love my family!) and to the right is Ivy's most recent portrait of her sweet angel baby, ha!