As many of you know last week I had my reconstruction on my ACL and Meniscus. Two days before surgery our SW called and asked if we could give her time this week for her to come over and conduct our 2 hour interviews. These are done individually. I said sure but also reminded her that I would be just a week shy of post op. Which she was fine with. Wednesday came quickly. Being laid up on the couch makes it hard to sweep the floor and make sure things look ok for our SW to come. Luckily, my mom was planning on coming over to help me some things My friend flew in Wednesday night from Texas to hang out with me which was pre planned before our call so Thursday she was able to take me out of the house while Rob had his interview. Rob had his 2 hour interview and called me after. He reminded me that our house needed to have its fire inspection. So I quickly called the fire station thinking okay I am off work for awhile I can just schedule something. The fire chief was very eager to come over that day. I told him great. He came over we passed our inspection. Rob never once told me what was said at the interview. Trust me I asked. I wanted to know everything that way I wasn’t in the dark. Not a peep. He just said be prepared for her to dig into your life. Friday came it was my turn. It did get emotional we talked about my life growing up all the way to my relationship with Rob. Honestly it wasn’t as bad as I imagine. Yes, we did get into details about past relationships and losing people you love. But I felt like I was just talking to my best friend. Our SW asked about why we wanted to be foster parents and how we knew this was for us. I told her about my cousins who use to foster and me sitting at their house rocking baby girl Kate and looking down at this precious baby and trying to wrap my mind around how someone wouldn’t want to do everything in their power to protect her and want her in their lives. I was in my twenties at this time. But I knew I wanted to make sure that no child I met wouldn’t have all the love. Our SW just welled up with tears. I told her this might bring chaos into our lives but we are ready. We are wanting to show the love we have for each other and God to a little. Someone who needs it. After we were down she did tell us we have a couple more paper work and 2 more home visits. Let me tell you this is moving so fast. We can’t wait to welcome a little into the Stone family. Until next time. Xoxo, The Stones

When we were told our application was sent I thought okay it’s coming by email. So we constantly both checked our email and nothing. I reached out to the agency and asked she said “ oh I probably should’ve told you it comes by mail” okay well we watched and waited. Once we got the application itself I decided to make copies and fill in the copy first before filling in the actual application. We checked it over I swear a million times prayed over it before I placed the stamp and sent it back. We waited over 3 weeks before hearing something from the agency and once we did it was instant that our first home visit would be that week. We didn’t know what to expect when getting ready. We just knew that the house needed to be cleaned as if the Queen was coming. My anxiety was running crazy. So many thoughts. Poor Aurora thought both of us were nuts running around the house also making her wear a cute bandanna. Don’t think she knew what to expect. But we didn’t either. Once our caseworker (CW) showed up I was overwhelmed. She had a folder full of things for us to go over. Which papers she needed, these blue papers needed this info, you need to get a TB test and make sure you have all your shots up to date. I think my eyes grew so big with all of this info. After she finally got done discussing the paperwork she asked for a tour of our house. Right than I felt more comfortable this was my area of expertise. Showing off my home! Selling it to be the best home for any little one that they give to us to care for. She was blown away on how nice our home was and how prepared we were already. We sat back down and discussed the fact that we will need to make sure we have a weeks worth of items for our child before we can be licensed. Again think my brain started to race. We have a wide range of age 0-5 years old. How are we going to get enough stuff for that age group for both boys and girls. Rob wasn’t even sweating any of this he just took it all in. I was low key freaking. We started working on our paperwork. Both of us have to have a physical as well as our TB test. I remember when I was younger and my mom getting TB test because she is a nurse and they inject something and bubbles. But nope mine was blood. They took 4 tubes for one test. I laughed with the doctor when I saw him. He said just remember you are doing this for a good cause. He is right. All of this worrying that I am doing and over thinking different paperwork. It will be worth it. God has a plan for us no matter how much paperwork or how much blood I have to give. These littles have gone through so much and they just started living their lives. So back to my paperwork and getting things ready for the next visit. We don’t know when that is yet but we will need to be prepared. Xoxo, The Stones