Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Getting Ready



Dear Junebug,

I am starting to feel like you will at Christmastime; when it's the 1st of December and you know Christmas is coming! (actually, it's an even bigger feeling than that!) We are signing paperwork at the end of this month to become your always forever and ever family! There aren't any words that seem as big as the joy I have about finally getting to know you will never ever leave, and I will be your forever and ever mama! After we sign the paperwork we will have to wait a couple months while lawyers get all their homework sorted out. Then, we will get to go to court where a judge can pronounce us mommy, daddy and daughter!

But back in our story we are very far from where we are now, so lets get back to remembering about two years back... 

I was very busy preparing a nursery. We didn't know if we would get a call for a boy, or a girl, a 2-day old, or a 2-year old. It was a little tough trying to figure out what gear we needed to have for any little person who came our way. A big part of our getting ready for you was having friends help us. Two of your aunts got together and threw dad and I a baby shower! We thought we could maybe end up with a little bit of an older kid than you, so we asked for things that a toddler might need. We still have some of those things in the garage waiting for you when you are ready for them. We felt so loved and supported by that "toddler" shower. It meant a lot that our friends were excited that we were expecting a kiddo! We even had another shower too, but that will happen a bit later in our story.

Watching the nursery come together was a great way to remind me that we really were going to be parents. Sometimes if felt like we were just pretending. But, at those times, I would open the door to your room and think..."oh my goodness, we are actually doing this!"

I picked up a rocking chair at a garage sale and sewed new covers for it, then painted the chair teal. I refinished an old dresser and put it up on legs to use as your changing table. I tried to make everything colorful. I thought that if a little one came to our house, they might feel very sad and scared in a brand new place with strangers taking care of them. So I wanted their room to let them know they were safe and welcome, and that room was just for them. And, I was also just having a lot of fun decorating a new room!

Well, I'm glad I started that process of preparing the room early and had it mostly finished before we were "certified" (that just means we had done all our homework and the official people said we were ready to foster-parent a kiddo), because two weeks before we were supposed to be completely done with all our homework and stamped by all the official people as ready to take a baby in, we got a phone call that would turn our world upside-down...