Family update...

Just a little update on our family. We had our first home study this past Tuesday. Rich and I fell in love with the social worker, as he sat at our kitchen table and was able to guide us through the foster care process, answer our questions honestly and candidly and comfort us in whatever fears (logical or illogical) we may have had. He, himself, is a father of 7 boys...that's right...7 boys...and a single father at that! As far as the home study goes, the only necessary thing we need to do is put a key lock on our bedroom closet door so that we can put cleaning supplies, medicines, vitamins, etc. in a key-locked space.

Here is a timeline for how things are expected to go:

February 2nd - Go to Sac. and have our Livescans (fingerprinting/background checks) done

February 6th - Orientation/Certification class

February 21st - First Aid/CPR class

We will hopefully be able to start having children placed in our home in March! That's just a month away! Please be praying for us!

We have also decided to make some adjustments on our application. We originally put down that we would prefer to have a child aged 0-5, however, after much discussion between Rich and I, we decided that maybe it would be in our family's best interest to go with an older child, pre-school age or older. There were many deciding factors in this decision, but the more we talked about getting a younger child, the more both of us felt as though we were heading in the wrong direction. I could almost hear God saying, "You're making a mistake...this isn't where I need you." Therefore, we will hopefully be taking in children probably between the ages of 2 1/2 - 10, however we will take each placement call with an open mind.

Well, that's about all the update for now! We hope all of you are doing well! I hear a little man in his crib yelling, "Moooommmmyyy!", so I should end this :)

Zack and Cal...

My brother Clint and Tara were moving yesterday, so I kept my nephew Cal with me so they didn't have to worry about him. Their new house is SO beautiful! Rich and I had to drop off Cal at the new house in the evening, so we picked up pizzas and invited ourselves over for dinner :) They are going to LOVE the new place! I'm so excited that they are living closer now! Here's a video of Zack and Cal playing at our house yesterday...it looked like a tornado had gone through the living room/kitchen by the time they were done - - they sure have a lot of fun together. I really look forward to being able to spend more time with Cal now that they've moved.

Random pics...

Here are some "catch up" pictures I took yesterday.

Yesterday, we had Logan come stay with us for about an hour. The boys play so well together!

Both boys, 16 months.

The only time the house is quiet. :)

So, yesterday, I was paying bills at the kitchen table and left the room to grab an envelope. When I returned to the kitchen, I found Zack sitting in my chair (which I didn't know he could climb), holding my checkbook with pen in-hand and pretending to write on the checkbook.

I said, "What are you doooing, Zacky? Are you paying Mama's bills?" He quickly threw the checkbook back onto the table and said, "MEEEEE!?!?!" Uh, yes YOOOOUUUU! :)

Zack and his sidekick, Bailey.

"I said, 'roll over', Bailey!"

He's getting so much taller and can now reach so many things he shouldn't have. Case and point...this was when I was trying to make my breakfast yesterday morning. He was bound and determined to grab the raspberries off of the counter - - that would have been a disaster!

Dillon Beach...

I had been trying to think of somewhere special to take Rich and Zack for Rich's three-day weekend. I decided to take them to Dillon Beach since neither have been. We stopped in Petaluma and had lunch at the Irish pub, then headed over to the beach. We stopped at Dinucci's for a wonderful dinner as well. The weather was gorgeous! It was in the mid-60's on the beach...in JANUARY! Can't beat that!

The view from Elephant Rock