Expecting Sisters

We learned this week that two sisters are going to come stay with us for our first long-term placement.  They are being transferred from another foster mom, so we got advanced notice and can make some preparations. I'm so thankful for that!  They should arrive on Thursday, July 12th.  I'm not supposed to share names or pictures over the internet, but I'll share what I can.  I can tell you that they are 3 years old and under one.  We're looking forward to meeting them soon and welcoming them into our home.

Adam and his mom are throwing me a "Foster Baby Shower" this weekend.  I'm really excited to have some of our family and friends come together to help prepare us for parenthood.  I'll post some pictures of the shower next week.

Nieces are the best!

My newest niece is Claire and she was born April 25, 2012.  We met her for the first time on May 26th.  She was already a month old, but as cute as can be.

Isn't her outfit adorable?!

Here we are in our matching orange.  Her daddy's a gator and her mommy's a seminole.  I'm trying to turn her to the gator side early! :)

Adam holding his littlest niece.

Over Father's Day weekend, we went to Orlando to visit family (it was also my Dad's birthday - Happy late Birthday, Dad!).  We got to visit with my other nieces, Laura and Emily.

Here I am with Emily, who is 10 months old.

My three nieces posing together.  So cute!  

Thank you to Sarah & Philip for making me an Aunt. :)

Our First Placement

We were approved for our Foster Care License on Tuesday, June 19th!  Our first placement was for respite care.  Respite care is when a licensed foster parent watches the foster children of another foster parent for an extended period of time.  In our case, we watched a four year old girl and two year old boy over the weekend, so the foster parents could go out of town.

It went great, but was definitely a lot of work.  I'm beginning to really understand the term "strong willed child".  It was a learning process, but in the end the kids had fun and were clean & fed when they went home Sunday afternoon.  We even took them to church and they did well in their Sunday School classes.  We're still waiting for a call to receive our first long term placement.  It could be today or a month from now.  Let the adventure begin!

Zoo on Mother's Day

I know this is way late, but the pictures are so cute!  The Jacksonville Zoo has a deal that mothers get in free on Mother's Day. Sarah has brought my nieces up a couple times to visit and go to the zoo with us. We thought this was another great opportunity, so the Westover's came up on Mother's Day weekend. It was a first for Jeff to see our zoo.  We had a fun time on Saturday - feeding the turtles at the park and playing on the swings.

Emily's having a fun time. 

 Laura flying on the swing.

 Somehow, Adam and I volunteered to watch our friend's four children for the night as well. Their plans fell through at the last minute and we were happy to watch their kids. So, my nieces got some extra playmates that evening. They all had a great time.

 Here they are having a sleepover in the office while Sarah reads a bedtime story. 

 On Mother's Day we headed to the zoo after church. We saw lots of animals and finally got to ride the train! Unfortunately, Emily was starting to get sick and wasn't feeling too good. But, Laura had a good time, thanks for coming up to visit!

The Westover's and elephants.

Adam and the giraffes.

Laura  hanging around.

Emily taking a nap.

Laura was excited to FINALLY ride the train!

Emily riding the bear - this one's for you, Majo.

Laura taming the Leopard.

Fireplace Mantle

I told Adam I wanted two big house projects completed this year. One of them was the fireplace Mantle. We were in a hurry to move in and a mantle certainly isn't necessary. So, we've done without for the last 20 months. But, that has all changed.

Before.

 We've been checking out mantles for the last several months, trying to determine our style. Thankfully, we have very similar taste and were able to decide easily. Adam drew a detailed plan, complete with sections and dimensions. He bought the trim and set to work drawing the layout on the wall. It turned out beautiful!

Adam started by screwing 2x4s to the wall and then painted and mounted plywood over that.  This sets the whole mantle off the wall a couple inches.  Then, we ripped down some 1x4s to create the outer panels.

We installed the outer panels to create a grid and then began installing some picture frame molding inside each box.

Here's a close up of the picture frame molding inside the right box. 

We painted everything white; the raw wood was primed with oil based paint.  The mantle top wraps around the wall.  Here, Adam is screwing the top shelf into the ledger boards.

Here is the completed trim.  We have crown molding directly below the mantle shelf and then a row of picture frame molding below that.  These both wrap the sides.  We also put half-round on the edge of the shelf to hide the edge.  This picture was taken after we caulked everything, but before the final paint.  You can still see some wood putty.

Here is the finished product!  Like our mantle decorations?

And here's a sneak preview to our next project . . . we just need the wall-mount to arrive and the new TV will go above the fire place.  Adam has already been working to create a wire chase inside the walls.  But, that's another post.

Quilts

I first learned to sew quilts the summer of 2001. I visited my aunt and cousin in Texas and was looking for something to do. So, they set me up with some scrap material and taught me the basics. It was an instant fit. I ended up making a small quilt during my visit and my mom bought me a sewing machine when we got home. I've made several quilts since and have branched out to try all sorts of patterns. It's a really fun hobby and something I find relaxing (most of the time).

I wanted to make something special for my first niece. So, for Christmas 2010, I found my sister's old doll bed in my parent's attic. I fixed it up and made a pillow and tiny quilt for it. I had so much fun, that I made Laura a matching quilted blanket.

 The pattern reminds me of a magic carpet. She sleeps with it every night, which is so special to me.

 When niece #2 was born in August 2011, I had to make her her very own blanket too. I went with colors from her nursery and this was created in my newly organized "middle bedroom" craft room.

 I think this pattern is called waterfall. It's super easy and fun to make.

Holding Emily the day she was born.

 When Philip and Amanda were expecting their first baby (brother and sister in law), I knew I had to make her a quilt too. This was niece #3 and Amanda even let me use some of the fabric she had picked out for the nursery.

 Here's the finished product, I think it turned out great. 

 And this one is two-sided.

 I hope to make even more quilts in my new Office/Craft Room.

Foster Care Update

We passed our final inspection Monday night with flying colors.  We filled out the little remaining paperwork and the lady putting together our profile has been working ahead of schedule.  Instead of it taking four weeks . . . it may be only two!  That means we could have our licence the week after next!

Another exciting thing is we learned of a potential placement of two siblings that need to change foster homes (the foster parents are retiring).  So, we're looking into that more to see if it's a good fit for us.  This is all becoming more real.

I need to post some updated pictures from the kid's room.  I painted some cute animals to hang on the walls and we have a crib set up.  We even have more books on our shelf. :)  Another huge THANK YOU to everyone that has so generously given us/let us borrow their baby gear!!