First Foster Care Class

We survived! Our first foster care class was a raging success if I do say so myself. Here are the players:

N - instructor. Awesome! Love her! She shares great stories and really wants us to be prepared. I trust her, and know she has our best interests at heart.

S & L - S is the husband, L is the wife. They are older than us, have grown children and grandchildren. DH noticed her snorting laugh. I noticed that she was a Know-It-All. They currently have a kinship placement of a 2-year-old who they have fostered since April, and have decided they want to know more about being foster parents, and get a foster care worker since they're acting as foster parents for family. S is quiet. L shares a lot. I like them both.

D & A - D is the guy, A is the girl. They are not married. He has disgusting black gums. She has piercings that mysteriously disappear into her skin with various facial expressions and then pop back out. Some of her hair is pink. They are younger than us, and do not have any children in their home. I haven't figured out yet why they are interested in fostering, but hope to get to know them better about how they got here. A doesn't like to talk. D doesn't seem to know much, and asks a lot of basic questions. Its slightly irritating, because I wonder how he got here, but I also learn a lot from the answers because N adds a lot of stories to her responses.

I felt very comfortable with everyone, probably because I was in my own home, and they didn't intimidate me. A was a little standoffish when we talked about the foster care topics, but made conversation quite easily. I told DH that we were the coolest in the class, but there wasn't much competition. He replied, "There never is." I guess we're kind of full of ourselves when it comes to the 'cool' meter.

After class, I worked on some of the profiles we have to complete about our childhoods, and our current home life. It's a lot to remember - like how were you disciplined from ages 0-6, or how did your family express frustration? That made me realize how much my upbringing has impacted how I react and respond today. In my family, we talked about everything ad nauseam. My answers for almost every emotion included 'discussion.' We talked about everything we were feeling. Just a little awakening about that for me.

The nursery bedding arrived today, and despite how cute the picture was. Sigh. Alas, it is crappy in person. So, I will be returning that this weekend, and the search begins again for the perfect unisex bedding set.

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Still awaiting AF. Cramping is intermittent. More of a nuisance than anything. Anxious for B/W and U/S on Friday. I need to review my protocol and be sure to make a list of all my questions tonight, so I don't forget anything.

We pay our deposit tomorrow. Yes, I put it off charging those thousands to my credit card until the absolute last minute, because I don't want to have to pay interest and it always seems to take at least one month to get all the paperwork so we still end up paying one month of interest.

I also got a picture of DH and me printed that I need to pick up at Walgreen's so I can trade M for the horrible mutant photo of me they have in my file!