Certified....

Another task completed! We are now certified in infant, child & adult CPR and First Aid. Michael & I attended our training last night, along with other people working with our agency. It was good to get yet another thing marked off the list. Ahhhh....but not so fast! Just as sure as we are to have almost everything completed, but what do our wondering eyes see.....another stack of papers?! Yes, Dennis, being the wonderful man that he is, gave us another package of documentation that we have to complete. He handed a stack to Michael and Michael thought that he would take one piece and pass it around (you know, like how we would do in school)....but no....that whole stack was just for us! I've never seen so much paperwork before. I haven't counted it but I think it's got to be at least 30 more pages to fill out. This is some of the trickier things, like our disciplinary action plan. How do we plan to discipline our children? What actions do we plan on taking? How will we follow through? etc.... We have to put all of that in writing and in detail. We have to complete a whole series of questions on our marriage, our families, our home, our work ~ basically every aspect of our life...that wasn't necessarily covered in detail in the biographies we wrote. Then we have a behavior policy we have to create, an evacuation plan and map for emergencies has to be made, who we plan to involve in our children's lives (like family members, babysitters, child care providers) on a regular or irregular basis......just to name a few of the things, without looking at the paperwork.

A bit overwhelming but I'm sure we can do it. It's just difficult to put into words how you would do something, or carry out your disciplinary actions, what rules we will have for our household, the responses when they aren't carried out, etc.... They definitely want to get into our minds and see what we're thinking, but I think it's a positive thing.

We also found out last night that we are signed up for the Advanced "quick-start" PRIDE training (our 30 hours required by the state of Texas). Most couples have to do this over a period of 8 - 12 weeks, but our case worker felt very strongly that he wanted us to be in the Advanced class. So, we are signed up for 3 ten hour Saturday classes in May. We were shocked to find out that we'll be finished with all of our training in less than a month! WOW! Once our training is completed, we will be assigned another case worker who will work with us on our actual home study and help us with yet another stack of paperwork. Now I think I know why God gave me the gift of organization and the patience for paperwork!

On a side note, life has been rather crazy for us. Michael's dad gave us a scare last week, when he had a heart attack. Thankfully, he did not have to any extensive surgery (like bypass) done, and they were able to repair the damage with angioplasty and a stint. It was so hard to be so far away during the crisis (as they live in CA) but we are so thankful for his quick recovery and that he is back home.

Last Friday, I had to have a last minute outpatient surgery done and what was supposed to be "simple/easy" did not turn out to be the case with me! I always seem to fall into the "2% of the people get...." I have always been a very slow healer and have difficulty with anesthesia. I was laid up in bed until Tuesday evening. I finally returned to work yesterday, in pain, but have been able to make it through the last 2 days at work. Michael did a very good job of taking care of me, the dog and the house, while I was in bed. I should have my test and biopsy results in 2 weeks and hopefully nothing serious will come of the result. But as in all things, God is a big God and is in control and we are so thankful for the ways that He continues to watch over us, take care of us, meet our needs and walk with us on this journey.

We both appreciate your prayers and support through all that we've been going through! Love you all ~