Now the waiting game begins...

We finished class 10 on Tuesday night and our paperwork was officially submitted on Wednesday afternoon! We thought it would be about 2 weeks to get certified but now it is looking more like 4 weeks. Which gives us a little more time to prepare. The past five and a half weeks have been so hectic and the kids have been amazing through all of it. We are going to take this time to just relax and enjoy our time with the boys.

What is going to happen next?
This seems to be the most popular question lately. It will be one of two situations: 1st situation we will accept emergency removals which means will will know the basic information on a child (age, gender, race) and nothing more. We would probably be placed very quickly with a child, possibly the day we are certified. VERY fast process. The 2nd situation we will probably have to wait longer, but we would say we want a child whose rights are likely to be severed from their birth parents (they will likely be put up for adoption).  More information is known about the child since they may have been in the care of another foster family.

Both situations have their pros and cons so we are still deciding what is best for our family. We are also going to sign up for the adoption registry as another way of receiving a child. She will still come from Maricopa county however she may be in a foster family's home that is not with our agency.

If you have questions please don't hesitate to ask us. We are pretty open about our journey as you can see.

Just a quick little story about Calvin regarding is future sister.
For the past few years Bryon's squad has participated in Cops and Donut shops to raise money for Special Olympics. We went again this year to donate and hang out with Bryon for a little bit. Bryon was giving junior officer badge stickers to the kids as they showed up. Calvin saw the stickers on the table and took a couple. Not knowing what he was doing, I said you only need to take one for yourself. He quickly said this one is for Caden and this is for my sister. I pushed back the tears just thinking how proud he is of her already and he doesn't even know her. He has the biggest heart and I can't wait to see the bond he will have with his sister one day.

We will update you more when we get information. As for now we are slowly starting to decorate her room. We thank you for your continued prayers and well wishes.

Family Pictures

Family Pictures!!! This was the first time I don't think I was too stressed out for family pictures. The boys were easy selecting shorts and shirts and Bryon had everything already in his closet so that only left me running around trying to find a blue dress. I thought it would be so easy but it gave me a run for my money. 

Mary did our pictures and I love how they turned out. Little Caden wasn't big on smiling but that's okay. My parents set up the time to do pictures since Kevin was in town visiting from his recent deployment. We were going with a gray, blue, and green theme but blue turned out to be the favorite of all of us. Which is really close to black and that is our usually go to color when doing family photos.

Here are are few of my favorites:

Look at those cheeks!

Saying "Jenna" brought out the best smile

So proud of Uncle Kevin

Argh Calvin let go of me hand!