The past year has brought so many changes it could make one's head spin. Good thing I'm used to a chaotic life, and I learned to roll with the punches a long time ago.
In the past year, my husband has achieved his career goals of making it into the Warrant Officer corps in the Army. Life has gotten a whole lot less stressful for him, and by osmosis, for me. We had the initial six weeks of separation while he was in candidate school, and another 10 weeks for WOBC (Warrant Officer Basic Course for those that don't know the lingo). In between those classes, we had a long holiday visit from my in-laws, my daughter and her boyfriend moved into their own place, and we moved into on-post housing. All during a thirty day period. During that time, I sprained my right knee, and during the solitary move, dropped a table on my big toe on the left, effectively hobbling me for a good long while.
Before all of these lovely events though, Gerry and I talked about adoption. While researching the cost of adoption, and realizing we'd have to sell some major assets (like a car) to come even close to amassing what we'd need, we stumbled upon an alternative. We decided to apply for a foster care license.
Some of my family thinks I'm insane, and some of my family thinks I'm a super-hero. Gerry's family is over the moon with joy at the prospect of little grandchildren. Even though Gerry is "step dad" to my kids, they were already almost grown by the time we got together, so he was never really a father figure; more of a friend, and the guy that makes their mom happy. They have a hard time thinking of him as a step dad, much less his parents as grandparents.
But I digress. We waited until all of the Warrant Officer schooling was done before getting down to the foster care license process. We attended an orientation before he left for the first phase of school, and everything was put on hold until after the second phase. The ball is rolling now though, and we are both nervous and excited and a little bit terrified. Having children will change our relationship in ways neither of us can anticipate. My first marriage crumbled, in part due to the nature of working opposite shifts to minimize the amount of time my kids spent in day care. This time around, I don't have to work to stay afloat financially, and for the first time in my life, I can actually be a stay-at-home mom.
The paperwork, and legwork, involved in the licensing process borders on the obscene (although it's still nothing compared to a military security clearance form - hello twenty or more pages). There are twenty seven hours of required pre-licensing classes, a CPR/first aid course along with the blood-borne pathogen class, background check forms, fingerprinting, immunizations, a complete physical, and an astounding number of safety items to buy for the home. I didn't know there was such a thing as a portable fire escape ladder until we started this process. I'd guess, as of today, we're about half way through the process. We still have to have interviews with the licensor - both separately and together (not unlike the immigration interviews, now that I think of it).
We have a big empty house, and lots of love to give. Whether we end up fostering dozens of kids but adopting none, or get to adopt the first child we get, life won't be the same for us. And damn if I'm not looking forward to it.
