First Concert and Social Workers and Adoption, Oh My!

I've been taking a few courses, so I haven't made many updates lately, but lots of stuff has been going on.

We got a new social worker. I was really happy about that since we have been waiting for a whole year. Unfortunately, she informed me today that she's leaving and we'll be getting a new person to start all over with. To her credit, she was really productive in the short time we worked with her (about a month) and I appreciate that. What can you do?

I had a lovely Mother's Day. Most of it was spent spoiling myself downtown. I bought some new clothes for myself, something I do maybe once or twice a year.
I took this picture with my Little Man:

School is almost over and they held their spring concert. It was the first time The Little Man was up on stage. He performed "Head and Shoulders" with his group and another song with tapping sticks.
Sorry for the blur, but it was dark and I zoomed in so as not to get other kids in the picture (since I didn't ask permission).

The concert was really well organized. They grouped the students by ability, not by age (which is pretty arbitrary when you think about it). I'm really pleased with the school and how far he's come in the last year. 

My last bit of good news will make those who have been trying to follow our fostering/adoption journey happy. For those who don't know, we initially wanted to adopt from Barbados, but found we were restricted here (there's no inter-government agreement currently), so we looked to other countries, but that's a lot of time and money. So we put that on hold and decided to look at the fostering-to-adopt system here. Well, we put ourselves on the "banque mixte" list here and expected to never hear back. We attended the two info sessions on fostering and decided not to proceed with that at the time - we just felt we had two much going on with the Little Man to invest in that.

Not long ago, we agreed we would start the process for international adoption next year. I picked out a few countries I thought we qualified for and filed that in the back of my mind.

Then today I got a call from the banque mixte program, asking if we were still interested and would we come in for an interview. Woohoo! We were on that list for three years and I figured I'd never hear anything. However, because we're a multiracial couple, it works in our favor because they try to match the children up as best as possible. So nothing is set in stone and even if we pass all the home studies and such, there could still be a long wait, but I feel like we are one step closer. Our next child is out there! Hang tight! 

Fostering Family Planning

When I was around five, my mom, sister and I were having a conversation about growing up. I think my sister said she was going to be a lawyer and never get married or have kids (she never changed her mind about the last two, but she changed her mind about being a lawyer).

I said I was going to marry, "a white man with a moustache and have 10 kids!" My mom laughed and told me I didn't have to do any of that, but I assured her I would.

I did marry a white man who had a moustache at the time. I'm still working on the 10 kids part.

If you read our About Us page, you'll know I have a 75% miscarriage rate, so getting and staying pregnant is not easy for me.

Us in Vegas after our vow renewal ceremony. I was in the process of miscarrying our second baby.

So we've had three angel babies, the Little Man was my fourth pregnancy and I recently signed up to be a foster parent with Plan Canada. I received the picture of a little boy in El Salvador named Anderson. I hope to foster him til he's 18 and visit him one day, so I consider him my 5th child.

So where are the other five going to come from? LOL

Ok, I don't necessarily need five more kids, but I still think there's room in my heart.

We still ain't no Duggar family!

Sometime last year,  we attended fostering info sessions. I started filling out the long application after that. Hubby was not so enthused, and I didn't want to rush into anything. Then he came around and starting filling out his part and now I'm not so sure. Mostly because we're still trying to establish therapy for the Little Man. We're not even sure where we're going to live next year! I've been at my company only five months now and we may move closer to our workplaces and a special school for the Little Man. I feel like there are a lot of unknowns. While I know nothing is ever guaranteed and there's no perfect time to have a kid, there are probably some times that are still a little better than others.

If I didn't often feel so overwhelmed with the uncertainty and preoccupied arranging therapies/visits/follow up phone calls, it would make it easier to add another child to the mix. But I think I'm taxed out right now. There's not a day that goes by I'm not getting on someone's case about my son's file (you have to be or you'll never hear back!) or filling out an application or talking to insurance - it's just too much. I can't imagine doing that with TWO!

But there is still love to give and I really want the Little Man to have a sibling, so it will happen one day and maybe not in the way I expect. You just never know.