Hurry Up and Wait!: a Written Update from S + A

January 19, 2017, will forever be a day of great importance to this growing family!  I was in Las Vegas, visiting my family, while A stayed behind with the pups to tend the home fires.  As we were leaving Babystacks (a bomb Filipino breakfast/lunch joint in Vegas--you should visit), I received a phone call from our social worker, and assumed it had to do with missing paperwork or additional steps to licensure.  Was I ever wrong!  While my niece howled in the background (she really, really hates car rides), our social worker informed me that she had found a potential match for our family: two young boys, ages 3 and 4, who lived a few towns away from us.  I was in complete shock.  Literally, time stood still.  Barely able to stumble over my words, I asked her how many other families were being considered (zero!), and what the next steps would be.  I gave her a verbal "yes!" for me, hung up, and immediately called A at work to tell her the news.  After a very brief, dazed conversation with her, A gave me, and eventually our social worker, a verbal "yes!" as well, and so began the matching process.

Many steps go into the matching process, as we are learning, and because we are working with a private agency, it seems that pinning down dates that work for us, our agency, and DCF is that much more arduous.  We're asked to be swift in our responses, only to wait interminably on counter responses from other parties.  It's challenging, but is it worth the chance to parent two awesome kiddos?  Absolutely.

Our social worker has already met with DCF to present a case for us as potential parents, and thankfully, we've been given the green light!  Next steps include waiting for a disclosure meeting, where A and I meet with our social worker and folks from DCF to speak directly about everything and anything having to do with the kiddos, including medical history, behavioral health, habits, likes and dislikes, and a transition to permanency plan.  It's been a week of waiting already, so hopefully, we'll get a time scheduled for this meeting very soon!  After the disclosure meeting, and assuming our fingerprints and background checks have (finally) cleared, we'll be able to meet the boys.  We know it's going to be the best day EVER.

Final thoughts: GIGANTIC thank you to my Vegas-based family, who, within a literal moment's notice, compiled two large suitcases of clothes and toys for the boys, as seen below.  We may live on opposite ends of the continent, but we know we can count on you for never-ending love and support (and supplies!).  Mahalo, Ouano ohana! <3