Foster2Forever

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UPDATE ON LIL BIT (Part 4) – Another Hospital Visit

Thanks to an obstinate dairyman, I had a meeting scheduled out-of-town at 4 pm on Good Friday. Making lemonade out of lemons, my family traveled out of town with me on our way up to the Metroplex to visit cousins during the Easter holiday weekend.

That night, Lil Bit began coughing a horrible cough throughout the night. I called the local hospital to see if he could get RSV again (he was hospitalized with it for 4 days in February). “Yes!” was the reply. At 4 o’clock in the morning I dressed and headed to the small-town ER with Lil Bit coughing the entire way.

My thoughts were racing – if Lil Bit needs to be hospitalized:

  • Can I take him to the hospital back home or would they want him to stay here?
  • Would he have to ride in an ambulance as Stinkpot did last time he was hospitalized?
  • How long would we have to stay in this small-town hospital?
  • Would he need to spend another 4 days in the hospital like the last time he had RSV?

I arrived at the ER and the doctors were quick to examine him. The doctor’s thought was that with his throat being so red that he may have strep throat. The nurses came in and tested him for strep & RSV.
The tests results came back quickly: No strep, no RSV, just a common cold. YEAH! We can leave!
When I got back to the hotel, everyone was up & ready for breakfast. Ready for an Easter egg hunt!
A funny thing did happen in this small-town hotel though. I thought it only happened in the movies, but….
the elevator broke down with my kids inside!!!
After that fiasco, we finally were able to head to my sister’s house & the cousins had such a good time together on their Easter egg hunt. They were so proud of their findings!!


Have a great week with your family!
Hugs to y’all!

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UPDATE ON LIL BIT (Part 3) – ANOTHER DAY IN COURT

This morning we went to court again for a placement hearing on our 6-month-old foster baby that we have nicknamed Lil Bit.

Our day in court began at 9am; however, with a full docket, our case was, of course, heard LAST after the 5 other cases (one was from 2001)!

Tic tock, tic tock…
More attorney fees.
In fact, we actually had TWO attorneys representing us in court today!

When our case finally was called, it was after 11am.
TWO hours of attorney fees to listen to other cases!

First, the mother’s attorney called up the foster dad that has 5 of the mother’s other children. (The mother wants Lil Bit with her other children.)

The baby’s ad litem attorney jumped up adamantly objecting.
“He has no standing!”
“No relevance now!”
“He hasn’t even met the child!”

The judge said he would briefly allow this testimony. This testimony was mainly regarding how he currently cares for the mother’s other children.

Then the cross-fire, I mean, cross-examination from the baby’s ad litem attorney shot out. She asked some very tough questions.

“If the other children are failing in school, how can you care for another child?” He wasn’t able to answer the question.

“The last home study completed when you adopted the mother’s last child stated that you were to not have any more children in your home, correct?”

The CPS caseworker was the next witness. The CPS attorney and the baby’s ad litem attorney focused on how Lil Bit should be with his great-aunt. Our attorneys focused questions so that she would say that Lil Bit would be safest with us.

Then the baby’s ad litem attorney called Lil Bit’s mother onto the stand. She began by asking detailed questions about her relationship with the father, where she conceived the baby, when the father moved to Mexico, when she moved to Mexico, when and where she gave birth to Lil Bit.

(Later, our attorney told us that those questions were to confirm that the U.S. and Texas have jurisdiction over Lil Bit’s case and not Mexico where he was born.)

Then I was called to testify on the stand. I was so nervous, nearly to tears. So much on the line here. Our attorney asked me questions to reiterate to the court that Lil Bit would be safest in our home, since we have no contact with the violent members of his birth family.

Leave it to me that when he asked me questions in the negative like attorneys sometimes do, I messed up my answer & he would have to repeat it & I would have to correct myself.
(All these expensive meetings & he didn’t prepare me for THAT!)

No other attorneys questioned me (another good sign).

My husband testified so diplomatically when asked who the baby preferred. “When both of us are in the room, the baby prefers my wife!” (His calm diplomacy is one of the characteristics that drew me to marry him.)

To our advantage today, the great-aunt wasn’t in court to testify. It was optimistically believed that CPS didn’t inform her of the new court date since it had been postponed twice.

The judge ordered a brief recess to review the great-aunt’s home study and call the attorneys into his chambers.

The judge then issued his ruling…
THE BABY WOULD STAY WITH US UNTIL ANOTHER PERMANENCY HEARING ON MAY 25TH!!!!

So – HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!
But by May 25th, Lil Bit will be in our home as a member of our family for 6 months of his 9 months of life! Two-thirds of his life with us!
That will be to our benefit at the next hearing….

A HUGE THANK YOU for all your prayers!

Have a great week cherishing your loved ones!

Hugs to you all!

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SNOW – An Act of God!

What an AMAZING day of snow in Texas!
Over THREE inches! WOW!

As Texans, we become frozen with enchantment of a winter wonderland.

Schools close.
Businesses close.
Snowmen line our streets.
Snowball fights ensue.

The anomaly of snow here in Texas brings out the kid in all of us!

In Texas, any amount of snow necessitates a winter weather advisory.
But 3 inches of snow in Texas is an Act of God!

An Act of God is a legal term used in contracts & other legal documents to describe events outside of human control, such as storms & natural disasters.

Not that the 3 inches of snow here could ever be described as a disaster,
but it is an Act of God!
A blessing!

And the timing of God’s blessings can show us all that He is in control of EVERYTHING!

Psalm 107:25 – “For He commands & raises the stormy wind,
which lifts up the waves of the sea.”

We were richly blessed by the snow this week, not only for the joy it brought into our lives, but in that our custody hearing for our foster baby was postponed another week!

Another week to enjoy & love this angelic baby as part of our family!
Another week to PRAY!

Isn’t it amazing that God is in complete control of every aspect of our lives?

“And we know that all things God work together for good
to those who love God” – Romans 8:28

Have a great week enjoying the blessings in your life!

Hugs to you!
~penelope

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On Becoming a Foster Parent

This has been an exciting few weeks! On Tuesday, December 15th, I received a call from CPS asking if we would accept a 4-month-old baby boy to foster. Of course, I said, “YES!” I picked him up an hour later. He is so beautiful & such a good baby! I AM SO BLESSED!

Because the child’s mother has had numerous children removed before & has already had her parental rights terminated, he will be eligible for adoption after all the legal stuff has been completed.

I’ve had a number of people asking me about foster parenting & how difficult the process is. It actually isn’t that difficult to become a foster parent. Our licensing was more complex because we were in the middle of moving to a different county during the process, but overall, the process wasn’t too bad. We are licensed through our state agency as both a foster & adoptive home.

  • The first step is to attend an informational meeting. There are a number being held Tuesday, January 12th in the evening in Houston, Austin, Bryan & Waco. Check HERE for details. This is very informal, but for some reason, attending this meeting is required before moving forward in the process.
  • Next, you would attend a 35-hour parent education training, called PRIDE (short for Parent Resource Information Development Education). Our classes met twice a week for a few hours each evening. Before each class, we had to bring “homework”, which actually were documents required for our homestudy, such as identification, family profile/background form, home layout, desired children profile form, & scheduling FBI fingerprinting, etc. This helped keep the documentation process less cumbersome.
  • You will also need CPR/First Aid training, a home fire inspection (local fire dept) & a home health inspection. (We completed our CPR training at our jobs.)
  • Lastly, a home study will be conducted by a caseworker that will come to your home and interview everyone in the home. For us, scheduling the caseworker took the longest because we lived in a rural county 40 minutes from Bryan. When she finally came, we had already closed on our house & were in the process of moving. We had already boxed up a lot, given away our sofa & had to sit in the dining room for the interviews.

The cost of becoming licensed with the state agency has been minimal with the FBI fingerprinting costing around $50 per person. [Anyone over the age of 18 living in the home will have to be fingerprinted. My stepson will have to be fingerprinted SOON!] We also had to purchase a fire extinguisher for the home.

I hope this post gives you the information you need. If you are remotely interested, I encourage you to attend the informational meeting next week.

James 1:27 says that we are to reach out to orphans & widows in their distress.

Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to know!

God bless & hugs to you all!
~penelope

I’m Clever

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