Our Happy Day!!!

Well, today as I posted before was the family meeting. In this meeting they were going to talk about the progress of the biological parents towards their case plan. This meeting took place in Texas at 2pm. Today, I woke up early, I told myself I was going to be in a better mood and I was going to try very hard to have a good day. I was successful in that. I had a great day at work. I had a time with my students and time went by very fast. I was supposed to get off at noon; but I decided to stay a little extra working math with my kiddos. When I got off, I felt awful because I couldn't say good luck to the hubs before he went to that meeting. While I was driving home, I was telling myself that no matter what happened today I wasn't going to give up, since we still have a court day to go to and things could change. I came home and started to feel anxious, sweaty, and shaky. I know the meeting was on and I wasn't there to know what was going on. I kept checking my phone and nothing.... and at exactly 1:53pm I received the phone call from the CASA worker. I swear my heart stopped when I saw that TX number. As soon as I heard her voice I knew they were good news. Her words were: " Have you spoke to your husband?" I told her no, he hasn't called yet, then she told me: It looks like you are going to have a baby in your home very soon" I was shocked when she told me that. I think It took me a few seconds before I could say a word. Wow!!! this is finally happening. I have pray for this every single night. I have dream about this every night. I cried so much; but those tears were different. They were happy tears. I don't even remember when was the last time I cried because I was happy. I shared the news with my parents and they cried with me. It is an amazing feeling! Dh met baby E. for the first time today and he is so happy. I wish I could see his face right now. The way he talks about her, the way he described her, was priceless...In 15 more days I'll get to see our little princess and in 20 days she will be home with us. I still feel like I am dreaming.
Tomorrow dh will spend two hours with baby E. He has been asking a lot of questions about her and I am really pleased with the way he is handling things over there. He is soo ready to be a daddy. Our dream is finally coming true, We are going to be parents.

Happy Halloween

I am posting today because I am sure I won't be able to post tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow is Halloween. I've been thinking a lot about baby E. Wondering if she is going to dress up, wondering if she is going to have a good Halloween. I am going to sound like "the Grinch" of Halloween; but I have decided, I am not even going to hand out candy this year. The husband is gone, and I am just not in the mood to do anything. Tomorrow is the meeting between the parents and my hubs. I've been praying for everything to go well. We haven't heard anything anything about the baby; since CASA couldn't be there for the last visitation day. DH is requesting a bonding visitation without the bio parents, he feels we would feel more comfortable if they're not around. If they do approve it, that would mean dh would spend two hours with baby E. I am also praying for that. I am looking forward for tomorrow to see my students dressed up, they were so happy today, sharing with each other what they were going to be for Halloween. I was not going to dress up; but I can't do that to them. They have been asking me if I am dressing up since last month. Today I went to Walmart and got them some snacks and some Halloween treats...its kind of hard to find treats for 90 kids... But I am sure they'll love it.
Gosh, can't wait for tomorrow!!! Can't wait to find out the parents decision tomorrow. For some reason that pain in my chest is gone, I guess I feel more confident now. I know that the parents haven't shown any progress in this last month. I thought since the court day is getting closer they were going to try everything possible to get the baby back, I guess I was wrong.
If they don't make a decision while dh is over there, we'll have to wait too see what the judge says.

The Longest Week Ever....

Well, yesterday hubby called and left a message to his sister to let her know that he would be in TX next week and that he was going to pick her and the baby's dad so they could go eat something and talk. They didn't call back, so we don't know what's going to happen. I have to say that this couple of nights have been very hard on me. I am having problems getting some sleep, so I feel exhausted through out the day. I feel like I can't function any more. I am just so nervous. I told the husband last night that I feel like I have a hole in my chest, because that's how it feels like. It's a horrible sensation. I just hope this week goes by fast and we can have an idea of what's going to happen and when is going to happen.
We have got several invitations for Thanksgiving's dinner, we are thinking that baby E will be here by then. That would be great. I love my job and I love my students but I am looking forward for some time off work and spending time with the hubby and baby E. I think we need to stay home and bond with her for a few weeks.
Wow, can you believe that in only 59 more days it will be Christmas??? I can't wait. This either will be the happiest Xmas for us or the saddest. We are hoping for the Best Xmas. We have been adding things to baby E Xmas list. We've added a little table with two little chairs, a pretend kitchen, a toy called little town and we are still looking for a tea set appropriate for her age and a lot more to come. I want to go shopping for winter clothes for her; but since we already have a few, we want to wait until we know for sure the day she is coming home.
I've been calling our Social Worker today to find out about our fingerprints and the reference letters; but she hasn't call me back. I hope she can schedule our visit for next week. That's all we need for the placement. I can't believe we are almost there!!!!

I Am a Mess

Even though things are looking really good for us, I can help but feel scared. I feel down and nervous. A part of me remains sad and hopeless, why? Is this normal? The husband got his plane ticket today to see the baby. He will be meeting with his sister and the baby's dad. I've been so stressed out, making sure everything goes perfect. He is going to have an hour visitation with the baby and I am thinking about the things I'll be sending with him, so she can play and have little snacks. I want to go so bad, but need to save that money because in less than a month the two of us have to fly to TX again. I feel so sad that I am not going to get to see her this time. I've been moody and sad today. I should feel happy right? Is the first time the husband is going to meet the baby. I am sure they'll do fine. The Hubby is also going to meet with the social worker, the parents and CASA. I hope only good things happen while he is over there.
We'll have to wait and see...that's only a week away from today.
Today I got a phone call from the Foster/Adoption agency and they have scheduled our appointment with us three days before the hearing in Texas. Wow, It seems like we'll have a very busy month of November. I also have my CPR/First Aid training the 1st of November and hubby has to get his as soon as he gets back. I am working on a positive attitude so I can have a great weekend with the husband, I haven't seen him in two weeks.

Meeting One Month Before Hearing

At exactly one month before the Placement Hearing, CPS, CASA and the baby's parents had a meeting. This meeting took place at the parent's house. The meeting was to discuss any progress in their part. CPS did some investigation about the status of the dad's work and apparently he has missed 12 days of work and he started this job about one month ago or maybe a little less than that. CPS investigated the real reason of the mother hurting her arm and found out something completely different to what she had said earlier in her report. In other words they haven't complete the case plan and they still have a lot to do before any progress is considered from their part. We are trying to keep contact with the parents; but they don't have a phone and when we leave messages with the grandma, they never get the messages. My husband is planning a trip over there to sit down and talk sense into the parents about the right thing to do before it is too late. We are looking for the best thing for the baby. We want to keep her within family and we have told the parents that we are never going to cut communication between the baby and them. But the time is almost up and they have to decide what they really want to do; because the baby is already attached to her foster mom and if they don't act now, It will be harder at the end. We have been very busy making sure everything is ready before the court day. We are dealing with four different agencies right now. A lot of paper work, a lot of classes a lot of phone calls to make. Now, all we can do is pray and wait....

Getting Ready for the Baby

Here at home while we waited for the ICPC paperwork, we were supposed to child proof our home before the baby can be placed with us. We cleaned the entire house, we got rid of all the things we don't really use anymore and emptied one of the rooms. Shorty after that we got the crib, strollers, toys, baby clothes, we put safety locks on the kitchen cabinets. We checked the mail two times a day waiting for the ICPC papers so we could say that the process began. We called CPS to check on the papers; but we never got answers. Finally, CASA told us that the social worker in charge of our care was no longer there; but she re assured us that the CPS supervisor was going to make sure those papers were sent to the ICPC here in CA. It took about two weeks for ICPC to get the papers and once they got here, it took about another 2 days for us to get the packet. The packet consisted in about 30 something pages and a big questionnaire that we both needed to answer. It took us about 3 days to get the packet ready and mail it.
The week after we had our first meeting with CCLD, It lasted about 5 hours and basically they explain to us the foster/adoption process and how to send the application. That class was on a Saturday, the week after we got the paper work for the fingerprints and with the information about our new social worker in California. We got the papers on a Tuesday and we got our fingerprints done that Thursday at the Hemet CPS office. The Social Worker told us that she had sent all the reference letters and that as soon as she gets them back and the results of the fingerprints she was going to schedule an interview. That same week we sent the Foster/Adoption certificate ( copies ) to CASA in Texas and we added a little gift for the baby.
The week after that CASA got the package and schedule a visit so she could give the baby the gifts we sent her. We got pictures of the baby opening her gifts. Priceless...

Seeing her for the first time

After court the arrange us a visitation with the baby. I was very excited, I couldn't wait. We went to the CPS office with the baby's parents and while we were waiting for the Foster mom to show up with the baby, the social worker did a little interview to me and asked the baby's parents to give me some information about the baby. About 20 minutes later, Foster mom showed up with the baby. OMG! When I saw her, It was the best feeling ever. She seemed happy, healthy and full of energy. So little, so innocent. The first thing I did was hug her. I couldn't believe it was finally happening, she was in front of me and it was a hundred time better than I was expecting. I went on the floor to play with her. She is so curious, I noticed how she likes to open stuff, if something had a lid, she wanted to open it. She went a few times to her baby bag and kept getting stuff out. She found some lotion and she prefer that lotion over any other toy in the room. She also liked a book, she passed the pages and looked at the pictures several times. She danced, she smiled and she make doggie sounds. I swear I was in La la land, she is perfect. I got to spend an hour with her and her parents. That day the air conditioning wasn't working and it was very hot in that little room. At the time of saying good bye the baby's dad gave her to me and I gave her a kiss and a big hug and I told her how much her uncle and I love her. When foster mom came to get her she seemed happy to go with her, on the way out she waved at us good bye. I swear I am never going to forget that. I get all teary eyed when I think about it....