Yesterday, our caseworker from our agency came by to do our walk through! She only wants us to add another smoke detector, which I did yesterday after she left! She also gave us our class schedule and lots of paperwork to fill out! :) I need to call and make us doctors appointments for physicals and call the fire department for them to inspect and lots more stuff! I'll update you guys and we get it done. For those of you who are looking for a checklist for a home study (which I know I did)! I will post a checklist that she left us, so you can get an idea!
1. Home and grounds are kept clean and free of hazards to children.
2. Kitchen and all food preparation, storage, and serving areas are kept clean.
3. Perishable food is refrigerated or safely stored in other ways.
4. Home had adequate supply of water the meets the standards for drinking water of the Texas Department of Health. If private well is used, the Texas Department of Health or local health department must be consulted if any problems arise.
5. Home has adequate, safe sewage disposal system. If a private sewage disposal system is used, the Texas Department of Health or local health department must be consulted if any problems arise.
6. Plumbing appears to be in good working condition.
7. Home has hot and cold running water.
8. There is at least one toilet, lavatory, and bathtub or shower inside the home.
9. Bathrooms are kept clean.
10. Soap and toilet paper are available in the bathrooms at all times.
11. Each child has a clean towel available, or paper towels are available.
12. Garbage is removed at least once a week.
13. Garbage is kept in metal or plastic containers with tight fitting lids in an area away from the children.
14. The home is kept free of insects, mice and rats.
15. The yard is well drained, with no standing water.
16. The yard is kept free of garbage and trash.
17. The house is properly ventilated and free from bad odors.
18. Windows and outside doors kept open for ventilation are screened.
19. Cleaning supplies,a insect sprays, medicines, and other materials that can harm young children are kept where children under age 8 and children whom these items might present an unusual danger cannot reach them.
20. Accessible electric outlets in rooms used by children under age 8 or children for whom these outlets might present an unusual danger are safety outlets or have child proof covers.
21. Electric fans are securely mounted where children under age 8 or children whom these items might present an unusual danger cannot reach them, or have guards which keep children from touching the fan blades.
22. Outdoor steps are not slippery. Porches, railings, playhouses and other wooden structures do not have splinters.
23. Indoor floors and steps are not slippery, and are kept dry when children are using them. Wood surfaces and objects do not have splinters.
24. Glass doors are marked at a child's eye level to prevent accidents.

That is the checklist they left us!

Puppies and Home Walk Through!

Bella had her sweet puppies Saturday at 3:30 in the morning. I got a total of 30 minutes of sleep before she woke me up. She had a total of 11 puppies! One was stillborn and the two tiny runts of the litter had lots of problems and passed away as well. Now she has 8 healthy puppies that are growing by the minute. Bryson is taking it all really well! While she was still in labor Johnny and I took Bryson and headed to the farmer market for some fresh food! :) Mother's day was yesterday, so we went down to Cisco. My Mom, Nana, Papa, Brother Brayden, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Vivian, and cousin Kolton were all there as well. We ate steak, potatoes, mac and cheese, and green beans, and boy was it all really delicious. We celebrated not only Mothers Day but my grandpa's 67th birthday as well. It is really hard to see my grandparents getting older! It really makes me sad, because I have a hard time imagining life without them. While we were there we also stopped and saw Johnny's grandmother as well, and sat and talked with her for awhile. This morning I had left my phone in the bedroom on the charger while I made breakfast, and when I checked it I had a missed call from our agency. She finally called me back about an hour ago and scheduled our first home walk through for Wednesday at 9am! I am beyond excited, but I am also so nervous. I am still cleaning every nook and cranny that I can get too! :) We're inching closer and closer to our goal!

We Turned In Our Applications and Labor

Today, after getting lost downtown on one way streets, I finally found our agency's office and turned in our applications!!! It was so exciting for us, because it means the first step on our part is done! Now we just have to wait for our background checks to be done by them! :) I also found some cute gender neutral crib bedding on clearance today! We got the whole set for $30 dollars!! I can not wait to finish this process and start on the next stage of our lives! Bella also is in the beginning stages of labor! She's so tired. I feel so bad for her. She refuses to have them in her kennel though, so we put her bed in the corner of the living room with a painting drop cloth under it and up the walls a bit to protect her carpet! She isn't moving a muscle! Poor girl! The window repairman also came by today to fix the small crack that our bedroom window got. They left before they even did anything because they said they didn't have a tall enough ladder and needed to find one... so who knows when they'll come back. I didn't even know they were coming today and they showed up right as I was walking out the door to turn in our applications!

Feeling Accomplished & Some Background

I just finished up shampooing the carpet and I am so relieved that the carpet is normal now! lol :) Since I didn't really go into detail about why we didn't follow through with the foster care classes previously, I thought I would now since I have some time. We lived in Hobbs, NM from February 2011 to about June 2011. My husband had asked to be transferred to Texas so we could be closer to our family members. We started inquiring about starting foster care classes here and Texas in about July. We finally found an agency and started the application process that August. Unfortunately that was sort lived because at the very end of August my husbands boss called him to lay him off. We were absolutely devastated! Were we were living was a very small town! I'm talking 3,913 people and one stop light small! There was no work available there that he could find at all! Come October 2011 my Uncle who works in Abilene had a position come available at his place of employment. The next day my husband started. The only problem was that it was 45 minutes away! Our car even got reposed when he was laid off, so we had no vehicle. We were very lucky that his mother lived in the same town as us and also worked in Abilene so we could car pull! Around January 2012 we bought a $400 dollar piece of junk car for him to finally drive back and fourth to work until our lease was up and we could move. In August 2012, the piece of junk finally gave out and although we finally had a newer reliable truck, I didn't want him to start driving it back and fourth and putting 100 + miles on it daily! The same day the car gave out I called up an apartment complex two blocked from his work and they had an opening on one of the apartments that we wanted. The next day we were signing the lease and moving in! I am glad to say it was a great move. We are now financially stable again and we even have enough to put some in saving at the end of the pay period. We have never been more stable than we are now and it is a great feeling. I feel like everything happens for a reason and I am glad we didn't start foster care classes previously, because it would have just brought more heartache to a horrible situation! My husband now makes decent money and I am able to be a stay at home wife. I now have a car with no car payment and he has the truck, also with no car payment. We have a retirement fund and an emergency saving account as well! It feels great to be financially responsible and I feel like there has been no better time than now to start the process!

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning...

Last week, Johnny tracked motor oil in the house on his work boots! I wasn't to happy about that, but I immediately used OxyClean on it and it came right out for the most part! Not only did the oil practically come all the way out, but it discolored our carpet. That means today I am going to shampoo all of our carpet with OxyClean in hopes that it will at least make the carpet all the same color! :) What else can I do? Aside from all of that I have been scrubbing walls and baseboards too! I know that might be crazy, but this agency wants to do part of the home study at the beginning and then they'll finish it after our classes. I don't wanna take any chances at even missing a speck of dust! That might sound crazy, and it probably is, but we want this so bad. There are lots of children in the foster care system that need homes, and we really want to be a home for them. In the middle of all this crazy deep cleaning though Bella is pregnant! She should go into labor at anytime. Joy, right? We'll have our hands full over here for awhile especially with our classes and inspections.

We are now in Abilene, Texas!

Michael and I have moved to Abilene, Texas. We've been here since August 2012 and we are loving it. We never started our classes for foster care, because we decided Texas was where we wanna be. We had to give ourselves time to get on our feet and make sure we're stable. Well, now we're definitely ready. Last Thursday May 2, 2013 I chose our agency! We are super excited and are filling out our applications as we speak! They will get turned in this Friday and then, we'll have to wait to hear back from them. They said it normally only takes 2 months through their agency from application to home study! How exciting is that? I will definitely have to remember to keep this blog updated. I really want to keep track of what happens when in this whole process! Yesterday, I would hear A Thousand Years- Christina Perri and I'd just cry. I know this is what we need to do, but it's just the process that is going to hard. I guess it's time to get dinner on the table! I will probably update Friday after I turn in the applications! :D

No more Austin plans!

Today has been a good day. Plans to go to Austin with friends changed to San Antonio. I was really looking forward to going, but decided today that it would be more logical to just stay in New Mexico. We have so much going on this month from moving into a new home, starting the classes through CYFD, my birthday, and hopefully purchasing another new vehicle. Don't get me wrong, I love my 2011 Kia Soul, but I'd like a new car for myself and Michael can continue using the Soul for work.

I am just praying everything thing goes smoothly this month. Goodnight.