Don't Worry We're Certified

Saturday we had to attend a First Aid and CPR training course as soon-to-be foster/adoptive parents.  Only one of us had to be certified but neither of us wanted to offer to go solo to practice bandaging open wounds and kissing CPR dummies.  So we went and crossed off another to-do item on our licensing list. 

It's hard to believe that we started on this process 8 months ago.  Since then we've had 11 weeks of classes, multiple home-studies, pages and pages of written applications, multiple background checks, and now First Aid and CPR training.  All the while it's seemed like the end date is way off in the future but we're one Missouri Child Abuse and Neglect screening away from a license and the reality is setting in that we are about to be parents.  We're about to put all these certifications and licenses to the test and somehow they feel as thin as a tissue paper shield between us and what's to come.

The waiting has gone from an active wait, in which we were able to check things off our to-do list, to waiting that is filled with helpless...waiting.  That's frustrating for someone like me who wants to set a goal and accomplish it.  But, I am trying to trust that God's timing is perfect.  I read a quote somewhere that "God is never late, but He passes up a few good opportunities to be early."  It's in the waiting that our faith is built and in the exactness of His timing that it is affirmed. Yet during the waiting is when the worries hit.  I worry about whether we will know which placement to take, I worry that we can't have our kids' room completed because we don't know any specifics about a child, I worry about school if we get a school-aged child. 

But even more than the worry, I am anxious to get going.  I tend to put off making a decision until I absolutely have to, but once I make a decision I want it to happen immediately...I'm not super patient.  In the mean time I've tried to embrace every opportunity and resource that we've been offered (or forced into) to make us Certified Parents!  Or is that certifiable?  I guess we'll soon find out!  But whatever happens you can rest assured that we are now endorsed by The Red Cross to be valuable in a crisis!  We're anxiously awaiting the impact this is sure to have on our social life.

I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request. 1 Samuel 1:27