Update #1

Wow, things got crazy here for awhile. I need to be better about blogging but there's just not enough hours in the day! I want to try to remember as much as possible about our foster journey so bear with me as I do a few updates!

Towards the end of January we met with Turtle's case manager and she still hadn't started the red file process, I expressed my concerns that he really needs to be with his forever family as soon as possible. We love him to pieces but he deserves permanency. She assured us the process would be pretty quick and that we should expect to start transitioning him at the end of February. Even though I knew this would eventually happen it is still heart wrenching every time we get new news. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I get a voicemail from her saying that the family that has adopted his older sister and brother wanted to adopt Turtle! I was excited for him but concerned also because I was always told that they had been asked to take him when he was born and they didn't want to. We were asked if we could all meet together on Valentine's day and even though I had plans with my hubby it wasn't anything that couldn't be changed. Not very romantic sitting in CPS offices but hey, what do you do! The meeting went well, thank goodness my husband was with me. I did pretty good keeping my emotions in check but still it was an emotional day, I cried the whole way home! I am super happy for him and for his family, I really like them. They are completely different from us but they are kind and loving and definitely want to raise Turtle with his siblings. Honestly there is no better place for him to be. We worked out a transition plan and even though they aren't currently certified to adopt we were all reassured that there would be no problem moving him in right away. My husband had a business trip planned for the end of February so my only request was that we waited until he returned to officially move Turtle to their home. Transitions went really well, we started off slow and moved up to overnights. The emotions come and go but I am at peace and grateful that we've had time to build a relationship with his forever family and hopefully be a part of Turtle's life for a long, long time!