We went to our 10th PS-MAPP class last night, and have now completed 30 hours of training! So now we basically know it all. Totally kidding! We now know enough to know we definitely need to keep learning more (fortunately for us, there's mandatory training required each year to keep your license...and more paperwork as well!).
It was fun going to our last class. I'll definitely miss the people we've met, although we'll keep in touch with some of them via email and such. We had quite a group - there were a few people you could count on to lighten any heavy topic, and so many people with good insight. We really learned a lot.
As much as we enjoyed the class, however, it will be really nice to not be making weekly trips to Ames on snowy roads, and to have our Monday nights back (of course, we get our Monday nights back just as Monday Night Football comes to a close!).
We celebrated being done with classes by getting chocolate ice cream on the way home. Even though it was 5 degrees outside. And it was amazing.
From here, we have one more home study visit to complete, then we wait for our homestudy to get written up and go to DHS, and hope and pray we get accepted!
Showing posts with label classes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classes. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
We did The Book (and an update on classes).
I've mentioned before that if you miss one of our PS-MAPP classes, you have to fill out The Book as punishment to make sure you learned everything.
Well, a couple of weeks ago, we missed a class because I had already scheduled my piano studio's Christmas Recital. So, with a bit of trembling, we asked for The Book. It's actually not the thickest one I've seen (it varies, depending on that week's material), but it was over 50 pages of reading and written responses.
Now, I realize that the book doesn't look all that bad, but every page had line upon line to be filled out. Between that and the homework we had for last night, it was pretty much our Sunday night. But, we feel very educated now.
Overall, our classes are going well. They've been a big time commitment, but they've been really helpful to us as we try to process through which kinds of children we could help the most, and how we can cope the changes it will bring in our lives, while being the best parents we can be.
We've currently completed 9 out of 10 classes. So, the end is in sight! It's hard to believe that we only have one more week left. I won't miss the 2 hours of driving every Monday, but I will miss some of the people in our class, I'm hoping that our group continues to get together occasionally after class is over.
Several people have asked about the next step.
The next step is that we finish collecting all the massive amounts of papers, references, etc. Then, our licensing worker has to write up our home study, and see if DHS approves it. I don't think that my cancer will prevent us from being approved, but you can be praying that our study clears quickly and easily. We are hoping for a licensing date of either February 1st or (more likely) March 1st.
After that, we wait for The Phone Call, keep praying for our future kids and for wisdom, and work at getting the house ready for kids!
The Phone Call could be in a couple of days after our licensing date, or weeks, or months. However, since we want a sibling group, my guess is that it won't take months. It makes me positively giddy to think that I could be a mom so soon!
Well, a couple of weeks ago, we missed a class because I had already scheduled my piano studio's Christmas Recital. So, with a bit of trembling, we asked for The Book. It's actually not the thickest one I've seen (it varies, depending on that week's material), but it was over 50 pages of reading and written responses.
Overall, our classes are going well. They've been a big time commitment, but they've been really helpful to us as we try to process through which kinds of children we could help the most, and how we can cope the changes it will bring in our lives, while being the best parents we can be.
We've currently completed 9 out of 10 classes. So, the end is in sight! It's hard to believe that we only have one more week left. I won't miss the 2 hours of driving every Monday, but I will miss some of the people in our class, I'm hoping that our group continues to get together occasionally after class is over.
Several people have asked about the next step.
The next step is that we finish collecting all the massive amounts of papers, references, etc. Then, our licensing worker has to write up our home study, and see if DHS approves it. I don't think that my cancer will prevent us from being approved, but you can be praying that our study clears quickly and easily. We are hoping for a licensing date of either February 1st or (more likely) March 1st.
After that, we wait for The Phone Call, keep praying for our future kids and for wisdom, and work at getting the house ready for kids!
The Phone Call could be in a couple of days after our licensing date, or weeks, or months. However, since we want a sibling group, my guess is that it won't take months. It makes me positively giddy to think that I could be a mom so soon!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Adoption class - 3 down, 7 to go!
Well, we've officially made it through 3 classes of training - 9 hours down, 21 to go. Our classes have been... overwhelming. There is so much to learn about our future kids, and so much to process about ourselves. It's been incredibly helpful, but a lot to think about.
Last week, we learned a lot about grief and loss cycles. We learned a lot about how to recognize and diagnose behaviors, and how to help kids cope with their grief, resource them, and teach them to recover from their loss in healthy ways. We also talked through recognizing our own losses, and where we are in dealing with those loss cycles, to determine whether we would be an asset to a child with a similar loss or not.
I knew that these classes would help us learn a lot about these kids, but they're also helping us learn about ourselves, and our relationship. It's been difficult in some ways, because it's material that weighs on my heart so strongly, but it's been good.
We've also filled out many, many forms. Last week, we turned in the following:
I think that's about it. We realized later that we forgot to include the floor plan of our house. Hopefully that won't cause too much of an issue. We also had over an hour's worth of reading as well. Seriously, this stuff is intense!
We also have the first in-home appointment with our social worker this week. Dave just finished a major attic insulation project this weekend, and between that and the holidays, our house is not at it's finest. So, there will be major cleaning going on this week in order to put the house back in order! I'm kind of wishing I had a picker-upper machine like in Cat in the Hat, but it will all work out ok.
Hopefully we won't be docked too many points if a few things are out of order! We've heard that having kids makes your house more prone to messes anyway, so we're just prepping ourselves.
Anyway, we have our class again tomorrow night, and I'm looking forward to it. Every class we complete gets us that much closer, and that much more equipped to take care of our future kids. Exciting!
Last week, we learned a lot about grief and loss cycles. We learned a lot about how to recognize and diagnose behaviors, and how to help kids cope with their grief, resource them, and teach them to recover from their loss in healthy ways. We also talked through recognizing our own losses, and where we are in dealing with those loss cycles, to determine whether we would be an asset to a child with a similar loss or not.
I knew that these classes would help us learn a lot about these kids, but they're also helping us learn about ourselves, and our relationship. It's been difficult in some ways, because it's material that weighs on my heart so strongly, but it's been good.
We've also filled out many, many forms. Last week, we turned in the following:
- 18-page profile for me
- 18-page profile for Dave
- 15 page profile for couples without children
- 8 page profile on our family
- A photo of us
- A photo of our house
- A letter to our future kid(s)
- A letter to the biological parent(s)
- Copies of our birth certificates
- Copies of our drivers licenses
- Copies of our home, auto, and liability insurance
- Copies of Yarbo's vaccination records
- Copies of last year's tax returns
- A scrapbook about us and our home
I think that's about it. We realized later that we forgot to include the floor plan of our house. Hopefully that won't cause too much of an issue. We also had over an hour's worth of reading as well. Seriously, this stuff is intense!
We also have the first in-home appointment with our social worker this week. Dave just finished a major attic insulation project this weekend, and between that and the holidays, our house is not at it's finest. So, there will be major cleaning going on this week in order to put the house back in order! I'm kind of wishing I had a picker-upper machine like in Cat in the Hat, but it will all work out ok.
Hopefully we won't be docked too many points if a few things are out of order! We've heard that having kids makes your house more prone to messes anyway, so we're just prepping ourselves.
Anyway, we have our class again tomorrow night, and I'm looking forward to it. Every class we complete gets us that much closer, and that much more equipped to take care of our future kids. Exciting!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
First night of Adoption class!
We went to our first PSMAPP (can't remember what that stands for, but it's for foster parenting/adoption licensing) class last night! It was....long. Very long. Three hours in a hard chair sitting at an awkward angle that produced a pain in my neck. But, the class was good even so, because we got a lot of information, and have a better idea of the things we'll be learning along the way.
As a side note, we got to the building and didn't see anyone on our way in (there are several entrances and the class size is small, so this isn't too unusual), but our stomach dropped to our toes when we saw on the whiteboard: PSMAPP Classes, room 302, 5:30pm. May I mention that we arrived at 6pm, which was when we thought it started. We frantically raced through the building, concerned that we would have missed too much of the class (and meeting #1 is imperative to pass the course, no make-up's allowed!). As it turned out, they reserve the room at 5:30 so that it is free by 6pm. It took a good 10 minutes for my heart rate to return to normal, but it all ended well.
They gave us our coursework for the class - it is thicker than many of my college textbooks. And, if you miss a class, even if your spouse goes, you have to fill out a BOOK. I'm not exaggerating - it is literally a book, I saw one because some poor woman in our class is going to have to miss next week. Whew. We will have to miss one, and I'm already not looking forward to The Book.
We also have homework, which I knew we would, but not only is there weekly homework, there are long-term due dates as well (for example we got a huge set of paperwork last night that isn't due till week 3, but we also have homework to do this week). Seriously, this should count as college credits. I don't know what I would do with extra random college credits, but I still think we should get them.
We met the people who will be in our class for the next ten weeks. I think it will be a great group, and I have a feeling we'll learn a lot from their insight, in addition to all our materials.
All in all, it was a bit of an overwhelming night, but we're still just very excited to be moving forward in this process!
As a side note, we got to the building and didn't see anyone on our way in (there are several entrances and the class size is small, so this isn't too unusual), but our stomach dropped to our toes when we saw on the whiteboard: PSMAPP Classes, room 302, 5:30pm. May I mention that we arrived at 6pm, which was when we thought it started. We frantically raced through the building, concerned that we would have missed too much of the class (and meeting #1 is imperative to pass the course, no make-up's allowed!). As it turned out, they reserve the room at 5:30 so that it is free by 6pm. It took a good 10 minutes for my heart rate to return to normal, but it all ended well.
They gave us our coursework for the class - it is thicker than many of my college textbooks. And, if you miss a class, even if your spouse goes, you have to fill out a BOOK. I'm not exaggerating - it is literally a book, I saw one because some poor woman in our class is going to have to miss next week. Whew. We will have to miss one, and I'm already not looking forward to The Book.
We also have homework, which I knew we would, but not only is there weekly homework, there are long-term due dates as well (for example we got a huge set of paperwork last night that isn't due till week 3, but we also have homework to do this week). Seriously, this should count as college credits. I don't know what I would do with extra random college credits, but I still think we should get them.
We met the people who will be in our class for the next ten weeks. I think it will be a great group, and I have a feeling we'll learn a lot from their insight, in addition to all our materials.
All in all, it was a bit of an overwhelming night, but we're still just very excited to be moving forward in this process!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Going "back to school" at the wrong time of year.
I went shopping for our "school" supplies today. For the life of me, I could not find 1.5 inch binders at Target (our list specifically says 1.5 inch binders, and of course, we have all 1-inch binders at home! Nor could I find the pens I was looking for. They didn't specify what kind of pens we need or anything, but due to the fact that there will be so many forms to fill out, I wanted a specific kind that I couldn't locate anywhere. Two months ago, the whole store was full of school supplies! Apparently we should have shopped then!
We start our classes next Monday, and I'm sure we'll find the necessary supplies before then. I can't remember the last time I was this excited to go back to school!
We start our classes next Monday, and I'm sure we'll find the necessary supplies before then. I can't remember the last time I was this excited to go back to school!
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