Whats been going on???

Just a little update on whats been happening. We finally joined the ranks as a two car family! What did you get?, you ask. Well, as hard as it is for me to say......... we got a mini van! I know, I know don't everyone get jealous at the same time! LOL!! All kidding aside this car is what we needed. It has all the bells and whistles and has room for all the kids. So it really is a good thing! Tanner also has moved to the basement freeing the upstairs room. He is super excited to eventually be able to share a room with his new brother. The bathroom downstairs is useable and only needs a few more things to be complete (mirror and towel bars attached). Basically we are finally ready! Just waiting on that one phone call telling us they have found the kids we are looking for. It feels nice to pretty much be ready, sort of a relief. Hoping the next couple updates will bring news of kids!

Its Been a Rough Ride....

Just a quick update..... We were selected as 1 of 2 families for some really great kids in Oregon, but found out a week ago we were not the final family selected.... The week before we found out the kids we were inquired on here in Northern Utah the foster family they were with decided to adopt, so another disappointment. We were called by DCFS to foster 2 kids that the parents had abandoned several years ago and had been staying with their grandmother, but she didnt want them anymore, but turned them down since we were in the running for the others that were closer to what we were looking for. So overall a very disappointing few weeks here at the Clark house. So here we are back to the starting point yet again. We will not give up since we know the kids that belong in our home are out there.... Wish us luck!

Making Progress (we think)....

Well we have been somewhat quiet on posting the last 6 weeks.... So here is the latest. First the state licensor finally finished typing up the home study and filed it with DCFS. Once that was turned in we learned we had to be assigned a "Resource Family Consultant" by the state, which has now been done. Found out we also have the RFC come and do another home visit to get better familiar with what we are looking for, and now after all that we are finally officially licensed for foster care and able to receive kids that are looking for placement from DCFS..... Now the next bit of news, 10 days ago our RFC called and asked if we would like to do respite care (take care of a child that was already placed but the foster parents wanted a couple days off), we declined since the child was autistic and nobody knew if he was afraid of large dogs or not. The next day we had a call of 2 kids 1 & 4 year old that were just taken from their homeless father. We were all ready to say yes, but then found out the grandmother was on her way from Vernal to visit with them and see if she could take them. So with so many ups and downs we are back to waiting again. Several siblings that we have inquired on have been placed which is great, but the bad side it wasn't with us. We have inquired on several other sibling groups (1 from Utah) that we hope to have some information on in the next few weeks. Again I know it has been a few weeks since our last post and it is truly because it is very hard to write about many of the steps since it is a huge roller coaster of emotions in doing this. One day we learn we are in the running the next day its "just kidding". We wont get discouraged since we know the kids for our family are out there and will be coming to us sooner or later.

No news is good news.....I guess??

So, we actually had our homestudy!!! YIPPEE!! and to top it all off we passed!! Never thought I would see the day. It is such a relief to have that completed. That is one less thing we have to stress about. Having the homestudy done brings us one step closer to completing our family. But I do believe that the hardest part is still ahead, we have to find the right ones. It's so hard to go through all the pages of kids looking for homes. I always think to myself what if I'm passing up the ones, or what if I think they are right and it turns out wrong. We just have to believe that when the right kids are found we will know. It would be helpful if there was a big sign with arrows and flashing lights saying "pick us,pick us". Then I wouldn't have to even think about it. I do know that when it's time it will happen. Todd has been working away on the bathroom in the basement. It looks really good and it's only going to get better. He has completely painted two of the walls in this awesome blue color. The rest he is hoping to get painted tomorrow. The tile is supposed to be in Friday. We have our light fixtures all picked out and we just have to pick the vanity. Hoping it is completed in the next couple of weeks! That will be so nice! After that is all completed it's on to the bedroom! I'm sure Todd is super excited. :) hahaha! I will try and get some bathroom pics taken this weekend and get them posted.

Thank You So Much

Words just can not express how grateful we are to all those that came out to support us in our decision to adopt. We had a fabulous turn out and we couldn't have asked for a better night. Just a few shout outs to those special people that helped that night. Mike&Joan, Clint&Tiffany, Ryan&Chelsi, Tara and Jolynn. Without your help it wouldn't have been possible. Thank you also to all the family members and friends that provided food and items for the auction. I know you all took time out of your busy lives to help and we are forever thankful. Having this fundraiser brought us so much closer to attaining our goal. It was super stressful but so worth it. Now we just might be able to get some sleep! :) The next step is our once again scheduled Foster homestudy. We are supposed to have that this coming Friday and I pray it actually happens. Getting that done brings us super close to getting some kids. After the homestudy we just have to find the right ones that would make our home complete. We can't wait for that day to come. Once again a HUGE Thank You to everyone for your continued support. Knowing we have such great family and friends makes it all worth it. We love you all! The Clark Family

2 steps forward 1 step back

The last 6 days have been interesting.... first we get a call from the State Licensing saying the licenser doing the foster home study and safety check had the flu and had to cancel and would reschedule when she returned.... UGgghhh so frustrating after waiting for 3 months. Well she called yesterday and rescheduled for March 8th. After that we should be officially licensed to foster or adopt! There is finally light at the end of the tunnel. We have also signed up for matching assistance, which is a worker that helps us to find a sibling group around the ages we are looking for that are either in foster care currently or legally free for adoption. Now we just inquire on the kids we are wanting to adopt and if their case worker sees fit to select us, we will receive additional information on the kids we want to adopt. Lets just hope the case worker likes what our home study tells about our family. We probably wont be sharing much info on kids we inquire on since it is very devastating to be in the running for kids and telling people about it and then poof, they go somewhere else. So do not be offended if your not reading much about that on the blog for a few weeks. We will let everyone know after we are selected details about kids and when they will be home.......................///////////////////////////////////////.................................. This week is our Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser and cannot thank everyone enough for the support we have received so far. We have had about 130 people signed up to attend, almost 70 items donated for the silent auction. If you come and don't see anything that interests you, we will have donation boxes placed around for you to donate. It will be great to see everyone that is supporting us in this process and thank you in person for everything you have done. Its not to late if you decide to donate something to auction or if you want to come to the dinner. It will be held at our church at 752 North 3700 West in Layton. Come and enjoy some good food, buy some items at the auction and enjoy the company of others. We hope to see you all there!

Thank you

Can I just say how grateful I am to have such amazing friends and family. There has been an overwhelming amount of support and we could never thank you enough. As the Spaghetti Dinner gets closer it feels amazing to know that so many people have stepped up to help out. That is one less thing that I need to worry about. When we started this whole process of adoption they told us that having a big support system will make all the difference. They are 100% right. We would not be where we are at this point without all the love. Just knowing that we can ask for help and have tons of people offer is amazing. I have this vision in my head of how the dinner will go and I know for a fact that with all the help it will turn out to be just what I had imagined. So make sure you join us and bring your wallets to bid on some amazing/fantastic items. Todd told me I can't bid on anything because that would defeat the purpose. So many things I just don't know if I will be able to control myself! Much Love, Heather xoxo

What's Happening?!?

Just a quick update on the auction. Bear River Lodge flaked out on us and backed out!!!! >( But that is not going to stop us! We just received a nights stay at the Courtyard Marriot, YIPPEE!! We have also received certificates for Sills Cafe, C&B Maddox, Burger Stop, Sego Lily gift package and Marilyn Clark donated two hand finished Easter decorations that are super cute!! Still working on other items and hoping to have it all completed by next week. Just a quick reminder if you know of anyone with a small business that would donate or even something you want to donate just let us know. This next coming week we are going to be having our Foster Licensing Home Study (which will be $700 cheaper) that will complete all the home stuff we need to do. Which will bring us one step closer to adopting! If anyone would like to help us serve food at the fundraiser please let us know, we could us a lot of help. :) ***Reminder that if you want to purchase tickets at the cheaper price to let us know you are attending by February 22nd. *** Thanks again for all your support! ♥♥♥

The Search Continues....

Well this week has been an eye opening process. We signed up for a matching service to help us find kids across the country. This allows us to see children that are currently in foster care that are in homes that will not adopt them once they become legally free. It is so sad when you realize so many of these kids will never be adopted and will age out of the foster program and be out on their own. If we could, we would take so many of these poor kids that want a family more than anything, but we have made a choice of age range and a lot of these kids don't fall in that range. We are looking for kids in the range of 2-11 years old. We have put an inquiry in on some kids from Oregon. Now we just wait to see if their case worker will select our family to make a pre-placement visit to Oregon to see the kids and see if they fit. As we found out though, we have to continue looking since the case workers will make the decision solely based on what is in your home study without even talking to us. No matter what we will continue on and find the kids that belong in our family. We know that all things happen for a reason and when the right ones that are meant for us are available , they will come. Just remember the spaghetti dinner coming up on March 1st.... We have many great items that have been donated for the silent auction so bring your check book or cash.. We have Boondocks passes, Photo Session, Outer Beauty Salon Certificate, Outback Gift Certificates, Avon packages, Wood Creation items, Pizza Factory, Custom Wedding Cake, Quilts, Blankets, Kids hair clips/bows, Signed Children's books. Working on more items this week so stay tuned.... Hope to see you all there!!!

What's going on........

Well, we have made a little progress. We have our profile done with an agency that will send it out to other agencies to better our chances of finding the right children. This company also provided us with a ton of other websites where we can see waiting children. These sites were not available to us before. So, our next step is to search the sites and see what happens. Maybe just maybe the right kids will be on there. We are also making more progress on the Silent Auction, we have gotten some pretty amazing things donated but we can always use more. If you feel like you have then means to help us out either by donating money or auction items we will be forever grateful. If you haven't RSVP'd for the dinner the deadline for lower ticket prices is getting closer. So let us know today!

New Opportunities

We have just signed up with a new adoption group, which allows us to search additional states for our new family members. Once our application is approved we will be able to inquire on kids in several more states and allows additional case workers across the country to read our home study and possibly place the children they are currently trying to find a home for. As we found out earlier in the week this process can be difficult, but we will not give up! We will continue to press forward until we find the ones that belong in our family! We just want to thank you all for your continued support and remember if you haven't RSVP'd for the Spaghetti Dinner please do so. We would love to see all of you there on March 1st. Also don't forget that we will be having a silent auction at the dinner and so far we have restaurant certificates, photo sessions, gift sets, Boondocks tickets, Gift Certificate from Outer Beauty Salon, signed children's books, quilts, blankets and still working on more!!!!!

If at first you don't succeed......

Although are house is filled with much disappointment at this time we are pressing forward. When we started all of this we told ourselves that if it is meant to happen it will. Everything happens for a reason. We might not always like the way things turn out but we have to accept them. Do we give up? Absolutely NOT! We truly believe that there are kids out there just waiting for us. When the time is right it will happen. This is a learning and growing experience and we are truly grateful for all those that have been by our side. Because if at first you don't succeed, try try again. :)

Home Study Done :) but kids placed elsewhere:(

Well we passed the home study without issue. We have the fence finished around the pool, the beds ready, now we are ready for the kids. Unfortunately we learned today the children we have been trying to adopt were placed last week =( . So angry that the state couldn't have done their home study sooner (they still wont do theirs until Feb 22nd) so they could have been placed with us. So a bit of a emotional & frustrating week. We will be holding the spaghetti dinner and silent auction on March 1st to raise funds for fees for the children we do get to adopt. Any extra funds received will go to the Utah Foster Care Foundation to help the children looking for homes. Please let us know if you haven't already if you are coming to the dinner, so we can put together a head count. We have been receiving many items to auction off from a photo session to dinners to Boondocks tickets. If you have any contacts at please let us know and we will contact them. Thanks again to everyone for all your support I want to say a big THANKS to all those who have donated and offered your help & services to complete the adoption, we appreciate it more than we can express. ;

It's Official!!

We have officially scheduled our home study for next Monday the 28th. I thought this day would never come. :) So happy!! We have also scheduled our Spaghetti dinner/Silent Auction for March 1st. Things just seem to be falling into place today. Also this morning Todd spoke with someone about S&S and they are going to speak with their caseworker. She told us she would let them know we are extremely interested. So now what we need is a lot of help. If you can't donate $$ then please donate stuff to our auction or our Spaghetti dinner. We will need a lot of help with that. So keep us in your thoughts and prayers and keep those fingers crossed!

StReSs

I can officially say that I pretty much suck at waiting! I have no patience! It feels like it has been forever since anything has happened. Waiting for all this legal stuff is no fun. I try not to think about it 24/7 but it's hard. The days that I check the website for more info on these two kids, my heart aches. If they were to be adopted before we had the chance I would be crushed. :( I mean a part of me would be happy that they no longer have to be without a family but a huge part of me would be devastated because it wasn't our family. I know that everything happens for a reason and if it wasn't meant to be with these kids then it won't happen. I try to stay positive but some days it's hard. I almost don't want to look for fear of them being gone. We are hoping that the next week or so we can make some pretty good progress. Once again a big thanks to all those that have donated funds it has truly helped. We will be forever grateful. Remember the donate button is just to the right of this post! :) Look for our Spaghetti dinner to be coming in February! We are going to need a lot of HELP. Both with the food and with donations for the silent action. If you have a business or know of anyone that does and would be willing to donate items please contact us. If you would like to help with food please let us know. We are so lucky to have such great friends and family. We love all of you!

Still Waiting

Well we finally have been notified by the State of Utah that they have completed the background checks so we have tentatively scheduled our foster homestudy for late February.... We have finished putting in the posts for the fence around the pool and by the end of next week will have the fence completed (couldnt finish this week because of the snow storm). We should be scheduling the adoption homestudy within the next 3 weeks. We are hoping the kids we want to adopt will still be available by the time this part gets done!!!! Once the homestudy is done it could be anytime that we would be able to get the kids. We are so looking forward to that day. The only down side are all the fees associated with adoption. Depending on the kids and where they are located it could be as much as 10k per child (yikes)!!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The reason why?

Most of you are probably wondering why we want to adopt???? Well, let me tell you a little bit of the reason. I had Caitlin who I adore 100% and then I had tanner who I also adore 100%. Then Todd and I figured we had one of each so there really wasn't a reason to have anymore kids. In fact the doctor told me "Now that you have one of each you will have to shoot for colors next". hahahaha!! We never really saw a reason to have more. The day my brother passed away I spent most of it at the hospital from severe cramping where they discovered I had cysts on my ovaries. Time went by and I continued to have severe cramping and bleeding. After time I finally went back to the doctors and they did an ultrasound and discovered that I had Endometriosis and bloody cysts on my ovaries that were the size of grapefruits. That lead to my complete hysterectomy which did take care of all the problems. At the time our little family was great. We didn't feel the need to have anymore kids and we were happy. But as time went on it felt like something was missing. That something was more kids to love. Skip to today and that is the reason WHY we are adopting. We want to add to our little family and share all this love we have with some kids that have never had that chance to feel the love of a family. I hope that you all can support us in this adventure.

Getting Closer

We spoke with the agency about our home study and she said that we hopefully can get it completed after the ML holiday. That would be fantastic!! Of course I'm not going to hold my breath on anything, but that is as close as we have ever gotten. :) Today in the below 20 degrees temperature we are putting in fence posts. Can we just say not fun and COLD!! But it has to be done. Hope that the cement will at least dry. :) Also we are looking for a place to hold our Spaghetti Dinner. Does anyone know of a good place that would be cheap or even better FREE. :) Thanks again for all your support and don't forget the donate button just to the right.

2013

You could say that we make resolutions just to break them. So I don't usually make them. Why not have goals all year instead of waiting until a new year starts. But this year our family actually made a goal. I'm sure that most of you can guess what it is! :) But in case you are not sure let me fill you in. Our family goal for 2013 is to bring this 2 wonderful kids into our home. We are still on schedule and getting things taken care of. Each day brings us closer to the end. We would still LOVE all the support we can get. Don't forget there is a DONATE button on this blog for you to help out. Every little bit helps. We are also looking into doing a Spaghetti Dinner and some other fundraisers. So watch for those. Happy 2013 to all of you!!