SOMETIMES NO NEWS REALLY IS GOOD NEWS

NOT A LOT TO REPORT
Another two weeks have gone by since my last post and still not a lot has happened. However the little that has happened so far has been encouraging. Our social worker, Charles, is still waiting to hear from the social worker of the 10-year-old in Los Angeles we're asking about. Basically she told Charles she would call him on Monday (i.e. four days ago) to discuss the youth. Charles has told us that this is a very good sign. If she weren't considering us as a placement for him she wouldn't call Charles to discuss it, she would just say no. In a brief email to Charles she also wanted to make sure we were aware that the youth's sexual orientation has not become evident yet (she mentions this because it does say in our home study that we are looking to adopt a gay youth, although we recently decided to expand our search), and that if we proceed we would need to come down to LA a few times to meet with him before he moves to the Bay Area. Again, this is encouraging because she wouldn't say this if we weren't being considered. Lastly, she did send Charles another email on Thursday apologizing for not calling when she said she would and saying that it is no reflection on our candidacy. Now it's just a matter of waiting for her to actually call!

TIME TO VENT
Now that we've been getting some fairly encouraging news though, I find myself back where I was the last time we were waiting to hear about a youth that we were interested in and which ultimately fell through. I'm actually reluctant to post about this possible new match for fear that I may jinx it, or at least that I may be reprimanded by well-meaning friends for getting my hopes up too soon. But carrying it around with me without verbalizing these feelings is going to make me explode!

Basically, whenever we do anything these days I think about how it will be different when we have a child. Will he like to travel as much as we do, and what destinations will be of interest to everyone? What foods will he like and dislike, and how will it affect our eating and shopping habits? What activities will we enjoy doing together? And of course, when I think about us going on a vacation or a shopping trip or an afternoon in the city with our future son, I can't help but imagine it's the boy whose picture we saw on the foster care website. I am trying to keep this in check, at least until we have met him and have gotten the go-ahead from his social worker, but that is definitely easier said than done. That’s probably the main reason why waiting for his social worker to contact us is so difficult… if this is not going to work, then don’t string us along. Just get it over with, like pulling off a band-aid, so we (or more accurately, I) don’t get attached before we’ve even met!

Hopefully we will hear from Charles today and get some good news before the weekend!