Monday of this week we passed the final hurdle in our preparations for foster parenting - the final walk-through of our home to ensure safety standards, the completion of our home study report and confirmation that we have completed all necessary paperwork to send to the State. We were told that the State will issue us a license within 30 days - so that is how much time to have to finish preparing the room we will use for foster children. We still need at least one more bed and need curtains on the windows. Ok. 30 days. Sounds good.

Two days later we got a call from the agency saying that they had 4 siblings that need a foster home. Are we interested?!

Whoa!

We don't have a license yet, so there must be some mistake. No mistake. If you are willing to accept this placement, the State will expedite the process and grant you an immediate license.

4 siblings. A 5-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and 3-year-old twins (boy and girl).

We said no.

We aren't ready yet.

And we don't have room for 4 even if we were "ready." Our van's capacity would only allow us to take in 3 foster children at a time.

We said no.

Yet our hearts so want to say yes.

We're praying for a home for those siblings. Praying that a home can be found where they can stay together, to not be separated from each other during an already hard time.

There are likely 2 reasons why we were contacted to consider taking this group in. First, we have said that we will take sibling groups. Many families state on their home study that they will only accept 1 foster child. No sibling groups. Period. We stated clearly that we would consider any sibling groups. Secondly, we have the room to accept as many as 6 foster children, based on the square footage of our home / the large room we're using for foster kids.

But we're not ready at this point for even one. We thought we had 30 days.

We will work diligently this weekend to get ready so that if we get a call next week, we just might be able to say yes as our hearts so desire to!