Public speaking

I hate talking in front of a bunch of people. Id almost rather stick needles in my eyes. So, I was hoping the hub would say no when I told him our worker asked us to speak to the new class of adoption/foster hopefulls. Is that a word, "hopefulls"? It is now, petes sakes. Anyway, he said, "yes, I think we should do it". Rats. Well, he did the majority of the talking. I was shocked at myself, but I actually spoke. A few times.

We talked about the importance of being "ready" when matched with kids. We werent. We thought surely we would not get chosen at our first committee. Well, I did. The hub knew these were our kids. He KNEW. I should have believed him too. He did know something was going to happen on Sept. 11, he said so on Sept 10. He said, "be careful driving to work tomorrow, I have a terrible feeling". Seriously, that happened. Not that Im likening our experience with the kids to Sept. 11 or anything, so just stop it.

What was I talking about? Oh, yeah...we told the class that many people we know have been waiting more than a year to matched, and have gone to countless committees, and still have not been chosen for reasons unknown to anyone.

So, we told the good and the bad. We warned about worker visits after the kids are moved in and how these visits always make the kids act up. Remember, workers have meant another move, to many of these kids. So, they are freaked out. The first worker visit with our kids, had my daughter hanging from the banister and my youngest son laying on the floor with his feet in the air, spanking his own bottom and they were all talking baby talk. It was a bit unnerving to say the least.

It went well, our worker was happy with our talk. We also pleaded for respite care. We told the new people that it would look good at committee to have experience providing respite to three kids. Its true to, especially if they dont have any child experience, this would be a SMART thing for them to do. No takers yet, darn it.

We also brought our family book, at the workers request as an example for what one should be like. Which is awesome, Im extremely proud of my family book. If you dont know what a family book is, its the book that will help sell your family at committee. It should have pictures of everybody and various parts of your home, like the kids rooms, etc and pets and all activities such as vacations or any family fun. We also included pictures of the community stuff like the park, the aquatic center, the schools, etc. Also, use PowerPoint, it is awesome when doing a family book, because you can add cool little graphics to your pages instead of going to the store and searching for and then buying stickers. It will save gas, its lovely.

Anyway, Im glad we did it. I hope someone calls us soon.