I want to thank all of you for your wonderful words of encouragement, support and congratulations. I cannot tell you how happy you made me. You also gave me some great advice! I have started checking out some of the sites you mentioned.
I will confess that you planted a dangerous thought in my mind. The registry. S and I would never, ever start a registry for a foster child, it would feel way too weird, for us anyway. Hello, please buy us stuff for a child who may never come to live here. Oy.
But, I will admit that the fun of choosing all those wonderful clothes, gadgets and things sounded wonderful to me. It did occur to me that we may never have a chance to register for our own child. We might never have that experience. I was suddenly really, really sad. However, thanks to the miracle of the internet, I was able to have that experience, even if I felt like a big freaking fraud doing it. Please don’t think I am nuts, I just felt like I had to do it.
I went to a website and made a nifty little faux registry. I told myself it was a “shopping list” not a registry so I didn’t feel so loserish. I had a lot of fun, got a taste of baby registering and only teared up once or twice. I did tell S about it and she, surprisingly, didn’t think I was nuts. She did chuckle a bit though.
I guess you could say it was therapeutic. My apologies to a certain store for wasting valuable space on their site all so I could feel like a real mom for a few minutes.
Thank you again for being such amazing women. You are always in my thoughts and prayers.
i think it’s perfectly fine to allow yourself to get excited and plan a “faux registry”!
and, whether or not a foster child ever becomes legally yours, you *will be* a real mom. the mothering you will contribute to these children’s lives is invaluable. dont discount that.
I have been horrible at commenting but I want to add my congratulations and happiness for you both on passing the home study. I hope that when a child does come into your home, even if it is a “shower” shower people in your life will give you tons of support and presents. Until then please know I certianly do not think you a fraud for making a registry. xo L