First Homestudy Interview

To those who have been thinking about us and praying for us these last couple of days please know that we are so thankful and that we truly felt the support.

For those of you who didn't know (sorry I didn't do an extra post it was a very busy weekend) our home study was rescheduled from Friday, September 21st at 10:30 am to TODAY - Monday, September 24th at 10:00 am (day 63). I have explained in detail more about how our homestudy process will unfold. This was the first interview of four total that will take place.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience! Praise the Lord!

This morning David and I woke up and frantically ran around the house doing last minute things such as putting out some Fall decor that we had stored in the attic, sweeping over the floors again, making sure the bathrooms looked polished, dusting the blinds in our bedroom to name a few. By the time 10:00 rolled around we were both on the couch no doubt thinking about all the things we forgot to do or corners we hoped she wouldn't want to look in. However, at this point although our minds were racing we were sipping coffee on the couch watching The Price is Right. David looked at me and asked "are we ready?". I shrugged and nodded with apprehension.

April pulled in the drive-way right on time. We both took a big breath filled with anxiety while Maggie (the Chihuahua mix) barked incessantly to warn us of her arrival. Honestly the first things I noticed about April were that she seemed very friendly and she was wearing black capri pants. The pants might be an odd thing to notice, but we have two blond dogs and I immediately thought oh no any dog hair in our house is going to flock and stick to her. Yikes!

We all sat down. I offered for everyone to sit at our dining table, but April said "oh no no I'm not that formal". Whew. That sounded good. So we all sat down on the couches together. Maggie immediately jumped in her lap and made herself at home. We emphatically apologized. But, you could tell that April was a dog person. She loved Maggie and told us that she had a Golden Retriever and a cat and grew up around animals. Wow, that was so nice to hear. She then began telling us more about her story . . . she has two adopted children and they are both teenagers. So cool.

Conversation continued effortlessly for two hours. She asked a few "get to know you" questions and explained what we need to expect in the upcoming meetings. She walked around the house and complimented us on how nice it looked. We showed her the future nursery. The only thing we were missing was a fire extinguisher. So we will be sure to have one when she comes next time. Speaking of that  . . .

Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday - October 1st, day 70 (since we posted our first blog post).

We are so thankful that God paired us with April. We are looking forward to meeting with her again! Thank you again for all of your words of encouragement they mean so much to us.

On the paperwork side of things:
We have had our physicals.
We have collected copies of all paperwork needed.

We still need to be fingerprinted and submit for background checks. We are going to try and do that this week! Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Day 51

Today is the 51st day since the day we published our first blog post (July 24th). We feel like we have already accomplished quite a bit, although we are not naive to the fact that we have a long way to go!

We just found out yesterday that DAY 60 will be a BIG DAY for us! Our social worker called yesterday to set up a time for our first home study interview. This interview, as I explained more in detail in the previous post, will be one of four that will take place through the home study process.

Please be in prayer for us this week and next week as we prepare not only our house for the home study but also our hearts and minds. We know that it will be fine, that God is in control, and we are not so much scared, but very very anxious.

Day 60 - will be Friday, September 21 - the meeting time will be 10:30 am.

Remember as you continue through the week that what you focus on increases. . .  I will choose to focus on the good not the bad, the happy not the sad, the things I have instead of what I lack, my blessings not my struggles. God works all things together for good - I think it will be hard for us to recognize that if we are only focusing on the bad. Don't miss out!

Bring on the Paperwork Pile

Some updates  . . .  

We have finished answering all the family profile questions for Christian Adoption Consultants and emailed them. These 30 questions, over 12 pages of size 11 font typed, will be included in our family profile that birth mother's will see. It is personal information about who we are, how we were raised, what we enjoy doing, our plans for the future, etc. In essence a way for the birth mother to "get-to-know us". We are working on finishing compiling and labeling over 120 pictures for our family profile as well. 

Also, we have already heard back from Lifeline! They called to let us know that they received our application fee ($250), that all the initial paperwork looks great and we should be hearing from the local social worker in our area this upcoming week! So exciting! They also emailed us an extensive packet of information, questions and forms to be filled out. 

We knew this would be coming, but seeing it all in a 50 page packet to be printed out was still a little overwhelming. To give you a better idea, on the agenda for this week is the following:

1. go online to fill out paperwork to begin a background check on David and I (this can take up to 3 months to finish processing)

2. contact the police department about getting our fingerprints taken

3. going by the vet to obtain vaccination histories on all of our pets

4. schedule appointments with our doctor's for physical exams 

5. signing a couple of forms

6. working on some autobiographical information for the social worker

7. having copies compiled of 

          a. most recent tax return information (federal and state)

          b. most recent pay stubs

          c. medical/dental insurance cards

          d. driver's licenses

          e. each of our birth certificates

          f. current marriage license

Whew. One thing at a time. 

That is the paperwork side. The other side of the process is the actual in-home visits by the social worker. I've learned that different agencies may have slightly different processes, ours will proceed as follows:

1. The first interview is a home visit in which the social worker will address each of the qualifications for adoption.

2. The second and third interviews are individual interviews and are based on our autobiographies we provide. 

3. The third interview will focus on parenting philosophies and plans. Issues such as experience and exposure to children, the applicants' parenting received when they were children, values and discipline will be explored.

4. The fourth interview will focus on adoption education. We will discuss how to educate a child on his or her adoptive status, how to educate others, proper words and timing, books on adoption, inter-racial adoptions, contact with birth parents, background information on any prospective adopted child, and many other issues common to adoption. 

The overview is that we will have 4 separate in-home visits. We will not have the exact dates for these until we have spoken with the social worker. 

That is all the information we have for now! We are excited and I would be lying if I I didn't also add nervous! 

I thought I might share a little "perspective" from a wonderful book I'm reading (The Noticer by Andy Andrews). 

- Direct Excerpt from Chapter 1- 

Why does everyone think that when people say that 'God will put a person after His own heart where He wants him to be' . . .  that it means God will put them on a mountaintop or in a big house or at the front of the line?

"Think with me here . . . everybody wants to be on the mountaintop, but if you'll remember, mountaintops are rocky and cold. There is no growth on the top of a mountain. Sure, the view is great, but what's a view for? A view just gives us a glimpse of our next destination-our next target. But to hit that target, we must come off the mountain, go through the valley, and begin to climb the next slope. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life's next peak.

So here is to slogging through this week . . . looking forward to what good stuff I might be able to soak up!  What about you? 

Home Study Bound!!!

Our apologies for not posting this update sooner, but Labor day family gatherings, and the beginning of college football sort of got the best of us.

We just want everyone to know that we were able to send in our home study application last week, and now waiting for Lifeline to contact us to set up an appointment. We are a little anxious about this whole step in the adoption process, but we have faith that everything will be just fine. Nevertheless, please keep us in your prayers. We will be sure to update everyone as soon as we hear from the agency.

Keep checking out our blog for the big announcement of our next fundraiser.

Again.....Thank you everyone for the contributions. Everything helps!