Home Study Draft

Yay! Today we received a draft of the write-up for our home study, and it was encouraging to read what our social worker, friends, and employers have said about us as individuals, about our marriage, and about our qualifications to be good parents. We will edit for factual errors (like being called Scott and Ruth Anne in several places) and send it back. There are funny physical descriptions of us both. Stan is "pale", and I'm "big-boned." At least we're not pasty and pudgy.

Don't forget about our yard sale OCTOBER 9. We need traffic, and we need donated items. :-)

Update

This week, I did the last of my medical tests (TB, HIV, drug screening) and wrote a baby care plan with Stan for the organization of the nursery (no, really). We met with a counselor so that he could make a recommendation about Stan's ability to be the primary caregiver (no, really) since that's how it will work if we adopt soon. I'll get the TB test checked on Wednesday and then send in the care plan. Once my doctor faxes in my test results and the counselor mails the recommendation letter, our social worker will drop those things into our home study document, which she has already written. She sends it to us, we look over it and give any clarification needed, and she then sends it to the state director. We are officially approved and then become a "waiting family."

We have been told to expect to go through this process again in 18 months.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE FUNDRAISER YARD SALE ON OCTOBER 2!!! IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE, LET ME KNOW!!

Adoption Fundraiser!

We will be having an adoption fundraiser yard sale on Saturday, October 2. If you would like to contribute anything--DVD's and toys sell particularly well--call Stan (707-1577) or Angie (337-1181), and one of us will come over and pick up your stuff. If you would rather bring it over yourself, feel free!

Tired, Tired, Tired

I had a dream last night that we adopted a one-inch child who was rather undernourished. We kept losing her! One time, I made up the bed and accidentally flung her off the bedspread. Days later, I finally found her under the bed. She was so dried up (much like a contact) that I decided to put her in water. Like a sponge toy, she blew up into a full-grown child once she was full of water. Oh yeah, and SHE became a HE. And the HE had a tail like a T-rex. Analyze that, baby.

I'm going to stop saying, "We only have one more thing to do!" It never seems to be true. Just today I was asked for an interpretation of our lead paint test results, a TB test, and an HIV test.

One Last Thing

The last two items we had to complete were a work history for Stan and the paperwork on lead testing for our home. The lead test, of course, came back positive but only slightly. The paint on one old sliding glass door tested positive. The other thing we have been asked to do is have a counselor sign off saying that we can handle the stress of having a newborn. We have an appointment on Tuesday at 4:00 for that. The Bethany director for North Carolina told our social worker that we'll be approved as soon as that last bit of paperwork is done.