We had our home visit almost two weeks ago and it went really well! We were excited to meet our social worker (Ms. A) as we have know a few other adoptive couples who have worked with her. The girls were very excited about the "special person" coming to our house! They were curious as to if she would bring us a baby and they both had requests regarding a baby. H told her that she needs a brother! M, on the other hand, was adamant about a girl baby. In fact, she told us that we could just get two babies--a boy and a girl. I think she's dreaming!! Ha!
The home visit basically consisted of talking about our own family experiences/marriage and a tour of our house. The girls were really excited when Ms. A asked if the girls would show her our house. It was neat for them to feel like they could "do" something so important.
The next step of our home study is to complete 10 hours of home work. We're reading the book pictured above: "The Connected Child"--or rather I am reading it out loud so Kurt make it throught he entire thing :). We've also watched a few documentaries and will do some online adoption training too. We hope to be done with the 10 hours later this week. Then, we'll scheudle our last visit (sans kiddos) to discuss our adoption questions and our parenting strategies. After that, our home study will be submitted for approval. Thankfully, all of our paperwork was correct--the only thing we needed were three signatures to be in ink and we've taken care of that!
We are also almost finished with our application to the adoption consulting agency and will probably submit that late next week! Hopefully, we will be active in a couple of weeks after that!!
I can never end these posts without saying that we are so thankful for God's sovereign provision! We've been blessed in a few big ways recently:
*Seeing our parents get excited about a new grandchild and the girls being keen to welcome a new little brother/sister is pretty great! The girls (every time I type "they girls" have Gru's voice from Despicable Me in my head!!) are talking about baby's room and all the things they can do with "the baby". H is also asking great questions about adopting and really seems to understand what we are telling her!
*Knowing friends and family are praying for us! I know this comforts me each day!
*Hearing positive affirmations like "when the baby comes" and seeing my mom making a sweet quilt for the baby--this helps my heart know that there is a real, tangible little one out there who will become a part of our family.
*Our sweet friends decided to include us in a babysitting fundraiser for Valentines Day! They are also adopting and we will be splitting the proceeds. We understand how special and selfless this is of them, and appreciate it greatly. It's been a huge blessing to see how so many couples from our church and other friends are not only participating, but also volunteering to babysit for 4 hours two nights in a row!!
*We're getting a tax refund! Hurrah! We thought we might have to pay taxes this year, but thankfully we'll get getting money back--money for our adoption!!
*After meeting at work, hubby found out that he's getting a bonus/raise that is greater than we thought! What a blessing that we will be able to use these funds towards our adoption costs! Because of this we can pay for our agency fee and have a head start on saving for our next goal.
Thank you for following our journey! I'll update again soon!
~Pippy
