Coming Up For Air

Homestudy Hell is getting a little better...in that, even though we're not actually done, we can at least see the finish line. Whew! Fantastic! We were so excited to be almost done that we decided to take a break and do something fun today, which ended up being us spending the day hanging out with my aunt, uncle and cousin who are visiting from Florida. The day was filled with great food (sushi), and shopping and chatting and just good ole fun with family.

Today was also my mom's birthday, but she and my dad are celebrating in the Caribbean, so Tony and I called her at the stroke of midnight - yes, my family is crazy like that, to sing her the Happy Birthday song; plus we chatted with them several times throughout the day to make sure that mom was having a great time.  (Happy Birthday Mommy!)

Tomorrow morning we head out to an early service at church since there is no evening service this Sunday because of Halloween, and then back to the homestudy grind... But that's okay, 'cause we're almost done and it feels good.    :o)

Wordless Wednesday...

Dedicated To The Infamous HOMESTUDY!



Day 1:    We Sized Up The Job

Days 2 & 3:    We Took A Stab At It

Day 4:   I Seem To Have Lost My Husband....

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P.I.P. Workshop Weekend

Today was a great adventure, and very very informative.  It was our first parenting in process workshop, required by our agency in order to be eligible for homestudy submission.  

We were a little worried that the location of the workshop was 2 hours away from our home (we didn’t want to be late), but even having to leave home just after 7:30 on a Saturday morning couldn’t bring us down – we were excited at the thought of taking one more step forward.

And during this lovely Fall day we began our P.I.P program.  

The workshop was hosted by a social worker who has been working with our agency for almost a decade.   There were 10 couples in attendance - each at various points of the 2^nd or middle stage of their adoption process, within various programs:  Korea, Ethiopia, India, and China.  And each couple made very valuable contributions to the workshop.   Tony and I even ended up chatting with the social worker for a few minutes after everyone left, expounding on many of the topics of the day.  She was really awesome!

I wish I could write more about this weekend as the workshop was amazing!   Unfortunately I don’t believe I should.  There were some very poignant moments brought about by various exercises, and to reveal any of them here would be to deny other future adoptive parents an opportunity to freshly experience the awakening that may come from being “in the moment” during their own workshop event.   …But (I'll say it again) we did have a blast, and saw many couples (including the two of us) walk away with their eyes newly opened to how richly rewarding an adoption can be to all involved.

Welcome Call

Wow, what a day!   I couldn't believe I would feel so excited after our welcome call.  I thought it would simply be pro forma, you know...  Hi, welcome to the program, lots of paper work ahead, yadda, yadda, yadda....  But instead we had this warm in depth emotional 90 minute conversation touching on many aspects of our lives, the adoption process, our expectations, reality checks, and so much more.

Our director is amazing!  I even told her so...lol.   She spoke with the right touch of warmth, confidence, and authority, and seemed to be extremely patient and approachable, which is good because I had a lot of questions.

The most exciting news of the day for us was that we were given permission to immediately begin our PIP (Parents in Process) training - a series of 5 parenting classes required for the completion of many of Holt's adoption programs.  We're actually starting day after tomorrow.   How fun!  And we're so grateful that the director was able to squeeze us into this week's class, because apparently the next available start date for us would have been mid-December or January, and that would only have delayed our timeline.

I guess I need to go print out our Module Handouts and Worksheets so that we're ready for Saturday.

The journey has officially begun, and our entire family couldn't be more excited.  God is so good!

Moving Things Around

So we spent the day looking at our home through new eyes - the eyes of expectant parents, and we suddenly realized that we need to start getting this house ready for a baby.... because believe me, right now, it isn't!   Why?   We have got a lot of crap!   And much of this stuff needs to be moved around (or moved out) by the time a social worker gets here.  

Our home is a lovely bungalow with the entire top floor dedicated to the master suite, with living, dining, guest rooms and den on the main floor, and a home office in the basement.   Problem is that we can't have the master bedroom and baby room on different floors;  so in comes our contractor and off we go stomping around the house with a measuring tape, paper and pencil, and our wonderful imaginations...working on a better plan for the future.  

Several great ideas later we finally settle down with a plan to review all of them and call the contractor with our decision in a few days.  Either way its beginning to look like we'll be losing our huge master bedroom, but we don't care...   We're preparing for a baby!!!

Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock

Hurry up and wait.


Okay so I am getting a little anxious.  I know I know...we've been going back and forth at this for almost 2 years and now it hasn't even been 2 weeks; but we haven't heard from the adoption agency with our welcome call yet and it feels like time is just crawling.  We did confirm that they received the document package a few days after mailing.   ...And the agency worker did say that it will take a few weeks before we hear back from them regarding our social worker and PIP classes...  but still.  
 

This waiting period is beginning to feel like torture!
    *sigh*        ...and we still have a long way to go (...lol)
  
To pass the time I've been reading lots and lots of adoption blogs;  mostly by Korean adoptive parents, but a few from China and Guatemala as well.   Great info!  Really great info out there, and I'm soooo grateful to all adoptive parents who freely share such personal information with the rest of us every day.  Their stories fill me with such hope and expectation.

Official Application

(Fast forward to many months later....)


Wow, that was a LOT of paperwork, and from reading other blogs and forums I guess it only gets worse (the paperwork, that is...)   But it will all be worth it once we have our little babahs in our arms.   

Hmmmmm....Did I mention that we requested multiples (as in two or more) if at all possible?   Yep....kind of a little scary. 

Research......Done!
Adoption Workshops.....Done!
Pre-Application.....Done!
Switching from Kaz to Korea....Done!
2nd Pre-Application.....Done!
Official Application......Done!

Only 10,000 more steps to go.   *sigh*