Home Study Visit...Check!!!

Home Study Visit…Check!!!

Today was a big day. Our social worker came to our house and did our home study visit. This is a HUGE milestone in our adoption journey. In case you aren’t familiar with what this is, a social worker comes to your house with a big long checklist of things you need to have in your home and makes sure your living environment is suitable to welcome a baby into. Some things on the list are: working fire alarms/carbon monoxide detectors, locked up medication, first aid kit, all cleaning supplies moved to a location that a child can’t reach, fire drill evacuation practiced, evacuation plan posted in the house, etc (the list is 2 pages long). The social worker also interviews the family and stays for a good portion of the day to watch your family in action. After the visit, they write a detailed report that decided if you are approved for adoption or not. A home study report is the foundation of an adoption. This is the cliff note version of what a home study visit is.

When our social worker arrived, she immediately complimented our flowers in our flowerpots (which I appreciated LOL), so we stood outside talking about flowers for a little bit. I would imagine that this is the equivalent of discussing the weather. Either way, I liked the compliment and it started some good conversation. We invited her in, had a little bit of small talk, and then jumped right in to the home study. We started out by giving her a tour of our house and showing her many items on the checklist. Once the tour was done, she met with all of us as a family for about 30 minutes. Then she asked Jacob if he would be okay to go play in his room while she talked to Ryan and I together. By this time, many of our nerves had subsided. We realized that this situation wasn’t nearly as intense as we thought it would be. She talked to Ryan and I for about 45 minutes and then asked to talk to me alone. We talked and I answered questions for a little while. Then, she met individually with Ryan and Jacob and they did the same. Conversation flowed easily with her and I was so thankful for that. I don’t think any of us felt nervous or put on the spot when talking to her. After she met with each of us, we came back together as a family. We filled out paperwork and signed a bunch of documents. Our social worker went on to tell us that she is only requiring us to have this one home visit. SO AWESOME! She said we should have our home study report within a couple of weeks (this can sometimes take a month or longer to get, so this was amazing news). Once we have our home study report and once our funding is in place, we can start applying to agencies to be matched! This portion is all happening a lot faster than we expected, which is wonderful.

There was a moment today when Ryan, Jacob, and I were sitting on the couch together and I was listening to them talk about our life and our family and I just couldn’t have been more proud of the two of them. Proud of their confidence, love, and devotion to our little family. It’s not everyday that we get to stop everything and reflect on what an amazing life we have. Today we got that chance. As the day winds down, my heart is full. We are one step closer to bringing our baby home.

Puzzle Update

Week 8

 $9,100

We are almost to our $10,000 goal

I promise to post pictures soon of our added puzzle pieces. This has been a very busy week. Pictures will be in the next update.

(if you would like to make a donation, click the “donate” button on the top right hand corner of our blog. If you would like to learn more about our fundraiser, see our March 30^th post “Adoption Announcement”)

Home Study #1 is Scheduled

Home Study Scheduled

Just wanted to give a quick update that our home study has been scheduled for this upcoming Thursday. This is one of two that our social worker will do before she writes her report. We will keep you all posted as to how it goes. We are nervous and excited, so keep us in your thoughts this week. I usually update our blog on Sundays, but I will probably post an update as to how our home study went on Thursday evening. Stay Tuned!

Puzzle Update

Week 7 Update

$9, 080

We are so close to our $10,000 goal

Pictures of puzzle pieces from this week will be posted next week

(if you would like to make a donation, click the donate button at the upper right hand corner of our blog. To learn more about our fundraiser, see our March 30^th post “Adoption Announcement”)

Mother's Day

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is always a little bit bittersweet for me. On the positive side, I am beyond blessed to have the most incredible mom in the world. She has always been an example of what selfless and unconditional love looks like. She is courageous, an absolute inspiration, and is easily the best grandma to her grandkids (in our biased opinion). I am so lucky to be able to hug her, spend time with her, talk to her on the phone almost every day, and laugh with her. I also have been blessed beyond words with a little boy that has changed every aspect of how I live my life. He isn’t my biological son, but I sure love him like he is. I love being Jacob’s step mom. He brings so much joy to my life and I can only hope that I make him feel the same. Mother’s Day is also, however, a day that I am reminded of the struggles I have faced in becoming a mom. I hope and pray that I get to look back on this post next Mother’s Day with a baby in my arms that calls me “mom.”  Until then, I will continue to focus on the many many MANY blessings in my life.

We are still “anxiously” waiting for our home study date.

Puzzle Update

Week 6

$9,000

WE ARE $1,000 FROM OUR GOAL…SO INCREDIBLE!

(If you would like to make a donation, click the donate button on the top right side of our blog. If you would like to learn more about our fundraiser and our adoption story, please see our March 30 post)

Patiently Waiting

Snooze Button

This past week has been pretty uneventful. We still haven’t heard from our social worker about a home study date, but we have been told that it can be close to a month before receiving the date. Until then, we wait patiently and take the extra time to practice our fire drill.

We are also still working with our consultant as she pieces together our family portfolio photo book. This is the book that is given to birth moms to look at. The written portion is complete and the majority of the photos are in place, but we are still searching our pictures for several more active/candid photos of Ryan by himself, me by myself, and/or Ryan and I together (again candid/active). If any of you have any pictures like that of us, please send them our way.

Puzzle Update

Total after week 5

$7,820

We are getting so close to our $10,000 goal. Thank you all so much!

(if you would like to donate and become a piece(s) of our puzzle, please click the “donate” button on the top right side of our blog. To learn more about our fundraiser, see our March 30^th post “Adoption Announcement”)