And still waiting. . .

Well, we heard from our social worker at the agency today and she has finished writing our homestudy. But, we STILL have not gotten back darling hubby's background check!!!! The agency was checking into this weeks ago and told us it was done, but they still don't have the results in the mail. Good grief! We submitted the fingerprints at the beginning of the year - first set in January and again in February. This is just ridiculous!!

Unfortunately, the agency can't technically approve us and put us on the waitlist until the background check is in hand because the info has to be written into the homestudy. Whatever. So, we continue to wait.

In other news, we got the rest of the interior of our house painted. It came out really pretty and I was pleased with the color selections we made. The nursery is epecially cute - the color is Recycled Glass by Sherwin-Williams. It goes well with the nursery decorations I've picked out so far. We also got our concrete pathway installed on the side of the house. The price for the job was great, but they pretty much wrecked all of our weed barrier in the area around the path. So, all of that needs to be redone and then we have to move the river rock back into those spots. Hurray for manual labor!

I'm looking forward to having our house "done." All that's left (for this year) is to get the concrete landscape borders done in the front and then I need to make the curtains for our family room. That should keep me out of trouble for a week, at least!

And I'm starting to get the urge to buy baby stuff. It's such an odd impulse - the compulsive planner in me wants to get everything ready as soon as possible, but another part of me wants to put it off as long as reasonable possible. Maybe that's why I'm coming up with all this stuff to do around the house. Hmmmmm. . .

That's all for now, folks. Oh, and I can't forget a shout-out to my (sorta) niece Megan who is turning 7 tomorrow!!

If you like a Frosty, please stop by Wendy's on Saturday, June 20th, or Sunday, June 21st, to enjoy one this weekend. When you do, Wendy's will donate 50 cents for each Frosty purchased to help kids in foster care.

Still waiting. But that's OK. . .

No news yet on the homestudy approval. We finished up the last of the interviews in May and all went smoothly. Hubby's background check FINALLY came back, but my Mom's is missing in action. Now they'll just have to do the old-fashioned name check because we've already sent in fingerprints for my Mom twice. Hopefully, this won't drag out the process. Honestly - a more than four month turnaround for a background check?? Ridonkulous!

I actually did buy some baby stuff the other day. We are going with the Carter's Forest Friends theme for the nursery. We thought it was really cute and had the added bonus of being gender-neutral. I really hadn't planned on buying any of this type of thing before the homestudy was done. But, we are getting the entire house (interior) painted this week and I wanted to make sure I picked a matching color for the nursery. So, I bought the crib set, valances, a lamp, and some wall decals. The first $300 of many thousands I am sure I will spend on gear once I have that homestudy approval in my hot little hands!

I also finished our adoption profile book - and I'm quite happy with the result. I bought 1 copy of the version I had completed so that I could see what the actual product looked like. I am glad I did this - while it was beautiful, I definitely found a few things to improve on text layouts for easier reading and better flow of the background colors on the pages. I am probably going way overboard on this silly book, but it keeps me busy and is the only thing the birthparents may see to make a decision about entrusting us with their child. Now I need to order 10 more copies for distribution to the agency and our attorney. Luckily, they are on sale 20% off!

I've decided to expand this little blog somewhat to start incorporating some helpful stuff for other adoptive parents. We've noticed more traffic on the Nest/Bump Adoption page and I'd like to help out other folks looking for information if they happen across my little corner of the web.

Shooting for mid-June approval. . .

We had the second of our joint interviews with the SW today and all went smoothly. So far, the interview process has been fairly painless. The conversations with the SW have been low-key - just getting to know about us as individuals and as a couple. SW is pretty good at identifying areas she thinks might be difficult for us (adjusting to sleep deprivation, etc.) and gave us some advice for books and resources on a few topics.

We also scheduled our last interview!!! We are really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with this process. Allowing time for the SW to write our homestudy, then another meeting to go over it with us, we should be officially waiting sometime in June. I was really worried that hubby's impromptu trip to Scotland tomorrow was going to hold up the presses, but it all seems to be working out.

Which is great, because I have a TON of stuff I want to get done around the house. I've already gotten one quote for painting the rest of the interior and have another scheduled next week. We also need to get some concrete work done in the front yard (landscape edging and a new pathway from the driveway to our backyard), so I have contractors coming out to bid that stuff, too.

After the house projects are done, I think I might start working on preparing for a baby. That sounds so weird and distant, but I probably need to start thinking about having at least some stuff ready in case we get "the call." We've also decided to cloth diaper - instead of using disposables. I'm not sure how well it will go, but I want to give this a legitimate effort. I'm hoping to build up a nice little collection of diapers and supplies while I have some time to kill. Luckily, lots of gals on The Nest have given me some great advice and websites to check out for ideas.

I've been really encouraged by all the happy endings for my sisters on the Web - The Nesties saw a number of placements in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully, it's just a matter of time for us, too.

Homestudy Visit Numero Uno

We had our first visit last Monday afternoon and it went really well. Our SW was very sweet and commented on how nice the house looked - and that she hoped I hadn't spent hours cleaning for the visit (of course I did).

She did a walk-through of the house, including each bedroom and the basement. She was mostly looking for overt hazards and making sure we knew what to baby-proof in the future. She checked carefully for fire extinguishers and smoke alarms (which we also tested for her to see if they worked) and exit locations. Luckily, Colorado uses a standard form for the home safety inspection that we had ahead of time - so we knew what to prepare for.

The second part of the visit was the first joint interview of 3 that we need to do (we also do 2 individual interviews). The questions were pretty much what a lot of us here have heard about in the past: describe your infertility, what interventions did you try, how have you grieved your infertility, etc. Usually I can talk about our IF without getting too emotional, but I did break down when I had to list out the dates of the MC. I kept 2 small date books (over 2 years) with all my cycle info and had to pull them out to give her the dates. For some reason, this was really hard and I started crying - but SW was very understanding and kind about it.

She also asked us about each other; what are our strengths and weaknesses were, how we met, and other relationship-type stuff. Overall, it was pretty straightforward and it didn't seem like the goal was to grill us - just get to know us.

Luckily, we were able to schedule our next round of interviews, so it looks like we'll have the homestudy in hand by the end of May. Which means we might be ready to accept a placement by June! We're still waiting to hear back on some fingerprinting (this takes soooo long!) and our neighbor reference (a whole other story).

Interestingly, the individual interviews are scheduled back-to-back and we can't talk to each other in between. I can't wait to see what those questions are like!

Frustrating week. . .

Ughhh. Let's rundown the sucky goings on of the last few days:

1. Adoption agency STILL doesn't have my employment verification. Or my neighbor reference. I gave them the contact info again for my HR department - and a fax number for my neighbor over 2 weeks ago. This week I find out that they can't fax the reference form (for confidentiality reasons - and could they e-mail it? Fine. So I call my poor neighbor again to get even more personal info from her. Sheesh. I think the only reason my neighbor has been so patient with this process is because she is adopted. And I can't explain why my HR rep still has gotten a fax about the employment verification. I know the agency is busy and had some staff changes, but I'm really starting to get frustrated with these paperwork issues. I just want it to be done with already.

2. The pressure regulator valve in the house crapped out late last week. So the pipes were making this horrible "singing" noise every time you flushed or turned on the water. Great. Luckily, I found a nice local plumber who only charged me $210 to replace it. I had other quotes up to $500. Seriously? It took this guy 20 minutes to swap out a $50 plumbing part - where do these other yahoos get the nerve to quote me 500 bucks??

3. The other day I go down into the basement to grab a frozen meal to take to work - and find a foot long puddle of chicken-smelling juice running out of my freezer. Oh happy day. So, I cleaned up the liquid, open the freezer and find everything in it thawed and mushy. Probably $600 - 800 worth of food. Fabulous. Darling hubby was kind enough to empty and clean out the thing that night. Fast forward to today - I go down to make sure it's not to stinky inside the freezer and open the door to a warm interior. I was kicking myself yesterday, thinking I hadn't shut the thing properly on Tuesday, therefore prompting the Big Thaw. Turns out the dang thing is just busted in general. I guess the compressor or something on it died. So, not only do I get to spend hundreds of dollars replacing the food, I also get to fork out for a repair or a new freezer.

Sorry to gripe, but I hate when stuff piles on like this. I know we are very fortunate to afford the repairs (unlike many families now) and losing the food doesn't mean my family eats ramen for the next 3 weeks. I think the adoption delays are just really getting to me and the other stuff just sent me over the edge.

Oh well, next week will be better. Homestudy interview #1 is Monday afternoon, so I will spend that day tidying the house and getting ready for that. I'm not looking forward to the personal questions I know they will be asking, but it's progress and puts us closer to becoming parents.

I was watching Adoption Stories today and the episode featured a lesbian couple who had a son through foster-to-adopt. They showed their Gotcha Day at the courthouse and I bawled. Like sobbing - no kidding. All I could think about was how that might be hubby and I someday.

I can't wait.

Homestudy begins!!!!!

We were finally able to make our first official homestudy interview appointment. Hurray for forward motion!!

Our meeting is on April 27th and will include the safety inspection for the house. I had a service come through and give us a once-over of all the stuff we need to do to childproof. It's a long list. I found a bunch of the stuff (outlet covers, rubber door stops, etc.) online, but custom baby gates and fire safety ladders are going to be pricey. I'm sure we could buy cheaper alternatives, but custom-made and -installed stuff will look much nicer. I know as a parent you chouldn't care so much about the aesthetics of your house, but. . .I do. So be it.

The adoption worker told us to plan for about 2.5 hours of interview time - and this is just one of 5 meetings. I'm a little nervous to discuss some of the intimate details of my family. Hubby and I are pretty healthy and well-adjusted (at least we think we are), but both of us have issues in our extended family. Oh well, I guess pretty much every family is touched by violence, mental health issues, or drug use in some way or another. I'm just not looking forward to hashing it over with a relative stranger. Another mild invasion/injustice in the interest of becoming a parent - one that biological parents never really have to go through. Lord, give me strength.

Hubby and I are going to go to Las Vegas in May - our one and only real vacation this year. It's just for three days, but we're going to stay at the new Palazzo resort (right next to the Venetian) and see some shows. I love staying in hotels - and I love me some Vegas. We haven't been there in close to a year and can't wait to go back. Always a good time - great food, cool entertainment, and watching hubby throw some dice!

All else in life is quiet. Been working out a bit, so I'm happy to be getting some exercise. I bought those Turbo Jam videos - I know, so cheesy - and they are a surprisingly fun workout. The moves are a little complicated at first, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly.

I also finished reading The Shack. Pretty moving stuff - I see why it's been such a success. It really helped me understand the nature of our relationship with God. Or at least the writer's interpretation of our relationship with God. I really like the idea that we are so loved and that Jesus' existence was a gift for us - so that we could find our way back to a loving relationship with God.

I hope that hubby and I can teach our child this philosophy. I see a lot of people who use Christianity as a sword to fight or judge their fellow man - and that ain't what we're here for. It's not my place to judge others for their choices. I'm not saying that people should run amok and murder and steal - those are sins and sin has its consequences. But I refuse to believe that God wants me to hold my fellow man in contempt for their personal choices - especially ones that don't directly affect me. My responsibility as a Christian is to try and love and forgive my fellow man for what they perpetrate against me. A tall order to be sure, but I'm trying.