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.

Been a while. . .

But we've made some decent progress in recent weeks! Our paperwork for the adoption agency is essentially done. Hubby is dropping off a last few items at their office tomorrow. I'm in the final throes of finishing our "Dear Expectant Parents" letter and profile book. I finally got some pics of hubby coaching - which I REALLY wanted to include in the profile because it's such a big part of his life. The book just wouldn't have felt complete without them.

Our good friends took some "family" pics of hubby and I at a local park last week - and Maggie (our dog) was even in some of them. I hope they come out decent - I'd love to have at least 2 or 3 to add to the mix of photos I already have.

Now we just wait for the agency. I e-mailed our new adoption worker earlier this week, but didn't get any response from her on where we are with moving towards some interviews. Hubby will be at their office tomorrow, so, hopefully, this will jog her memory to review our file and check in with me.

I was really hoping to be waiting for a placement by now - but our progress has really slowed. We completed our adoption training last week, so I'm feeling ready to move forward. But the agency had some personnel changes and I think the change in workflow is affecting our homestudy. I have to admit, seeing 4 other families at the training took a little wind out of my sails. They were all about where we are in the process, so it seems like the agency has a lot of homestudy work to do in the near future.

I know I need to be patient - there's probably no sense in getting worked up over a few weeks of delay when we'll probably be waiting for a placement between 6 months to a year. But I've gotten so much done recently, and I'm antsy to get the formalities over with. I have lots of projects around the house and yard to keep me busy while we are waiting, but I need to clear this process off the to-do list before I dive into some of those tasks.

I keep trying to remember Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. This whole process isn't up to us - we just have to trust that God has a timeline for this that will be revealed in good time.

For those of you who want to, feel free to pray for us that this process moves swiftly and positively. We'd really like to bring a baby home in 2009!!!

Wow - interesting. . .

This sounds sooo stupid, but. . . I think this adoption thing is really going to happen! We've had some actual progress with our application. Over the weekend, we took a Baby Care class at the local hospital. Tons of good info, but SIDS = SCARY!! How do parents sleep at night without worrying about all the horrible crap that could happen to your baby? I guess you just do what you can - and then let it go.

We do our formal adoption training this Saturday and next Tuesday. I'm excited to get this done for two reasons: I'm interested in the info and I want to meet some other families. We met another couple (who had just gotten a placement with a newborn) in our Baby class and I was surprised at how happy I was for them! I know that sounds kind of douche-y, but it's hard not to view other prospective adoptive parents as competition. Crappy, yes. Honest, absolutely.

But like I said, I was genuinely happy for them. What a neat thing to see others have their dream come true. Either I'm maturing, or this church-going is really starting to change me.

Speaking of church-going, I'm starting to dig this. A lot. I'm not on board with all of the concepts (sorry, I believe carbon-dating is accurate and dinosaurs did exist), but I'm really trying to get a better understanding of the Bible. I don't think I'll ever agree with the fundamentalist concept of the Bible as basis for a worldview, but I definitely think its teachings can show us a better way to live. Not the only way to live - but a better way for me. Sometimes church is difficult because I'm not always confident that I am surrounded by others who view things the way I do. But, I do feel welcome there and my bible study efforts are helping me to make better choices about things in everyday life. Nothing earth-shattering, mind you. Mostly about letting go of my selfishness and thinking more about what I can do for the world - and less about what the world can do for me.

And here's something interesting - a friend of ours called tonight and mentioned she has a friend doing cradle care for a newborn. Who needs a family. I guess the birthmom is working with an agency (not ours) who is trying to gather some families to present to her. I don't have the gut feeling that this is our baby. But it's really encouraging to know that, someday, we will get the phone call that makes us parents. Either way, I contacted our attorney to get his take on the situation. . .

I will keep you all posted.

The Federal Adoption Tax credit is a huge help when it comes to the cost of adoption. This year the 2009 Federal Adoption Tax credit is $12,150 but the tax credit is set to expire in December 2010 unless Congress votes to continue it.

The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009, H.R. 213 will keep the adoption tax credit from being expiring.

Please take a moment today to email or call your senators and congressmen:

Write your U.S. Representative

Write your U.S. Senator

Going to church tonight. . .

For an adoption support group meeting. We are still really early in the adoption process, so I'm not even sure what we'll get out of the meeting. I guess I'm worried that everyone there will have already adopted and this will be more of a "parenting an adopted child" thing. But, it might be a good place to ask some other people about their experiences, so I'm trying to keep an open mind.

I dropped off the bulk of our application paperwork (along with a substantial check) at our agency last week. I haven't heard from them, but I'm not sure that's anything to worry about. I suppose when they are ready to schedule interviews and what-not, they will find us. Best case scenario for us would probably be a late-March or early-April homestudy approval and then we begin waiting from there.

I meet with our attorney on Monday to start working on our profile that the birthmothers will look at. I have absolutely no idea what this thing will look like for us. We saw a handful of other profiles at the agency and I couldn't get over how many pictures they had in them of family and friends. Ed and I are close to our families and have a lot of friends, but we're not picture-takers by nature and don't have this type of stuff. I know what I want to say in the profile, but I hope I can cobble together enough pictures to make it look decent. At this point, our profile will mostly look like a vacation album since that's all we really have for pictures. Oh well, I guess we'll deal with that later.

So, that's where we're at this week. I had lunch with a friend I've known since childhood today and it was so great to see her! She was recently made partner in her law firm; I'm so proud of all she has accomplished. Plus, I got to try a restaurant I'd never been to before and it was really tasty. All in all a good day!