Homestudy visit today!

We had our homestudy visit today! Being my over-anxious self, I was nervous and didn't know what to expect. I cleaned everything in our house that could possibly need cleaning, bought a new area rug (that I am in love with!) and repainted our windowsill. Bailey always jumps up on it so some of the paint was chipping off. It felt like Christmas was coming and everything had to be in order! Well of course, as my Aunt Sue predicted on facebook, it was a Breeze!! I had a dream last night about it. The social worker showed up intoxicated, didn't ask us any real questions, and the left with a wine bottle in her hand! We were like wait, don't you want to know anything about us?  I don't know why I dreamed that, but its pretty funny.

The social worker was wonderful! She was about the same age as Dan and I, which was nice because were able to relate really well to her. There were 3 parts to the visit. 1) Joint interview, 2) separate interviews, and 3) house tour.  We did the visit in this order. She asked us pretty normal questions, how we met, why we chose adoption, etc. It was very conversational. I learned that my husband is much better at interviews then I am! If any of you know me, you know that I just love to talk and talk.  Well its alot harder when someone is interviewing you! I felt saw awkward answering why I felt like I would be a good mother, how I would describe myself, etc. This is the separate interview. It wasn't a secret, she just wanted us to be in different rooms. I did pretty well until she started asking about my relationship with my parents, especially my mother. It was painful to talk about how I was raised and the questions that went along with that. But it is a part of my history and has influenced who I am today. Our SW (social worker) was very compassionate and understanding, and frankly impressed that I turned out as well as I did. I owe thanks for that to my heavenly Father who has given me such a wonderful earthly father. I am grateful for him every day!

Dan did great job, and I was so proud to hear him speak so eloquently and be so personable. I remarked as much to him afterward, and he said, "Well, I just talked to people like I've known them forever!" I thought that was a great perspective to have! It is so special to be going through this process together, it makes me so grateful to have such an amazing husband. He puts up with alot from me, and he is very patient. It was neat to be able to talk to the SW about how we complement eachother, what makes our marriage strong.. Most people don't really talk about those things on a regular basis, but discussing it made me very thankful for the marriage we have. I really believe that God chose us for eachother. Even though I am not very into music and guitar, and Dan isn't into dance, we do have alot of common interests and are very compatible. And I am very attracted to my husband! Being married for 5 years has brought us much closer together. We've been through alot, and adoption is a very special journey!

The last step was walking through the house, making sure we have smoke detectors, how many bathrooms and bedrooms we have, etc. It took all of 5 minutes. I was imagining her checking the baseboards for dirt, but it really was nothing like that!

This last picture is the guest room that we will turn into a nursery! yay!!

So whats next? We have one more meeting in August to review the homestudy report. Once that is completed, we will be ready for adoption!! We are going to start working on our portfolio now, so that when we are approved they can immediately show it to people. She suggested making and printing an online album for several reasons. Its easier to make copies and it looks more professional. Too bad because I was looking for an excuse to scrapbook! The reason they recommend copies is so that you can show them to multiple birth mothers, and sometimes you do not get the book back. And its also nice to have a copy to keep and show to your children.

I am just so excited and ready! I was surprised by one thing. We have been reading books and preparing for a transracial adoption, but our SW told us that in South Carolina, most of the birthmothers are caucasian. The reason is because most of the time in African American families, an extended family member will come in and take care of the baby, an aunt or grandparent. This makes perfect sense. Because we are open to any race, we simply assumed we would adopt a black, hispanic or biracial child. This may not necessarily be the case. We are ok with any child! We just want to be parents and provide a loving home to a beautiful little baby!



I also wanted to say that I had a very sweet surprise visit this past Saturday from two of my best friends from high school. They were vacationing in SC and came down to visit us for the day, Christine and Andrew. They are very special to us and it was soo wonderful to see them!!!

Thank you for all your continued prayers and support! Thanks for following!