Monday, January 25, 2010

Home Study Visit #1

Well...all went well. Our SW (social worker) is fairly new to adoption home studies, so I think she was even more nervous than we were. Most of the appt. was going over all the paperwork that needs to be filled out. She took a look around the house (was greeted by my excited, jumping dogs) looked at our pool fence, gave us a couple of things we need to either get or consider getting (which I will list later) and was on her way! It was not as bad as I thought, she BARELY looked at my house and I am convinced that if I hadn't dusted every nick-nack in the hosue...she never would have noticed! LOL

Our next home study appt. is on March 12th. We scheduled it so far out because February is CRAZY busy! We have Pace's birthday the first weekend, V-day the next weekend, a possible dunes trip the third weekend, our wedding anniversary the last weekend in February and then my parents will be in town the first week of March. Whew....that makes me exhausted just thinking about it!

So...we started going through the paperwork, and man...it is EXTENSIVE!!! It is going to take a lot of time and some careful consideration to fill all of that out. We have a certified copy of our marriage license, but will need to get our birth certificates. We are going down this week to do our fingerprint clearance. I have my physician's appointment set for Tuesday February 2nd and Pace's scheduled for Thursday February 11th. So by the end of February I hope to have EVERYTHING done, organized and prepared for our meeting on March 12th. INCLUDING our references.

I was very surprised, the SW said that the references tend to hold up the process many times. We are going to make DANG sure the people writing our references get them mailed back in before the end of February!

Things we need to do in/around the house before our next meeting:
  • Have Pace's shotgun locked and stored where we plan to store it when we have the baby in the house
  • Consider buying a grill guard. I had never heard of this, but apparently it protects little ones from burning their fingers on the grill
  • Buy an ABC fire extinguisher
  • Write out a fire escape plan
  • Have emergency contact numbers posted next to our phone

Pace talked to his dad yesterday and told him of our adoption plan. His dad was very excited for us. I wish I could have taken a picture of how happy it made Pace to have his dad's support. It was very awesome!

So...we are one step closer. Many steps to go...but one step closer!

4 comments:

Misty said...

yes get your fingerprints done! They take 8-10 weeks to get the results back. Ours have been out for about 4 weeks now. The first time we went, my hands were too dry to fingerprint correctly so I had to go back 2 weeks later. There are so many steps in the adoption process but one step is one step closer to your baby!

♥ ♥ Just a Girl in Love w/ a Soldier ♥ ♥ said...

I am so behond excited for you :p I was reading this kicking Jared telling him abt it :P its awesome. I can not wait to hear abt your journey through the adoption process. I miss you so much and wish i could be there to share the excitment with you.

Danielle said...

That's great! Glad to hear it went well. I agree...the homestudy was a lot less stressful than I had originally thought!

addingtothepack said...

Yay! I am so glad that this ball is rolling for you now!

I am kind of surprised that the references hold the process up for so many people. You'd think those references would be wary of drawing down the wrath of someone close to them who is eager to adopt!