Home Study Blues.

Many of you are aware that the first major piece of the adoption process is going through what is called a home study. The home study is more or less a series of visits made by a social worker to your home to interview you and collect data on you as potential parents. Questions asked range from your reasons for choosing adoption, your understanding of the risks involved, history of any violence or abuse, family background/relationships, education, health history, financial status, ...etc. You get the idea :)

Paul and I were eager to get going on this portion of the process, especially now that summer is here and our work responsibilities are going to relax a little bit. We located a great agency right in our neighborhood, liked them, contacted them, and were reading through their application materials when we hit our first snag...

...with the application they wanted the entire home study fee up front.

This shocked me a bit at first because all of the adoption fees we've paid so far (to our adoption agency) have come in relatively manageable chunks. I am quite pleased with what I have seen of the home study agency so far--they are very professional and have responded swiftly to all my inquiries to date. We very much want to proceed with them as our home study agency...we're just trying to be creative about the application fee (which is listed to your right as our first hurdle).

We would really appreciate your prayers during this time as we seek the Lord's wisdom on this first funding issue. Unfortunately, our agency does not allow us to do the fee in installments (which we would have preferred). The thing with looking into other agencies is that we'll end up paying around the same fee (or more) wherever we go, just on a different schedule. And most of those places are not in the city.

We are continuing to move forward on the paperwork that we can, but the next big priority according to our family coordinator is the home study. We are confident that if this is of God, that He will provide as we also do our part. But in my weaker moments, I do confess to wondering how (and when!) it will all come together. But it's definitely not about me or my timing!

If you can, please pray that God would illumine our hearts and lead us to greater patience and dependence on him. Pray that he would deepen our faith in his provision in this area. More than anything else, we covet your prayers. If you are able to, we would definitely receive with joy any other assistance you are able to give.

--Aubrey