Home Study Update.

A little over a week ago, on February 25th, we had our first home study visit with the social worker from our agency. Now, I'd prepared myself a bit by researching online what all is involved in the home study visit, and was relieved to read that our social worker wouldn't be walking through our home with a white glove! That being said, I still went crazy cleaning all the rooms of our apartment, removed the debris from our porch, and even picked up a new carbon monoxide detector (which we didn't end up needing because we already have a fully functional one!) from the hardware store. I picked up fresh fruit, juice, and even made cinnamon rolls for the occasion. We were very excited, ready (and nervous!) for our worker's visit.

She showed up on time Friday morning as Paul was out walking Apollo. To my delight, she was very eager to meet and greet Apollo, who was also quite excited by the company. She sat down in the dining room and pulled out her stack of interview questions. Though I'd planned to serve coffee, she refused and would only take a glass of water (in fact, that's the only refreshment she would accept the whole morning!).

After deciding that the dining room was a bit too dark, we moved to the living room and conducted the rest of the interview there. In between questions she would make jokes and play with Apollo, who eagerly licked and nudged her. She immediately put us at ease by stating that she was there "to make us look good" and that the purpose was to take notes on our answers, not to scrutinize or criticize them. We settled into our seats for what would be an almost 4-hour affair...

Most of the questions from her report were ones we'd anticipated (i.e. how were we disciplined growing up and how did we plan to discipline our child? - what was our relationship like with our parents/siblings, both growing up and now? - how did we plan to talk to our child about adoption? - what were our hobbies and interests? - etc.). But some questions took us by surprise...

What kind of parents do you hope to be?
What do you hope for the future for your child?
What values were imparted to you by your parents?
What values do you hope to impart to your child?

We also had to take turns describing each other and our marriage with adjectives, which was both interesting and humbling!

After answering all of her questions, and checking over additional paperwork (i.e. financial report, apartment floor plan, discipline agreement, fire safety plan, water temperature form, etc.--there were many!), she concluded the appointment and told us that she'd get started on writing it up. What has to happen now is that she writes everything up, we check it, our adoption agency receives a copy, and a copy gets sent to DCFS in Springfield (most states don't have this extra step, but IL does!). Once it passes muster with these guys, then we can retain the finished product to eventually go into our dossier, the entire packet of information that will get sent to Ethiopia and translated. Once it's translated, then we will be in a place to wait for a referral of a child.

So, we will probably meet with her a couple more times just to finalize everything. In the meantime, we have to finish a couple more forms for the completed home study document. We are also in the process of completing our adoption classes (both online -- per our agency's requirement -- and at our home study agency).

So many of you were praying for/thinking of us on this day and for our visit with the social worker. And I just want to say...THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! We certainly felt strengthened by your prayers and emboldened to answer the necessary interview questions. We praise God that the visit went so smoothly and that we were assigned such a compassionate social worker.

Having this part of the process underway has made both Paul and I even more excited--it's kind of jolted us awake that this is actually happening! It definitely feels more real now than before.

That being said, there is still a looooooooooooooooong way to go! Our social worker estimated that it would probably be close to 2 years before we actually receive our child (current wait time for a boy in Ethiopia is 5-8 months, and current wait time for a girl is 7-11 months). This could become even further delayed by Ethiopia's recent reduction in adoption cases heard in court (from 50 a day to 5). We are investigating the implications of this new development with our adoption agency and hope to have more news soon. Until then...

Psalm 31

R. (3b) Lord, be my rock of safety.
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me,
incline your ear to me,
make haste to deliver me!
R. Lord, be my rock of safety.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety.
You are my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake you will lead and guide me.
R. Lord, be my rock of safety.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your kindness.
Take courage and be stouthearted,
all you who hope in the LORD.
R. Lord, be my rock of safety.