Home Study - Part 1

So Saturday was the day. Finally.  After two reschedulings we completed our first Home Study visit this past Saturday!

There was a lot of vacuuming, mowing, and tidying that went on that morning prior to the arrival of our caseworker but we got it all finished. All in all it went very well, not really worth all of the worry and anxiety we'd worked ourselves into.  She was here for about 4 hours total. In that time she observed us giving the kids lunch, talked us through the process, administered the individual interviews to Amy and myself, and took a tour of the house. 

We've been prepping for so long that there weren't really many suggestions for things that we needed to do before the next visit. Since we are straight adoption and not foster or foster-to-adopt there are some questions concerning procedures but she will be finding out the answers to those and then we can work on them if needed after our next visit. 

The kids were very good too while she was here. Stella was her usual self and our caseworker even commented on how much personality she has!  Ha!  No kidding. The boys pretty much stayed upstairs, as usual, occupying themselves with TV  and toys. I was even able to get Stella down for her nap so that was great. 

After the visit was finished we were left with a huge stack of paperwork to go through, fill out, and sign before our next visit. Being ourselsves though, we finished it last night. We are currently awaiting a response to see when our next visit will be. Either this Sunday afternoon or next. The sooner, then better so I hope it is this weekend even though we are super busy with taking the camper out for her inaugural run. 

The next visit should just be more talking. The boys will have their individual interviews and I am sure Amy and I will hear more about the process and what to expect next as well. But we shall see. One more Home Study visit and then we wait some more. Wait for the writing of our caseworker's report. Waiting for the approval of our Home Study. Waiting to be sent into matching and begin that process. We all know how well I do with waiting so I hope I find a measure of patience in the next few weeks and am able to stay calm. Until then we just pray and wait, wait and pray. You know, the usual. 

All is well, one step closer, in Drosche Land.