Oy! As it turns out, I am not very good at blogging:/ It involves thinking and typing and personality and a sense of humor...things that are sort of hard to come by some days:) Our adoption stuff got put on the back burner for a few weeks as John healed from his epic (forgive me for the trendy expression) flip over the handlebars of his bike. His collarbone is in great shape...healing very well. One shoulder is a bit shorter and bumpier than the other but hey, it adds character.
Well, we had our second social worker visit this evening and it went very well. Tonight we covered the personal stuff: our relationships with each other, our siblings and parents. We talked about our childhoods, hobbies and religious (or in our case lack of) views. The meeting lasted two hours and was very pleasant. She also asked us how we planned to pay for the adoption...hahahahahahaha. There were some "uuuummmmm," "uhhhhh," and "hmmmmms."
In the interim, between this visit and the last, we got several things accomplished. We got our physicals and the lead encapsulating paint. All of our personal references sent in their paperwork quickly...thank you Chris, Lisa, Kathy and mommy:) We got a new camera and began taking pictures for our albums. We bought 3 scrapbooks and lots of scrapbook sticker thingees. The scrapbooks are the most frightening part of the whole adoption, to tell you the truth. I consider myself a fairly creative person but the idea of scrapbooking overwhelms me in the same way that jewelery making does...there are SOOOO many choices and directions to go in. John and I have come up with a basic organization for the book...I will post photos once I start the book. The letter to the birthmother is also daunting. How do you express how grateful you will be should this woman decide to give you her child? How do you show genuine sympathy for a difficult situation in a letter to someone whom you've never met? The letter had been put off for some time but John and I have finally begun to write it. Perhaps I will share it when we are done?
So, we have a couple of odds and ends to tie up. We need to get our chimney inspected and we forgot to get fingerprinted for our FBI investigation. In two weeks, we have our last visit. After this visit, the waiting begins! We send two of our scrapbooks out of state, one goes to the agency in New London and then we hope and pray that we get a call from a birthmother.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Cleeeeeeeaning...
Our first meeting with the social worker is in half an hour. We have been cleaning all day...hahaha....anyone who knows me well knows I am not a domestic goddess by any stretch of the imagination. The house is cleaner than it has been in at least a year:) It is 100 degrees and we have no AC and the social worker is coming here. I have been walking around with no pants on in order to avoid excessive sweating before she gets here.
So she came and went and all went well:) Our social worker was great! There will be three visits including today over the course of three months. Today's visit was about paperwork and home inspection. Our little home is fine but we do have to test for lead paint. I have no idea what happens if there is lead paint under the the current paint.....there are three hundred years worth of paint on some of these walls! We need to have physicals including TB tests, hand over tax forms ( you get a $14,000 tax credit for adopting), get fingerprinted and cleared by the FBI, and give them all vet records for Panther, Poe and Bob, among many other things. We also signed papers saying that we would never use humiliation or corporal punishment as a means of discipline. If only all potential parents were subject to this much scrutiny:/
Today's payment was $900....that is half of the home-study cost. The study is good for a year in a number of states. The agency we work with encourages it's clients to submit their information to "sister agencies" across the country in order to expedite the process...Florida and Utah are popular places to adopt from for some reason. If a birth-family chooses us from another state, there will be some travel involved. John and I have no racial preference when it comes to the child we adopt. We would love to have a child of any race in our home. Having no race preference also makes the process faster and, believe it or not, less expensive. Once the home-study is done in September, the process should take less than a year. Happy happy me:)
Going forward our focus will be on our "album." This is a scrap book of our home, family and hobbies as well as a letter of thanks to the potential birth parent(s). We neeeed to buy a new camera right now! We have to make several copies of this album to send to different agencies. This album is so important it's scary. A birth mother will choose us based on this album. I need to do some research on the best way to put one together! Any ideas?
John and I really want to thank those friends who have consented to be our personal references. What you are doing is of vital importance to this process....you will be receiving paperwork through the mail in the near future....please try not to spill coffee on it (or tea, in Lisa's case:).
So she came and went and all went well:) Our social worker was great! There will be three visits including today over the course of three months. Today's visit was about paperwork and home inspection. Our little home is fine but we do have to test for lead paint. I have no idea what happens if there is lead paint under the the current paint.....there are three hundred years worth of paint on some of these walls! We need to have physicals including TB tests, hand over tax forms ( you get a $14,000 tax credit for adopting), get fingerprinted and cleared by the FBI, and give them all vet records for Panther, Poe and Bob, among many other things. We also signed papers saying that we would never use humiliation or corporal punishment as a means of discipline. If only all potential parents were subject to this much scrutiny:/
Today's payment was $900....that is half of the home-study cost. The study is good for a year in a number of states. The agency we work with encourages it's clients to submit their information to "sister agencies" across the country in order to expedite the process...Florida and Utah are popular places to adopt from for some reason. If a birth-family chooses us from another state, there will be some travel involved. John and I have no racial preference when it comes to the child we adopt. We would love to have a child of any race in our home. Having no race preference also makes the process faster and, believe it or not, less expensive. Once the home-study is done in September, the process should take less than a year. Happy happy me:)
Going forward our focus will be on our "album." This is a scrap book of our home, family and hobbies as well as a letter of thanks to the potential birth parent(s). We neeeed to buy a new camera right now! We have to make several copies of this album to send to different agencies. This album is so important it's scary. A birth mother will choose us based on this album. I need to do some research on the best way to put one together! Any ideas?
John and I really want to thank those friends who have consented to be our personal references. What you are doing is of vital importance to this process....you will be receiving paperwork through the mail in the near future....please try not to spill coffee on it (or tea, in Lisa's case:).
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Natasha and John start a blog documenting their adoption process
This Thursday, June 24, 2010, John and I have our first meeting with the social worker to begin our adoption home study.
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