3rd and Final Home Study - - Check!

Our 3rd Home Study took place yesterday at 4:30 p.m. EST. Our social worker C came over and did a safety check on our house - but no worries, I didn't clean the house like a mad woman like I initially wanted to, and it was fine. After the safety check, we sat down and got to business. She began by asking what each of us does for fun. I actually had to think about this one for a minute or two. I personally had spent the last month grieving my infertility, and reading about many of the different emotional challenges we will be faced with in the future and I kind of had forgotten...what is fun for me? Actually....fun to me lately is being able to eat cereal for dinner and go to bed early - - but I couldn't tell her that! Since Monday, though, coincidentally I made a choice to refocus on what brings me enjoyment or makes me truly happy. But since I've just started my soul search, I only was able to come up with a few things: reading, scrapbooking, cooking dinner for Bryan, and going for walks. Bryan liked working on cars, traveling, sports, going for drives in his car, Sunday mornings with Sarah (reading the paper with coffee, church and breakfast), and movies.

C, or social worker, always has a great way of easing into our sessions with the fun stuff, because our next topics of discussion were much more serious: finances, what are thoughts were about discipline, and our plans for infant care. Thankfully, Bryan and I are on the same page about all of the above topics. The only question up in the air at this point is what we'll do about daycare, which I'm not worried about. Our final task: the openness questionnaire - the packet of questions that Bryan and I thought over and over about, was reviewed and completed. Huge sigh of relief!

What's next? C has to get our paperwork for adoption approved by her supervisor, and then she has 4 weeks to write up our formal Home Study paperwork. Our job in the next 4 weeks is to write a general letter to our potential birth parents. (that's gonna take some thought) We also have to put together some photos and stories about us, so that the birth parents can get an idea of what kind of people we are. If you have any input on what to include or pictures, please leave a comment or email us some ideas.