The Tedious

So much of what we are doing right now is what I consider to be tedious. I know these things are important...there's just a lot of "little" things to do. Right now as a part of our homestudy we are making our way down a checklist of about 20+ things, which some will also be included in our dossier later on. For example, this past week we spent some time tracking down all four of our birth certificates and getting certified copies. We also had to get a medical form filled out by the kids' pediatrician as well as schedule physicals for both Kevin and I. I also had to go to the Law Enforcement office to get a record of any 911 calls that have been made from our address within the last 3 years (who knew). Bought another smoke detector because the social worker pointed out we could use another one closer to the kitchen. And to date we have probably spent 6-8 hours on paperwork alone, haven't really kept track, probably a good thing. And there's more to come! We still have a few more forms to fill out before completing the homestudy... including our monthly budget and other financial stuff. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it I need to make an appointment to get our drug screenings done! We will also have to complete 10 hours of adoption preparation training... which thankfully we will be able to do online.

In the midst of all these tedious tasks, it's very easy to lose sight of why we are doing this. I had a sweet reminder this past weekend randomly while at the Chiaha Festival (Rome's fall arts/craft festival). I was shopping at a friend's booth getting a dress for Alyssa while Kevin started eyeing a sweet little blanket, hmmm....for our future little boy? And before I knew it, my sweet friend at the booth pulled a fast one on me and put the blanket in my bag. What a sweet moment...our little boys first gift. I now have a reminder that there will hopefully be a precious little boy to wrap up in this soft little blanket! Thank you Trent and Kat =) So all these tedious tasks and running around town do have a purpose...a purpose to hopefully bring home our little boy....to cuddle and hold in his new blanket.

Documenting the Process

We knew what to do to try to get pregnant =) We were clueless on how to have a son/daughter through adoption. I am not a pioneer or one that likes to stand out or do what's different. So now that we have taken the plunge into something so mysterious to a lot of us...I thought I would document our adoption process.

 I have several reasons on why I have now become a blogger, something I thought I'd never do! One reason is so that others can keep updated and know how to pray for us. Another reason is to raise awareness of millions of parentless children. And finally so that those who desire to adopt one day can see a step by step of what it looked like for us. Just as every pregnancy and labor/delivery story is different..so will this be our unique adoption/labor story. But generally speaking I hope this helps. I will keep a timeline of when things happen and how the Lord provides financially. Roughly 30% of Americans at some point consider adoption...less than 2% actually do. I hope this helps even just 1 other family take this crazy step. And for the rest, I hope this helps to let you stay connected to what's going on along the process!

A recent update...today we had our 1st of 3 homestudy visits. It went really well. I was a little nervous, since basically we are paying a "professional" to assess our home, our health and our parenting... yikes...but I came away with a good feeling. The social worker was great and very easy to talk with. She is all about getting this part of the process done as fast as we can get things done....so that we are not waiting on her. Our next appointments are already scheduled for Nov. 3rd and the final one Nov. 10. Then onto preparing our dossier (I'll explain that one another time).