I know its been awhile since my last post. Its too bad I can't write them in my head and then they'll magically appear on the screen. That would be cool!
In the last 10 days, we've been rather busy ... housecleaning! We had our first home visit with Sue, our adoption caseworker, on Monday the 15th. I wasn't sure what all she was going to look at, so we cleaned the whole house ... toilets, the office, the basement ... you name it. Unfortunately, when she came for the home visit, our hard work wasn't fully recognized, as she glanced in from the hallway at the bedrooms (if only I would have known! ahhh!). She'll never know about our mad-dash dusting to get the stray cat hair off the dark bedroom end tables. Or how well I cleaned up our gross-really-needed-to-be-cleaned-a-month-ago Master Bathroom. Oh well. It's nice to have a totally clean house for awhile.
We sat in the Living Room and answered questions, some of which Sue had asked us before on our initial appointment. There were a few head-scratcher questions that were really ambiguous, but for the most part, we didn't have to think too much ... we just responded. My favorite was the "how many animals do you have?" question. When I said that we had 4 cats ... all she said was "oh my!" We did have the youngest (and friendliest) cat, Biker, come out to sniff around her feet during her visit. I hoped he wouldn't get up on the counter or lay on the table like he usually does ... and he didn't! Biker was well-behaved. Thank you, God!
I did ask Sue if she thought our selection chances by the birthparents were slimmer since I will have to go back to work after the adoption. She thought it wasn't an issue, which made me relax a little bit ... but I'm still nervous about that. I know there are many women able to stay at home, but unfortunately, I'm not going to be one of them. It pulls at my heart that I can't be at home, but I know alot of kids that go to daycare/babysitters have turned out just fine. That is my hope, anyway.
We are in-progress with our picture book, which I am making on MixB.ook, an online website. It is actually really cool (you should check it out) ... they have templates available that you can select from, but you can also add shapes/designs/colors onto your pages (as well as text). I will be working on that this weekend and hopefully get that done. Then ... its the daunting Dear Birthmother letters. I'm saving the hardest for last.
Good luck! We finished our meetings last month with our SW. Our educational course with the agency is next week! This is so exciting!! :)
ReplyDeleteWe also cleaned "perfectly" in preparation for our home study visit. She hardly even looked in the bedrooms and bathrooms! Ha! A clean house it always a good feeling, however. I am not sure if I will be able to be a stay-at-home mom either so it was rough writing the Dear Birthmother letter and not being able to say for certain I will be. Our agency also reassurred us that it was okay. The right birth family is out there for each and every adoptive family! Best wishes!
ReplyDeleteSounds like it went great! Enjoy that clean house ;) I understand the pain of being a working mom. God provides though and He will bring you the baby you were meant to mother!
ReplyDeleteAll that work and she didn't even notice?! Well, at least you were prepared and that's better than not being prepared!! :)
ReplyDeletePraying for you guys during this journey!!
We cleaned too and I thought I came across a bit like a control freak. After all, I have a child and our house shouldn't be perfectly in order but oh well. Next time I will let her see it in all its glory! Congrats on your first apt.
ReplyDeletePrayers that the Holy Spirit puts just the right words down on paper for you :)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like the visit went okay then! Like you said, it's nice to have a completely clean house for awhile anyways- maybe it helped to give you a clear mind during the meeting.
ReplyDeletePraying God gives you the words to write in your letters. He will.
All in all, it sounds like the visit was positive! :) And I always love people coming over because it is a good excuse to clean my house! Haha! Good luck with writing your letter, that seems like such a tricky thing to do. We have friends who just finalized everything back in February and they are just waiting to be matched now. Good luck to you!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad the visit with your SW went well!
ReplyDeleteAs for the Dear Birthmother letter, someone (I can't remember who) gave us the advice to write it from deep within your hearts, but also off the top of your head. That way it's sincere and meaningful, but still very real to the people reading it. I hope that advice helps you!
Good luck, and know that you remain in my prayers!