Final Home Study

Greetings adoption fans!

Last week was a crazy week for us. Lots of cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. Pressure washing, vacuuming and cleaning carpets, organizing closets and rooms, etc. Basically if it was dirty before, it's not now. All of that was done in preparation for our final home study visit with our awesome case worker Tricia.

Our visit started at around 11:15, and the boys stole the show. They were so excited to see her and show her around that they didn't even wait for her to get out of the car. Once we corralled them back until she rang the doorbell, it was green light for center stage. They showed her all over the house and then proceeded to have a "war" with their umbrellas (which had been uncovered during the big cleanup exercises earlier in the week).

From the adult perspective, the visit was a piece of cake. Everyone kept telling Tarrah on the message boards and things that this was nothing to stress out over and just to relax. However, when someone is coming in to your home to tell you if you're worthy or not to adopt a child, it's a really stressful feeling! In retrospect, we should have listened to them a little, but at the same time it's nice to have done a much needed deep cleaning on the house. I mean, who knows when the last time was that this house was pressure washed! We showed her around the house, addressed a few key points (Zoie's room, fire extinguisher, where the safe is located, etc), and then had our final pre-adoption chat. The whole visit lasted maybe 45 minutes. I felt bad that she had to travel up all this way for such a short visit, but then again it was awesome that it wasn't too taxing or difficult.

Now, we wait. We have to wait about 6-8 weeks for her to write up our home study. Once that's done we have to wait to be shown to potential mothers. Then we wait to be selected. This waiting also gives us time to come up with some much needed funds. When the home study is written, we have to pay $1500 to the agency. I (Nick) will be working a part time job at a local tutoring company to start chipping away at it. Donations are gladly accepted via our PayPal account!

Be on the lookout for our next fundraiser: a family photo shoot! We will have a couple of locations for you to choose from. More information in the coming weeks on this one!

Well, that's about all. We are plugging along nicely in the process. It's all in God's hands and His timing now. This process has definitely been a reminder that our timing is not His!

Peace,

NZ & TZ