We also began our home study this week. The one thing I have been terrified of since I knew I wanted to adopt when I was younger and I found out that was a part of the process. It is absolutely terrifying to have someone essentially decide if you are good enough to be a parent. I always joke that people better not ever question our desire or ability to parent after all of this because we are becoming licensed to parent right now! The home study is good for one year, so if it takes longer than that, which it often does, we will have to update our home study by meeting with them again. We have a couple small things left to do to enhance our online profile for birth mothers but we are pretty much just in the waiting phase of it all now. We have one more home study visit where they will come to the house just to make sure we have a safe home for a child to live in and then will write up our home study report which they have 30 days to do after the last visit. We are meeting for that visit on May 1st, so by June 1st we should be totally cleared to have a child to be able to come at any time! If, by some miracle, we have a birth mother become interested in us before our home study is complete, that's okay as long as she is pregnant and not due until after it is complete. We can't have a child come home with us until that is complete and our facilitators have our home study in their hands. Once it is there we will also begin to be presented in "drop in the lap" situations where mothers call from the hospital needing an adoption plan set up quickly. We are SO close to being completely in the waiting phase of this process and it is SO exciting and SO nerve-wracking. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a FIRM believer in God and how absolutely PERFECT His timing is. But they also know that I am an absolute control freak (in the best way possible). I really like to just have control of situations and know that I am doing all I can to make things happen. I have learned that adoption is wholly and completely out of our control. It is in the hands of God and a sweet sweet birth mother who chooses us to be blessed by the incredible little life she brought into this world. I was having a conversation with one of my best friends the other day and I just started tearing up. I was telling her that I am amazed at the way God is working in our lives so far and that I can't believe that our family is going to be made in such a beautifully unique way and I just can't wait to see how amazing it is. We are so AMAZED at the incredible amount of love and support we have gotten from family, friends, and strangers! We can just feel God's work in all of this.
We are eight days away from our Pasta for a Purpose fundraiser and we hope you will all join us!
(www.facebook.com/events/272730143265068/ )
We will continue to update on our journey as things continue to happen. If you will just pray for us for peace and patience in this phase we would be so grateful!