Homestudy Meeting at our House

Tonight we had our last homestudy visit at our house. We have spent the last week painting, organizing, and cleaning. I was actually pretty calm during this interview...the only thing I was a little nervous about is what Lydia might say. She comes up with some of the craziest stories these days. As soon as the social worker arrived, Justin answered the door and Lydia greeted her by saying, "Hi, I Lydia Thu Ha. (She loves using her middle name:) It was the cutest thing and the social worker just smiled and laughed. She then asked if Lydia would give her a tour of the house. Our bedroom is right off the foyer so Lydia pointed into the room and said, "this where mommy sleeps". I guess daddy doesn't??? She then showed her her bedroom (which she loved), followed by the playroom. I think the social workers eyes about popped out of her head when she saw all the toys. Yeah, she is one spoiled child...wall to wall toys. Hey, every child needs a room like that especially when she has so many friends that come over to play with her. Lydia finished giving her the tour of our house and then we answered the remaining of the questions. Lydia just sat on the floor and played and then climbed up on the couch next to us and read a book...she was REALLY a perfect angel.

Within the next few weeks we should have our homstudy completed. The only thing we are waiting on is for both of our medicals to be mailed to the agency and Justin needs to finish the required readings. As soon as everything is turned in she can type up our homestudy and we can begin applying for loans and grants...pray that we get at least one grant and approved for the adoption loan.

We also spoke about the child desired...again. Justin and I are 100% ready to have a second child period. Justin believes that we will get matched with a healthy child much sooner than they are suggesting. I on the other hand feel like it is going to take years, especially since we can't turn in any of our paperwork until November. Think of how many families could get in front of us in the next few months? The social worker thinks that we could get matched in 6-12 months (possibly later) once all of our paperwork is in. So if we turn in everything in November we could possibly be matched the following November, but will still have to wait 3-6 months to travel putting us well into 2011. Really??? Can I wait until 2011 to be placed with another baby?

Our social worker suggested that we go ahead and list some of the minor special needs that we will be willing to accept on our homestudy. She believes that there is a chance that we could get matched with a minor/correctable SN child faster and possibly have them home by the end of next year. We decided to go ahead and list a few that we knew or hopefully know we can handle. We listed minor heart condition, jaundice, malnutrition, club feet, webbed fingers/toes, extra fingers/toes, cleft lip/palate, minor developmental delays, and some male disorders. On both the healthy and SN list we said we were open to a child up to 18 months, preferably as young as possible.

I know I just need to sit back and relax and everything will work out according to God's plan. Our baby will be here before we know it...even if it does seem like forever.