NOT done yet

We finished our observation Monday night with a wonderful family. It was much more like going to visit with friends than an "observation". We had many things in common, from our Christian beliefs to the way we feed our families. I love the way God puts things together, so much better than I ever could. We sat and had dinner with them and learned soooo much.

We started the home study yesterday. DH and I finished our couple interview and our separate interviews. We could not complete the home study because Son is at camp! Our coordinator will interview Daughter and Son on July 15, and then come back one more time to interview us as a family. After that we will truly be finished. We could have done the whole thing yesterday if Son had been there, but we didn't know he had to be there, and neither did she! It was her first time to do a home study so we were all learning together yesterday. She's a very nice lady and everything went very well.

I volunteered to help out with the singing at church while DH is gone, not really expecting to be taken up on it, but I was! So I have practice at church tonight and I'll be holding a microphone Sunday morning as I sing with the praise team. Gulp! Pray that my nerves will not shut down my voice, and for all the poor listeners in the congregation... ;)

And please continue to pray that I will have peace as we move closer to DH leaving for Israel. I'm pretty tied up in knots right now.

Home Study Tomorrow

We were supposed to do our observation in a real foster home on Friday, but the babies and the mom were sick so we had to reschedule. We went to CPR training all day Saturday and it included First Aid so we don't have to go tonight. We went to meet the foster family Sunday and we will complete our observation time tonight, just in time! The home study is tomorrow morning, and then we are done! Finished!! All that will be left is to start meeting children.

We did find out some details from the foster family. One of them is that the kids that we adopt will be able to attend college for free if they attend a state school. That is exciting news.

I put Son on a bus headed to camp today and he will return Friday afternoon. Sadly, DH leaves Friday morning so they will not see each other for nearly a month. They had to say goodbye last night. My nerves are on edge about DH's trip because we've never been apart for three weeks before, and because Israel is a very long way from the US. Please keep us all in your prayers.

Hey, I want comments!

http://goehrings.blogspot.com/ Check out the one called "A Lesson For Us All" and follow the directions!

This is a wonderful lady I met through our mutual blogging about our adoption experiences. We've had fun following each other's progress.

Feeling Frazzled

Okay, I messed up. I hate to admit it, I can't believe it, but I did. We were supposed to go to CPR training on Monday night. After the trip last weekend and some problems with a tenant and worrying about my mother-in-law, it completely slipped my mind and we missed it. I realized it Tuesday morning. Fortunately, I found a CPR class at the Red Cross that we can attend on Saturday. The agency was offering it for free, so this mistake is costing us a Saturday and $90.

Everything is stacked up like a house of cards right now with Observation on Friday, CPR on Saturday, First Aid on Monday and the Home Study on Tuesday. If any of the first three don't happen, the home study will be postponed. I know you might be wondering, why the rush? It's because DH is leaving a week from Friday and will be gone for three weeks and I wanted to get licensed as soon as possible in order that our new children could start school at the beginning of the school year instead of getting disrupted.

All I can do now is put this in God's hands and know that if it is his will for us to get this finished before DH leaves, then it will work out, and if not, it will still work out. Pray for me!

Observation

We have observation training on Friday. This is where we go to a functioning foster home and observe the parents and kids in action. A nice lady has agreed to let us come to her home for five hours Friday morning. I'm excited because we are one step closer to completing the process! Our home study is scheduled for a week from today. All the pets are vaccinated and everyone in the family tested negative for tuberculosis (Praise the Lord!). We're almost finished! I still need to clean out the spare room but I should have plenty of time to work on that while DH is in Israel for THREE WEEKS! I've had lots of fun shopping for bunk beds and twin beds, but I haven't ordered anything yet. We've also been mini-van hunting but we're trying to wait until the new kids come in order to save money on payments and insurance.

We don't have any more news on the four year old, but I'll be sure to let everyone know if we hear something.

God is so good.

Home Study Scheduled

I talked to the agency yesterday and we are on the schedule to do our home study on June 28. She will also do our fire inspection and health inspection at that time. After that there is nothing left but licensing and choosing children! We are required to get our observation done before then, but otherwise we are all set. Hooray!

Daughter is headed to Florida for church camp tonight. And so is Tropical Storm Arlene! Please pray for a safe trip and a safe stay while they are there. This mom is concerned about her baby and would love to just keep her home, but I don't want the Worst Mom of the Year Award, and DH thinks everything will be okay and we should trust God. Most likely they will just get a lot of rain, but I would feel better if this storm would blow itself out before it reaches shore.

Red Tape!

We are getting so close to finishing all the red tape for the adoption! We are scheduled to take CPR on June 20 and then First Aid on June 27. DH and I still need to get our TB skin tests done, make a copy of our house plan and come up with a fire escape plan, do our observation with a real foster family and then we are done! It's exciting to be so close! The agency is going to schedule our home study for the last week in June. They are being so great and working with us because they know we are trying to get this done as soon as possible. DH will be going to Israel for three weeks in July, so we are trying to finish before then. I would really like to get my new kids in my home before school starts to make the transition easier for them. Paperwork aside, I still have some housecleaning to do! My closet upstairs is my "craft closet" which also means junk closet. I have to clean it out so my future son can store his clothes and toys in there! I also have to get a new bunkbed and nightstand, chest, toybox, etc. for him. Daughter has been so wonderful about being willing to share her room. She's been working on cleaning out half of her closet with no prompting from me! The bathroom may be a bit more difficult... :) My father-in-law is donating a twin bed so I only have to get a headboard and nightstand for my new daughter. Daughter has tons of books that will be great for the age group we are adopting from. She keeps everything. Come to think of it, so does Son. I wonder where they get that packrat trait? Surely not from me (yeah right). I'm getting very excited! But please pray for me because one family member (I won't mention who but I know that some of you know) is not being supportive, and it hurts. Everyone else has been so wonderful and excited for us. I know that we have a lot of challenges ahead with adopting older children, but all children are God's children and he has called us to do this. I thank God every day for the support and leadership of my husband. He reminds me to look to God for answers and prays with me. I couldn't ask for a better support system than him. Our only truly big purchase will be to buy a mini-van. We are putting it off until right before we have to have it. We intend to keep both of our economy cars and park the van most of the time, only using it when the whole family goes out together. For now we are trying to decide which van and whether to get new or used. I'm leaning toward used to save money, but we'll see what happens. I can't believe we're going to have a mini-van. We always swore we wouldn't, but it's amazing what love can do. Also, please pray for my mother-in-law. She will be going into a nursing home soon and is very upset about it. It is quite understandable since she is only 63 years old, but my father-in-law can no longer care for her by himself at home. She can't even stand up and is dead weight when he lifts her. He has hurt himself several times and is just too old to be able to care for her alone. Thank you for your prayers.

Update on kittens and adoption

We finally found homes for all five kittens. We kept the one with the white feet and named him Joey. The other male was donated to Paws & Claws at Petsmart last night, and the three females were given away at eight weeks old. We were sad but glad when they left.

We have finished our adoption training and most of the paperwork. We should be starting our homestudy soon. We got a call last Friday about a four year old girl that is available for adoption. We are now on the list of interested parents! If she joins our family, we will still be looking for a 6-8 year old boy.

Please pray for us as we continue our adoption journey.