Homestudy Visit

Lisa, our social worker, came this evening about 6:45pm. She started by going over a lot of paperwork. We filled out forms, we wrote checks, we signed documents. We gave her our SS# about 4 times each. We showed her our passports. We signed up for a Federal Express account. We gave her copies of our birth certificates and marriage certificate.

We went over which documents will be part of our dossier, and which are documents just for her purposes. She gave us an initial timeline to help us with the paperwork. She gave us homework assignements (take our online parenting course, fill out guardianship papers, get employment letters done, see the doctor and have medical letters written, get in touch with our references, etc. etc. etc.)

Then the interview...who are our parents, when did they get married, what was life like growing up, how did we meet, how long have we been married, what did we do growing up, what was our childhood like, where did we go to school, what do we enjoy doing as a couple, what do we enjoy doing separately, and so on....for about an hour and a half.

She got the grand tour of the house. She checked out the pool. She shared a little bit of her own story with us (she and her husband have adopted two children from China). She left, and I breathed a sigh of relief! I am now hungry, even though it's almost 11:00pm. I couldn't eat before she arrived...I was too nervous. Jack was well behaved, and after an initial sniff or two, he curled up on his bed and snored until it was time for the house tour.

Tuesday starts another day of paperchasing. Fingerprints in the morning (we hope!), then a quick trip to the Sheriff's department for a background check. Then off to make doctor appointments for our medical letters. We are very motivated to get all of this paperwork done quickly!!! The timelines seem to be lengthening a bit for Vietnam, and with the possibility of adopting two at one time, we may wait longer because of that. Dan is home for the next few weeks, which makes a lot of this much easier to do. We'd love to have all of this out of our hands before he starts his travel gigs for the year.

That's it for now. Maybe I'll post more details (or Dan will) later, but for now, it's bedtime. I have a long day ahead of me, including a drive to Ocala for a Chrysalis meeting, and Dan promised to help Chris lay his flooring down.