Home Study is Studied!

For the last three weeks we have been meeting with our caseworker, who has got to be one of the most kind people, to complete our homestudy. She has been very supportive of moving through the process as quickly and efficiently as possible, which we are very grateful for. We had to complete three visits with her. The first visit consisted of her walking through our home, and interviewing us about our decision to adopt and our relationship with one another. The second visit primarily consisted of individual interviews about our childhood and our relationship with parents. Last night was our final visit with her to complete the homestudy! We discussed medical conditions we would be willing to accept, our health history, our employment and spirituality. We were so excited to wrap up that part of the adoption process! Once she has our report written we will review it and then we can begin submitting all of our paperwork for the dossier. We are so anxious to move through each step that we have all of the paperwork gathered and ready to go-we just need to add our homestudy report to it! We were very excited last night so we made a few phone calls and then celebrated by having dinner with some good friends. We continue to pray that the timing will work out and that there will be very few set backs! We can't wait to bring home our baby!

Without You

I am sitting here listening to a new song of Coldplays and I was reminded of the book I read last year prior to our decision to adopt, There is No Me Without You. This book was definitely difficult to read at times because it provides a  lot of information regarding the AIDS crisis and how that affects the children of Ethiopia.  The author, Melissa Fay Greene has her own website regarding the book and adoption information in general.  If you have time check out the website - and if you have even more time, read the book! Once you read the book you will not be the same!

The First Purchase

I traveled back to Rapid City to visit family this weekend. My dear friend Laura came with me while Micah and Joel headed up to the mountains.  We had a great trip and it was so nice to introduce Laura to our families! 

While we were in Rapid, Sharon continued on with her excitement for the baby by making the first purchase! She took us out to Target where she demonstrated how excited one person can really become about the opportunity of a baby entiring the family! I must admit that at times I was overwhelmed with all of the items, the choices..... there is just SO MUCH that a baby can have! I did appreciate her joy and we ended up leaving with a cloth sling and a backpack carrier. One for me and one for Micah.... Did I mention that she was soooooo excited to make these purchases? I tried them on, and I think that they fit okay--it is kind of hard to tell without a baby weighing it down and a sack of potatoes didn't really sit like a baby!
So we now have our first items for the baby. We have been talking a lot about our hopes to keep things simple and not go overboard with the amount of baby "stuff" that can easily be accumulated. We are really trying to determine what it is that is necessary and what is more just a convience. Any feedback? We would love to hear from experienced mothers!