Monday, August 30, 2010
Praying for Haiti
Hurricane Earl is on a path to potentially do a lot of damage in Haiti (like they haven't had enough already). Please pray for the people there. We know that the Lord is protecting our child(ren).
Fingerprint results are back!
It took six weeks, but our case worker received the fingerprint results today! We are getting so close to this thing being done! Our case worker (have I mentioned how much I love her?) sent a draft copy of her home study report to our agency to make sure everything looked okay so far. We have a few edits to make, but things are looking good.
We have had one hiccup. Our county sheriff wrote a letter for us saying we were in good standing with the community and he tried to be helpful by having his letter notarized but it is missing language on it that the Secretary of State requires. We have to ask him to either give us a new copy or redo the letter. I hate to ask him that but these things have to be done a certain way.
Stephen didn't have any problems at his shrink visit. I received my letter from them already and his letter should come later this week. We laughed about it later but both of our psychiatrists (both were male) were very good looking. We decided it was a requirement to be "hot" to work there.
We have had one hiccup. Our county sheriff wrote a letter for us saying we were in good standing with the community and he tried to be helpful by having his letter notarized but it is missing language on it that the Secretary of State requires. We have to ask him to either give us a new copy or redo the letter. I hate to ask him that but these things have to be done a certain way.
Stephen didn't have any problems at his shrink visit. I received my letter from them already and his letter should come later this week. We laughed about it later but both of our psychiatrists (both were male) were very good looking. We decided it was a requirement to be "hot" to work there.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Shrink
I had my visit with the psychiatrist today. It was at the Cedar Center in Cedar Rapids. The guy was very nice, smiled at me a lot. The visit felt kind of silly, but it's necessary to meet the requirements of the Haiti Government. My visit only lasted about 25 minutes. He asked me questions about my history, whether I had ever had a concussion that led to loss of consciousness, seizures, my general mood, thoughts of suicide, things like that. The bill for that quick visit was $280! It does get billed to my insurance though, so hopefully they will pay it.
I was nervous during my visit. He asked me if I had ever visited with a psychiatrist before. I said I hadn't and I think he sensed it. When I walked into his office he had three chairs to pick from. I asked him which chair he preferred for me to sit at and he said it didn't matter and "it's not a test". That made me crack up because I was so conscious of doing something that he might psychoanalyze.
Stephen's visit is tomorrow.
I was nervous during my visit. He asked me if I had ever visited with a psychiatrist before. I said I hadn't and I think he sensed it. When I walked into his office he had three chairs to pick from. I asked him which chair he preferred for me to sit at and he said it didn't matter and "it's not a test". That made me crack up because I was so conscious of doing something that he might psychoanalyze.
Stephen's visit is tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Things are coming together!
Our case worker wrote us over the weekend and said "we're getting close!" It will be nice to have the Dossier done and out of our hands. We received our passports this weekend. We have written the letter to IBESR (Haiti government) and sent a copy to our adoption agency to review. Our references have responded quickly (thanks everybody!) and we have the privilege of seeing the shrink next week. The shrink visit is the last thing we have to do for the home study. I probably shouldn't call him a shrink huh?
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Home study visits complete
Our visit with Jan, our case worker went well yesterday. We met at my workplace to go over the 9 page report that she wrote about us, made corrections and finalized a few things. She has been giving us great advice. It's an answer to prayer that she is a believer in Christ and understands the process that we're going through because she's been in our shoes. I told her at the end of our meeting yesterday that I really felt we had gained a friend through all of this. It's been a huge blessing!
Today I am working on our cover letter that goes to Haiti. It basically introduces ourselves and expresses the desire to adopt from their country. It was a bit difficult to get started cause how do you write a letter asking somebody to let you have a kid from their country? But the Lord really guided me during the writing process and I feel like I have a good first draft.
Stephen and I plan on taking a short vacation next week before school starts. We decided to stay in Des Moines for a few days. We'd like to go to the Apple Store and the Woodright Shop (Apple for me, Woodright for him) and want to stop at the Living History Farm for Stephen. He takes his kids there every year for a field trip and needs to do a little research.
On Thursday we will no longer be Iowa State Fair virgins! We have never been there and decided this is the year to go. We are both anxious to try deep fat fried butter and food on a stick!
Today I am working on our cover letter that goes to Haiti. It basically introduces ourselves and expresses the desire to adopt from their country. It was a bit difficult to get started cause how do you write a letter asking somebody to let you have a kid from their country? But the Lord really guided me during the writing process and I feel like I have a good first draft.
Stephen and I plan on taking a short vacation next week before school starts. We decided to stay in Des Moines for a few days. We'd like to go to the Apple Store and the Woodright Shop (Apple for me, Woodright for him) and want to stop at the Living History Farm for Stephen. He takes his kids there every year for a field trip and needs to do a little research.
On Thursday we will no longer be Iowa State Fair virgins! We have never been there and decided this is the year to go. We are both anxious to try deep fat fried butter and food on a stick!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Last home study visit tomorrow
Thankfully, our home study went very well so we don't even need to meet in our actual home tomorrow. We are meeting our case worker in Cedar Rapids to go over the report and finalize the information she needs to finish stuff up for us.
We both got our blood tests back and they were all okay so that's one more thing off the checklist!
We both got our blood tests back and they were all okay so that's one more thing off the checklist!
Friday, July 30, 2010
I think we passed!
Our home study went incredibly well. We started the day at 7:00 a.m. by cleaning. Stephen has actually been cleaning like crazy all week. I have been so blessed by him. He knew I had limited time to clean.
So our home study lady came at around 11:30 a.m. She was a God-send for sure. We sat down and started chatting about why we were adopting. We knew the agency she came from was "Christian" but we weren't quite sure as to what extent that was. It became clear to us as we started talking that we had a kinship with one another and we had the same Father. We were so blessed during our interview. We both told our life stories, trials we've been through, what our relationships are like with family members, our financial situation, how we handle stress, basically anything and everything about us. It was hard to hold back tears during some of the time because when you really take a look back at your whole life and start talking about it, it can become a little overwhelming.
Our case worker told us she had adopted a girl from Guatemala 8 years ago. She gave us a lot of insights and was a great encouragement to us. At the end of our interview (which lasted about 3 hours) she told us she would be very comfortable leaving her kids in our home for a week.
Haiti's requirement is that a case worker only needs to visit our home once. The agency doing the study requires that we meet at least twice so next Friday she will have the report done and we will meet her in Cedar Rapids to review it and make any corrections and then our home study will be complete!!
Once again, God has verified that this is what we are supposed to be doing. He has made the path straight and easy for us. Thank you all for praying and thinking about us today. We certainly felt your prayers and we are thankful for your support along the way.
So our home study lady came at around 11:30 a.m. She was a God-send for sure. We sat down and started chatting about why we were adopting. We knew the agency she came from was "Christian" but we weren't quite sure as to what extent that was. It became clear to us as we started talking that we had a kinship with one another and we had the same Father. We were so blessed during our interview. We both told our life stories, trials we've been through, what our relationships are like with family members, our financial situation, how we handle stress, basically anything and everything about us. It was hard to hold back tears during some of the time because when you really take a look back at your whole life and start talking about it, it can become a little overwhelming.
Our case worker told us she had adopted a girl from Guatemala 8 years ago. She gave us a lot of insights and was a great encouragement to us. At the end of our interview (which lasted about 3 hours) she told us she would be very comfortable leaving her kids in our home for a week.
Haiti's requirement is that a case worker only needs to visit our home once. The agency doing the study requires that we meet at least twice so next Friday she will have the report done and we will meet her in Cedar Rapids to review it and make any corrections and then our home study will be complete!!
Once again, God has verified that this is what we are supposed to be doing. He has made the path straight and easy for us. Thank you all for praying and thinking about us today. We certainly felt your prayers and we are thankful for your support along the way.
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