Conclusion of Home Study

The report from our home study was sent to us yesterday afternoon.  We have reviewed it and returned it to Bethany.  Here is the conclusion from their report:

The results of this psychosocial evaluation strongly support this worker’s opinion that Jeremiah and Amanda are ready, willing, and able to take on the parenting challenges present in adoption.  This ability appears to be based from their solid attachments with their own parents.  Jeremiah and Amanda appear to be free of any unresolved trauma, loss, or victimization experiences that would interfere with their ability to parent. 

Jeremiah and Amanda possess all of the characteristics found in healthy, mature adults and successful adoptive parents.  This couple also has an excellent familial support system.  All family members are inclusive and ready to embrace a child as a full family member. 

Jeremiah and Amanda are equally committed to parenting and competent in this role.  Although they have not parented yet, it is this worker’s opinion that they will use loving, consistent parenting techniques.  They enjoy spending time with their nieces and nephews; both are also involved with the Sunday school program at their church.  A willingness to increase their knowledge and develop skills pertinent to adopting a child with minor special needs was evident throughout the home study process.  This worker appreciated their open and honest communication about their motivation to adopt and the child they desire to adopt.  They realize that maintaining a healthy marriage requires effort from both partners and that bringing a child into the family will create new familial dynamics.  It is this worker’s belief that this couple is competent to provide a safe, structured, and nurturing home environment for a child.

The Waiting Period

We are now in what they call the "waiting period."  Another way to say it is, "We are pregnant (so-to-speak), we just don't know how long the pregnancy will go on.  We could be waiting for a week or a year.  It's hard to say.  We're just waiting...

Some specific things we're waiting for include:
- The completion of our home study report.  Our caseworker is organizing all of the information she has gathered into a report for their office.  We hope this will be completed this week.
- An expectant mother to visit the agency and select us to be the parents of her child.
- A due date for a baby. 

As we are waiting, we will be praying for the expectant parents to make a committed decision and for the health and well-being of the baby.  We will also be reading some books about being adoptive parents.  The agency has started sending us some magazines and literature to prepare us for that role.  And, of course, we will continue putting together the baby's room.  We'll post pictures of the room when it's finished.  

We want to say thank you to everyone for your prayers and support.  Thank you for asking about the adoption process.  We are blessed to have you in our life.  It's exciting to be at this point because it was a year ago today that we found out that we were pregnant.  A lot has happened in a year.  God moved us in a completely different direction.  Perhaps the purpose of the miscarriage was to point us to adoption.  Who knows?  The fact is, we are getting closer!  Please continue to pray. 

Mark Schultz - Story Behind the Song

Christian singer/songwriter, Mark Schultz, was adopted as a child.  His song, "Everything to Me," was written to/about his birthmother.  This video is the story behind the song.  He provides a great perspective of why choosing adoption is so important. 

Our Letter to the Expectant Parents

Our profile book has been printed and shipped to Bethany's office.  To make the book a little more personal, we wrote a letter to the expectant parents.  Thought you would like to read it:

Hello!

Thank you for taking time to look at our book.  We also want to thank you for considering us to be the adoptive parents of your child.  We hope that you have been able to learn a little about us and what our lives our like.

Since deciding in December that we wanted to adopt, we have been thinking about you, the expectant parents, and the baby you carry.  We are so excited and thankful that you have made the decision to make an adoption plan for your child.  We are sure that getting to this point has not been easy for you.  We pray for you and your baby often.

We cannot wait to open our home to a baby.  We have been waiting for this day for about 3 years because we have not been able to have biological children. 

We want you to know that we will love your baby so much, and that all of our extended family is equally thrilled to welcome a new baby.  We will continue to pray for you throughout the rest of your pregnancy, your labor & delivery, and for all the days that will follow.

Jeremiah and Amanda

Home Study is Finished!

Our case worker came to the house yesterday for the third and final visit.  She had several more questions for us, but this time about our community.  She wanted to know what we thought about living in the country, what we liked about it and didn't like.  She asked about our neighbors...which are few.  We were happy to tell her that all of our neighbors attend our church and they are really good people.  We also had to tell her how many miles to the nearest hospital in case of emergencies.  She even wanted to know where we would send our children to school (James Valley was our answer, by the way).

After she finished with her questions, she walked around the house just to check things out.  She took the water temperature (ours was perfect at 120 deg).  She asked how many smoke alarms we had.  You're supposed to have one in every bedroom and at least one on every level.  We have to pick up a few more.

She ended the session by working through our adoption plan.  This is a list of items we filled out that they use to match us with an expectant mother.  It went mostly well, but we do have some things to think about.  We also came up with a list of goals to work on over the next few weeks.  

Overall, it went really well.  We are now done with all of the preliminary work.  She will write up our report and send it to us for review.  After they approve it, we will become a waiting family.  She tells us that it will  be approved next week.

Yellow Rubber Duckies in the Baby's Room

On a side note: In celebration of being done with all this adoption paperwork stuff, we ordered a crib and a changing table for the baby's room.  In the picture are the pac-n-play, stroller, and rubber duckies.  We're going with a brown, green, and yellow theme since we won't know the gender of the baby.  Either way, we figure it's time to start decorating the baby's room!