Homestudy Part II

Last week we wrapped up the last part of the home study with my one-on-one interview with our adoption worker. Another huge stepping stone in the process! Our adoption worker is very kind, and seems to understand my personality well, she is happy to answer any questions or concerns we may have, and I have never felt rushed or brushed aside.

Questions she asked consisted of a variety of things, ranging from childhood experiences and relationship to our fertility. Below is a more extensive list of questions asked:

Childhood
She asked me a series of questions concerning my childhood, including but not limited to; relationship with my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. And yes, I did have to provide names of each of my cousins, a fairly extensive list ;-) Methods of discipline used by my parents, any instances of abuse, schooling, extra curricular activities, and the level of support I received.

Adult
She asked about my relationship with my husband, my siblings, my parents, friends, neighbors, about our church, religion, our involvement in community, the medications I am currently taking, and any past surgeries.

Fertility
Of course, she asked about our fertility journey, how I felt when I was given the diagnosis of secondary infertility, if we had support from family and friends, what my emotions were when we were diagnosed vs. today, and lastly, if I am still pursuing fertility treatment (just a note, Riverside County asks that you are not seeking fertility treatment if you are in the process to adopt).

Fears
She asked me what my biggest fears were regarding adopting, and how I dealt with those fears. (Ummm... God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and encouragement from my husband to turn towards God!)

Family Support 
Lastly she asked me about what my family thinks about our decision to adopt, if they were supportive, and what their concerns may be.

The interview lasted about 2 hours, after which she informed me she should have the final home study written and on her supervisors desk by mid August. At which point her supervisor will review and approved (about a 2 week process) and then submit to matching. Matching is who will, true to the name, match us with our baby!

Matching
This is a brief summary of how matching works (to my knowledge). Matching will get to know our family based on the home study our adoption worker submits. Once a child comes into the system on the adoption track, matching will then filter through the adoptive families looking for a "match" (based on the things the family is or is not willing to accept), matching will then compile a list of usually five families that are a best "match" for the child. Usually those that are on the top of the list are those families that have been waiting the longest. Our adoption worker believes we will be waiting for a match for between 2-8 months, this is her best guess based on her experience. However, there is still a possibility we could get a call the day after our home study has been approved. We just have no idea! Ahhhhhh!

Prayer Requests
Please join us as we pray for the baby that God has for our family, the bio-mommy/family of that baby, and the social worker our baby will be assigned to.

The county social workers are assigned both kids tracked for temporary foster care and kids tracked for adoption, they often will only have 1-2 adoption cases a year, therefore, they are sometimes unfamiliar with the adoption process. I have also been told some of the social workers can be difficult to work with, they often have large case loads and do not take time to be kind. Kindness often comforts my heart, please join us as we pray for a social worker that is kind, patient, and ultimately, is going to do what it takes to keep our baby in our home (however, I will excuse the lack of kindness and patience for the latter ;-)

Adoption Timeline

Orientation Class - September 26, 2014

Submitted Application to County & CCL - November 1, 2014

County Preliminary Interview - January 21, 2015

Parenting/Training Classes - March 12th, 2015

CCL Pre-Licensing Inspection - March 18, 2015
Exit Interview - June 3, 2015 

Home Study Interview Part I - July 7, 2015 

Home Study Interview Part II - July 23, 2015

$20 DIY Outdoor Rug

After much searching, online and in-stores, for an affordable outdoor rug, I decided to attempt to make my own. I did a little research and found it is fairly simple to paint a rug! I discovered a reasonably priced 6x8 ft indoor/outdoor rug at Home Depot online and picked it up in-store for free. The rug is thin and lightweight but works well for an outdoor space. There are many beautiful DIY painted rugs online, but I was going for something I could complete in an hour or two, not two to three days. So I decided on a simple stripe pattern. 

I used painters tape to mark out my lines. 

After one coat of paint. 

I used Annie Sloan chalk paint (a mix of Old White and Graphite) 

but I am sure any paint would work well! 

After two coats of paint. 

And here is the finished product! 

Cost Breakdown: 

$17.87 + tax for the rug

I used paint that we had on hand

For less than $20 and about 1.5 hrs of time I have a new outdoor rug!! 

Pair it with my DIY couches and you can build yourself a comfortable outdoor living space on a budget!

Home Study Part I

This year in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) we discussed the life of Moses in which we read through and studied Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Initially I thought learning about the life of Moses would be interesting but not necessarily spiritually challenging. Boy was I wrong!!

Moses was a well educated, adopted prince of Egypt. He was great in the eyes of man but a tool in the eyes of God. God called Moses to free God's people from slavery, to lead them through the impossible and to the promised land. God called Moses out specifically and yet Moses still did not want to go... Moses saw God face-to-face, he knew the character of God more fully than any man in the history of mankind and yet, Moses started his journey being unwilling, fearful, and skeptical of God's plan. There is hope for me yet!

We believe God has called us to the path of adoption, we may not have heard the audible voice of God like Moses did, but we heard Him nonetheless. Like Moses, I was reluctant and unwilling to go. I have stumbled and failed in many ways, yet I believe God wants to use us and bless us through this journey. He does not promise it will be easy, Moses' journey was far from easy, but He does promise to by our side every step of the way. The life of Moses was such a blessing to me this year, I have seen my faith grow by watching Moses submit to God's authority and sovereignty and be rewarded by watching God work for His glory.

The Home Study
Yesterday we started our home study. Our adoption worker came to our home and discussed all the the details of what we will accept and will not accept in a child.

Over the course of the past year we have been required to fill out a preference sheet on three occasions. The first time we completed the preference sheet as apart of the initial application. We were given the preference sheet at the beginning of the Trauma Based Parenting Classes we took through the county, and again at the end of the classes. We were asked to answer one of three ways; Will Accept, Will Consider, and Will Not Accept to a variety of different scenarios including age range, gender,  ethnicity, drug exposure, drug addicted, mental and physical handicaps, hearing impaired, vision impaired, history of psychological disorders with bio-mom or bio-dad, and the list goes on and on.

I found myself reverting back to my old, controlling ways. Trying to specify what exactly we want in a child... Thankfully my loving and faithful husband kindly reminded me God is in control and will bring us the baby meant for our family (I am so thankful for his faith and encouragement in this process!) Our adoption worker asked us questions for about 2 hours, then did a one-on-one with Travis for another 2 hours. My one-on-one is in a couple weeks.

After she completes the interviews she will write up our home study and submit it to her supervisor for approval. Once approved, we will be sent to matching! Yay!

I feel like I have grown so much over the past year, I know I will never have the faith Moses possessed but his life has given me something to strive for and brought me encouragement, no matter how many times I fail to properly acknowledge the sovereignty of God, He will never give up on me.