now we are there

We are officially approved to adopt! The letter came in the mail today that our homestudy was approved! We are officially a waiting family!

not quite there

On Wednesday night we met with our social worker for our last home study visit! Basically, we just signed some papers, ate dinner and talked for a while. We feel so blessed to have had a wonderful home study experience! It was overwhelming at times, but in the end I actually kinda liked it! I can't say we are "certified" yet because our last reference arrived at the agency today and now she will write the final copy and send it to the agency. This agency will in turn send to the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services and then onto our placement agency in Florida! I'm waiting for the fee that will be tacked onto my home study having to do all this traveling. So now we wait... Luckily I am super busy with work (way more demanding than I thought it would be!) and planning the Resolve conference. Hopefully, it will make the wait go by faster! I'm very nervous for the wait and wondering how long it will be before I start to get really frustrated!

the final stretch

This time next week we will be finalizing our homestudy! Our home visit on the 19th went wonderfully! I don't think we could have asked for a better experience. We love our social worker and she made the four hours go by so quickly. At the end of Greg's interview I came down and she told me how well he did. Then she told me that we both have such a positive view on parenting that she wants to come back and be our child! That was so great to hear. We've had a long time to talk and think about how we will parent, that's for sure! So when Greg returns, we will meet her one more time to sign and be "certified" to adopt in the state of Ohio! But first I have to prove our residency for the past 3 states we have lived in! That little tidbit came up yesterday after I thought we had checked everything off the list!

prebaby photo shoot

On Saturday, Greg and I spent the morning having our portraits taken by a good friend here in Ohio. We have not had our pictures taken since our engagement photos in 2000. It was a blast! Jackie did an amazing job and we are thrilled beyond belief. Now comes the hard part of choosing! You can view some of them here or on her blog A Journey at the left of this page. Her professional website is http://www.jacquelynnbuck.com/. Check it out!!Hope you all enjoy!

a wish

Today I received a surprise package in the mail from Alisha. Inside was a beautiful card that said, " make a wish". She wrote inside that she had her mom make us this baby blanket in unisex because we don't know what awaits us. Alisha wanted us to have something tangible to know that our long awaited wish will soon be answered! So with tears running down my face, I quickly dialed to thank her. This package today reminds me how far I have come. Two years ago, I packed up all the baby items we had received and haven't been able to look at them again. Today, I am able to hang this blanket over the chair in the office (nursery) and look at it with hope. I absolutely love it, Alisha! Wish I could give you a hug in person! Thank you so much!

Remembrance Day

I feel horrible that I forgot to post yesterday about the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day on October 15th. I want all my friends that share this day with me, to know that I always think about you and your babies. If you know someone else in your life that has lost a child, let them know that you haven't forgotten. It will mean more than you will ever know.

we are fireproof!

I didn't write at all last week, but we did have a few accomplishments. On Thursday we met our social worker. It was a great meeting. We both really like her and feel very comfortable. I am not one bit nervous about her coming to the house and doing our interviews. I think it will be fine. We scheduled that visit for the 19th and then we will have one more meeting with her to sign off and we are done! Of course, we have to wait until Greg gets back in November to finish up, but that is ok. The social worker said we will be definitely finished by Thanksgiving! Our goal was to be all done by the first of the year, so we are ahead of schedule. This weekend we baby proofed the house and made sure all the outlets were covered, cabinets locked and the fire extinguisher handy! The fire inspection was today and we passed with flying colors!