Well, I'm still here. I have exhaled. This past week was a whirlwind of adoption activity. Our sweet worker, Elizabeth, was so sweet to squeeze everything in before her vacation. Saturday was our scheduled home visit. I become extra paranoid sometimes when people come over. I hate....I repeat....hate to clean. Especially bathrooms! But, I'm ultra picky about a clean house. I prefer to keep it tidy and clean with everyday maintenance so as to avoid a deep cleaning binge. This drives Russ crazy and he is not concerned much at all with a tidy house. So, we usually end up on a deep cleaning binge every now and then. But, when someone is coming to your home to assess your readiness for children...it opens a whole new can of worms! Talk about overreacting! So, what do you do when you need a clean house by a deadline? Call your mom, of course!

My mom, who also dislikes cleaning I should note, graciously came to help us clean. And, I do mean clean. We cleaned baseboards, vacuumed, dusted, mopped (I didn't even have one of those since we moved into the apartment! Gross, I know!), and guide me as we deep cleaned. It was also so nice for her to be here because Russ couldn't complain or refuse to help. Ha! He's always very good to help me clean...it just may not be on my timeline. This, I realize, is still something to be very thankful for. Trust me. I am thankful! So, anyway, my mom gave Russ his assignment...cabinet locks and toilets! Neither me or Mama wanted to do toilets, so we passed it off to Russ. And he did a fabulous job! Thank you, thank you to both Mama and Russ for all your help! Our little apartment looked just beautiful!

I babyproofed a few other areas in our home. Since Russ's closet is actually in the baby's room, I found a great way to lock those doors. And, just because you don't see my picture...don't assume I didn't help. I did. I promise!

I also did some extra little happy things... One of those things was finding this super cute and perfect lamp from Hobby Lobby! It was perfect for the room and just the type of piece I've been looking for! I love how the crystal-looking base work perfectly with the crystal drawer pulls! I love it!

I also spent some extra time making sure we had a profile book sample to show Elizabeth. I wanted her advice and to make sure it looked okay. So I ordered one copy for her to "edit."

Now, let me get down to business. The actual home visit. First of all, I should be honest and tell you that I had heard not to overdo it with the cleaning. I had heard that the home visit is not to make sure your home is perfectly organized. I had heard there was no white glove test. But, I prepared for it anyway. And you know that you would have done the same! Don't laugh. Please know that the peace of mind knowing how clean and prepared our home was was worth the trouble.
So, Elizabeth got here a little after 10 Saturday morning. We chatted a little in the doorway before taking her on a tour. She walked through and commented on how cute everything was and loved the baby's room. But, I'm pretty sure she never looked at the baseboards, wood surfaces, inside bathtubs, or in all our clean toilets. In fact, she really didn't even notice all the babyproofing. Sigh. However, once she walked through the house, we showed her where the fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detector were. We sat at our kitchen table to talk. Her first question was how we planned to babyproof our home. BINGO! Already completed! So, we pointed that out. Then, we discussed our community, church, diversity in our community as well as within our apartment complex. We finished up discussions on things we have already disclosed just to clear up any questions she may have. Some of those topics included finances, employment, etc. We spent the rest of our time discussing our service plan. A service plan is a list of options on social and medical history of birthparents and extended family, attributes of child(ren), openness, and birthmother's prenatal history. After we talked through our decisions and Elizabeth's advice, we shared our profile book. She loved it, and she had some great thoughts! Since then I've worked through the book and I think it's ready to print! Our final service plan was submitted last night. I was looking through our fee schedule, and I noticed we have paid all that is due before placement. So, if I'm correct...the next check we write to Bethany will be because of a placement! Wow!
Please continue to pray for our journey as we await our final hopeful approval, our adoption training on August 4, and our possible long wait. We are ready and anxious and prayerful that God would move through our journey in a way that is "immeasurably more than anything we could ever ask or imagine!" And, we are so grateful for you and your commitment to join us in prayer.
Praying for More...
