First Home Visit...

Read our Last Update . . .

In preparation for our first home visit with our adoption case worker, I cleaned the house like never before. I didn't know that she would even look in any other rooms besides the living room, but in case she did - everything was squeaky clean!

When we first moved in (over 4 years ago) 

On November 16, we had our first home visit interview. We finally met our case worker and she began really getting to know us beyond the paperwork. She asked tons of questions, about our marriage and each other's personalities, Hampton's job and schedule, and a little bit about our thoughts on adoption and parenting. We also talked a lot about our faith, since we are working with a Christian agency. It was neat to be able to describe how God has called us to be parents and adoption is simply another way to grow our family. We also talked briefly about the girls and the grieving process, and how that might affect or influence our adoption decisions.

The best part of the interview was just getting to know our case worker. She was wonderful and made us feel comfortable about the whole process. She reassured us that she was going to be just as urgent with our case as we wanted, so that was a relief as well.

We also talked briefly about our "preferences" for the baby, which is also one of the first questions we get asked when we tell someone we are adopting. At this point, we have no preferences - this means our baby could be a boy or girl, of any race, and may have some special needs. Some of this will be part of the discussion with the birthmom, but more on that in a later post! Ultimately, we know that God knows our future children and that gives me peace about the whole thing.

After this first visit, our case worker told us about an educational meeting that was mandatory, which was scheduled for - yes, you guessed it - December 7! We almost had an RSVP goofup and would have had to wait until February, but in the end it all worked out and that's where we were on Friday!

It's neat to rehash all of this process here, to write about each step again and to see it in hindsight. God has blessed us so much in this process and I'm so glad we can share it with you all!

Next time: details about the educational meeting and our individual interviews!