Home Study Progress

March is flying by! We've had our interviews (both as a couple and individually) in the last week and a half, and I attended a baby shower and wedding on Saturday. No sleep for the adopting!
We're making progress with the education requirements. We have 6 education requirements to fulfill: an online course, a class taught by our agency, and 4 books to read. We've completed the online class and are finishing the class at the agency tonight, and I've finished one book. But we still have a long ways to go.

We meet with our home study social worker for the last time tomorrow. She's coming to our house to evaluate the living conditions, which are excellent, of course! We found out at the first meeting that our social worker approves us to adopt two or one, so it isn't just our decision. And I found out that there's a Ukranian population just a few miles south of us. Who knew?!

As we've been going through the education requirements, I've been gathering paperwork for the next step, submitting the I-600A. The I-600A is a form filed with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). At this point, all we're waiting on is the home study paperwork, which won't get to us until we've finished 4 of the 6 education requirements. But I still have a lot of paperwork to gather for the dossier (requirements for Ukraine), so that'll keep me busy.

I'm leaving for a week on Wednesday to visit my friend Lorena in Ecuador. I'm so excited to see her and spend time with her in the beautiful mountains! And the trip there and back will allow me plenty of reading time (I don't plan on reading much when I get to Ecuador!). Dave plans on taking Thursday and Friday off to catch up on reading and house projects, and to have some relaxing time at home. He's been very dutiful with his reading requirements...every day finishing about 20 pages. It's a lot to take in. I'm so appreciative to have a husband who's as dedicated to this adoption as I am. Many times the husbands are being dragged along by their wives. And, I admit, I was more excited than he was in the beginning, but now we're both excited and anxious to get our child(ren) home.

March And Frankenmuth

March is going to be a very busy month! We have a class the first and third Monday for our home study, all four of our interviews with our social worker, a wedding and a baby shower, my trip to Ecuador, Dave's sister's visit, a trip to Buffalo, and possibly listing our house for sale. Phew! I get tired just thinking about it. To gear up for this month as well as relax from a few stressful weeks, Dave and I decided to leave life behind for a night and head up north. We went to Frakenmuth (a touristy German village with lots of little shops) on Friday evening, had a nice dinner, experienced Bronner's off season (Bronner's is the world's largest Christmas store), and then chilled in our hotel room...very relaxing. This morning we ate a leisurly breakfast, did a little shopping at Birch Run (a ginourmous outlet center) and then did a little dreaming driving around looking at houses and neighborhoods...very fun stuff! We're making progress with the adoption while staying sane, which isn't always easy. We need specific prayer at this time for two major decisions:

First, pray that God guides our decision to sell our house or stay put. It's pretty tempting to want to move right now, but we need to follow what God's will is, not our own.

Secondly, pray that God guides our decision in adopting one or two children. We have gathered a lot of information in our first class, which makes it seem overwhelming to adopt two children at once. I think I'm up for the challenge, but Dave is unsure. So pray that God would change one of our hearts so we can progress in unity and faith (which is always our primary goal). When we're in God's will, He provides...that's the promise I'm hanging on to right now.