First interview... check!

So I'm a little late getting this post written, but better late than never!

When we started the blog, we decided to be very open about the whole process so that if anyone is interested in adoption they can see everything that goes on with it (which is why there will be posts explaining a lot of what we are doing throughout the process).

After getting accepted into the program, you begin your home study, which is where we are now. The home study is a process that usually takes 3-4 months to complete. It's actually not so much what it sounds like. It's a series of three interviews with our social worker, a home visit, getting fingerprints done, and LOTS and LOTS of paperwork. And then a few more pieces of paperwork! What kind of paperwork you may be asking... Some of it is basic stuff like just copying our IDs, sending pictures of us and our house, etc. Some of it has been forms about the different policies and procedures of our adoption agency and making sure we understand all of that. There was also a form where we identify the type of child we would like to adopt (this has been the hardest thing so far). You select if you prefer a boy/girl or if you don't have a preference and then there is a whole page of special needs that you check either yes/no/maybe on. You also select the age preference. We have decided to to choose a preference as far as a boy or girl is concerned. As far as age, we are hoping to get the youngest age possible, which for our country (Colombia) is 18 months, but until we receive our match we won't know the age for sure.

We also had to do an online questionnaire kind of thing called Prepare/Enrich which is designed to help identify strengths and weaknesses in couples and find areas where we can grow together, especially as we go through this challenging process. After we completed this we were able to do our first interview.

This past Monday was our first interview. We got to meet our social worker, Beth, for the first time (besides just talking on the phone). She is so nice and I'm so glad she is there to guide us through our journey! The interview was basically just us meeting with her and getting to know her and another girl from the agency. She went over our results from the Prepare/Enrich assessment, but mostly it was just conversational. It went really well, and wasn't anything too intense. We came away both feeling more affirmed and encouraged about the whole adoption thing (not that we weren't already certain, just specific details were starting to line up more).

Our next step is to finish writing our autobiographies (which is basically just answering a TON of questions about us and our families) and then we will be able to have our individual interviews. We will also be completing lots of education as part of the home study. Some of it is just reading stuff off the Internet, pertaining to adoption or pertaining to the Colombia. We will also be completing several online modules for couples who are adopting and also reading a book about adoption.

So that is a very quick look at what the home study is. The agency moves at our pace, and we are trying to get through this part as quickly as we can!

Please continue to keep praying for us through this process! We are trying to be patient, but it can be tough!

Last, I wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us so far by buying a necklace or coasters or just giving us a donation. YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

Also, for those that aren't aware, on the side of this page there is an Amazon button. If you ever purchase anything on Amazon and use this link to get to the Amazon page a percentage of what you spend will come to us for our adoption. We got $5 the first day when someone clicked on it and bought a vacuum (so thanks to whoever that was!)

~Sallie