Homestudy visit #1

We completed our first homestudy visit last night. We had individual interviews about our childhood relationships and how we feel we will be with our children in comparison. Then she had to inspect the house to make sure we had all of our toxic material and medicines locked away. The only safety issues we have to fix before she is returns is removing my lovely knife rack on the wall in the kitchen. I have to put the knives in a drawer. They apparently can't be in plain view to the children. Although, it will be easier for them to get them out of a drawer then off that rack!! This is a minor fix and certainly no big deal. She told me about one family who had an open circular stairway and they had to put up a railing on the entire thing. That would be a costly fix. Praise the Lord for small favors.

Speaking of favors from the Lord, we had to pay the first half of our homestudy fee on this visit and I had almost the entire amount...just a little bit short. Anyway, Wednesday night a dear friend donated money toward our adoption. Soo..I had enough money to completely cover this visit. Thank you to our dear precious friend ( you know who you are!!) and to the Lord.

Our next visit will be February 15th and the final visit February 18th (our 4th anniversary). In the meantime, we have 10 hours of parent training to complete. We are going today to get our police clearance and apply for our passports. Next week, we have to go get all of our blood tests run, checking for every sickness you can think of!!!! There are numerous other papers and details to get so I won't bore you with those details. Soon as we have the homestudy complete, I think it will be a bunch of hurry up and wait.

Please continue to pray for God's guidance in our lives! I keep reading other blogs from families adopting in Ukraine and they are having quite a time with a new rule about needing Interpol clearance before getting to bring home their children! Please pray for the families over there as some of them have some hard choices to make about waiting it out in Ukraine for 40 days or returning home for work and waiting. I can't imagine how heartbreaking it would be to have to tell my children I have to leave for awhile and can't take them with me. Anyway, please pray!