Tonight our social worker came over for our second home study interview. This interview only took two hours, much shorter than the last session. We talked about various special needs and challenges in adoptions. We also covered the parameters of the child we’d like to adopt – age, special needs, gender, etc. We also talked some more about marriage and child schooling.

We are almost done with the home study process! All that’s left is for the social worker to run our state child abuse checks and to write the actual home study document. We should have a copy in our hands by the end of the first week of September!

After that, we send the home study to the orphanage to get approval to be matched with our daughter. We can’t wait to receive the email that says she’s ours!

Thank you so much to everyone who prayed!

The home study interview was almost three hours long and went really well. We covered a lot of topics – marriage, our upbringing, parenting styles, corporal punishment, religion, and international adoption. Our social worker is extremely personable and was very easy to talk with. Even the solo section at the end was fairly easy; it’s Jeff’s turn to be interviewed solo next week!

We have a follow up meeting next Thursday night that will be shorter and then we wait for the home study to be written.

I know God’s timing is perfect but it’s always so humbling to see it happen. We had been promised photo and video updates “sometime this week.” We received an email from our agency one hour before the interview with our photos and the video link. What an encouragement, right before an important interview! I really wish I could share the pictures but I’m not allowed until further along in the process.

My heart really is in Asia! My daughter is over there and I can’t wait to bring her home!

In two and a half hours, we have our first interview with the social worker. She’s going to be talking to us about parenting styles, our preparations for adoption, finances, health, and look over our home for basic safety standards.

I wasn’t nervous but now I’m feeling it. I can see God’s hand all over our adoption process thus far and I know that He will continue to guide. I definitely need to spend some time in prayer before the social worker arrives.

Tonight she’ll be interviewing both of us together and then me by myself. Next week it will be my husband’s turn to be interviewed alone. I hope it’s an easy interview!

We are still plowing through adoption stuff. Since we are applying to adopt a waiting child, we have motivation to push as fast as possible. The longer it takes for us to finish our part of the process, the longer she lives in an orphanage.

Yesterday I applied for my passport. I was very happy to find a nearby USPS that accepts passport applications. Last week I called and scheduled an appointment for this Monday morning. So, yesterday, I drove over to the USPS and handed in my application, my passport photos, and a check. Hopefully soon I am going to be a world class traveler! I told my husband he wasn’t allowed to go pick up our daughter by himself…

This morning we both visited our doctor to get general health checkups and have her fill out some paperwork about our medical history. She signed off that we are “mentally and physically fit to parent.” Woohoo! One more approval has been handed in.

Tomorrow I visit a lab to get some blood drawn for a routine check. It’s been years since I’ve had blood work done. I confess that I am not looking forward to it. Hopefully it will be an easy visit. I am drinking tons of fluids in preparation. Unfortunately, no more food until after our visit tomorrow.

We’re also working on a summary of our disciplinary beliefs/techniques for various ages of children. I’m having to research a bit as I’m honestly not sure of specific discipline techniques. I know spanking is a horrible form of punishment for a child who has been abandoned or neglected. I know positive reinforcement is better than punishment. But I’m not certain about which discipline ideas are best suited for what age. It looks like I have some more reading to do!