Step Three - The Family Photo Book

So how on earth does a birth mother/couple choose the right family into which to place her/their child?  As I looked through the selection of photo albums that were laid out for our perusal during our orientation, I was deeply pondering this question.  Such beautiful couples and families with awe-inspiring testimonies of faith and conversion all desiring to share their love with that special child.  Such creatively designed books cataloging courtship, family history, celebrations, vacations, hobbies and reasons for adoption were so touching but at the same time daunting as the thought of producing one just like them challenged me.  What will it be about our family that will touch her heart?  What will she see or read that will cause her to reach for our album from among the many that will be spread before her and say 'Yes, this is the one?' 

Honestly, I have no idea what that will be and I would never dare to try and second guess it.  We have prayerfully compiled this book over the last 5 months to represent as truthfully as we can who we are, what is important to us and what we have to offer another child.  We have devoted this project to the Holy Family and trust that the Holy Spirit will direct the whole encounter of our lives with hers.  We are excited to one day find out the answer to the question above - what was it that made her choose us?

Two copies of this photo book arrived at our adoption agency today to take their place among the other beautiful books of beautiful families. It makes me shudder to think about the process that lies ahead for the birth mother who because of her immense love for her baby will give him up into our care because of something contained in that book.

Step Two - The Home Study

In order to be eligible to adopt, you must successfully complete a home study.  A home study includes three to four interview sessions between you/your family and a caseworker.  We found ourselves so fortunate to be working with a beautiful Christian caseworker, who melted the hearts of our children and made the whole experience such a pleasure.  Because we are quite a distance from the adoption agency they contract with our caseworker who lives in Dallas to complete home studies in our area. To cut down on the length of time to qualify she recommended that we try and cover all our interviews in just two sessions!! It would mean a lengthy interview process each time but we were happy to work this way.

Our first session took place on Saturday July 7th from 10am until 4.30pm!!  Dave and I had individual interviews done that day which covered all of our history growing up in our own birth families, our relationships with each family member both then and now, our marriage relationship and our relationship with each one of our children. Lastly we covered our relationship with the Lord and our spiritual lives.  

At the end of this time we set the next date to complete our home study which would include a joint interview with Dave and I focusing on questions related to our views on adopted children and their birth parents, how we manage our finances, our child rearing practices, ideas on discipline, how we would handle some of the deprivations that adopted children may exhibit. It would also include an individual interview with both of our girls and finally the 'walk through' of our home to make sure it was clean and safely maintained and met the fire safety code.  That date was set for August 11th.

So we had a month to get new smoke alarms installed in each bedroom, a fire extinguisher placed in the kitchen and familiarize ourselves with its use, a fire escape plan written down and practiced and a hearth gate installed to secure the fire place, carpets cleaned, medicines stored in a combination lock box and cleaning supplies locked in the garage cupboard.  The final paperwork had to be compiled to include marriage certificate, W2's, birth certificates, green card, policy pages for all insurances, TB skin tests administered and results obtained from the local health department, medical physicals for each family member and vaccination records for the girls and the cat!!!  It was a constant stream of activity and in between times we've been pouring over application papers from adoption assistance foundations to help us raise the money to pay for our child at the time of placement!!   A month like no other month has flown by and here we are Home Study behind us and now waiting to receive the official word from the agency that we have successfully qualified....