Our first Home Study Appointment!

Today was our first home study appointment! It was so exciting. Now, it really feels REAL! It's like when you go for your Today the Home Study Coordinator, Amber, did a walk-through of the home, checking for safety features such as fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, car seats, etc. (There was also a question about rodents that we passed!!) In preparation for today, they had sent a letter saying not to clean your home TOO MUCH in case it doesn't look welcoming for a child to come live in. This was defintely not a problem for me!! I had to clean the house for days to make it look like I hadn't cleaned it too much! : ) Everytime I got one room cleaned, a little tornado named Johnny has destroyed another room! But really, it gave me a good excuse to clean out closets I needed to. And she didn't even see the garage we had cleaned out!!! Oh well, at least it is clean. We probably never wouldn't have gotten rid of a bunch of that stuff!

Amber talked to us about the wait time. Apparently, this is devastating to many couples, having to wait 2 years for a referral. We are blessed we have 3 children to help make this wait easier, but for all those who don't, my heart goes out. Some couples have even dropped out of the China program because they want to try to get pregnant. Once you are in the China program, if you get pregnant, you are disqualified. So this would be hard...to have to wait SO long and purpoesly NOT get pregnant when you want a child so bad. But other countries have shorter wait times, such as Ethiopia.

We heard a rumor among the internet that China was considering stopping applications for 3 years so that they could "catch up" on referrals. I really don't believe this, however, Amber said that if this were true, China has a history of always giving people ample time before they change rules, etc. My concern was when the cut-off would be, if it were indeed true. Amber gave us a estimated DTC date (that is when our Dossier To China goes) of September. We don't think it will take that long. I have been so eager, having gotten many documents together already. So it's likely if this rumor were true, they wouldn't stop accepting before September and once we get a DTC date, we should be in.

PRAYER: That China DOES NOT quit accepting appicants. That we get our dossier done efficiently and off to China.

The ride has truly begun. We are excited. We have 4 more home study appointments this month. Next Amber will interview Daniel and I together. Today she "interviewed" Phoebe Grace alone. We heard her ask PG if she thought we'd be good parents to the little girl! Why do I so often feel like Phoebe Grace has the upper hand!??!!!! Let's hope she responded to our advantage! : ) I guess we'll never know. The question PG said was the hardest, "Do you ever get in trouble?" Hmmm, I think that one was the easiest!