On Friday the 13th (spooky, I know), we had our home study with Diane the social worker starting at 12:30. It went really well!! Neither of us were sure of exactly what to expect, but we had met Diane at one of the Hand in Hand training sessions, so we were glad that we knew who she was. Diane made us feel at ease right away with her smile and genuine interest in who we were.
She started out by explaining that the process will take a few hours, and that there are questions that the Philippine government wants to know, and questions that the State of Minnesota wants to know. She showed us that there were 34 pages of questions to ask us!! Some of them we had answered in our autobiographies, but there were other ones that she needed to ask.
We talked about everything with her. We talked about our families and extended families, what experiences we had growing up, what our jobs are like, etc. And then we got into questions about marriage and our views on parenting. There were lots of questions asking about how we have prepared ourselves for parenting an adopted child. By about 4:00, Dave and I both were getting very tired - it is hard to be thinking of the best answers you can possibly think of for 4 1/2 hours!! We were finished by 5:00. Diane was very encouraging, and she was full of praise about how much we have thought through our parenting styles. She and Karin are two people who know absolutely everything about our lives now, it's kind of a strange feeling, but at the same time I'm glad I trust them so much!
For those of you who are parents who read our blog - thanks for letting us peek in on your parenting styles. We've been watching and taking notes in our head for different approaches we will use with our children. We've taken a lot of advice to heart, especially the advice Karin and Diane had for us through the Hand in Hand training. They had many great issues that we discussed on parenting adopted children. So thanks for preparing us that much more to be parents :)
On Saturday the 14th, Dave and I completed the last piece needed for the adoption. A new background study came out, and we had to go get fingerprinted for this background study at a jail. They actually used the ink on our fingers and everything, it was pretty cool.
So now everything is complete! We just have to mail in our forms to Karin, and wait for Diane to write up the results from the home study. At that point Karin will send around the dossier to get the appropriate signatures from the Directors of Hand in Hand. Then everything will be ready to send in to the Philippines!!! For now we are finished, and are on to waiting. You're prayers for patience during this time will be much appreciated.
Dave and I posing with our fingerprints
