Details this weekend

The doctor visit went great!
Details to follow later - have to be at work early tomorrow (Sat) - 6 AM!!

Miles for Medicine

We will be heading out of town tomorrow afternoon for our physicals. This is not the most ideal time to go when it comes to my job. But the medical forms are the LAST things that need to be done. So, the sooner the better to get it done! And hey, road trip! Also, our individual interviews are coming up next week too.

Hope

Hope is "confident expectation." Hope is “a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown.” This is the hope that comes from God. This hope is not a worldly musing of “wishful thinking.” What we desire may not come in the way that we always thought it would, but in God’s plan there is hope.

Plan B

We do have a plan! Our physicals are before Christmas, not a month after. We are going to have to drive a little ways, though. But the timing is perfect. We got appointments just when we needed them and when it is the most convenient for us too! Thank you to so many of you that are praying for us on this journey. And this is answered prayer! This snag could have really gotten me down and really upset. But it is the unbelievable hope that comes from God alone that has gotten me through these first couple of worries – ever so small. So I know, without a doubt, that He will get me through the uphill battles that I’m sure we will face down the road.

Our first tiny bump in the road

Yesterday, I was worried about one thing. We still didn’t have the fingerprint results for Daniel (the background check). So the plan was that he would go get reprinted in the next week or so. A minor set back, but very manageable.

And we were both going to have our individual home study interviews and our home tour yesterday evening – our home study was going so smoothly…

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

So, we did have the home tour last night, although our social worker did have to cancel both of our individual interviews. She did say that she never cancels a home tour, because, even though you don’t have to clean your house, most people do. And if you know me, you know that I did. The home tour was very easy and fast. We got extra “points” (metaphoric points) for having a carbon monoxide detector and a fire extinguisher. She said everything looked great, especially with our house decorated for Christmas!

Today, I geared up to tackle the last two major things for the home study: the fingerprints and the medical forms. Well, the fingerprint/background check was much easier than I thought it would be. His completed forms came in the mail today - no re-fingerprinting necessary. That was easy! But then when I called to get an appointment for a physical at my doctor’s office, I was surprised and disappointed when they told me that the first appointment was January 29th. I got a little upset. I don’t want something as simple as a physical examination to set us back a few months. We are so close to having our home study completed. The home study (which includes those medical forms) and other paperwork will be sent to the immigration office so that they can open a file for us. And the goal is to get these sent in before the end of the year.

But I think we have a Plan B… I’ll know this weekend hopefully!

Thanksgiving and Hope

This week, as we approach Thanksgiving, I feel that I am very thankful this year. Although we do not have children yet, I have such a strong sense of joy and peace in my heart about the future. God is guiding us on this journey. It is so amazing to personally see how far I have come since this time last year. I have hope (which pretty much didn’t exist), joy, peace, faith and even excitement. It is wonderful to enter into this time of year feeling like this – with my heart, which has been broken for so long, ready to give and receive the blessings of this season.

We had our second home study interview on Wednesday, the 14th. This time it was mainly questions about parenting. And even though we hadn’t really talked about specifics, we had the same thoughts and ideas. I believe that we are already on the path to being like-minded parents.

We also gave our social worker all the paperwork that we had completed. When I kept reaching into our file folder handing her papers, she got excited. I think she was really proud of how much we had accomplished. We have realized that this process is more of an independent study – where we have to be motivated and complete each checklist ourselves.

And before we left, she told us a little bit about the “system” in China. She also told us a little bit about our time in country. We both thought it was interesting that China has a Wal-Mart. And we found out that after arriving in the country on a Saturday, we go and get our child on Monday morning – and then she is OURS! We do have a while to wait until travel time – but when it gets here, things are going to move fast!

Little pieces, Huge puzzle

Sorry for the very long pause between blogs. We have been gathering, writing and waiting. I believe that these will be the things that will become second nature to us over the next 2 years.

Our next home study is tomorrow. And we will be handing over our portion of the home study – our signed and initialed forms, many in depth discussion questions, individual autobiographies and lots of certificates. The questions and autobiographies turned out to be easier than I thought to put on paper, but still very intriguing and time-consuming.

We did get out passports – super fast – only took about 2 weeks. We really won’t need them any time soon, but it’s good to already have them. I’ve never had one, so it was exciting to see one for the first time! And a portion of my background check filtered back to us. It is encouraging to see even some of the small pieces start to come together.

So we are heading in tomorrow with my “traveling” 5 pocket expand-a-file. Of course, already labeled and divided according to section. List made, separated and organized!