Hello! Well many of you are wondering about how our homestudy went -- sorry it's taken me so long to post about that...I've been working really hard at getting ready for the jewelry open house on Thursday (yeah, no excuse, huh? ;)

Anyway, we met our social worker, Amy, and she is WONDERFUL!!! (not just saying that b/c she's probably reading this, either, I promise! ha ha!) I really didn't know what to expect, but at our appointment on Monday, we just sat & talked for a little while and she gave us a notebook that outlined all the stuff that we'd have to do for our homestudy. The most exciting for me -- and probably most daunting for Nathan -- is writing the autobiography. Lynn W. (family friend who has adopted internationally) told me that by the end of the home study, they would know us right down to the size of our underwear, and I believe it!! But you all know that I love writing, so the autobiography should actually be quite fun for me -- though I'm sure it probably shouldn't be as long as a "real" autobiography......I'll have to work on my longwindedness in my writing. :)

One great thing about Amy is that she & her husband adopted a son from Russia a couple years ago, so she has "been there, done that" and has great advice & tips for us!!

Here is a picture of us and Amy -- in the short hour or so that we talked with her, we already feel like we've known her for quite a while!

For our homestudy, we will meet with Amy 2 more times (once by ourselves & one more time, she'll come to the house), we have to get physicals, MORE fingerprints, read a lot,and get a state police clearance letter , just to name a few things. Sometimes I just sit and look at my box with all the required paperwork (homestudy & dossier) and I just really wonder how we're going to get this accomplished, working full-time and everything else we have to do. I guess that's just where we have to put our trust in God that He will get us through...but let me tell you, "the box" has become one of those things I can't wait to finish with, because the sooner we finish with it, the sooner our baby will be in our arms!!

So...I think that's all for now. I will be picking up my UA Employment letter today -- just one more doc to add to the dossier! So now Nathan & I both have verification of employment. One more doc down, tons to go!! ;)

Well, till I have more to report....... 'later! Love, Melissa :)

P.S., I really couldn't post this without telling you about my friend whose picture is at the top of this post. He was perched outside my window at work, preening in front of the reflective glass...evidently he was a vain little guy (there was a girl cardinal in the crepe myrtle behind him) because I had plenty of time to grab my camera & snap some really good pics. You know, they say redbirds are good luck!! Anyway, hope y'all enjoy him as much as I do!

Labels: International Adoption, Paperwork