Social Worker Visit 1 & 2

Visit One 9/9 (Logan's Birthday)

On Sunday 9/8 during the Opening Game of the Chicago Bears (Thats a big deal in our house), I had noticed our carpet was wet downstairs.  Unfortunately, the wet carpet only continued to get worse and after a while I checked our utility closet in the basement.  Yup, flooded with water.  I frantically called a sweet man from our church and left him a message, praying he would make it out in the morning.  He did...and it was a broken Water Heater :(   He worked so diligently to make sure the new water heater was installed before the social worker got here.  He actually was loading tools back up in his truck when the social worker arrived.  Phew!  We are SO Very Thankful he was able to provide for our need in such a quick manner.

I spent the whole day cleaning, organizing, and making sure all household chemicals were put up high (per our required sheet).  Our house looked amazing. . . I thought the social worker was going to go through our house and do a pre safety audit as she had mentioned to me on the phone.  Unfortunately, she simply just talked with us at the kitchen table and said she'd do that on our next visit.  All that cleaning for nothing!

Our social worker is sweet. She came in so relaxed and really made me 'feel at home' in my own home. :)   I really like her and I know that she will be such an awesome part of this journey. She will be with us until our adoption is finalized. 6 months after placement.  She didn't have too many questions to ask.  She talked to us about our motivation to adopt and how our families felt about our decision.  She stayed a little over two hours and then left.

Sometimes we wake up in the morning and the day just doesn't go as planned.  And well, thats okay.  I remind myself often my happiness lies in the Lord and He is Always with us!

Visit Two 9/26

I made sure our house was spotless again and even managed to go for a walk in the afternoon with a friend and her two sweet little ones. I wasn't nearly as nervous for this visit.  She interviewed each of us one on one.  She simply went through the 13 page questionnaire we had previously filled out and asked us questions about things she felt we really didn't answer well enough.  Lets say I answered the questions and Logan, well he wrote a paper for each question.  She joked with me and said she was gonna have the psychologist look at his because he wrote so much! :)   We had a lot of fun with her on Thursday.  She spent about an hour with me and maybe 25 minutes interviewing Logan.  Since he wrote so much she didn't have much to ask him.  She has a huge document that she needs to write up about us (thats whats called the home study) and she uses our questionnaires to type up her paper.

She walked through our home.  She really didn't look at anything, she didn't open my closets and see how organized they were like I thought she would. She simple walked through it, and then flushed the toilets and turned faucets on...kind of funny. She said its to make sure we have running water.

Homestudy approved by November 3rd is the goal.  She has 30 days from her last visit to complete the home study.  Wow!  It seems to have gone so fast!  Once we are approved we are simply waiting for our child.  How awesome and exciting is that!!

We are giving God the glory for how smooth the process has gone.  We will continue to praise Him and make him a complete part of this process.

So Much Work...

Who knew that there was so much work to do when adopting!  I think they try to teach us a lesson in patience before we actually have a child.


Some people would say that we are now "Paper Pregnant".   Meaning we have entered into the mounds of paperwork, that at times seem never ending.  We know that it will TOTALLY be worth all this work when we are holding a precious little baby in our arms.

So far we've done the following...

Filled out an application.  Just a few pages to fill out, this packet was my favorite :)

Signed Contract with agency and filled out Homestudy packet 1.  Only 17 pages to fill out. Submitted first payment to agency. This made the adoption feel more real.

Filled out Homestudy Packet 2.  34 pages of fun!

Homestudy Packet 3 ... Here is where the real fun begins.

• 53 pages of more fun! We have all our paper work done! Just waiting for the social workers papers to be sent in. 
• Assigned a Social Worker!!!
• Included in packet was a 13 page questioner that both of us had to fill out individually
• The questions were interesting!  Believe me when I say they want to know EVERYTHING about you.  
• Fire Inspection of our home.  Had to buy a fire extinguisher.  :/   Also had to make a fire escape plan, primary and alternate routes, with tornado route marked for each level of our home.  This lovely 3 page escape plan gets to stay on our fridge until the adoption is finalized.  Maybe I need to get it laminated?!?  Xenia Fire Department drove the fire truck to my house and inspected the home and the escape plans.  Hum...Wonder what our neighbors were thinking when they saw that?!  And just for some extra excitement one of our smoke alarms started  beeping with low battery as they were in the house.... SERIOUSLY!   
• Made an emergency list that needs to stay on my fridge too. This had to include lots of numbers.   Quite honestly it isn't a bad thing to have. 
• FBI/BCI Finger Printing.
• Social Worker Visit 1 & 2 are complete.  One more to go, next Thursday 10/3.  She said we would be home study approved by November 3rd.  I'll post more soon on how the social worker visits have gone.  

Thank you so much for following our journey and for praying with and for us! 

Our Story...

We are thrilled to say we are adopting!  We are excited beyond words and to be a honest a little nervous.

Logan and I each knew that we wanted to adopt even before we met.  We both were drawn to the ministry of adoption whereby you are able to provide a home and a loving family for children who otherwise would not be afforded the same opportunities.  We had originally decided we would wait to adopt until we were more financially stable. At what point we actually thought we'd have the money to adopt is beyond me : ).  We began to try starting our family naturally about a year and a half ago.  Despite doctors finding nothing wrong with us, we have not been able to successfully get pregnant.  After much prayer and seeking God's will for us, we felt the Lord was leading us to adopt now.

The journey that led us here has not been an easy one.  It's included lots of heartache, medicine, doctors appointments, and well i'm married to a Riber so a little laughter.  When we seek the Lord He directs our paths.  We are so thrilled He has led us down this path.  It is God's example that we hope to follow as we embark on our own adoption journey.  We will choose to love our child unconditionally and to always put our child's needs ahead of our own needs.  We will shower them with love and mercy even when they don't deserve it.  We will give our child opportunities and a life that they would not have been able to have without us. Just as Christ has done all these for US.

This blog will be used to keep friends and family up to date on our adoption process. We are in the newborn domestic adoption program at Building Block Adoption Agency (www.bbas.org).  We should be Home Study(more info on this process) approved and waiting for our match by the beginning of November.  Once we get to the matching process we could have a child placed within a month to possibly more than a year.

Please pray with us for our child.  Pray for the birthmother and the matching process.  Nothing would make us happier than to know a birthmother came to know the Lord through meeting us and giving us the privilege to raise her child.  And Pray for Logan and I, that we may be parents who are honoring to the Lord.