2nd Home Study done!!!!

We had our second home study on Saturday and it went so well! We love talking adoption with our social worker. She is a wealth of knowledge and a great resource. She asked us many questions such as:

What types of discipline do you plan to use?
Are you going to be a strict or lenient parent?
What forms of discipline worked for you growing up?
What have you observed from other parents that you like or dislike?
What do you know about attachment and bonding?
Do you plan to take your children on vacation with you as a family?
What things do you plan to instill to make sure you spend quality time with your children?
What are your thoughts on racism?
And many, many more....


We talked a lot about identity and fitting in around our community. We also talked about what school they will go to and the obstacle they might face there. Stereotypes that go along with African-American children, teens, adults. Providing good African-American role models for our child to look up to, etc...It's unfortunate that our children still have to deal with racism this day and age, but the truth is they do. It's definitely come a long way, but has a long way to go as well. It was so nice to talk about identity. Being a bi-racial family it's going to be obvious our children are adopted. They don't get to decide when or whether they want to tell others they are adopted...people will know as soon as they see us as a family. That's one advantage that children from Russia, etc...have. They can wait until they are comfortable talking about it...our children won't have that luxury.

We also talked about when our baby(ies) arrive home and how we are going to go about others holding them. This is a whole different post and it's quite complex. We will most likely send out letters or emails covering this subject for immediate family when it gets closer. We still have more research to do.

All in all our home study was so great. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful social worker that you can chat with and ask questions to. Also, an advantage is she and her husband have two adopted children and no biological children...so basically the same boat we are in. They, like us, have no desire right now to have biological children so we talked with her a bit about that as well...which is probably a whole different post as well :)

We are another step closer!!!!

Until my next post...


Tasha

Paperwork

Well, there hasn't been a whole lot going on with us lately. Still gathering paperwork, setting up appts, ordering certificates, background checks, filling out forms, etc....OK- so there's a LOT going on with us lately, but nothing too exciting...at least not for any of you :) Being "paper pregnant" isn't as stressful as I thought it would be. Everything just kind of falls into place after you set up appts and order whatever documents you need. It's a lot of waiting...and from what I hear waiting is the name of the game in adoption! We have our 2nd home study meeting this Saturday in Fargo!! We are very excited and have been busy preparing for that. Gathering more documents, forms, and doing some reading on attachment and bonding. From what I see on other blogs this is what we will be talking about for our second meeting. Parenting styles, discipline, attachment, bonding. Our social worker will basically get a feel for what we know/don't know and will fill us in on the rest. Being first time parents it's kind of hard to know how you will parent. It's one of those things that you learn as you go and is different for all families and what works for them. Each kid is different so it's hard to tell until you bring them home what needs will need to be met, etc...It will be nice to get away (even if it's just Fargo) for the weekend. I will post details when we get back :) Have a great weekend!!!!

Until my next post...

Tasha

1st Home Study done!!!!!!!!!!!!

This evening we had our first home study meeting with Lindsey from God's Children Adoption Agency. She came to our home for this first meeting which was a little nerve-wracking, but at the same time nice to get it done with!

She asked a lot of questions to get a feel for our personalities, backgrounds, families, our marriage, etc...such as:

Describe your mom/dad
How were you raised/discplined?
Is this how we plan to raise our kids?
Would you change anything?
What's your relationship like with your family?
Parents' jobs
Describe your marriage
Did you enjoy high school/college?
How did you meet?
Where we've lived/reasons for moving
Our jobs
Plans after baby comes home
Backgrounds
Do we plan to raise our kids in the Catholic church?

And many, many more questions, but you get the picture. We met with her for about 2.5 hours and showed her our house, what room we plan to make the nursery.

Also, one question I "had" to ask is she would approve us for adopting siblings and if we had adequate space and she said yes!! We have been talking about siblings, but that's a whole different post! :)

We were so excited to get this first home study done...it was a huge relief and a big step forward in our adoption. We are eager for our 2nd home study!

For now we just keep on working on paperwork, forms, gathering birth/marriage certificates, etc...

IAG received our application today and will be sending us our packet next week and we will be talking with our coordinator next week to go everything we need to get started! Everything is becoming very real!! Finally!!!

Until my next post...

Tasha

Where to start....

Wow, I haven’t blogged in a long time! A lot has happened since the last time I blogged…but I’m happy to announce we are back on the road to adoption!! We have been struggling to decide which agency was best for us. After a lot of research and talking with families who have used these agencies we have finally decided on IAG (International Adoption Guides)!! They are a smaller agency with shorter wait times than any other agency we have talked with. Right now they are saying 4 months for an infant boy and 6 months for an infant girl!!!! Every other agency has told us about 9-12 months…so this is WONDERFUL news to us! If everything goes according to plan (I’m sure all of you adoptive moms are laughing at me right now) we should have our baby home close to the end of THIS year!!!

We have been hearing talks about Ethiopia’s stability lately and all of the changes they are going through right now. There has been some talk that they may close their adoption doors, so we wanted an agency that would move us along quickly! That’s not to say that something can’t still happen, but if it does we have a back up plan of looking at a domestic adoption at that point. However, we really feel like Ethiopia is where our baby is so we are not worrying about that right now.

Now that we have chosen our agency we have our first home study meeting set up for February 12th with Lindsey from God’s Children Adoption Agency out of Fergus Falls. This will be our first BIG step in our adoption journey!! We have always know who we wanted to use for our home study agency…they are wonderful!

That’s where we’re at right now. It has taken us a lot longer than we originally planned to get to this point, but we have to believe it’s all in His timing :) I plan to blog much more from here on out to keep everyone up to date!! This is especially nice for our family and friends that live far away and we don’t get to see or talk with very often!! If you ever have questions please feel free to call or email us. We are always ready to talk adoption!!

We are officially PAPER PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOHHOOOO…I’ve been waiting almost 3 years to say those words!! :)

Until my next post….

Tasha & Chaske