Another Step Completed

The adoption journey continues. Back in April we submitted our application to Creative Adoptions, to do our homestudy. With that application, we had to read and sign a bunch of papers, send a picture of our family, and the application fee. Then we met with a social worker who told us what the rest of the application process would involve. Now, four months later, we have finished preparing our "Addendum to Application." We've been taking our time since we're hoping our house sells before we complete the adoption, because we need the money from the sale of the house in order to pay for the adoption. So, we're not hurrying through the adoption process, but we also haven't been stalling. We're eager to add our daughter to our family! So I guess we're just doing what we can do, but not stressing out when things take longer than expected. God's been working on me to have patience and trust His timing for both the adoption and the sale of our house. (Both easier said than done!)

In case you're interested in what a homestudy actually involves, here's the list of what we had to do just to finish our application!
-ask 3 friends to write reference letters for us (and make sure they really send them) One of them has to be interviewed in person.
-obtain birth certificates for all 4 of us (newly certified, as if the old ones might've changed)
-obtain our marriage certificate from NJ
-doctor's reports for all 4 of us (the kids were easy; just a form to fill out. But Heath and I had to have whole physicals, including blood work, which Heath had to have redone because the lab messed up. Fortunately, it was all good news.)
-apply for a Home Sanitation Inspection/get our well water tested (There was bacteria in the water, so we had to follow a bleaching procedure. When running the bleach out of the water afterwards, the well quit working. Fortunately, it was just a shorted wire, which Heath fixed easily. We were worried the whole pump might've gone up!)
-apply for a Home Fire Safety Inspection (we applied, but have yet to find out what that really involves. At least we know the fire alarms work. This morning they went off because I was running the bleach out of the hot water in the shower, and it set the alarms off. Moment of panic, but everything was fine.)
-Employment letters stating Heath's income and that he has a secure job.
-Financial statements with verification of all assets and income
-a written statement of how we plan to provide space for the child. (This is complicated since we plan to move and may be living in a small apartment when the adoption happens)
-Apply for State and Federal background checks for both of us (They take our fingerprints twice--I guess state and federal don't share these things? We pay them a bunch of money, twice, and they send us a paper listing all the felonies and misdemeanors we have not been charged with)
-fill out forms for child abuse clearances, for every state we've lived in since age 18
-same thing for child support payment clearances
-obtain our driving record from MVA

So, all of this is now in a big envelope ready to go to the post office. After they review all that, we'll be scheduled for our interviews with the social worker. One is each of us separately, and the other is us together. They're supposed to take 2-3hours each. I can't imagine what we could possibly talk about for that long, so it has me a little worried. Once we get through all of that, if the social worker approves us to adopt, we send the completed homestudy to our agency, Living Hope, and go on from there. Please keep us in your prayers, especially for us to trust God's timing in everything. It feels good to have another step completed!