Social Worker Visit

We met with our social worker last night, as I mentioned in this post.

****

First of all:

This was our fourth visit with a social worker regarding adoption.  Each one gets a little less scary.  So know that if you are facing the process for the first time, these are people who want to see children placed in loving homes.  They're on your side.  They're an advocate for you!  Don't be intimidated.  Don't freak out.  Your house doesn't have to be perfect (we still have moving boxes sitting in the living room).  Your hair doesn't have to be perfect.  YOU do not have to be perfect.

Rant over, just wanted to put that out there.

If nothing else, maybe I'll re-read that someday when we're going through this again and remember to relax!

****

Last night was great!!

Rachel, our social worker, came in the evening and went over some paperwork, toured our home, asked and answered some questions and then told us that all we have left to do now is send in the hard copies of our profile (our agency asks for 30 copies) with another check and we will be officially-for-real-no-more-hoops "circulating"!!!

Circulating is another way of saying "on the list".

Here's how it works:

Birthmoms considering adoption contact our agency, then the agency spends time with them, counsels them,  learns about their life etc.  Then their situation will be compared with the criteria we provided and the agency will deliver our profile to those where a good match is determined.
{Our criteria is extremely open, there are not many situations we wouldn't consider.  But, for example purposes, maybe a family is uncomfortable adopting a child who is more than 4 weeks premature, their profile would not be shared with a mom who just delivered a 6 week premature baby}
Then the birthmom will review all the profiles that have been presented to her and she will make the overwhelmingly impossible choice about which family seems like the best fit.

It seems like it has taken us a lifetime to get to this point.  We started actively working toward adopting last March (although we've been talking about it for years), then walked the dark road of a failed adoption, which was followed by a few months of emotional recovery.  Then we chose an agency, waited for approval, went to our first classes, put everything on hold while we moved, and now -- we're actually approaching the finish line!

I can't wait to share the next steps with you.  I can't wait to live the next steps!
Please pray for us as we wait.  I have a feeling it will be a difficult part of this journey.

Just In Case You Were Wondering

Just in case you were wondering hat Ranger was up to these days, here are a few photos 

Practicing for Puppy Olympics

Smiling about his favorite bone

Impersonating a walrus

Exploring his new back yard!

Babysitting, rehearsal for when his brother or sister arrives!

Rockin the shades

Heading to Easter dinner with his dog-cousins. 

We love our happy little dog!!

What's your dog up to these days?

Adoption Updates

Even though our adoption (and blogging) progress halted a bit while we were putting everything we owned into boxes, loading those boxes onto a trailer, unloading those boxes into the garage at the new house and then carrying each of those boxes inside, unpacking them, finding a home for all of our things, and settling into this new space, we HAVE checked a few more things off of the unending adoption-to-do list.

Here's what has been completed since we moved:

Fire inspection at the new house

Safety audit update by the agency that holds our home study

Visit with a pediatrician

Updated financial statement

Profile finished and printed

And here's all that (I think) is left to do:

Meet with our social worker, Rachel

Send a check in to the agency

Be officially on the list and have a minor panic attack every time my phone rings


The most exciting thing about this is that our meeting with Rachel is scheduled for tomorrow night! It's like the last step before we can just send in the check and be done with all the preparation.

Would you join me in prayer?

*****

Father God,
How do I begin to thank you for your constant provision?  You have blessed us beyond what we could ever ask, and have walked beside us through every step of this process.  As we are nearing the end, I ask for peace and for patience.  I ask that we would continue to keep sight of our end goal - to glorify you in everything we do, including bringing children into our family and teaching them about your love.
I pray today for the woman who may right now this very minute be considering adoption for her unborn child.  I pray that she would have peace about her decision, that she would feel your presence as she reads profiles and weighs her options.  And I pray for her health as life grows inside her.
I also pray for the baby who will be ours.  I pray that they are healthy, not being exposed to alcohol or drugs, that they are growing and developing just as they should.  I pray that they enter into this world safely, smoothly, and without complication.
And I pray for our family as we grow from 2 to 3, that we can bond quickly with baby, that we can be diligent in teaching them about you, and that we can be aware of their unique needs.
Thank you for adoption, Lord.  Thank you that we are able to be parents, and provide a loving family for a child who needs one.  Thank you for adopting us into your family, making us coheirs with Christ, giving us an identity as your child. Thank you so much for all you are; merciful and good, loving and kind, and so much more than I can name.
Humbly I pray in your holy name,
Amen

*****

Now, I have to run.  Even though I know that our social worker wants to see us, not a perfect space, I still feel like it would be best to put away some laundry and run the vacuum :)

Stencil For The Win

The new house is coming right along!

I've completed one super fun (and painfully time consuming) project and wanted to share!  I absolutely love how it turned out!!

The layout for the main level of this house is very open; living room, eat-in kitchen, and family room all open to each other, two rooms with vaulted ceilings.  When we moved in, these three spaces were painted with FIVE different colors.  It was ridiculous.  Not only were the colors of great multitude, but they were also daaarrrrrk and dated.  And not our style.  And have I mentioned the sponge paint??

{If by some incredibly small chance the previous owners of this house ever stumble across this post.  Please know that you were very, very sweet, and the house was in great condition, and it's nothing personal.  But painting that dark green sponge paint was my priority numero uno!} 

Before, dark green sponge paint burned my retinas ~ After, nice and neutral; my retinas can rest

My first step was to cover all five different colors in the three rooms with a warm neutral tan.  It's called Faded Burlap by Valspar.  We used Valspar Signature (which is a paint/primer in one) in an eggshell finish.  I was prepared to use three coats to cover all of these dark tones.  But two good coats totally did the trick!  I was quite impressed with this paint!

All in all, I personally spent about 24 hours across four or so days painting.  Plus, on the first day, my sister, brother-in-law, and dear friend Jess came over in their painting clothes and logged hours on ladders and on their hands and knees helping out.

  You can see one of the other colors in the after picture above, it was a purple/grey/mauve type of color.  Yowza.  

My next step in making this space more personal, and in bringing some life into my tan walls, was a stencil.  Stencils have a bad reputation of looking dated, or sloppy.  But I was determined to do something that had personality, kept the space neutral, and wasn't as permanent as wallpaper.

I read great reviews about Cutting Edge Stencils and loved their Charlotte Allover pattern.  I liked how it looked like lace and was delicate, but not overly feminine.

Image from www.cuttingedgestencils.com
I did use a similar color palette, but the above would be a white wall with tan paint for the stencil, which is the opposite of my wall. 

I woke up early on a Saturday, and got started.  I told Kain that I would be finished in a few hours.  The wall I was covering is not very big and the stencil covers about 2x2 feet!  I grossly miscalculated how much time this would take.  I started at 9:00 am, stopped for about a 30 minute lunch,  stopped at 3ish to get ready for dinner out, restarted at 9:00 pm, and didn't finish until almost 1!!! I think it looks great, but I'll know next time to plan for an entire day.

The Cutting Edge website has great tutorials, and they're what I used so I will spare you step-by-step instructions and will instead just give you some pointers I picked up.  I started in the center of the wall and would move from the left of my original to the right, back and forth, back and forth, filling in on either side.  I found that this allowed the previous stencil to dry enough that the paint wasn't smudging or pulling off when I placed the stencil over it.  Also, you can't hear this enough -- use a small foam roller and way way way less paint then you think you should.  It's the key to a crisp line.  Most of the stencils required three or four coats of paint.  It would have been faster to use a heavy coat of paint, but then it would drip under the stencil and make a total mess.

I only speak with such certainty about that because I learned the hard way.  My first stencil was a disaster.  I ended up repainting it the base color and stenciling again. Fortunately, because the Charlotte is a repeating pattern, that worked out just fine.

Here's an in progress pic.  I wish I had taken more.

You can see that I held the stencil up with some painters tape - I also taped off the baseboard, trim at the top of the wall, and the corners.  I didn't use tape when I painted the Faded Burlap, but when you are using the stencil on the edges, you end up smooshing (technical term) a little brush into the corners and it gets a little messy. 

The stencil color is Falling Snow by Behr.  I had planned on using Crisp Linen by Valspar because it's the recommended trim color on the back of the Faded Burlap paint chip, but I found myself at Home Depot and just picked out a complimentary color instead.  I wanted white, not a color, to keep the wall neutral. And seriously, until you start picking out white paint you have no idea how many shades of white exist in the paint world!!

Here she is all finished!

It's so fun in person!! The truth is, it's not perfect and I love that!  There are some messy spots, and some areas where I should have used another coat of paint, but it adds to the "hand-painted charm" which is what I was hoping for!

How about you? Any projects taking up your entire Saturday??

Adoption Talk Etiquette

I found this video yesterday and haven't stopped giggling about it since.

Truth be told, I'm pretty understanding about this stuff.  People are curious, and people generally mean well.  People want to be supportive and people want to ask good questions.  Adoption is not the norm of life, so people are sometimes awkward and people have lots of misconceptions about how the process works.  

So take this for what it is, a little levity about an important issue.

Please ask your questions, we want to talk about adoption!

Please tell us our baby is beautiful and ask to hold him or her, we want to share our full arms and hearts with you.

Please don't think I take myself  or our life too seriously, I know us.  We're awkward people just like you.

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/92651492" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/92651492">IF YOU WOULDN'T SAY IT ABOUT A BOOB JOB...</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/raincitychurch">Rain City Church</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Boop.

Surviving This Day

March 21, 2002 was the last time I saw my dad outside of a hospital bed. 

March 21, 2013 was the last time I heard from "C" at the end of our failed adoption. 

March 21 is a day I have associated with sadness and loss. It's a day I want to spend covered up and isolated. 

But not today. 

A few weeks ago at church, my pastor (who is also my big brother which often makes his words more personal and poignant) spoke of hope. True hope. The hope that comes from giving your life to a Heavenly omniscient loving and perfect father. Hope that overwhelms, hope that renews. 

So that's what I'm choosing today. 

Hope. 

Not sadness. Not grief. Not loss. Hope. 

Hope that the pain in this world is temporary and that life with Jesus is eternal. Hope that He has a plan and no matter what it is, it's better. Hope that because of a shared love of Christ I will be reunited with my earthly dad someday. And hope that our baby, not the baby that we thought was ours, but our baby is still coming. 

We have moved into our new home (hooray!). Today I will carry boxes and buy paint and sing and rejoice that because of Jesus' love and sacrifice - I have hope. 

P.S. I'm writing this from on my phone because we don't have internet at the new house yet. Normal life should resume here soon! 

Inspected

I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that we had gone into contract on a new house but that our home inspection revealed some issues. Nothing major; just the plumbing, HVAC, roof, gutters, chimney, kitchen counters, grading, electric panel, etc...

So basically the entire house was a disaster waiting to happen. Not to mention that the lot neighbored an apartment complex and there was a dumpster practically in the backyard. 

I had been blinded by fresh paint and new carpet, which is why home inspections are such a good idea. A few days after our inspection we terminated the contract we had on the house.  

I was deflated again.

But, God in His infinite wisdom had a wonderful plan.  Last week we went house hunting again (I'm pretty sure that these were the last of 15-20 houses that we have walked through). The search has been exhausting and emotional. 

And then....

We walked into a house and it just felt right. Newer, nicer, bigger, more open, and with an amazing backyard. We made an offer that day and we're in contact by the next night.  I waited to post about it, because I was remaining cautiously optimistic, however we had our inspection today and it went very well. 

Is the house perfect? Of course not, it's about 14 years old and things like roofs and windows and furnaces don't last forever. But they are all in good enough shape to hold out for a while longer while we budget for replacements. 

I left the house today feeling completely excited. There were no major red flags, there was nothing that made us second guess our choice, and even the home inspector said he thought this house was a better choice than the last one. 

So we will be moving toward the end of March, just in time for my birthday :)

And then, hopefully, we will be able to make quick progress on the adoption front. 

I want to mention that our agency isn't requiring us to move our anything. There's no rule against living in an apartment, or adopting before you are a home owner. The reason that we are on hold is because our home study needs updated since we have signed up with our agency and then with a move, our home study will need to be updated again. It makes the most sense to us to only do one update - less time, expense, paperwork... And while we would love to be farther along in this adventure, we know that God's timing is perfect, and that we will still have the right child at the right time.

So with that being said, let the mad packing fest begin! 

Can I say that the one plus to being in a teeny cramped apartment is that half of our things are still packed up from when we moved in here last January! The lack of closet/storage space meant we had to be choosy about what we unpacked and what we left in cardboard. I'm pretty excited about rediscovering some lost treasures!

Here's a little picture of our new home sweet home, it's from the online listing so it's not the most editorial or artsy shot, heck it's not even in focus, but at least you get the idea!