The Homestudy

August 24, 2005
Calvin spent the morning working on the stair railing, which involved another trip to the hardware store. They're starting to recognize him, since he has been in there so often lately, so he decided to finally get their "rewards card" (like a Safeway card).

Betty (our caseworker) arrived early in our neighborhood, and somehow she and Calvin crossed paths. (Either she went to the wrong house, or he didn't hear her at the door.) So, she sat in her car for awhile, and then called him from her cell phone. Calvin, of course, had been sitting by the front door, waiting the whole time, while Betty was in her car! He immediately answered the phone, and she got right to work.

Betty interviewed Calvin for an hour, before Michele arrived home from work. After Calvin's interview, we gave Betty a tour of the house, and then she interviewed Michele for an hour. After the interviews were over, she was really encouraging. She told us that we were "a cute couple," and that she was excited we were adopting.

She told us that we just need to finish up our adoption profile albums and "dear birthparent" letters. (Each of us needs to write 2 individual letters- one for the birthmom & one for the birthdad- for a total of 4 letters in each book.) Once the albums are complete, we will take them to Betty's office for a final meeting. During this time, she will be typing up our interviews, and processing that paperwork.

On a slightly humorous note, when Betty was leaving, she commented that she and her husband have been installing the same flooring at their home!

We registered for an Infant & Child CPR/First Aid class at the hospital, which we're required to take, and we received the books in the mail today. The class is in October. Calvin also registered himself for a couple newborn care/parenting classes as well.

Hard Work

August 23, 2005
Calvin worked so hard all day on finishing installing the flooring, and it looks great! He was pretty exhausted at the end from working non-stop all day, though.

A dear friend (who now lives out of state) came to visit for dinner this evening, and it was so neat to see her. It is such a blessing to have a friend that is praying for us! She surprised us with adorable baby gifts, too!

At 11:00 pm, we realized that we should pour the cement to hold up our new stair railing post, so that it would be ready to work on tomorrow. So, Calvin put on a head lamp, pulled out a 4 ft. level, and got to work! (The neighbors probably think we're nuts, by now.)

Power Tools & Projects

August 19, 2005
We're still working on the home projects! We're in the middle of building a back stair railing and putting in new flooring. We've had a lot of frustrating times in which we had to undo & redo different sections (yes, these 2 firstborns have some perfectionism kicking in!). There have also been several trips to various home improvement stores for materials. We're learning as we go! Much of the time is slow-going, with measuring, re-measuring, and precise cutting. It's also taking awhile because we're both still working at our jobs full-time, so we can't work on the projects much at night, since we don't want to wake up the neighborhood with our power tools! It will be so nice to have these things done!

Michele is still scrapbooking pages for our adoption profile photo album (which birthparents will look at), which is close to being done. Thank you to everyone who sent us photos! They have been a big help! We've made several stops at Costco to drop off/pick up film this past month, and have been more consistent in remembering to carry our camera. We were just commenting last night that we probably have all the photos we need for this adoption. Now we should probably keep stockpiling photos for the probable future Adoption #2+! We also need to keep up our film supply, since we will be sending birthmoms the baby photos (along with all you wonderful soon-to-be grandparents!).

Rollercoaster Ride

August 15, 2005
What a rollercoaster! Our caseworker, Betty, called a few days ago, asking if we could reschedule our homestudy visit/interviews for this Tuesday! So, we agreed, and began racing to finish home projects. Michele rearranged her work schedule appointments, and we started getting ready!

This weekend, we bought more smoke detectors, and began installing them. We made a visit to Home Depot, where we ran up and down the aisles to get what we needed to finish installing our flooring and new outdoor stair railing. While Calvin got out the power tools, Michele finished putting baby latches in place, and finally finished organizing and unpacking boxes from last year's move! She also baked loaves of zucchini bread and molasses cookies (even though the weather has been 90*), since we're supposed to offer our caseworker a snack during the visit!

Then, Betty called us today, and requested we move our appointment to next week! Unfortunately, she needs to attend an unexpected funeral. Our homestudy is now scheduled for next Wednesday, August 24th.

(Guess we'll get to eat those cookies...)

Gasoline and Broadswords

August 9, 2005
Today was our first interview with Betty. It went well; I didn't have to use the broadsword very much. Just joking. Actually, the sword wouldn't fit inside my slacks, because you aren't allowed to carry broadswords in the open in Hillsboro and they don't sell concealed broadsword permits. Anyway, no need to worry, Kacey.

Getting there was a miracle in itself. Just as we get off the freeway, the gas light comes on. "Silly car. Thinks it needs gas." I thought. "Oh well, I'll cater to my beast's gas appetite. If only I can find a gas station..." Ten minutes later, while biting our nails, we find an exit off the highway where we can find a gas station. Now get this. The light at the off-ramp turns green just as we get to it, there's a hole in traffic for us to pull into the gas station, and the gas is 20 cents cheaper than the other gas stations we see later. And it wasn't cheapie Arco gas either, it was good Chevron gas. Yah, God!

The interview went well, with her just asking questions about us and some things we had written in the paperwork we've turned in. She'll be coming to our house next Wednesday, August 17th to interview us individually and to make sure we don't live in a cardboard house. Thanks, y'all, for praying for us and supporting us. Keep living for Jesus!

Last Minute Numbers

August 8, 2005
We got out our calculators this morning, and started punching numbers, while talking on the phone to each other! Calvin finished up our "fake taxes" and we figured out new numbers for our anticipated budget page. The budget actually wasn't too different than before, thankfully. Now we're ready for our interview tomorrow!

God is faithfully providing for our daily needs, and we know He has the future in hand as well.