Today we finally met with our social worker, Jenna. She was so nice! I'm not sure what I thought a homestudy was, but boy I made sure our house was clean!! She came around 10 and talked with us while Hannah sat and played with her big pink legos on the living room floor. Then she interviewed us separately. It wasn't bad at all. We just talked about why we wanted to adopt, why Russia, attachment issues among other things to watch for when he comes home. We talked about Hannah, us , our marriage, our families, the community. Hannah did great during the visit. She got hungry around 11, but then didn't want to eat, but we still managed to keep her from having a fit by taking her outside to run around while we were being interviewed separately. Side note: she passed out after Jenna left....All that playing must have worn her out! The visit lasted a couple hours and then come time to pay her. Oops! I had used my last check and Caleb's checkbook was at the office. How embarrassing! She followed Caleb to his office to get her payment. Jeez I scrubbed my floors and made sure the laundry was done and FORGOT to make sure we could pay her. LOL She was really nice about it though.
So what now? We need to finish our adoption education...maybe another week, then submit her the certificate. We then will get the rough draft for us and our agency review....make any changes deemed necessary, then wait for the official notarized one. Then we send one copy to the USCIS for approval and one to Austin to be appostilled and then sent to our agency. We will also receive the final document from our psychologist after he looks at our homestudy.
Overall it was a productive day. It was gorgeous outside and a perfect day to meet with her. Hopefully there won't be any major hang ups and we can get our final copy soon!
Here's a pic of Hannah playing outside while daddy was being interviewed....
You guys are so precious and it is amazing what your doing with the adoption thing. I at one time wanted to be a seragote but then got pregnant with my last one. You two are truly amazing and I hope everything goes just the way you want and plan them. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Amber (Lisby) Canty
I remember when our homestudy was over I felt exactly the same way.... "Now what?" And on top of that it felt like once that hurdle was over we really wanted to just get things over with. The answer to your now what is finishing the dossier. It really isn't that bad after you've already pulled everything together for the homestudy. Then it's the worst part... waiting. Luckily, you have your beautiful daughter to keep you busy while you wait. :)
ReplyDeletewithtwopugs.blogspot.com
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteyou are where we were in July and now it's October and we have a referral and are off to Moscow to meet our son in a week!! I have to tell you it will move so quick now. We actually got our approval from USCIS really fast! It was the FBI clearance that took forever!! However, you are working with an AMAZING agency and once you are done all the paperwork and apostilling! (oh my god!) It will be quick!!! Good luck with everything!