Laura (our social worker) showed up half an hour early...haha...not intentionally! But it did cause me to run around a little bit like a chicken with my head cut off, but it was all good. When she arrived, we finished up all the little bits of paperwork we had left to do...mostly just giving her what we had already filled out. Joe was at the computer, frantically trying to finish his autobiography so she could take it with her, and she was very understanding of that, which was nice.
After collecting our paperwork, she had me show her around the house, and she just pretty much walked into the rooms to see what it looked like, but she wasn't down on her hands and knees and "inspecting" or anything like that. So....I felt kind of silly doing all the hard work we had to clean our house - but at the same time, I was grateful that it was clean. And it's a huge load off my shoulders since I'd need to clean/organize in the future anyway.
After seeing our house, we sat and chatted for a bit and she asked if we had any questions. One main question we had was whether or not we would be able to adopt privately if someone we knew connected us with a birthmom who happened to live outside of our state. The answer is yes -- in fact, the fees drop considerably and LSS continues to work with us and the agency in the other state to make everything run smoothly. That was very encouraging!
Then, Joe finished his autobiography, and she took it hot off the printer! ;) My fabulous sister-in-law (who took our pictures with Quincy for our portfolio) had finished editing the pics the morning before Laura arrived, and so I was able to go and order prints in town quick so that Laura could take them back with her. I didn't plan on having those done by Friday originally, but it was such a relief to have that part finished!!
Now all that is left is for the rest of our references to be submitted (only 2 left - yea!), mail our finalized "Dear Birthmother Letter", and finish our portfolio (the scrapbook of our lives). Yay!! We're hoping to have all that finished in the next week or two, and then at that point, we will officially be in "the book" for birthmothers to look through. Crazy! And very cool... :)
And, as many people have been asking, here are the long awaited pics of the nursery -- painted and everything! :) Enjoy!!
We plan to have the crib where the fan and basket are now.
And, unfortunately, I think we're going to have to trade the corner bookshelves in for something more space efficient...
See the lovely shag carpet on the floor of the closet?
That's what originally covered ALL of the floor.
Lovely, isn't it?
We hope to get a rug to help muffle sound in the future...
