Home Study

We've begun the homestudy process. Friday we had our fingerprinting done and will send these on to the FBI for the new law. Monday we meet with the social worker to go over all the paperwork and begin the "interview" process. Thank the Lord that she is accepting the "personal information" portion we did for the foster care process last summer. This is like a 16 page survey of essay questions like "how did your parents solve problems" and "how did your parents criticize you". Real easy ones like that. Needless to say having her accept what we had already completed is a God send. The lawyer emailed on Friday also and there is a plan to move forward with or without the voluntary relinquishment from the dad. Basically once he is served papers he will have 20 days to respond. If he doesn't he is in default and we move forward. If he does, he will need to do so with the court system up here, but either way we should know within 20 days what we are up against with him. Steve's starting work on the nursery. It has always been Cori's room. I feel funny now saying "Molly's or the baby's room" so I've been saying its "Coris' babys room". Eventually it will work itself out and we may not call it anything but for now I feel more comfortable with that. Thank you to everyone who is praying and thinking of us during this time!

Stumbling blocks and Stepping Stones

I have a good friend Sue who at the beginning of this journey would write to me about how she saw each thing that was happening as a stepping stone. We know that there is an enemy who will attempt stumbling blocks along this path, but of course we pray for as few of those as possible. Well, we've had a few this week. Paperwork has been sent to the father for signature, voluntarily releasing his rights. No one thinks he will sign it just like that, but God could know better. If he doesn't we are not sure what the next step is-though likely it would be some sort of court hearing and unless the courts have changed dramatically I don't know how quickly that could happen, or how much more $ it will cost. We are hoping our attorney may be able to try and reach the father by phone and work at convincing him to sign without a court hearing etc. Please pray that she will, and that he will.

As I said in the last post we were misinformed as to how long and how detailed the home study portion would be. The woman we've hired seems to know her stuff and says if we hurry we should be able to get the homestudy done by baby's birth. Toward that end we go today to have our fingerprints taken for the Homeland Security clearance or the new law I spoke of. Pray that the red tape of our government never rears its head and we see the fastest turnaround on our clearance that they've ever seen!

We've doctors forms that need completion(and potentially doctors appointments), proof of rabies certs for our dogs, employment verification letters, copies of marriage certificates, Cori's death certificate...you name it, its wanted and due for this homestudy. Steve and I will both need to be interviewed separately and together, plus a home visit.

Perhaps someone could arrange for an extra hour or two to be added to each day from here til August 23, because with both of us working and the house issues to get done as well as now all this paperwork we are going to need at least a week more of hours to get it all done!

But we cannot forget that each stumbling block is just another opportunity for God to turn it into a stepping stone. He is the one we need to put our trust in and rely on-for this is a blessing from Him-and He will never leave us or forsake us!

Meeting our birthmom!

We went to the Tri Cities area this weekend to meet with our birthmom. The visit went really well. We were able to meet and talk to her and play with her very adorable little girl. We discussed things like what we'll tell the baby, sending her pictures and eventually arranging for the two girls to meet and play together. We went with her to the doctor appointment and we also thought he was a nice man and seemed to know all about the adoption and said he thought this would be a good thing for everyone involved. If all continues to go well he will schedule an inducement on August 23! We were very happy to learn when we got home that she had told her grandma that she liked us and that she was happy with her choice! Please pray for other areas to fall into place-the birth father, our homestudy which now appears to have to be done soon, soon, soon because of a new law that took effect a week ago or something! Also pray for her health and that of the baby as we go into the last few weeks! Thanks for taking this journey with us!