I’ve never welcomed a class so much in my life ;) We have now scheduled our two mandatory Educational Workshops (4/5 & 4/8 - 6:30p-9p) that have to be completed with our home study. We jumped on the opportunity as the next set of workshops are not offered until September (quite a gap). Oh! and only two more days till our interview… would you believe I’m not even nervous… yet ;)
Were escaping away tomorrow. I’m taking Kim to Hotel Sierra for a romantic 3 day passion filled…. SHOPPING SPREE!! (not really) It’s located on Richmond’s far west end right in the heart of Short Pump Town Center. (They have a Dick’s and an Apple Store so I’m good.) We usually take a decent size vacation every year but are trying to do weekend things to save money to put toward our adoption.
Our room is incredible. One Bedroom King Corner Suite!! Complete with a giant tub and full size kitchen. I’m so excited to get out of dodge and pamper ourselves just a little!!
Next Friday the 12th at 11am we are scheduled for our first interview. Prayers welcome ;)
Well here it is… in all its glory… my official paper pregnancy! Ain’t it purdy ;) Let me just tell you it is such a relief to have some of that stuff over with… too many introspective questions! I think my brain might expode ;) But seriously, it has made Dave and I talk about some pretty important stuff and it only confirmed how much we really know each other. I would recommend that everyone be forced to answer questions about their childhood, career, marriage, and interests… but who would actually do it if there wasn’t a wonderful prize at the end?!
So exactly 25 days from the time we received our package in the mail, I made the trip to drop it back off at the agency… now we are awaiting the call for our first interview (that is… if I turned everything in correctly… cross your fingers ;)
Had the pleasure of working with the worst lab technician ever on Tuesday. It’s people like her that make me freak out about giving blood. I seriously hope I never have to do that again in their office… it always ends badly. So now Dave has a sore arm from a Tetanus shot (random I know) and I have a very bruised and sore arm from giving blood. Grrrr. Anywho… we still have to find somewhere that does urine drug tests. Can’t wait for that experience… we are crossing fingers that we don’t have to pee in front of anyone. We also have to check back at the PCP for a scratch test to be sure we don’t have TB and to get our HIV test results. I twittered (jokingly) that we were in a sense hoping for negative results on the HIV test. I hope my humor didn’t get lost on anyone… sometimes you just have to make fun of the crazy stuff ;)
We are so close to being done with our formal application. I only have one question left in our self-study…Dave has about 12. It seriously has been so difficult. I started out writing pretty formal…like you’re trained to do in school. But this is our “brochure” so to speak. So I rewrote just about everything last night…made it more like “me” :) We aren’t officially on deadline but we’ve decided to wrap things up by the end of this month. I can’t wait to hand it off. I’ve obsessed over it for too long (even though its been less than 3 weeks…feels like F-O-R-E-V-E-R.)
Today we visit our PCP. I can tell this is stressing me out even though it shouldn’t. Maybe its my date with a needle that’s giving me that feeling in the pit of my stomach. Two things I hate to have done the most…TB test and blood work. I’m a wuss…I can’t help it. Hoping when it’s all said and done I won’t feel so sick anymore. Anyways, like I said we’ll get tested for TB, as well as, HIV and drug screened. I’m pretty sure we’ll pass with flying colors ;) So after today we’ll be one step closer to baby Daniels…awww just the thought of that makes me smile :D
So after the whole vital records debacle, I decided to contact the case worker just to be sure this headache was worth it. Thank goodness I did…we only need photocopies…nothing notarized. So that big mistake I thought I had made was actually a blessing in disguise…saving us about $25. I’m feeling better already :)
I’ve heard countless times about pregnant women forgetting things, otherwise known as “pregnancy brain” and I’m beginning to wonder if the same thing happens to women undergoing adoption. This is why:
At the end of January we were sort in between prelim and formal applications. I had read up enough about the process that I knew we would be needing our birth and marriage records. So I looked up the appropriate information on the two states involved, printed out paperwork, signed a check and sent it all out in the mail on January 26th. I was so proud of myself for being on the ball, for actually being ahead of the game.
Now let’s fast forward to yesterday morning. I’m on my way to church and notice we had forgotten to pick up our mail from the mailbox on Saturday. I pulled up and saw an envelope from the vital records department. YES! I was elated. I laid the envelope down on the passenger seat and drove on to church. As I was sitting at a stop light I decided to open it to see the goodies inside. Well wouldn’t you know it…all my documents had been returned…with the check. I HAD FORGOTTEN TO SIGN THE DOCUMENTS!!! seriously. I was so upset with myself…I just found Dave in church and quietly wept on his shoulder. I couldn’t help it. Any type of setback is heartbreaking these days. Not to mention they didn’t get to my paperwork until the 11th of February…so do the math on that one. I just know I have another 3 or so weeks to wait again. Just more practice I guess. So Dave signed the documents and I had them ready to go out today…again…and lo and behold its PRESIDENTS’ DAY! wouldn’t you know it ;)
On a good note, Valentine’s Day was wonderful…olympics, time with family and friends…it couldn’t have been any better :) I’m still counting my blessings.
This video at Catalyst last year wrecked me, rocked me, inspired me… and gave me hope of being a father.
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