Homestudy Visit #1

Who would have imagined that fire safety was going to be such an important element during our adoption homestudy home visit?

Originally we were worried that the size of our house would be the biggest issue. Even though it is still an issue to us (where will we put three kids?) it is probably right that a two bedroom, one bath house is very suitable for a family of five. As long as the other important characteristics like love, fun and smoke detectors are included.

I was so excited to get our phone call from Nikki (CHI social worker) last Wednesday afternoon. She happened to call while I was on the longest commute home ever.

Tangent ...
We got an awful snowstorm on Wednesday afternoon/evening – at least by Kansas City standards. It amounted to about 6-8 inches but it wreaked havoc on the drive home. It was my intention to leave at my normal time 4pm and head south to pick up the kids. By 4:20 I had only made it three blocks. By 4:45, I had only made it about four more blocks. Thank goodness Tom has a Subaru! I never would have made it to get the kids in time. Actually, my car never even made it home. Our neighborhood is full of hills and the Camry was unsuccessful at hill travel. At one point I had to lay on my horn to warn drivers behind me that I was slipping uncontrollable backwards. Thank goodness they were all able to scramble out of my way and avoid a rear-ender from the front?!?!

I ended up parking about four blocks away and walking the rest of the way home. I did bring my boots but I would have happily walked in my Franco Sarto shoes to avoid the feeling I got when I slid backwards down the hill.

Back to the story ...

She called to share that all of our initial paperwork is ready and we could start scheduling our visits. We leaped for the calendar but not until we were all safely home and not stuck in the snowstorm.

Our first visit was this afternoon. Nikki talked to us about process moving forward and things we needed to consider as adoptive parents. Things like answers to rude (intentional or not) questions by strangers, preparations for attachment difficulties, and ways to broaden our cultural activities. It was a great conversation and we get to do it three more times!