Second Home Study Visit

So we returned to the International House of Pancakes for our second home study visit... which, by the way, doesn't seem very international. Where are the Bulgarian pancakes?!? We need our palachinki!

Well, the palachinki are a sort of crepe, so IHOP sort of has them... but, in protest, we refused pancakes this time and just had some of their dinner entrees.

But on to more important matters... this was a rather important meeting with our social worker. She needed to be satisfied that there was nothing in our pasts that would keep us from being good parents. She spent about five minutes on Ian... and then turned to me and my very unconventional childhood. She told me that she needed to make certain that I would not raise my children the way I had been raised. Hmm... let me see... no, of course not! I am not my parents (hippies fleeing from society), I am not and do not plan on living in extreme poverty (please, Lord), I do not like living out in the woods without modern conveniences (can't beat indoor plumbing), and a thousand other little things. I tried to explain that I survived my childhood because my parents actually loved me. I also explained I found healing and peace about my unusual upbringing when I discovered the love of God and the love of God's people. That I had processed through the good, the bad, and the ugly and had cried what tears I had to cry and now lived a normal, balanced life with good and healthy plans for my children. They will be made to eat their vegetables. They will have sleepovers with their friends. They may even play soccer.

In the end, she not only was satisfied that I could be a good parent, she even said that I would be a very good parent for a kid who grew up in an orphanage! (What?!? I am not sure I make the connection between growing up in the boonies and growing up in an institution, but I will take it!)

We have our third (and final!) visit this weekend. This will be the home inspection where she makes sure that our little apartment isn't a dangerous place. We'll be ok, I think... not many holes in the floor to fall through and we don't keep a vicious dog on the balcony.

We are required to have the bare minimum of furniture for our kid to pass this inspection... a place to sleep and a place to put clothing. And while we are very excited to set up our little one's room, we decided we needed to wait on most things... when we know the age and if we are getting a boy or girl, we will then go crazy with monkeys, owls, or Nats baseball. Until then we are just assembling the basics... and as we already had a place for clothing, this means getting a bed. And, thanks to some very dear and generous friends, we have one! Here is Ian with our little kiddo's bed, ready to be set up. So cute!

We are working on our education too - watching hour after hour of lectures on brain development, psychology, practical parenting, all geared for the adoptive parent. It is really a wonderful series of classes. We are learning a lot and even enjoying it.

If you are praying for us, we so appreciate it! Our stress levels are running pretty high, and we are eager for this part of the process to be accomplished. Every prayer makes a difference - even a brief  "Help them, Lord!" Pray for our little one too, that the waiting will be short and that he or she will be in our arms soon!