One step closer...still lots to go!

We had our home study yesterday! Yea! Check one major thing off the list!  The last few weeks have been full of paperwork leading up to our social worker’s visit yesterday. Marriage certificates, financial statements, autobiographies (yes we had to write them!), TB tests, fingerprints, physical forms, employment forms, tax returns, reference letters and the list goes on! 

 A screenshot of just part of the list of documents for our homestudy...it's a long list!

The kids were troopers…they had to each get a TB test. I was so proud of Tanner-he was so brave and there weren’t even any tears!

 Suckers for everyone after their TB tests and Tanner proudly showed off his "dot" as Hadley called it!

We also had to complete 10 hours of online Hague training…lots of time in front of the computer after the kids went to bed watching “interesting” presentations.

Since all the forms and paperwork were collected, we were ready for our home study visit. Thankfully my mom had offered to send someone to clean the house on Wednesday or I would have been a crazy person. What I thought was going to be a slow week has turned into a week full of long doctor’s appointments for our family. Monday and Tuesday for Tanner-looks like he’s got the beginnings of kidney stones (poor guy-he was doomed with genes from Lance and me) and then Hadley must have been feeling left out because she went to the pediatrician Wednesday for what I thought was an ear infection (it of course was nothing-she’s just not sleeping because she’s a toot!).

So I was beyond thankful that I didn’t have to worry about scrambling to clean everything! House was cleaned on Wednesday, we went to play with the Huntons right after school (at their house so the house stayed clean) and then dinner at the Pieratt’s so the kitchen stayed clean! Probably the longest stretch ever that my house has been clean! We felt very loved this week...texts checking on Tanner and offering to help with Hadley and then texts and phone calls letting us know that so many people were praying for us on Thursday. It takes a village...and this little one is going to join our family and get an awesome village of friends who love well! We are thankful!

We found our social worker through two friends that had adopted and she was just as great as they had told us! Made the interviews super easy and laid back – even as she asked us every question under the sun! She talked to Lance and I together and then separately. And then it was Tanner’s turn! Overhearing some of his answers was funny. He told her he thought the adoption was “awesome!” He told her that we like to go to 6 Flags as a family (um we only go once a year…). And then when she asked him about what happens when he gets in trouble, Lance and I were trying to not laugh out loud! Hadley insisted on being interviewed too! She heard Tanner finish downstairs and she headed downstairs saying “It’s my turn! Mommy you stay upstairs!”

Tanner helping Hadley with her home study interview - discussing things like Paw Patrol, Tanner's favorite letter and number (he decided she would definitely ask him that question, and their ever changing favorite colors!)

So now we wait for the home study to be written up and start working on the paper work for the dossier! But having the home study done is definitely one big step closer to meeting the little guy!