Questions, Expiration Dates, and Evacuation Plans

Home studies are an interesting thing. They are an exercise in sheer panic . . . until they over. I was more than prepared to have my home torn apart, my personal life delved into, and my parenting skills analyzed and then reanalyzed. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly that bad. We had a really nice social worker, and while there were some personal questions, they were not personal on an uncomfortable level. The questions were a lot of common sense ones like, "What will you do if this child needs counseling?". "Uh well, let me see, yeah, well, I guess take her to a counselor." "Ding, ding, ding - we have a winner Bob!". We also had to talk about how we work out problems, our parenting styles, our disciplining methods, how we met, and how long we dated (to name a few). The first time she asked me how long we dated, and then she asked Patrick later. We dated for 5 years. Patrick told her we dated for 8. She started laughing, and I'm trying not to read too much into that one. I'm just glad she didn't ask him when our wedding anniversary is. July 12, 2003 - in lieu of gifts just send money . . .  I'm just playing. ;)

One of the biggest issues we had, was that I may have dominated the conversation a lot a little, but I did try to let Patrick answer some questions. It's just that every time I looked at him to answer a question, he got the whole "deer in the headlights" look, and I felt the need to save the day. Shocking I know. Because normally, I'm so passive and meek. (Okay, you can stop laughing now)

There are a lot of things that are long and tedious about an international adoption, but the home study (apparently) is not one of them. Unlike home studies done through CPS (or so I've heard), our refrigerator didn't have to be inspected and no one went through our drawers. Darn it! It was rather disappointing since I checked all of the expiration dates on everything and organized my sock and underwear drawer, but then again, those are things that I enjoy spending my Saturday afternoon doing. As I've said before, if you don't understand see my profile. She (meaning the social worker - duh Courtney) did check our smoke detectors and make sure that we have a fire extinguisher and a "fire evacuation plan". Now you talk about interesting. Drawing up a simple evacuation plan took me forever. Simple tasks can be turned into monumental tasks with me in a matter of seconds. I am the queen of making a mountain out of a molehill, and I take pride in that. Needless to say, our fire evacuation plan has a regular route and then it has a couple alternate routes because our house so large (said with sarcasm). So if you ever come visit you can consult this plan - just in case of a fire (especially if I'm cooking). By the way our house is 1836 sq. feet, it's kind of hard to miss the exits. The plan should've said "in case of fire head out the nearest door". But really, how exciting is that?

Now it's time for our nightly fire drill . . .

One Down, One to Go

For those of you checking in for a quick update, tonight's first visit with the social worker went really well. She seemed to understand us and where we are coming from. She was friendly and easy to talk to, which made it much easier. We also went through the house to check out things we need to fix by Thursday. Nothing major, just need to get the paint thinner out of Andrew's bedroom . . . just kidding. Patrick and I managed to maintain our composure and not say anything too crazy. Although, during Patrick's individual interview, I was lurking standing around the corner trying to eavesdrop, and I accidentally stepped on the door stopper thingy majiger. It made the loudest noise I had ever heard, so I promptly ran into Andrew's room and pretended that I was completely engrossed in watching Thomas the Train. Because everyone knows that Thomas the Train is the most fascinating show on television . . .

Please continue to pray for the adoption process in Bulgaria. Also, Thursday the 14th, has been designated as a day to pray for all of the families adopting from Bulgaria. I'm not sure who designated it but sounds good to me. So yeah, if you have a minute just say a quick prayer. There are a lot of families waiting for court dates right now.

If this post makes no sense I cannot be held responsible. I'm so tired my eyes are crossing. Good night all.

Madwoman

First of all, thanks for all the sweet comments on here and on facebook. I really appreciate all your support.

Now on to the main attraction. If there is a picture of a woman beside the word madwoman in the dictionary I'm pretty sure it's mine. For those of you that don't know yet, we have our homevisits scheduled for next Tues. and Thurs. at 4:30 in the afternoon. So I'm running around the house like a crazy person trying to get everything finished so we look like the calm, with-it family that we aren't are. I love strikethroughs way too much, I may need to seek professional help.

Last night, I finished cleaning up the garage. Thank the Lord in heaven above I didn't run across any creepy crawly creatures in there. On a side note and sort-of totally unrelated, the other day I opened the garage door and the cat had left me a dead rat. Because I'm full of class, I was heading out into the garage without any shoes, and I almost stepped right on that thing. I'm pretty sure they heard me scream in Minnesota. So yeah, the garage is pretty much cleaned up. Now we just have to finish the back bedroom, actually put plug covers in all the plugs (Andrew never paid much attention to plugs), clean the cat's litter (ahem, Patrick), vacuum the couch (because I'm sure the social worker is going to look under our couch cushions - not!), finish assembling the rest of my office (which for those of you not on facebook is in my closet - I know it just gets classier and classier), scrub the back porch, finish adoption training, mow the yard, bathe the dogs, and make sure the house is clean. Oh yeah, and Andrew needs his weekly bath. On top of that we have a somewhat busy weekend so I'm also hoping to eat and sleep sometime. Ya'll know I need my nourishment. Oh yeah, does anyone want some really old video games? I'll give them to you just don't tell Patrick. Just kidding. Not really.

Oreos and Other News

I'm sitting here eating Oreos. Believe me there are plenty of other things I should be doing. The kitchen needs to be cleaned up from dinner, we, as in Patrick and I, need to work on our adoption workbook/training, I should go run about 12 miles (see the first sentence), and there is laundry in the dryer that needs to be folded. But am I doing any of those things? Nope, I'm eating Oreos and typing a blog post. "Why?" you ask. "Because, I am, " I answer. By the way "because I am" and "because I did" are Andrew originals. "Andrew, why are you running around in nothing but underwear and tennis shoes (or boots depending on the day of the week)?" "Because I am." "Andrew, why did you lock the dog in the closet?" "Because I did." "Andrew why I are you out of bed for the 187th time tonight?" "Because I am." Really, the list could go on for an eternity, but I think you get the point.

In other news (I know, you can't imagine how it could get more exciting than me eating Oreos), all of our paperwork for the home study has been turned in. The home study coordinator is now going to assign us a social worker. Which means soon we will have interviews, both individually and as a married couple, where they ask personal questions about ourselves and our marriage. Which also means that along with the interviews we will have a home visit to inspect observe us in our home evironment. If you don't hear from me for a while I'll be in a closet somewhere hyperventilating. You see, a very nice, very well-meaning person, cornered me today and began telling me home study horror stories. When I was pregnant with Andrew, people would tell me pregnancy horror stories. I had to get to a point where I would just ask people not to tell me all the bad things that could happen in pregnancy. I may quickly reach that same point with adoption. It's not that I so much mind advice or that I'm in denial about all the realities of adoption, but I don't need to hear a laundry list of things that might possibly go awry before, during, or after the home study process. So, if you don't mind, will you please pray that we are assigned a social worker that understands us and works well with our family? And will you also pray that our homestudy goes well and is completed and approved as quickly as possible? And if you have any good pointers from personal experience, you know things like make sure you brush your teeth or give Andrew his weekly bath on the day of the home visit, I would much appreciate them. But please no stories about how your son threw up on your social worker. I just don't need to know.

Can you say "hoarder"?

Okay, so yesterday while Andrew was grouchy and sick and basically not doing anything but laying around and watching movies, Patrick and I started cleaning "stuff" out. We have two major areas that have to be cleaned up. Our spare bedroom and the garage. First of all, our back bedroom, soon to be the baby's room, is full of junk. The closet was/is crammed full. I should've taken real before pictures, but as Andrew and Anthony (my nephew) say "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit". Then Andrew usually proceeds to throw a fit. So here are your sort of before pictures (no fits please):

The toys on that bed I'm going to keep. The clothes are getting donated. Anyone want any little boys clothes? Now you see that massive blow up thing in the background? My sister-in-law, Sally, got that for Andrew for Christmas. It's a Buzz Lightyear blow up spaceship. It's BIG and takes up a lot of space. She thought it was funny. Don't worry I got her back. I bought my niece Chloe an instrument set, with cymbals, for her birthday.

Please ignore my finger in some of the pictures, I was using my iPhone and apparently don't know how to take pictures with it. When looking at the pictures of the top shelves in the closet, imagine them filled to the ceiling with boxes. Patrick, my wonderful husband, does not like to get rid of anything. At points yesterday, I thought I might choke him. I'm pretty sure he read every single piece of paper that I made him throw away that he willingly and with great pleasure threw away. His backpack from college was stuffed up in the top of the closet still packed from his last day of college. He didn't want to throw it away . . . he graduated from college in December of 2004. Let! It! Go!

More importantly, if you didn't notice, my wedding dress is hanging in that closet. I'm not sure what to do with it, so I'm thinking about wearing it around the house. I'll probably wear my old Letter Jacket(s) from High School over it. You think I'm kidding . . .  you'll never know. 

I'm sure you did notice all the boxes and Christmas trees in the bottom of the closet. Those are a few of my Christmas decorations. I will not let them go. (Hello, my name is Courtney and I'm addicted to Christmas decorations) Which is why we also have to clean out the garage . . . I need more storage.

Now, the treadmill and I used to be good friends. We're estranged as of late. Pretty soon we'll be separated forever. She was the first Christmas present Patrick gave me after we got married. You have no idea how excited I was, but that was pre-kids. I had time to work out . . . now I'm busy doing important things like typing blog posts that bore people to death. I will miss her, but she must go. Maybe my sister will take her. Then I can have visitation rights (Hello, my name is Courtney and I'm weird).

There was quite a bit more stuff in that room that is now on it's way to a garage sale. Which, glory hallelujah, I don't have to attend thanks to my wonder Mother-in-Law. I hate garage sales. Here's a pic of some of the stuff that went (please ignore my unmade bed - there is a child laying in it).

The garage, well lets just say that there in lies Patrick's real problem. Ladies and gentlemen I have a confession to make, my husband is a hoarder. Thankfully, he married me, the anti-hoarder. Otherwise, who knows where he'd be today.

So this is what we spent our Saturday doing. It's a lot of work, but it will be so worth it when we get our little girl. Yep, we've definitely decided that we will request a little girl. I have big plans for that room. I'll post pictures one day when it's all said and done. And now it's time to end this ridiculously long post . . .  if you made it this far you deserve a medal of honor.