{ first home study was so awesome! }

I can't believe we are so close to being active. I feel like the toughest parts are done. Our profile text has been approved as well as photos, and our first home study is complete.

The day started out with a slight debacle getting our fingerprints. We had tried to get them back on July 3rd. Not even thinking that it was a holiday that Friday, we were told to come back between 1 & 3, any day of the week. ( in hindsight, should have seemed to easy). So we set our first appointment for 1:30 on Friday, after getting fingerprinted. We arrived at our local police station to be told they don't fingerprint there. Well... they do but not for adoption. What? We were stumped. No-one seemed to know what to tell us, or where to send us. Especially since we had already stopped in once. A rather rude woman made a phone call and proceeded to send us to the local correction office. We plug it into GPS (no, she didn't even tell us how to get there) and we arrive. We scurry in (now we are running late for our appointment) and find the window to speak to someone. We asked to have our fingerprints done, and she says..."Not today." What? Again? She slips a piece of paper under the secure glass window and there are literally 2, 2 hour sessions a week to get them done. Now we are deflated and frustrated. We called the agency and told them we had everything else we needed, but the fingerprints. We were told to go to our appointment anyway. So excited. Now the energy is starting to build again!

We arrive at our agency and just waited a few. Kate came to get us with a big smile on her face. It felt so good, after the running we just did. Her office was so quaint and cozy. We nestled in together on the couch and she started going through our paperwork we brought. She first started by asking our story and how we ended up where we are today. We talked about how we met, how we fell in love, our wedding, our family. We also discussed our infertility and how we have grieved it. It was a deep 2 hours.

We talked about Christopher's adoption by his step-father and those feelings. How his father didn't want to be part of his life. We have a fairly interesting story to bring to our child and Kate was very excited about it.

We covered drug use, drug abuse, drinking, and mental illness. We talked about premature babies, twins and special needs babies. It was so intense, but Kate made us feel so confident and comfortable with our decisions to help the agency build our preference profile. I really just want to carry her around in my pocket! She was just that sweet, sensitive and understanding to all of our concerns and questions.

We discussed our family and friends and the support we have. It was so exciting! Before we left, we set up our last visit which is in just 2 short weeks. August 10th! It can't come soon enough. Kate told us we are definitely on track to become active by the end of August! I can hardly believe it.

As we were leaving, she suggested we try getting our fingerprints right around the corner from the agency. Originally we thought we had to have it done in the county where we live. That wasn't the case. So we stopped by there. They weren't doing them on Friday, but we were told on Sunday at 3! Yay! Someone who knows what they are doing. We got there at 3 yesterday and had them done. Whew!! Feels so good..

Thank you so much to everyone for your comments and emails about our adoption. Your words are so wonderful and your support is amazing. I can't wait to continue the journey with you all.

Have a marvelous Monday!