On to the home study!

We have finally moved on to the home study!  I have been patiently awaiting an e-mail from America World Adoption to tell me that our application was approved.  Today we got that e-mail!  We will be getting a call tomorrow from our social worker to discuss the next step and everything we need for the home study. 

For any of you that are not sure what a home study is, let me educate you.  A home study is a study done by an Arizona social worker to make sure our home and our family is ready for an adoptive child.  They need all kinds of paperwork from us as well as information about our marriage and our parenting style.  They want to get to know us so they do come to our house and conduct interviews as well as check out the entire house.  Yes, I will be cleaning everything from top to bottom!  

I am not so much nervous about this process as I am exited.  All of the families we know who have adopted keep reminding us that the social workers are here to help us.  They want us to to adopt.  If all goes well and we  have all of the money necessary, we should have the home study complete in about two months.  We are only about $700 short of what we need to get through this stage.  

After the home study is finished, we will need to put together our Dossier.  This is sort of like a resume for Ethiopia to have while we are waiting to get matched to our children.  This sounds simple but getting everything together takes about four months!  To submit the Dossier, it costs $10,000.  We would love for you to keep praying with us for this money.  We know that God will supply it in his perfect timing.