But one person gets props for his reaction. He's the most unlikely of people. Or, if you knew him, maybe not. We're not related by blood, but he loves our children fiercely and they love him with abandon.
When my mom told my stepdad, Allen, that we're adopting, he said,
"Well, if these children need parents, they'll need grandparents too."
You gotta love him. He has a huge heart for kids. And a heart for filling kids full of sugar. ;)
_____________________________________
Things continue to move along. The more I understand this home study process, the more I think we're moving along pretty well so far. Here's the latest:
On Friday the 19th, I...
...sent off Application A (the first part) to Wide Horizons complete with six photos, one of each of us. Thank God for our new photo printer. No more racing up to Walgreens to fetch photos from One Hour Photo.
...I also dropped off our children's medical forms at the pediatrician's office. They said they would be done by Tuesday the 23rd, but we're heading out of town for Thanksgiving. I told them I'd pick them up the following week.
...got a call from our dear friends who said they got a letter from Jewish Family Services (our local agency) requesting a letter of reference on our behalf.
...I started my autobiography.
Today (the 22nd), I...
...picked up our children's completed medical forms because Ginny (my new friend at the pediatrician's office!) moved them along and encouraged me to come get them lest something happen to them over the holiday. No problem! Thanks, Ginny!
...scheduled appointments for mine and JD's physicals (December 20th). Initially she told me January 17th. Good grief, our home study should be done by then. I mention they're for adoptions and she says, "Oh, that's different." It is? Well, okay then.
...got a call from the social worker assigned to us from Wide Horizons. We will talk in depth after Thanksgiving.
...I finished my autobiography. My gosh! It's five pages, but could've been 50. Seriously. The amount of information they want to glean from us is staggering. One can't possibly cover it all. Ever wondered what this stuff entails? Here are just some of the guidelines they gave us:
Birth Family:
Reflect on relationships with parents, brothers, sisters and other relatives. How these relationships may have changed over time. How was affection provided in the family? How were feelings expressed? Were there any major illnesses in the family? Describe your parent's relationship during your childhood and now? Describe your relationship with your parents. Are they supportive of your plans adopt? If you have a stepparent(s), describe your relationship. Who administered discipline in your family? What form of discipline was used? What values were important in your family? Describe your parents' work history. How were they employed? How did the family make decisions? The quality of your parents' relationship; your most pleasant childhood memories; things you would have changed, etc.
Then it goes on covering the following categories:
Growing Up
Education
Courtship & Marriage
Employment
Adoption
Sheesh.
One interesting thing is that the medical forms (both for us and the children) ask if we are free of any communicable diseases. The children's forms ask if our children's health will jeopardize the health of a child placed in our home. I guess they need to know that in case a birth mother wants to know the ins and outs of the family her biological child could be adopted into. It just strikes me as interesting in the case of international adoption when many children available for adoption have communicable diseases themselves. If the answer were yes for any one of us, could we be turned down? Makes me wonder. Adoptive families can be deemed 'unadoptable'? But a child, in my opinion, should never be deemed 'unadoptable.' Just interesting food for thought.
As the reality of us adopting sinks in, I become more fascinated with the thought that there are two children out there going to sleep tonight and waking tomorrow morning that don't know who we are and that we're coming for them. They don't know that there's a family waiting for them to be a part of it. There's a school that will welcome them. There's a town that they'll grow up in. There's a church that will wrap its arms around them and show them the love of Christ. There are friends and family who can't wait to meet them and who anticipate their arrival almost as much as we do. There's a new life for them here. Hopefully sooner rather later they'll know all this.
No comments:
Post a Comment