House looks great, not sure about us...

So far, they have completed the front 2 bedrooms, front bathroom, hallway, laundry room, dining/living room. They worked on Saturday getting the dining/living room done. We had Sunday off and they were back here on Monday to finish the 'touch-ups' in the dining/living room, move some of the furniture back in place (Yeah, I have the computer to work on), finish the laundry room and start on our bedroom & bath. We spent Sunday evening emptying our closets and I finished the rest of the bathroom stuff Monday morning. All of the ceilings are painted and they are supposed to finish our bath & bedroom today. Originally, they were supposed to have our rooms finished yesterday, but only 2 guys were able to work yesterday.

I get to finish emptying the kitchen cabinets today. I started last night, have worked some this morning and will finish the rest later this morning. I hope that they at least start on the kitchen walls today. There isn't a lot of wall space, it is mostly cabinets. Oh well. There is a 'Men's Night Out' tonight at BerryHill Tamales & Tacos in Sugar Land. I told Chris that he needs to go, if for no other reason than a good meal since I don't know if I can get into the kitchen to cook dinner. I picked up hot dogs & buns yesterday in case the kitchen was a mess. At least that is easy to fix (less than 2 minutes in the microwave which will be on its cart in the dining room). The coffee maker is being moved into the front bathroom so we can have coffee in the morning. Not sure if I will be able to make breakfast tacos for Chris, but I should still be able to make his sandwich for lunch tomorrow.

Hopefully I will be able to get some sleep soon. I haven't slept well since they started working last Thursday! Most mornings have been tolerable inside, but the afternoons and evenings have been really, horribly hot! The front door has been left open quite a bit with stuff being moved in or out in the afternoon. Our poor air conditioner has been working overtime (not to mention the HEAT Index!). It will be nice when our doors are back in place, then I won't have to go to the store to use the bathroom (didn't think about that problem last week!) during the day. Maybe I can get a nap this afternoon...

Living with Workers in our house

We are getting our house painted! The entire interior of the house! We have had someone offer to cover the cost, so we decided to get it started while I am home for the summer. We sat down with this company on Monday (we had a total of 4 different bids), liked what they had to say the best, picked out colors that closely matched what we had already chosen, and called them on Tuesday to confirm the agreement. We got an email on Wednesday morning asking if they can start on Thursday morning (we didn't think that they would start so soon!) and the crew arrived right on time at 8:30 this morning. Talk about short notice.

Chris and I started taking stuff down last night (realized that we didn't clean out as much as we thought for Joy's visit) and getting ready for the guys to start today. They are starting in the front 2 bedrooms (the kid's rooms) and the front bathroom. They are also taking all the interior doors off site to paint them (they need to be prepped before painting as they are vinyl and have never been painted). I told the crew chief (Manuel) that the only door they couldn't take was the front door! That one has been painted before, so they won't need to take it away with the others. Hopefully, we will have them back by Monday.

We are keeping our nephew overnight on Saturday so my sister and brother-in-law can go to his sister's surprise birthday party. It should be interesting to see how he is without doors in the house! I hope they get the front room completely done by Friday night so we can empty the stuff off his bed that we piled on it last night (I thought that he wasn't coming over until next weekend)!

Oh the things to look forward to next week: emptying all the kitchen cabinets & pantry, the laundry room, the bookshelves in the living room, figuring out if I have to empty the china hutch or if it can be moved VERY CAREFULLY from against the wall, emptying our closets (gives me a chance to sort though my clothes) and who knows what else I will have to do.

They should be completely done with the painting by next Friday, if all goes well. I think they are just prepping today and will paint the bathroom & kid's rooms tomorrow.

Two books down, one left to go (for me at least)...

I finally finished my second book (Adopting the Older Child) this afternoon and wrote my report! It took a while, but I managed to sit down, ignore the tv that Chris was watching and read the book. Now I have to read the last book, Raising Adopted Children, and I will be done with my required reading!

All that is left is for Chris to read the books and write his reports, then our part of the Home Study will be done!

Almost done with Home Study stuff

Chris and I met with a psychologist yesterday morning for our "Psychological Evaluation" that is required by Russia. We each spent 1 hour talking with him while the other was working on 3 different tests/written questionnaires. We stayed an extra hour to finish the paperwork so that it would all be done. Last night, we completed an on-line Parenting Inventory and sent the results out in today's mail. Now we just get to wait for him to write up his report, score the tests and let us know the results. We are becoming quite good at waiting...

This afternoon we met with our family physician and went over the "Family's Opinion of Possible Acceptance of Child with Minor or Correctable Medical Needs". We did make some changes after talking with him and listened to his recommendations. He did agree to most of what we had originally put down, which didn't surprise us.

We each have one book finished and report written (The Connected Child by Dr. Karen Purvis). I am still about half-way through the second book (Adopting the Older Child by Claudia Jewett). Chris will read it after I am done. Then only one book left to read and report on: Raising Adopted Children by Lois Ruskai Melina.

Once we finish the books, we can send in the papers (after keeping a copy for our records) and our part of the Home Study will be done! I hope to have it done within the next two weeks, but Chris' deadline is the end of July. Once all the papers are in, we just wait for the 'Official Approval to Adopt from Russia'.

Please continue to pray for our children and their current caregivers.

Home Visit Went Well!

Our Home Visit with Joy went really well! We were up early in order to pick her up at Bush Intercontinental Airport. Her flight was early and so were we. Chris and I made a sign with her name and she thought it was great (no one ever had a sign for her before as she usually gets a rental car for the day). It was a quick ride back home and we got to talk during the ride. After getting home, we gave her the "Tour", starting with the outside. She liked the space in the backyard! As far as the inside, she just checked for outlet covers, door & drawer latches, fire extinguisher in the kitchen and checked smoke alarms. We sat at the table and talked for about 2 and a half hours, before we had to leave to take her back to the airport. We got her there in time to check in for her flight, then went to breakfast at IHOP (which was around 2:15 by then).

We decided to pick her up and take her back instead of having her get a rental car for the day (it was less expensive and we have to pay her travel expenses for the trip). I think it was a great idea. Not only did we save on the cost of a rental car, we got to visit with her some more and relax a bit before the "Interview".

We feel that it all went well, and that we will be "Officially Approved" when we get all the other papers in. The only things that she said that she needs to talk with Buckner about are: the number of children we are able to take and the financial aspect of it all.

As far as the number of children, she is not sure that we would be approved for 4, probably 2 or 3 instead. We assured her that we are okay with the decision that they make (it is in God's hands anyway!).

Regarding the money, she doesn't think that we would be denied just because we don't have money in savings (like thousands in savings). We did talk about different ways to raise the money: applying for grants after the Home Study in approved, Chris picking up a second job (probably at Wal-Mart), various fundraisers/garage sale/bake sales that we can do.

Right now, we have an appointment next Monday with a psychologist for our "Psychological Evaluations" that Russia requires. Joy passed on the name and number of the guy that one of the other families that we know used. He charges $160 an hour/session and we are scheduled for 2 hours on Monday to meet with him. One hour is talking with him and the other is working on the 'tests'. I don't know how much it will cost for the test scoring, but he said that it usually isn't that long. We have an appointment with our family doctor to go over the 'Family's Opinion of Possible Acceptance of Child with Minor or Correctable Medical Needs' form. After that, just need to finish the other 2 books, write the reports and send it all in to Buckner; and wait.

Please pray that we have the money we need for the psychological evaluations, Joy and the Buckner staff make the right decisions, that we are patient as we wait for an answer.

Getting Ready for Home Visit...

Chris and I have been working hard this past week (longer, actually) to get ready for our social worker's home visit on Saturday. I never realized what we have collected over the years and haven't gotten rid of! It is amazing what people collect and don't throw away. It is so easy to become a pack rat and hard to throw stuff out, but we are doing it! I think that we are ready for the Home Visit on Saturday (or at least we will be by Friday night). We pick up Joy at the airport in the morning and will take her back in the early afternoon. I know it is not a 'white glove' inspection visit, but you never know.....

We have childproofed all that we can think of, put the 7 pound fire extinguisher under the sink (behind a childproofed latch) and double checked the 2 CPS lists we have to follow.

Now, we just need to finish cleaning, hanging fresh towels in the front bathroom and wait. I guess that means that I need to stop writing and get back to work (laundry, dusting, vacuuming/sweeping, cleaning the kitchen, etc).....

Things are moving along

Only 2.5 days left with the kiddos at school! Then I get to work on the house stuff and the Home Study stuff. It will be nice to sleep till 5:30 (that's when Chris gets up) every morning!

I talked with Joy this afternoon and she will let us know the day she is coming down after talking with her husband (he will have the kids that day). We should know tomorrow if she is flying down on the 20th or 27th. We will pick her up at the airport and take her back (saves the cost of a rental car).

She sent us the information for a psychologist that one of the other families in the area used for their Psychological Evaluation that is required. I don't think that insurance will cover any of it (at least that is what I've been told so far), so I need to find out how much it will cost us. Please pray that insurance will cover part, if not all of the cost (or that the cost will be covered somehow!).

I've gotten information from Texas Children's International Adoption Clinic, and it will cost us $500 to set up a file for one child (each additional child costs $300). This will enable us to sit down with a pediatrician in the clinic and go over the Medical Check List that we need to re-do and re-submit. Please pray that God will provide at least $500 to set up a file.

We are still waiting for a written estimate from one of the painters we had look at the house,but at least we have picked out the colors we want!

I am about halfway through the 2nd Adoption Book (Adopting The Older Child [written in 1978]) and still have one more to go!