Busy Week

I've been busy gathering all the information needed for our Home Study process.  The name is actually deceiving since we will not be spending much time at our home for this interview.  We will be spending all day Wednesday and then again Thursday morning with a woman who specializes in this type of situation.  Her name is Hillary and she has been very supportive and easy to deal with so far.  She has responded quickly to any of my emails and has even offered solutions to help us keep costs down.  For example, the actual "home tour" must be done by a licensed social worker.  She offered to allow someone locally come to our home for this portion of the study to save us from having to pay her travel time.  She then informed me that our local social worker can assist with the post-placement visits that are required once we have brought our baby home.  I thought that was so cool because very few people in this process, either with fertility treatments or the adoption experience, have offered suggestions to keep costs down for us.
So, this week we will be going to Overland Park to visit with her.  I asked a couple of my friends who have been through this what we should expect.  Apparently, we are going to spend the better part of 2 days talking about our childhood, how we were raised, why we chose to adopt, etc. etc.  As you can imagine, we are real excited about this.  I've told a few people already and I'm sure I'll say it again, if everyone had to go through all this before they became parents, there would definitely be fewer kids on this earth!!!
In preparation for this Home Study, we had to gather a lot of information.  Everything from a letter from our bank, stating we are responsible account holders, to FBI background and fingerprinting.  It's truly unbelievable!  If that weren't enough, we also have "assigned reading" that we are to complete.  I have so far successfully completed 1 of the 3 books that are required.  I was feeling very overwhelmed this evening as I was checking over the list to make sure we have everything, you know, while I'm cooking supper and trying to figure out when I'm going to have time to put up my sweet corn and green beans.  But, I talked with a couple of my good friends and they reminded me to just breathe.  So, I'm taking a breath, putting my thoughts down for all to see and trying to keep my perspective.  In the end, none of this will matter.  We will have a baby and will forget all about the required letters from employers, copies of tax documents, birth certificates, marriage license, divorce decree, letters of recommendations and required reading.  We will have our sweet baby in our arms and paperwork will be the last thing on our minds!!!