Fun fact about February: it has 28 days. 28 is divisible evenly by 7, which is the number of days in a week. Consequently, the days of each week of February correspond quite symmetrically with same in the month of March. It was this odd coincidence which caused the simple sentence ... "Yes, Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th will work great for us!" to lead to a month-sooner-than-expected visit from our Home Study Agent. Surprise!!!!!
So, here we are on February 20, and I am proud, humbled, pleased, delighted, and a bit overwhelmed to report to you all that our home study visit was a success and we are being recommended for a sibling group from Brazil of up to 3 siblings from ages 0 to 10.
What was it like? How did it go? What happens next?
Whoa, there. One question at a time. I'm still processing.
So ... what was it like? In a word: encouraging. Our home study agent ("Susan") called about 4:30 on Friday afternoon and said she was early (thinking 30 minutes, but in our minds it was 30 days!). Erica is so wonderful, she responded honestly and transparently, but also demonstrated one of her key skills: hospitality, and expressed shock at it being Feb. instead of March, but said yes, come on over!
When "Susan" got to the house she knew Erica wasn't entirely expecting her and she graciously bustled the girls out to the backyard to visit with them. This accomplished a couple of things:
1) Erica was able to catch her breath a little bit and call me to give me a head's up (I was still at work).
2) Susan got to meet the girls and get the quick and dirty view of what its like to be a kid in this Blaschke household. (Clever of her!)
3) She got a kid's eye tour of the yard, which is their imagination fueled playground, the household garden, home for our chickens, and super huge. This helped regarding our request for multiple kids, since there is so much room out there!
How did it go? By the time I got home at 5:20 conversation with Erica was well under way. Susan did such a great job of helping us to feel relaxed. She genuinely expressed her desire to get to know us so she could right an accurate home study report that would help the matching process to place the right kids with us.
We visited with her for a couple hours on Friday night and then for a few more hours on Saturday morning.
I was initially worried that it would be a like a home inspection checklist from those government health inspector folks ... oh, that blind cord is two inches too long, there is a cardboard box on the floor in the middle of the room, the feed for the chickens is too low to the ground ... etc. It wasn't like that at all!
We did discuss health and safety issues. I had to prep an impromptu written diagram of our family emergency exit plan for the house. We went out and purchased a fire extinguisher (did any of you grow up with one of those in your home?) Apparently it is a good idea. And we assured her that if we had any toddler or younger kids we would make sure to lock cabinets securely and take other baby-proofing measures.
Her questions focused a lot more intently on our emotional and mental preparedness to handle additional kids, especially coming from a trauma background. She was very encouraging to us about our faith being a strength and the importance of walking together in unity and communicating through the process. She also seemed impressed at the broad network of friends and family support that we have (evidenced by our completed Puzzle Fundraiser! Thank you, thank you, thank you!).
So here I am ... 5 days after she called a month early. What happens next? We have the first draft of the written report. Reading that and making minor corrections is the next step. Then we have passport applications to fill out, a dossier to complete for submission to the Brazilian government, books to read and conferences to attend, grant applications to fill out, and even more fundraising efforts to tackle.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We need focus as we have reached a place where there are a ton of little steps. Pray that I don't procrastinate and we stay on each task diligently while still actively living life and engaging our kids with God's love. Thank you!
So, here we are on February 20, and I am proud, humbled, pleased, delighted, and a bit overwhelmed to report to you all that our home study visit was a success and we are being recommended for a sibling group from Brazil of up to 3 siblings from ages 0 to 10.
What was it like? How did it go? What happens next?
Whoa, there. One question at a time. I'm still processing.
I thought she would put our home under a microscope - but it was really very encouraging instead.
So ... what was it like? In a word: encouraging. Our home study agent ("Susan") called about 4:30 on Friday afternoon and said she was early (thinking 30 minutes, but in our minds it was 30 days!). Erica is so wonderful, she responded honestly and transparently, but also demonstrated one of her key skills: hospitality, and expressed shock at it being Feb. instead of March, but said yes, come on over!
When "Susan" got to the house she knew Erica wasn't entirely expecting her and she graciously bustled the girls out to the backyard to visit with them. This accomplished a couple of things:
1) Erica was able to catch her breath a little bit and call me to give me a head's up (I was still at work).
2) Susan got to meet the girls and get the quick and dirty view of what its like to be a kid in this Blaschke household. (Clever of her!)
3) She got a kid's eye tour of the yard, which is their imagination fueled playground, the household garden, home for our chickens, and super huge. This helped regarding our request for multiple kids, since there is so much room out there!
How did it go? By the time I got home at 5:20 conversation with Erica was well under way. Susan did such a great job of helping us to feel relaxed. She genuinely expressed her desire to get to know us so she could right an accurate home study report that would help the matching process to place the right kids with us.
We visited with her for a couple hours on Friday night and then for a few more hours on Saturday morning.
I was initially worried that it would be a like a home inspection checklist from those government health inspector folks ... oh, that blind cord is two inches too long, there is a cardboard box on the floor in the middle of the room, the feed for the chickens is too low to the ground ... etc. It wasn't like that at all!
We did discuss health and safety issues. I had to prep an impromptu written diagram of our family emergency exit plan for the house. We went out and purchased a fire extinguisher (did any of you grow up with one of those in your home?) Apparently it is a good idea. And we assured her that if we had any toddler or younger kids we would make sure to lock cabinets securely and take other baby-proofing measures.
Her questions focused a lot more intently on our emotional and mental preparedness to handle additional kids, especially coming from a trauma background. She was very encouraging to us about our faith being a strength and the importance of walking together in unity and communicating through the process. She also seemed impressed at the broad network of friends and family support that we have (evidenced by our completed Puzzle Fundraiser! Thank you, thank you, thank you!).
So here I am ... 5 days after she called a month early. What happens next? We have the first draft of the written report. Reading that and making minor corrections is the next step. Then we have passport applications to fill out, a dossier to complete for submission to the Brazilian government, books to read and conferences to attend, grant applications to fill out, and even more fundraising efforts to tackle.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We need focus as we have reached a place where there are a ton of little steps. Pray that I don't procrastinate and we stay on each task diligently while still actively living life and engaging our kids with God's love. Thank you!
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