August Update

Things have been kind of crazy around here, so I'll try to be brief with my update - as much has happened since my last post.

On Wednesday, July 23, I was able to change the name on my driver's license, apply for a passport, and get my fingerprinting done and submitted to the courts. It was an insanely busy day, as we had friends from out of town coming to visit that night and left to go camping the following morning. Luckily I was able to have my good friend, Amanda, watch the kids while I ran all over Arizona. I was so glad to be finished with all of that stuff so that we could start working on our Homestudy paperwork.

I emailed the letters of referral to our family and friends last week on Wednesday, July 30. Most of the people were able to have theirs filled out, notified, and sent by the following Friday, two days later. We have one friend who is out of town and hopefully will complete his tomorrow or Monday. We have also scheduled our physicals for tomorrow morning and have our social worker, Peggy, coming on Saturday morning.

I know we don't have to have our house spotless and dust-free when the SW comes, but I think it is a great excuse to clean out all of the nooks and crannies of our house and get a little (late) Spring cleaning done. So each day, in addition to cleaning the usual stuff in our house, I've been trying to tackle small projects like organizing the laundry room and the kids' closets, dusting, wiping baseboards, etc. It's nice to have a sparkling clean house again.

We've also been slowly telling a few more family and friends about our plans to adopt. We had to tell those who we asked to be referrals, and although I still don't want everyone to know, I feel fine having those we are close to knowing. My cute mother-in-law accidentally spilled the beans (in a round-about-way) to my sister-in-law, and to be honest, it was nice to not have to keep the secret with one more person.

So, right now we are trying to finish up any last paperwork and gather any documents that we haven't yet. I'd like to do everything I can to speed this along so that the waiting time won't be so much up to me and my ability to complete things quickly, but more up to the agency for the referral and the courts for processing.

Our oldest daughter began first grade yesterday and our middle child will begin preschool in September. I've begun working out at the YMCA and am looking forward to getting my body healthier. I like that our lives are on more of a schedule now, and feel much more like my normal self, and also much more motivated to do things that need doing(cleaning, homestudy work, exercising, making healthy dinners, keeping up on the laundry), which - to be honest - I wasn't very motivated to do anything for the month of July.

So, here's to a busy and productive August!