Homestudy visit #1, another potluck, & twin time!

Wow, what a weekend it's been! I barely know where to start. Well... here it goes:

I got the call I've been waiting for on Wednesday! Our social worker, Cara, called Wednesday evening to set up a time to meet. I was so thrilled she called so quickly, and better yet, she was able to meet with us that Friday (June 1st!). So, we agreed to meet with her at 4:00pm on Friday. As soon as I got off the phone the real nerves set in for me! I mean, just think about it. This is the woman that will approve us (hopefully!) to adopt our children. Our adoption's fate is currently in her hands. And, to make me even MORE nervous, rather than just coming to our house once for a single "home visit," she was going to come to our house for all 3 of the interviews! Yikes, I sure hoped Chloe (and Cooper) would behave themselves more quietly and calmly than normal!

Somehow, I anxiously made my way through the week (Joe, of course, was my beacon of calm, cool, and collected). Friday afternoon came, and I found myself rushing towards home from doing a little bit of house hunting with my mom (JUST in case we get our house sold!), in order to get home in time to meet with Cara! We put the dogs in the garage, tidied up, and sat on the couch and waited. When the doorbell finally rang, I think I jumped about a foot off the couch and into the air... this was it. I hoped she liked us. Would she feel we were fit to be parents? Let alone, adoptive parents?

The meeting lasted all of 40-45 minutes and wasn't bad at all. Other than chatting more than I needed to (always do that when I'm nervous and excited!) and answering almost all of the questions for her before Joe had a chance to speak up (boy, he sure does pause a long time before answering sometimes!), I think it went really well. She seemed very nice, laid back, and overall very encouraging. I also decided to push a bit for timing details... as I've mentioned, my goal is to have this homestudy wrapped up and a completed report in my hands by the end of the month. Well, she was very supportive of that and agreed to come again two weeks to the day for our next visit. The Department of Homeland Security doesn't like to see the 1st and 2nd visits less than two weeks apart, so we'll do it at exactly two weeks! Then, after meeting with her at 4:00pm on June 15th, we'll have her back the following morning at 10:00am for the final visit! That's the visit where she'll do the actual house walk-through. She didn't go around the house at all this time... all that prepping the house for nothing. Oh well. Our next visit we have to do our individual interviews... one of us is interviewed and the other has to leave the house during the interview. Yep, nervous about that too. Surprise, surprise!

Once she completes the interviews, she says she'll write up the report the next day and submit a draft to everyone that needs to review it. Then, she'll make any changes necessary based upon those reviewing it, and get it signed and notarized. I should have it in hand and ready to drive up to the immigration office before June 26th... our departure day for our trip (I'll go into the trip later). So, all in all, it's great news so far! Woohoo! Yippee!! (Imagine hearing me whoop and holler cause it's exactly what I've been doing since our first visit! Dancing, talking a mile a minute, and shouting the good news to anyone that'll listen!)

On Saturday, (the day after our first home visit), we were scheduled to go to the Temecula area for our monthly Southern California Ethiopia Adopt family potluck. But, while we were at the gym working out that morning, we got a call from our realtor letting us know an offer was being faxed to him for our house! WOW! Talk about surprise... I was not expecting that call right then! So, we had to delay going to the potluck and meet with him to review the offer. Long story short, the offer was a total low-ball and probably won't materialize into anything exciting. We've countered twice now, and I'm not thinking it'll go anywhere. Oh well. So, we headed off to the potluck after writing up a counter offer, and began the fun! The family hosting the potluck has a great place with an awesome pool and Joe enjoyed splashing around and playing with all the kids. Will and Blaine (the hosts) have an amazing family with fantastic kids, and it was so wonderful of them to host for the group. As usual, I cooed at and played with the babies and toddlers while Joe transformed into the "big kid" and played for hours on end. There's just no leaving the potlucks without expending all of your energy!

And finally... we got to have some "twin time" today!!! It was SOOOOO great! One of Joe's friends at work has four and a half month old identical twin boys. Geoff (his friend) mentioned recently that since we were planning on requesting twins, that maybe we should come over to their house and spend some time changing diapers and seeing the "chaos" that can come with multiples. So, without hesitation, I jumped at the offer! We spent most of the day with Geoff, his fabulous wife, Valerie, and their absolutely adorable boys, Wesley and Harrison. It was amazing to see how great they're all doing at four and a half months. It sounds like sleep schedules are really tough right now (or should I say... a LACK of sleep & schedules! ;-) ) but the boys are really such happy babies and are quite mellow. They are total charmers and I personally just couldn't get enough of them. We all went to the Tustin Chili Cookoff together and I even got to practice maneuvering the big twin stroller... which is much tougher than it looks! The best part of the day is that Joe and I had such a great time with them and I think we all hit it off so well! I still don't have any really close girlfriends out here in SoCal, so finding I have so much in common with Valerie (including that I'll soon be a twin mom too... probably!), was so exciting. She's promised to take us up on our offer to come lend a hand, and that we'll start going to the gym together, and that's so awesome! Plus, she's got so many great tips on things that have helped them with managing two, and referrals for things like a pediatrician that they love, twin discounts, a local Moms with multiples club, a multiples nanny share, and all kinds of great books! Whew, I am so lucky to have met them! Thank you Geoff and Valerie!

So, in a nutshell (a BIG nutshell), that was our weekend! See, lots happened! And, tomorrow I have to get on a plane and head to Atlanta for 3 days for training. Ugh. I hate to be leaving town right now, but at least it's only 3 days. I'll post again soon with the details/update on our upcoming trip! It's just another exciting revelation in our ever crazy and exciting world!

**Yep, I'm all smiles right now! What a great weekend!