I am sitting here with our Home Study next to me. Done. Finished. Edited, revised and submitted. Notarized and ready for the nursery in Taiwan to see.
I thought we were at this point last year in June. The home study was done and ready to be finalized, but then things in our life changed. Here we are over a year later, plus a new home visit, updating paperwork, and additional fees... and it's complete! It reflects the biggest changes in our life such as Nate's new employment and our move, but it's filled with so much more information as well.
It was kind of nerve racking to read through the home study. It's twelve pages of compiled information to summarize our capabilities as parents. Twelve revealing pages, prying into every corner of our personal lives and making it public. It shares our childhood, background, family roles and dynamics. It discusses our educational backgrounds, careers and plan for child care. It discloses things every prospective parent should probably be required to expose; criminal record, background checks and references. It goes in depth into our finances, our assets and expenses and net worth. Then it exposes parts of our hearts; our motivation for becoming parents, attitudes toward adoption, health of our marriage and parenting readiness.
What was the most unexpected for me, in reading through those twelve pages of factual information, was that the heart of our small family came through loud and clear. There are tidbits throughout that capture who I believe we are as a family. Our marriage is described as being strong, loving, and founded on faith. It says that we collaborate and support one another. That we have a wonderful friendship and truly enjoy spending time together. It talks about how we will provide an environment that is nurturing and will allow the child to thrive and grow.
Sure there are areas that we could look a whole lot more put together on a paper document. Our interests and hobbies could be a little more exciting, and our finances could use a little work. But what I am truly thankful for is that our social worker was able to find simple ways to capture the essence of what is most important to us in our home study- establishing the love and support we have to offer to any child that enters our home.
I love and am grateful for what we have, and feel ready for our family to grow.
