Our Foster Care Journey, Part III

Once training was over, it was time to begin the home study piece.  We gave the agency about a two- week window...after Christmas (please!!) but before tax season...and they were most accommodating.

The home-study is comprised of several parts that need to be spread out over three different days: an interview with me, an interview with Shaun and a walk through/inspection of our home.

The interviews lasted a couple hours each.  We talked, in depth, about our childhoods, our families, how we met, other relationships we've had, our marriage, how we parent, what our children are like, what our day to day lives are like.  It was very...comprehensive.  :)

All this was in addition to the essays we each had to write on the same topics.  I've got to say, its a little strange to put your entire life on paper like that, all contained within 8-10 pages.

The actual home inspection part was what we were most concerned with, since that is the part that's been giving us trouble all along.  I thought it was going to be more like a tour of our house, while checking for flaking paint and working smoke detectors.

In reality, it was much more exhaustive than that.  Our worker checked every single part of our house, including the basement (yuck!) and the third floor.  I had no idea she'd be going to the far reaches....had I known, I would have cleared a walking path on the third floor!

I think she sensed my surprise because she said, we need to check every part of the house to make sure no one else is living here.  We've discovered basement dwellers before.  Oh....creepy!!

You better believe that day has motivated me to do something (finally, and again!) about our third floor/laundry room/everything storage.  I'm pretty much the only one who goes up there (re: laundry) and its just a dumping ground.  But now...I'm resolved to pick at it every week, while dreaming about the day its transformed into our master bedroom suite.  :)

I debated posting pictures here for accountability, but I think I won't.  If I find I'm having trouble staying motivated, then I'll consider it.  :)

Because of the few changes we'd made and the little bit of work we did AND God's favor, our home passed the inspection without any trouble.  Big sigh of relief!