We had our individual interviews yesterday. My interview was first and I wasn't really that nervous until I got there, then my heart started to race a bit. I just didn't know what we would talk about for 2 hours. But it turned out okay. Our caseworker just asked questions in regards to what we answered on all our paperwork. He wanted to know what I thought my strengths and weaknesses were as an individual and in our marriage. We talked about our families and practically everything else - I like to talk, so my interview was about 30 minutes longer than Brandon's. Our caseworker gave me some counsel and I think he was really just wanting to understand where we are at physically, emotionally and spiritually. I felt really good after we talked and he answered a few questions I had about the rest of this process. Most importantly, I wanted to know what our next step is. He said next we will do the home evaluation. In 2 weeks he will come to our house and spend about 45 minutes walking through it and talking with us. After that, we wait until he has received our FBI background check. If I have any advice for anyone adopting, it's to turn in your FBI background checks FIRST. Don't even bother working on any paperwork until that is completed and mailed in. I guess it use to take about 3 weeks to get the background checks back, but lately it has been taking 3 months! He told me that the FBI receives over 10,000 applications for adoption background checks each month. Unfortunately though, we can't move forward with our profile going online until that is received - so right now we are in a waiting game.
In the meantime, he told us to work on "publicizing ourselves" and continue to be actively engaged in the efforts of finding our baby. It sounds so strange to be searching to find our baby, but I feel that he/she is trying to find us as well. I feel that they are somewhere watching and waiting for just the right moment to come into our life. I am now a smidgen worried about our home evaluation. Is it sad that we already have a baby's room all set up? It's hard to explain to some people how we are trying to put our Faith in God, and by having our baby's room all set up, it's to show that we KNOW we will be able to have a family and someday our rooms will be full of children. I can't wait for that day. After we got our baby swing, it really hit us how much we wanted this. Adopted or not, we will have a family. A friend of mine sent me this quote by Neal A Maxwell - it states, "Faith In God, Includes Faith In His Timing." We have so much to look forward to, but it's so hard to wait. For now though, we continue to press onward diligently.
