Getting ready for our HS......

We are getting ready for our Homestudy visit on 3/15, just 8 days from now. For the past few weeks, we've been consumed with paperwork and doctor appointments. All 7 of our children had to have physicals. Our pediatrician was so nice to shut down her clinic for nearly three hours to dedicate time to our kids. Emma, our youngest needed a few shots which she hated. The doctor had a few concerns about our son Christian due to his lack of growth. He was not even on the growth chart for height and weight which seemed to be of great concern for the doctor...... we just thought he was small, but the doctor wants to run some tests. I think both of our boys were traumatized by their first full physical in a few years. They weren't real happy about the doctor inspecting certain parts of their anatomy (I hope that was discrete enough). It was quite humorous though. Otherwise, everyone was healthy. Time for the two of us to get physicals.

Our son Christian

The adult physicals went well. Since we never really go to the doctor, we had to find a brand new doctor for ourselves. He was great and was very encouraging and supportive regarding the adoption. He said that he would help in any way possible. So we have a few more items on our list before the HS. We need to get our marriage certificate which will require us to drive to Austin, since that is where we were married. We need to write our biographies and then get a copy of the floor plans for our house. We're a little worried about our floor plan as our house a bit small for 9 children. Heck, I guess most houses are too small for 9 children. But honestly, we're not sure what the interviewer will say regarding our house. We plan to install a door to make our study into a bedroom so that Elisa and Vanessa will have a room right next to our master bedroom. Unfortunately, that work will not be done by our HS and we're not sure if that will be a problem. Our close friends also know that we still have to carpet our master bedroom as we've been on concrete for almost 6 months now. We're kind of getting used to it (as bad as that sounds), but not sure the HS interviewer will be OK with it. It will get carpeted, but all resources are going to the adoption right now.

We also have Laura, our exchange student from France, with us until the end of June. She takes up a room now, but will be gone by the time we go to pick up our girls. It's both great and horrible timing that she will be leaving just a month or so before we go to pick up our girls. Her leaving will make room for the new kiddos, but we would love for her to go through the final part of this experience with us. She's been part of our family for 6 months now and we love her like our own child. Having an exchange student has been a wonderful experience! We will really miss her when she goes back to France.

Laura (our exchange student from France)

Oh, and we still have to take 10 hours of Hague training (training required by our HS agency). It's all online, but getting the two of us together for 10 hours without the kids hanging all over us is going to be a challenge. I guess that's the only good thing about waiting until the last minute..... we have no choice but to get it done. So after all of this, we will be ready for our homestudy! We are praying that it goes well and fully expect that it will. God is in control!!!!!!