Monday - a BIG day!

Yesterday, Chris and I met for supper at Panera in Noblesville and then proceeded to our first session for our HOMESTUDY! Yep, that's right folks! This is the last part that we need for our dossier!!!! We are pumped (or atleast I am) to fed ex the package to Washington DC and then to Ethiopia. We are getting closer!!!

The homestudy session went well. We met at the agency and the room we were in was comfortable. We sat on the couch and our social worker was across from us in a chair. She told us at the beginning that this process seems a little awkward at first. Who wouldn't think that? Here is a stranger that we met right before we sat down and she is asking us questions about our marriage. Just for insight purposes, the questions were all across the board. For example, she asked us about our marriage. She also asked us about being a transracial family and if we foresee any issues with our family or friends. She asked us to think about how we might respond to someone in the grocery store that might ask about our child. It is not uncommon for strangers to ask how much did he or she cost. What do you share or not share? How do you respond?

Chris broke the ice when he was answering the question about what we view as our strengths as a couple. She then asked about our weaknesses. He was telling her that we really balance each other out and then told her a few of mine. He goes on to say I guess thats it, I don't have any. Does that surprise you? She laughed. I went on to tell her that we really work well together around the house. I consider Chris the handy man and he helps me clean up the kitchen. I was telling her that I do the laundry and I cook the food. Her next comment was timed just right - she said, "and Chris...he eats it."

Our social worker is actually going through the adoption process as well. Amazingly, her and her husband are also adopting from Ethiopia! They received their referral a week ago. Their son is 2.5 years old and they will go to Ethiopia sometime in May. She is a proud mom and can really identify with us. We are thankful that she is our social worker. She also invited us to join the Ethiopian Adoption group in Indy. The next event is a picnic in the summer. We are already planning to get involved! God is so good!

We also had a wonderful weekend! We left on Friday to go to Ohio to see my family. When we arrived we ended up staying up late just talking around the table. We got up on Saturday and we went to Red Rambler which is a local coffee shop. We also went to the Sauder Outlet store (a must when we go out there) and the Sauder Inn. The big event of the day was the musical "The Wiz" which is a spin off of the Wizard of Oz. We had two of our cousins in the musical. They did a great job and we had a lot of fun spending time with our family! On Sunday, we went to a Charlie Hall concert at our church. We enjoyed it!

Tonight our electricity was out for over 3 hours. This ruined my plans for supper so we had to go to Greentown and pick up a pizza. Shucks! When we came back we played jenga (Chris's idea) and uno. If you know me, I LOVE games. Chris on the other hand could never play another one and be happy. He was a great sport. I always ask to play just one more game. He reminds me that moderation is better if I want him to play again in the future. Good point!

This Friday we are leaving for Florida!!! We are going to go and visit my grandpa, aunt and uncle. For those of you who know us and about our Florida trips...we just can't get enough. We ALWAYS have bad luck when we go so we are hoping the FIFTH time is a charm! Let's see...we have had the airbags of my parent's car on our laps the entire way home from Florida, our alternator went out when we were going to Florida from my friend Julie's wedding in Virginia, we never made it when we had to make an emergency pit stop in Tennessee for Chris to go into emergency surgery to take out his appendix, and the last one was this Christmas when I was in the hospital with complications from the IVF procedure. We are going to try one new thing...hopefully, this is a good thing. We are going to be driving our car and not my parents. Please pray for us while we travel. God knows that we need all that we can get this time around!