Thursday, April 20, 2006

Lions and Tigers and Home Studies??

Oh S#@$!!

Yesterday called the agency which was recommended by our agency to do an Iowa home study. They, in turn, referred me to an independent man who is a certified adoption investigator. Sounds all important doesn't it? So, I called this man to set up our home study. Imagine my surprise when out of his mouth pops, "How does Saturday morning work for you?"

Gulp.... "Saturday, oh sure that should work just fine." commence the extreme freakout!! I am just REALLY glad that Danette came and cleaned on Tuesday. I only had her do the downstairs, it was that messy, but the upstairs shouldn't take me too long.

That said, I'm still not calm about the whole process. I called Jake in a panic yesterday afternoon. "You have to mow the lawn right now. If you can't do it than have your friend come over because it looks like we are total rednecks and they are not going to give a baby to the redneck family that will loose their child in the grass in the front yard. I don't care if we have to pay him I just need it done NOW!!

I then proceeded to leave work early because on top of that I have to:

Do the laundry

Clean the dishes that don't "fit" in the dishwasher

Clean the back porch (after all that is his first impression of our house)

Dust and clean the upstairs

Figure out how to make it not smell like cat pee in that one corner of our bedroom that the cat peed in when he decided for a week that he didn't like his litterbox. A whole bottle of Urine Gone has not seemed to do the trick...

And then spend the rest of my two days COMPLETELY freaking out about Jake's record and what is on it and what will they say and thinking of every possible question that they could ask and making sure I have a well thought out appropriate answer that doesn't make me look like a total redneck because heaven knows my lawn is doing a good enough job of that.

Do you think I should go to Lowe's and get some flowers for our flower beds? Do empty flower beds show that we don't care about our house? Does not caring about our house show that we won't properly care for a child?

Sigh... breathe in and out....

I think I need some chocolate.......

5 comments:

lonna said...

I know that two days sounds like no time, but if it was longer it would just make you stress more and for a longer period of time. I would think that in the long run only have two days to prepare would be a blessing. Good luck!

Bob said...

You will do fine. I'd give you a child and I've never even met you!

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, chocolate always makes it better!! Don't worry, you'll be okay. Just be your wonderful selves.

OMH said...

No a neglected yard does not mean a neglected child. Neither does a perfect yard mean a perfect parent!

Relax - Breathe and let God direct you.

So are you looking at older children or babies only? American or international? Have you talked about all the different options?

Anonymous said...

For the cat pee smell: Febreze and if all else fails, peppermint oil should cover it up (but it WILL smell pretty strongly like peppermint!) My mom used that trick the other day when her dog threw up on the carpet in the living room (oh, the joys of pets!)

And I wouldn't bother with a flower bed, I agree with the commenter above who said a neglected lawn does not mean a neglected child and a perfect lawn does not mean a perfect parent. Just do your best, be yourself, and prepare for the tough questions, that's all they can ask :)

Best of luck, I'll be thinking about you.