Since our pre-approval was postponed a month, we decided that we would throw all of our energy into completing the homestudy. We met with our local social worker at Catholic Family Center at the end of June to begin the process. We've been told that it usually takes 2-4 months. So of course we decided to try to get it all done before that pre-approval meeting at the end of July. And we went on an awesome vacation to the beach the week of July 4th, so we basically had three weeks to complete everything.
A homestudy means filling out a bunch of forms; answering detailed questions about your past, your marriage and family, your parenting and discipline philosophy, etc.; a one-hour interview with each of us; a tour of our home; physicals from out doctor for all three of us, and 12 hours of training webinars.
We're praising God that somehow as of 10:30 last night all of the paperwork is in except for my (matt's) medical exam report (my physical is Wednesday next week)! It's been a few late nights, but we've done it. At the same time, we got a long autobiography form from Phillip's orphanage, which is just a few keystrokes from finished as well.
For our homestudy, my interview is this morning and Belinda's is tomorrow. The final piece is the home tour on Wednesday (right before my physical). And yes, we do have a few home improvement projects to knock out on Saturday to make sure our house is ready!
The most significant thing we have left for the homestudy is the 12 hours of classes, which we haven't been able to access yet due to a technical failure at our international agency.
Thanks for your prayers and support. We're nearing the end of the beginning.