Busy, busy, busy...

Hey everyone! We know it's been a LONG time since our last blog, and we apologize... June just flew by!

Well, since our last update, we have officially begun the homestudy process! We were assigned our social worker shortly after the last blog was posted. She is WONDERFUL!! Back when we were selecting our homestudy agency, Phil and I were praying we'd be assigned someone who would understand God's call to adopt, and we were!

We will have to have four meetings with our SW (Social Worker) to fulfill OAA's requirements. Our first meeting was a few weeks ago at her house. We basically discussed the overall process, how we're paying for the adoption, and our family's support. The meeting went great and she made us both feel very comfortable.

Our next assignmant was to write individual autobiographies. They were to be 4-6 pages each, covering family history, motivation to adopt, views on child rearing, our marriage, our finances, our home & community, etc... Wow, there was a lot to say!! Mine ended up being 6 1/2 pages and Phil's was 6 (after he adjusted margins and font sizes...)!

The funniest part about the autobiographies was that we wrote them completely independently from one another (except the finance section), finished within five minutes of one another, then switched computers to read them and found that some of our phrases were identical and that we had covered almost exactly the same points!! For example, we both said we "generally have a lean meat and vegetable for dinner" and that we'd be "completely transparent with our daughter about her adoption." It was almost spooky!

We sent the autobiographies off to our SW last week and are having our second meeting with her in a few weeks. This will be the meeting where we're interviewed seperately at her home. then the next meeting is at our home.

We've also started preparing the nursery! Since we don't have any extra money, I thought it would be a good idea to begin preparing as soon as possible, so I could get good deals but still make everything flow together. I'm having so much fun!

We wanted to thank all of you who have ordered items from us, sent donations, or prayed for us. Your support has been awesome and has really touched us. Just a few weeks ago, we received a Father's Day card from a little boy in our Sunday School class. His mother said they were making cards for all the fathers in their life and 3-year-old Judah said "Wait! We forgot Mr. Phil & Amy!" He told his mom he "wants to give a baby to (us)" and tried to draw us a picture of a baby (which came out a "funny robot", according to Judah) and a picture of me with a lizard :) His mom says he leads his family in praying for us every night without being prompted. And with a cute little guy like Judah interceding for us, I don't know how Satan stands a chance :) How great is our God!

Many Blessings,
Amy & Phil