Social workers a kind of nice

Our interview went really well. Of course I was way more nervous than I needed to be, but that was expected. She asked lots of questions about our marriage, how we met, what attracted us to each other, etc. We talked about what we were open to as far as ethnicity and sex of the child. Overall it was really good.
We also got the update as to where we are in the process. Looks like we still have about 3 months to go. I was kind of disapointed, I thought we were almost done, only a few interviews, but she is really busy and works with a lot of families. We have to wait our turn and not rush. I get that, I just wish that it was explained a little bit better as to how this all works and the time that it takes. They are very concerned about not giving time frames so as to not give expectations to families because it is variable. But it would be helpful to know the times that are not variable, like taking 3 months to do interviews after our four months of classes.
I really am ok, just needed to vent a little bit and readjust.

A great weekend

We just spent Easter weekend camping at Pismo Beach and it was awesome. About 60 people from our staff went and just had fun for a few days. The camp is right near the beach so it was just a short walk over the dune to the gorgeous beach. California beaches are so different from beaches on the east coast. At first it seems the same and then you notice the huge mountain falling into the water in the distance! It is amazing. We got some great pics for our profile while we were there too. Everything was so scenic, it was picture mania. The long car ride there gave us lots of time to work on our profile, which is great! When it is done I will get pics of it up here for yall to see.

Today we got back with the social worker and rescheduled our canceled apointment for Thursday at 10:30. I am so excited to get this process moving again!! Hopefully it doesnt take too long to get through the interview part. I have been thinking a lot about what the interview will be like.

Question: For those of you who have adopted domesticaly, what was the first interview with your social worker like? What questions did she ask, what was talked about, etc? Anything to help me feel prepared and less anxious would be awesome. Left to myself to imagine is not always the best!

Catching Up

So the training last weekend went great! Everyone was there and we got everything done. It was really encouraging to hear about all the new locations and get their feedback. A big success. Now I have to figure out what my job looks like after this. I have spent the last 8 months preparing for this training and now it is done. What do I do now?

On the adoption front, we had the first meeting with our social worker scheduled for tomorrow. This morning we got a message from her that a young birth mom went into preterm labor over the weekend. She needs to fill her day tomorrow with meetings of the girl and potential families. I was sad, but glad to see so much care going into the situation. If I was the birth mother or the adoptive family waiting I would want my social worker to push her other meetings aside! So I am glad but disappointed. We had to wait a while to get this meeting scheduled, so I am hoping since we are rescheduling that we can do it quickly and pick a date that is soon.

Back on the work note, all our students are gone on spring break. I miss them already. There are only 12 so we get fairly close, like a large family. There are gone for a week, but it only makes me think about how quickly May 17th is coming when they will be gone for real. It is hard working with a one year program, they come and go so quickly. But they never really stay away, they always come back to visit and sometimes alumni come back and live here, so hopefully they will all choose that option. =)

My weekend

This has nothing to with adoption or infertility but just what is going on in my life, work life to be exact.
I am running a training this weekend and It is a HUGE deal. I think everything is ready (obviously If I have time to post at work then I am ready). It is just kind of nerve racking for people from all over the country to fly to Pasadena to hear me tell them how to run an INSIGHT program.

You see it is actually my anniversary, one year ago this week, I started this job. I took over from another girl who had been starting this office. (this is all really hard to explain) There has been an INSIGHT program for the last 9 years, but expanding it to new locations is a NEW thing. My new thing. In the last year I have learned how to run a program, wrote the training manual (literally) created a training program and now in less than 24 hours will be teaching this training to representatives from 4 locations that want to start their own INSIGHT program. I am a little overwhelmed.

The greatest part about this it is is so obvious that there is no way that anyone could look at me and say what an amazing person you are or wow you are so talented. If you knew me and saw these results you would instantly give God all the glory for this work. I am wreck, and He somehow pulled all of this off over the last year. It makes me hopeful when I look to the future. There is so much more to be accomplished, but I know that God is not done, and He will continue to work and pull together more than I can imagine!

Please pray for me and my confidence over the weekend. And that we are able to accomplish all that we need to do in just two days. yall are amazing!