One home study down, 4 to go

We did it, we had a successful first home study. Our sw is very nice, informative and easy to talk to.
The schedule for our next ones are as follows:
Josh's h. study 7-31-08
My h. study 8-4-08
Our 4th h. study 8-25-08
and at this 4th home study we will schedule our home visit.
We expressed to her our desire to complete the home studies, paperwork, PEs etc...by the beg. of Sept. So we are looking at a possible approval in 9/08. After talking with the sw she stated it did not look like we'd have any problem getting approved. We talked about me having diabetes and all she asked was "how is it going?" So as long as the NP I am seeing for my PE doesn't think anything of it, all should be well with that. I mean come on why would having D keep you from parenting?

We found out from her that there is only about 3-4 adoptions actually from our state each year due to the demographics of either mom's parenting or having abortions.
So we will most likely be ultimately adopting out of state. This holds a big element of surprise...where will we one day be traveling to?
We also found out that we need to network on our own, they do some, but we'd have a better chance at finding a placement if we use the help of a profile service or ultimately a facilitator.
I have been researching these types of options and have narrowed our search down to an adoption center in another state that does networking and outreach all over the US. I filled out an app. online and should hear in 10-14 days or so if we qualify for their services as they usually only take a certain # of families to work with at a time.
The women I spoke with on the phone yest. told me they have more birth mother's then A families right now. She said they state a 3-12 mos wait for placement although most waits for a healthy Caucasian newborn are around 6-14 mos. of course one just can never estimate how long it really will be.

I have to say that adding this service in and obtaining more info from our 1st home study meeting, my head is spinning. There is so much to do and decide on.
We can either do a profile online for of course less $ and see where that takes us or hire a facilitating agency which may speed up the process quite a bit, of course it cost a lot more too and this is my concern. I just want to try and make sure we don't go way over our budget...Yikes!

So we will be figuring things out here for a while.
I need to fill out a financial form for the adoption agency to assess our income/ assets and see if we qualify for reduced fees.

Both Josh and I need to also work on our autobiographies and get them to her by the beg. of next week.

On a happy note, my Dad said yest. "I have a good feeling about this" which makes me feel really happy. He was the first one (besides Josh and I) to think about adoption. Also, I went shopping with my Mom yest. and we happened into Babies R us for outlet covers for our house for our home study and she wanted to pick out a blanket for us to commemorate the begin of our adoption journey. This meant so much to me because I have believed all along, it will happen and having her do that shows me that she now believes too.
GOD please help make all of our dreams for a little one come true.

I can not wait for Josh to become a Daddy, to make my Mom and Dad proud Grandparents, my Grandmother a Great Grandmother again, to make my sister an Aunt again, my Aunt Anne a Great Aunt and of course for me to actually be a Mommy........OMG!!

Please continue to think positive thoughts for us, wish us well and help us pray.
Thank you!