Home Study Visit Complete!

Well, we are super relieved to check that one off our list!  Tonight, we met our social worker for the home study, Ms. J.  She came to our house, getting lost on the way, just as we knew she would.  Everyone who visits us for the first time does! ;)  (We happen to like that 'I'm in the middle of nowhere feel' Ha). 


 She was very kind, friendly, easy to talk to, and didn't even seem to mind that my hair was still wet from the shower.  She's from the north, but I won't hold that against her.  Joking, people!  She and Cuban Daddy totally hit it off, bonding over 'real' New York pizza. ;)  I think after that, we were in!  It was a very easy, much more relaxed visit than I had expected.  It lasted about 1 hr 15 mins.  Included a casual chat (even though she did have a list of topics/questions to go over, and she took notes).  Hard to take things too seriously when you have a 3 year old staring at you (her) across the room with a thing in each hand she wants to show you.  Sweet baby lasted about 20 mins that way & then the social sweetly stopped our convo, called G over and looked at G's baby photo book and Easter craft she made at school, complete with real ooh's and aah's. :)  Meanwhile, K must have driven every truck/car he owns through that living room...yes, his were complete with noises too!  When he saw G show her those things, he raced over to show her his trucks. ;)  We waded through some 'official' adoption talk (Mostly, why we want to adopt, why siblings, why Honduras, and some challenges we may face with institutionalized children, the unknown, and what the rest of this Home Study process will look like), a tiny bit of paperwork, and then the grand tour of the house.  Wow, where was the white glove I was prepared for?  (kidding...kind of).  But she just walked around with us, looked at a couple of safety things, like smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and more I'm sure.  She took notes about rooms, layout, and whatever else.  She didn't even look that I scrubbed behind the toilet, vacuumed the baseboards w/ the little attachment that nearly killed me (There's a reason I let CD do the vacuuming!),  organized the kids' Little People, dusted the window sills, got all the spots off the kitchen floor courtesy of some good ole fashion elbow grease...She didn't open a single closet or cabinet.  And that was okay by me!  It feels SO good to have the house looking great.  I'm going to keep it this way, I'm going to keep it this way, I'm going to keep it this way...


Next step is individual meetings/interviews for Cuban Daddy and me.  They won't be at our house...praise. the. Lord.  Then we have one more meeting together.  They must be spread apart over a few weeks.  I'm thinking one a week would be great.  The faster, the better I think!  BUT...there's some paperwork we have to fill out (shocker, right?)  & some things we have to send off (which means we're waiting on them to get results to us).  So, we can only go so fast.

She ended the night telling us our family was beautiful & the that the kids were smart. (What mom doesn't love to hear that, right?) ;)  (*this was after K shouted to her as she was heading down the stairs & out the door, "Going on adventure?!" ...I'm thinking she's just been on one, buddy!)  


Thank you, everyone for all of your prayers and genuine sweet thoughts today.  Your words of encouragement were just what I needed to make it through today (I've been SCRUBBING floor to ceiling all day, going over what I might need to say, making sure everyone is home and clean and fed on time before she came...).  It really did mean a lot to me to hear from you all.  Thank you! =)  And those prayers definitely, definitely worked!


And it's very possible that I just treated myself to some of the kids' cookies as some sort of reward.  
And this booty?  It's not getting off the sofa tonight!

*** Exciting news!!!  I have pics of the Adoption T-shirts! I'll blog quickly about that and share them in just a few minutes... ***

Going to sleep so well tonight, 

~ 6 in Love ~


What's not to love about these 3?!

The kids' organized playroom (well, part of it...) 

DOUBLE Time!!

2 of us.

2 of them.

2 more of them.

Over $2000 fundraised so far.

Seems only right that all funds raised should be x2 this month!

That's right! If you've been following, you've seen that this month of April, ANY and all donations received will be doubled by an anonymous couple!  All towards our enormous adoption fees!

There's a lot going on right now:

(1) We are finishing organizing & cleaning the house...getting ready for tomorrow night's 1st Home Study/house tour/interview!  It's at 5:00pm...would love some prayers! :)  We are in total crunch time right now.  We just want to be well prepared.

(2) Exactly one WEEK from tonight is our first fundraising night out!  Remember that if you (or any of your friends/family/neighbors) order from Otter's Chicken (Dallas Hwy, W.Cobb Aves.) between 4pm-10pm on Monday, April 9th, 15% of your $/order will go to us! (*And remember, it's really 30% b/c it's doubled!).  We will be there for much of the night, hanging out with you guys & eating.  We'll be there at least from 5-8 pm, possibly longer.  Last reminder about this night: You must say you are with "4xFaithful" or "4xFaithful Adoption"!  Thanks for helping to spread the word so this can be a big night!

(3) On the night of the Otter's Fundraiser, we are planning to wear our new, custom designed Adoption fundraising T-shirts!  They should be in the Friday before.  We'll bring some with us if you show up and decide you want one (Absolutely no pressure to buy though!).  They'll be $20 each.  All proceeds, of course, go to Adoption fees.  I should be getting a photo soon of what they'll look like, and I'll share it when I do.  And, again, reminder that your $20 donation for a shirt will actually be $40 if you get one this month (thanks to the doubling!).

(4) Photo Time!

At first glance, you may think this is a delicious (seriously!) chicken taco.  In fact, it is *love* from a friend.  A quick, yummy meal provided for us on our crunch night before the Home Study!!  Yes, we are spoiled.  And yes, it was delicious.  

K giving a 'thumbs up' and licking any excess off...he cleaned his plate! 

Seriously, these two are SO sweet together.  This was totally their idea, with no input or posing from me.  K climbed up in Sissy's chair & she shared her breakfast with him. 

I mean, do they even really need a Mommy?  

Looks like G has the ice cream taken care of as well! 

...and he wanted to sit in her lap...of course. 

Under a bell...haha... 

We had a super fun day out with my first college roomie & her beautiful, sweet family!  They were in town from NY & we were so excited to spend time with them!

Garden adventures

Not exactly sure what's going on here. 

 I'm thinking a playground all to yourself proves to be BORING. 

Mr. Cool loves his shades now. 

The LOVE bedtime stories with Cuban Daddy! 

Cuban Daddy getting the yard ready for the first Home Study visit. Let me mention that Sat. we had 2 friends come help Cuban Daddy w/ some major garage work, even getting their shiny trucks all dirty. ;)  And on Sun., one of them came back to help with yard work.  On top of that, we got home from meeting my roommate to find 2 people who surprised us by working in our yard all morning. 

 ***And you guys thought I was exaggerating when I said we had amazing friends.  

Clearly, I'm not!!!***

G & K like to look out the window at the neighborhood while they have their snack sometimes. 

I'm thinking this is going to be Cuban Daddy & I about 4:55 pm tomorrow..... :/

Only we won't be snackin'. 

Thank you for the continued prayers, support, thoughtful texts, & helpful surprises!  We'll let you know how tomorrow night goes.

~ 6 in Love ~

1st Home Study...What?!

Wow, so the ball is really rolling now.  

So, yesterday I got an email from our Home Study Agency saying they received our packet of paperwork and they assigned us a caseworker.  So, our social worker just called & I spoke to her for the first time.   She seemed really sweet, professional, yet not too serious.  I cracked a couple of jokes.  Hey, gotta be me, right? ;)  


Turns out, she's coming to meet the family & tour our house this Tuesday!!!  Prayers would be greatly appreciated.  Not just that things would go well, we'd say all the right things (ha), & that our kids wouldn't have meltdowns, but that I can actually get this house looking amazing.  People, we need a miracle here! ;)  No, for real.


Secondly, we want to remind everyone that *our crazy fundraising month* of April is approaching!  First up is our Fundraiser Night at Otter's chicken on Dallas Hwy, Marietta.  Here's their website: www.otterschicken.com


If you're tired of cooking the day after Easter, come on out and join us.  Otter's will give 15% of all sales to US! (***IF you mention that you are with "4xFaithful"***)  Come anytime between 4pm-10pm on Monday, April 9th.  We'd love to see you there! 




 I'm really, really hoping we'll have our custom made Adoption T-shirts by then too!  

You can check my last post for more of our fundraising efforts and ideas. :)

Thanks for your prayers!

~ 6 in Love ~