Home Study

So...today was the day, and after many hours of organizing, cleaning, and baby-proofing, the home study was more-or-less uneventful. For the first hour, we spoke with the case worker and answered most of the same questions we had already answered in our 36-page packets. Then, for the walk through, she was really only interested in a few things:

1. Do they have a pool?
2. Do they keep alcohol in the house?
3. Are cleaning supplies on a high shelf and/or locked in a cabinet?
4. Is all medicine stored out of reach of children?
5. Do they have a room for a child?

As my husband had predicted, they didn't care about outlet covers, loose cords, our brand new smoke/carbon monoxide detector, paint cans stored on a high shelf, our lack of a baby gate, lack of a fire screen, or any of the meticulous cleaning we had done. Nonetheless, I'm glad that we got it all done, and we're both glad that our house is squeaky clean and well organized. In case anyone is ever wondering..."I wonder what other houses look like for their home study..." Here are some photos of our house (although I am the first to tell you that this if OVERKILL)

Here's our new TV set-up with computer armoires for computer security with kids in the house:

My favorite room:

Our clean kitchen with no knives on the counter and cabinets locked with rubber bands, although we were told that is not sufficient, so now we're on the hunt for effective and non-annoying cabinet locks. Suggestions appreciated.

Hall bath:

Outlet covers...however unnecessary they may have been.

 Dining room...

OK, now this one we needed. This was on the door to our sewing/recording/shredding/paint storage room...what a hodge podge!

Our newly organized room and the ajoining recording closet!! We're so proud that this is finally organized (although it may not appear so to you guys).

The room that will be the nursery.

The closet we cleared in said room to prove that we had space for a child's stuff.

The adjoining closet that we needed to reorganize in order to empty the above closet.

Had you seen the before photos, this would be much more exciting. Man, we should have taken before photos...

Here's the room that will be the guest room when we sell the drum set, stools,and vaccuum, and when we move the garage shelves down to the garage.

Another reorganized closet...

Speaking of the garage, we didn't even try. It needs some work.

And then there was our room, which all too often gets the shaft on cleaning days.

And why not throw in one more closet! This is our front hall closet. You know...the one we would never let you open because it was a certain avalanche. This was probably our 2nd most exciting moment of the weekend.

So the news after today is that our case worker will take this week to write up our evaluation. We have several things to fill out and have notarized, a few photos to send in, some autobiographies to write, medical exams, 3 reference forms to have filled out, and a water bill to acquire. Oh...one more thing...after the case worker left, we went to pick up our nursery furniture from one of my husband's coworkers. Once we have that set-up, we just have to send a photo of the room to the caseworker to complete the home study.
After that, as far as we know, we're finished, and she would like for us to do that before training NEXT WEEKEND. I'm going to make a prediction that that will not happen. IF it does, she said to give about 2 weeks for the state to review and approve the paperwork. Then, we would start playing the waiting game until our first placement. There is sooo much to do before we are ready for that (as you can see from the photos), so we're just going to keep putting one foot in front of the other until we arrive at our destination. I just wanted to make sure I passed along the update.

Now...quickly...all of you...come over and have dinner with us before our house gets dirty again!!!