Getting Ready for Home Study Class

On Friday we have our all day home study class. It is from 9:00am to 5:00pm. That is a really long day. I am a little concerned about how Sparky will do sitting still in one room for that long. He is a little hyperactive and requires a lot of movement and space. ;o) Kind of like a kindergartner.
This is going to be a pretty boring post, and is mostly for my own records of the process:
All of our paperwork and documents are due at the home study class (along with a huge chunk of cash).
I finished our paperwork pretty quickly. The things that have taken longer to accomplish are the physicals, TB tests, blood work, letters of recommendation, biography, Dear Birth Mother letter, police records, and background check.
The first Monday over winter break Sparky and I got our fingerprinting done for the background check. I also scheduled my physical during this time since we were out of school. My school corporation just opened a health and wellness clinic for faculty and staff (who are on the school's insurance) to use for free. I really like it! It is so easy to make an appointment on line, there is little waiting, the staff is really friendly, the building is quirky, and the price is right. Since they just opened up they had to order the TB tests special for us. So I had to go back once school started to get that test done.
Sparky is stubborn and didn't want to schedule his appointment during break in case he "wanted to do something" that might conflict with an appointment time. Whatever. So I scheduled his appointment for last Wednesday. It worked out well because that is when I was going back for my TB test.
I arrived and the receptionist asked if I wanted to go back and hold Sparky's hand. Not a good sign.
Sparky has an irrational fear if needles (falling down a cliff into a ravine with a 200lb motorcycle on top of him is no big deal, but a little needle...). I guess the poor nurse came at him with the needle to draw his blood and he about threw up everywhere.
The did the rest of his physical while they waited for him to calm back down and they tried again once I was there. He did a good job. He didn't throw up, pass out, or anything!
I offered to get him ice cream for being so good, but he just wanted to go home and take a nap.
Then we had to go back on Friday to get our TB tests read.
Our letters of recommendation had to be written by friends of both of us, who are not family members. Since we don't really have friends that are couples, where people really hang out with both of us together, this was a little challenging. I had many people who could write for me, and Sparky had a ton of people who could write for him... but who really knows both of us?
I gave the first letter to my friend Katie who I used to teach with. She and her husband have gotten together several times with Sparky and I, so I figured of all the people who know me, she knows Sparky well also.
The second letter we gave to Sparky's old colleague and landlord, Kenny. He has Sparky and other guys over every Monday for Monday night football, has us over each year for his Christmas party, hosts Sparky's parents in one of his empty rental properties when they come to town, and is always willing to go out to eat with us. Not to mention, he knows everyone on earth, so probably knows how to write a good letter.
We gave the final letter to Sparky's friend Jeff. He is the principal of a local school and hangs out with Sparky often. They both like racing motorcycles, so they talk about all sorts of gear-head stuff. He took us with him to a baseball game over the summer, and takes us to the Indy 500 each year. He is a good guy and is a very eloquent speaker, so I am hoping this will transfer well to paper.
Kenny gave us our letter of recommendation the following day. Today is a snow day, perfect day to write a letter for a friend, so I am guessing we will get the other two soon!
Over the weekend I typed all of the biography information and our Dear Birth Mother letter. It was hard to write the Dear Birth Mother letter. We were supposed to address her fears: She is afraid the baby will grow up and hate her for doing an adoption. She is afraid we won't show her in a "good light" to her child. She is afraid our home will not be safe, our marriage stable.
And we were supposed to address her hopes: That our family and friends are eager and accepting of adoption. That our home is safe, our marriage is secure, and our life is stable. That college and vacations are available. That we will keep our promises (pictures, letters, visits, etc.)
It is really hard to communicate all of that information with concrete evidence in less than 3/4 of a typed page.
Fortunatly, only the first draft is due at our meeting! I have it written, but I am not sure if I communicated well enough about how much we will love a baby. I can type it, but the words don't seem to match the feelings. Ink on paper is just so cold.
Now, I just need to bug Sparky to let me type up his responses to the biography questions. And, since we are out of school today, this would be the perfect time to get go to the police station and get those records or whatever done.

Lastly, I need to finish uploading all of the photos to shutterfly so I can share those with the agency as well. It has been difficult to get enough pictures. We generally do things together as a couple. That means unless I am holding the camera out to take a picture of us together, we have pictures of just Sparky or just me. Not many of us together, and not many of us doing anything interesting. To be perfectly honest, I probably wouldn't have any pictures at all if it weren't for this blog. I take most pictures so the blog page will be more interesting. Thank God for that!!!

Well, I better get busy...