Saturday, June 14, 2008

Background Check: Complete

Today's Post is from Jenny:

We called the agency last week and found out that our background check has been processed and there were no problems. We didn't expect the background check to turn up anything, but it's good to know it's done. We originally thought our next step was to do an FBI fingerprint check, but it turns out that only couples who have lived outside of Texas in the last 5 years are required to do one.

Our scrapbook is finally finished! We are very pleased with how it turned out. It includes a biography of Nathan and me, lots of pictures, and letters from each of the grandparents-to-be. The agency isn't ready to receive our scrapbook until after we have completed our home study.

What is a home study you ask; let me tell you. The agency will conduct four separate interviews with us: one with Jenny alone, one with Nathan alone, and two as a couple, one of the couple interviews will take place in our home. During these interviews we will be asked many questions, some of them are state requirements and others are questions the agency asks in order to get to know us better. I'm sure we'll have much more to say about our home study once we've actually done it. The agency we're working with is fairly small and only has 2 or 3 people who do home studies. So, we are now waiting until it's our turn.

Once our home study is complete the agency will begin showing our scrapbook (and several others) to girls who are making an adoption plan. They will look at scrapbooks until they find "the one." At that point the agency calls the couple and tells them that a birth mother is interested in them, gives them a little information about her, and asks them to pray about setting up a meeting. Most meetings are scheduled 4-6 weeks before the birth mother delivers. If all goes well at the meeting then the couple has that time to prepare for the baby.

There is lots of waiting in the process so it may be awhile until our next post. We have complete peace that this is where God is leading us right now and we appreciate your prayers!