Surviving (and Enjoying) Our Homestudy!

Well, it is Sunday night and I am happy to report that all went well with the Home Study this afternoon. Phew! I must admit that as the time drew closer I started to get a little nervous about it. I think it was just that I didn't really know what to expect.

As soon as I met our social worker, though, I was put at ease and knew that the meeting would be just fine. She is so nice and has adopted from Korea herself! She asked us a few questions about how we ended up pursuing adoption, how we decided on their agency etc., and then shared with us about the process, what to expect, time frames and things like that. She talked to us a lot about the "training" we will need to do - reading books and articles, an online training session, and workshops. Now for those of you who know me, you will know that I am very excited about the reading part. And for those of you who know Brad...well, you will know that he is more excited about the online class! I have just ordered a couple of books and a subscription to "Adoptive Families" magazine. I can't wait for them to come in the mail! The book on the right, "I Wish For You a Beautiful Life" is a compilation of letters from Korean birth mothers to their children. That is going to be a difficult book to read I think. I am already praying for the mother who will give birth to our child, because I'm sure the next few years are going to be very hard for her.

Another book we are going to read is called "The Seed from the East" and I believe it is written by the couple who began adoptions from South Korea. I am excited to learn about the history of adoptions from Korea.

The social worker also took a look around the house (which was not nearly as intensive as I feared!), and that was it!

We are having our next meeting on July 22nd, which happens to be the night before we leave for Seattle. Yikes! I think I am going to be stressed out. Or maybe if I have everything packed it won't be too bad. We'll see I guess! After meeting with our social worker that night we are also going to a meeting for waiting families (all the families working with our agency who are in the process of adopting internationally.) It will be so good to have this support during the looooooonnnnnnngggg wait! We have a long road ahead, but at least we are officially on the road at last!

On Our Way to a Homestudy!

We got the call this week - our first meeting for our homestudy will be this Sunday at 2pm! Our social worker said they normally do the home visit at the end, but she will be in our area that day anyway so wondered if it would be okay if we did it first. There will be some major cleaning going on at the Hunt household tonight and tomorrow morning! I feel like I should be more nervous - I really just feel excited to be starting after such a long wait. I know that lots more waiting is looming in the future, but for now it is nice to be doing something.

Tomorrow we are going to a wedding in the afternoon and then Brad's family is coming over for a bbq in the evening to celebrate Brad's birthday. I am looking forward to a fun weekend!

On another note, my Mom, Dad, and sister Sarah are heading to England today for 2 weeks, and they will then be heading to France for a week. Yes, I am jealous! Please pray for them as they travel. Thanks!

Happy Birthday to my Brad!

Happy Birthday, my dear husband! It is hard to believe you are 29 already!

I love you so much and I hope you have the best year so far :)

The Story of Daisie...

Disclaimer: Sorry this post is so long but I just couldn't pick between the cute pictures!!!

On Saturday, we made our long journey to pick up Daisie (5 hours one way!). Yes, we went almost all the way to West Virginia. Crazy, you may say! But one look at that little face and it was all worth it :)

Instant love!

It was so good to have Brad's mom with us.

Some things we quickly learned about our Daisie...

She loves to sleep! She slept all the way home!

Most of the time she sleeps with her tongue sticking out!

She loves her new toys...

Loves to chew...

Loves sticks...

Hates baths...

Loves to lay in the sun...

Gets along really well with other dogs...

Did I mention loves to sleep????

Loves to have her belly rubbed...

Yep, she's pretty much the cutest thing ever!

Bringing a smile to my face...

It's been a crummy week, but there are a lot of things bringing smiles to my face. We have wonderful friends and family who have been so sweet to us this week. Thanks to everyone who has hugged me and not thought I was crazy for being so sad about Sadie!

And then, there is a puppy who has won our hearts....


We are going to get her tomorrow! The house just seems too empty, and we are total suckers for basset hounds. Look at those ears!!!! I can't wait to hold her! She is 9 weeks old tomorrow so we are in for lots of fun with house training and puppy energy again...but looking forward to it all!

We don't have a name yet, but I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post next week once we have her home, and hopefully a name to go with the pictures!

Sad News

Last night after our happy phone call, we got a very sad phone call. Our sweet dog, Sadie, had lymphoma, and we had to have her put to sleep. We are very sad and miss her a lot already.