Home studying

We met again with the social worker Friday evening.  Rob and I currently don't have any more paper work to do! We finished our interview and our large family assessment that night. In the state of Ohio, if you have more than two children, your family is considered large. This was a repeat of our first interview. Questions regarding support systems, our kids' feelings, and other repetitive information. 

For our next visit we need to fill out our questionaires regarding the three books we read. Saturday we go to a culture class downtown. I better have a pumpkin spiced caffeinated beverage in hand to make it from 9am-noon. Three other couples from our agency and our social worker's agency will be attending. It will be neat to meet them and extend our network. 

Our next meeting is a week from this Friday, we will complete our last survey. From my understanding, this will be a child survey regarding in detail what child/children we will consider! Yay! 

I haven't had time over the past week to catch up on crocheting. Bug-a-Boo hasn't been well. He's 90% today and should be back to 100% tomorrow. Now we're stalking Lydia's every move praying she doesn't catch it as her Halloween party is Friday and trick or treat is Saturday evening. Rob has been putting in countless hours cutting and sewing her costume. Can you take a guess what she has requested to be?  

New beginnings.

With little deliberation we've made another big step in The Stokes household. We transferring our memberships to First Christian Church. We finally feel welcome and at home at church again. I can't speak for Rob but I look forward to Sundays again. It's also nice to sit with our family again and see friends from our old church and friends from work and school who have also made a switch or have always been there. I enjoy the services although sometimes I wonder am I at church or at a theatre performance. I don't feel myself counting down the minutes to the sermon being over or doodling to make it through. The kids are super happy and can't wait to see their church friends every week. They are more excited than we are. The Story is so moving and easy to read/understand. I invite you to come check it out for yourself 11am Sunday mornings we sit in the back on the right.  Come say hi or even sit with us!

Another new tonight- in our evening prayers we started praying for our birth mom and dad as well as our baby. It just felt comfortable and "right".  

Now, now don't get all excited. We are still working on our home study. We should have all our paperwork and books read by Friday when the social worker returns. We have not been placed on the wait list and don't even know if our baby is in the works yet. We're just praying that God will guide someone to us. We're praying mom and dad are healthy and happy even though they will be facing uncertain times, questions, concerns and big decisions. We are praying for God's grace and comfort as they or she makes their decisions. We pray she knows that we love her and her choices regardless of what they might be. We pray that she is strong in mind and spirit. Let her know that we support her and care for her even if she changes her mind 100 times. She is loved even though she may or may not feel loved herself. We are with her in spirit. We are praying for her every night that God will lead her to us and let her know that she will always be in our thoughts and prayers. We are thankful for her and her precious gift she is choosing to give us in peace and confidence. 

My heart is happy tonight and I feel at peace. I'm hoping this feeling lasts.  It's something that our new church and God has brought over me. I may not always feel this way by I do now and I'm thankful for each and every second it sticks around.  Happy Sunday everyone. I pray your week is peaceful and content as well.

Staying busy!

Time for an update! We had our second meeting with the social worker last Friday. She interviewed the kids and then Rob and me separately. She asked us questions about our past, family, and discipline beliefs/practices. Nothing too intense. She'll return a week from Friday for some more interviews! So much talking for me to do! Rob on the other hand seems to find this part easy. 

Tomorrow night we have our fire audit so Rob has been running through the house checking and double checking things to make sure everything is complete and where it needs to be. Escape routes are hung by the wall so all can see. The fire extinguisher is in the kitchen away from the stove. There are no open wires or any dangling. There are fifty million fire alarms and carbon monoxide alarms affixed though out the house. Shew! (Just kidding. We've had that all done for months!!) 

We go to see the Dr. to get our paperwork filled out before Friday the 17th. Rob is taking all the animals to the vet a week from Friday to get their shots up to date and copies of their paperwork. Friday he has to head to the Health Dept. to get copies of the kids' birth certificates and go to his Mom's to get his. 

We're reading through the text that was given to us and have to schedule a class with Job and Family Services. 

No much more then we'll be done and put on a waiting list! 

We've been trying to come up with some ways to raise some funds.  Any ideas are welcome! Right now I've been crocheting like a made woman selling scarves, headbands and warmers. If interested check out our website on Facebook: stuff4stokes or our Instagram: @stuff4stokes. We'd appreciate the business!

Or if you don't need any head gear feel free to check out our gofundme site: www.gofundme.com/d067w0 

Have an amazing weekend! (It's a three day one here! Woohoo!!)