updates and thoughts

We have one home study visit down and 3 to go.  We went for our home study orientation on June 23rd which counted as our first visit.  Before we can set up our next visit, we have to have all of our required paperwork turned in.  We are probably 50-60% of the way through our paperwork.  After we get all of it completed, we will be assigned a social worker who will do the remaining visits in our home.  We should be able to complete our home study by the end of the summer (but hopefully sooner!).

Our snag has been with Robby's and my physicals.  All of us are required to have physicals and a PPD to check for TB.  We got the kids' knocked out, no problem.  We have had multiple problems with ours.  First off, the doctor's office we had our physicals done has no notary.  Our forms have to be notarized.  We did not know they did not have a notary until my physical was already completed.  So, I go to pick up my form and they are like, "Did you know this had to be notarized?"  "Yes.", I reply.  "Oh, well we don't have a notary here."  "OK..."  So, then they tell me that I will have to bring a notary there to get it notarized.

After Robby had his physical done, we arranged for a friend and church member who is a notary to come and notarize both of our forms.  She was so kind to do this for us with no charge.  We were not able to see the form until after it was notarized and unfortunately, the doctor made some incorrect documentation on Robby's form so we are going to have to make correction to that in some way.  This office seems to be very lacking in the documentation department.  Also, Robby had surgery as a small child so the doctor has to write a separate letter explaining that situation.  The doctor knew that a separate letter was needed for any hx of surgeries.  They had two weeks to prepare it before our notary came and yet they neglected to write it.

This whole process has been going on since June 1st when I went in for my physical.  We thought it would all be over this week when we had our notary go out to get the paper work signed.  We are pretty fed up at this point but there isn't much we can do about it now.  I can't speak for Robby, but once we get all the paper work we need, I will not be going back there again.  If you need a recommendation on who not to go let me know!  If you have any recommendations for me on a good physician who is accepting knew patients please let me know!

The other issue I encountered with my physical, was my blood pressure being extremely high.  I thought it was just 'white coat syndrome' at first but when I began checking it at home, it remained high.  I stopped taking a prescription that I was on that could have been causing it and I am also working on changing my diet.  It has been trending downward since stopping the prescription but still not in the normal range.  I am really hoping to avoid BP meds!  I am also hoping that the blood pressure recorded on my form won't be an issue.

On a different note, we had a really bad storm last week that knocked our power out for 4 days.  The night of the storm, Robby and I had gone to Natural Bridge for dinner and Mom was taking care of our kids.  Mom and the kids had gone to McDonald's and we let the dogs out before we left for Natural Bridge.  When the storm hit, my Dad called my Mom and told her not to drive home.  We got stuck at Natural Bridge.  I spoke to Mom and found out that she and the kids were fine, at McDonald's waiting out the storm.  Then, all I could think about was my dogs.  I just knew that we would find them dead when we got home.  I was worried sick and knew I would never forgive myself if they were hurt.

I think we all had a guardian angel that night, including my dogs.  When my Mom arrived at our house, she went out to the back to find the dogs under the deck unharmed.  There were trees down everywhere and yet none of our trees had fallen.  Praise God that all of us were in a safe place during the storm.  I'm so glad the dogs knew to go under the deck.  The deck has lattice all around it so it must have provided protection for them.

With the power being out, it made me think of the people in our world who live like that every day and how silly we are to complain about a few days without power.  People who live without power and don't even have clean water to drink or have to walk for miles to get it.  They may have to dig through the garbage to find food for their family.  Our family is fortunate that even without power, we have running water.  We were fortunate that even though we lost a lot of food in our fridge and freezer, we could go to a restaurant and buy food for our family.  In a way, it was nice.  It was simple. We did laundry in our bath tub and it was kinda fun.  We slept with the windows open.  It was quiet.  We didn't have electronics to drown out our thoughts.  Neighbors came together to help each other. We had our needs met.  We had each other.

Tonight, I am thinking about the little boy who will one day be a part of our family.  I don't know if his orphanage has power but I can bet they don't have AC (and we all know Africa is not a very cold place).  He may not have his needs met.  He may not get to eat every day.  He may not have clean water to drink.  He may not have someone to rock him to sleep or kiss his boo-boos.  He may not know that there is a God who loves him so much.  My heart aches for him.  I long for the day when he will be home.