Home Study Update

Another email from Cindy today.  She had five additional items from our home study that needed clarification based on comments she had received from AGCI.  One of the clarifications needed was the specific medical issues we could accept in our child.  This was a very hard list to work through.  There were probably 50 different medical conditions listed - ranging from very mild, correctable items to severe conditions.  It's quite sobering to go through a list and make a mental choice that we would accept a child with certain conditions and not a child with certain other conditions.  How do we make that choice?  What about the child that we are saying "no" to?  We continue to trust God that we are moving forward under His leading.  It's quite a thought to start to think of specifics like medical conditions.  These aren't the kind of boxes that we were told to check prior to our biological children being born.

As we contemplated these choices, one of the things we thought about was how will this child fit in to our family of seven?   One of the joys of a large family is having constant excitement and stimulation.  I am looking forward to sharing that joy with our new one.  She will be surrounded with love continuously.

Heather talked to Kiersten (our case worker) at AGCI tonight.  I included a photo of Keirsten tonight only because they are amazing people at AGCI and they need some type of famous recognition - so what better recognition than to be on the "room for more" blog?  Fame is sure to come her way.  After they discussed a number of different items related to our home study, Heather asked Kiersten about our time table.  Our next step is to get the home study approved and then sent to AGCI with our dossier.  Once that happens we "get a number."  The number is the number of people ahead of you waiting for a referral (paired with a child).  Because we are waiting for a "waiting child" (greater than 1 year old), we will be on a different list than most.  Kiersten mentioned that other families who have recently had similar child requests have moved "rather quickly" from dossier to referral.  When asked what "rather quickly" meant, she wasn't too specific, only that things could move "rather quickly."  We were very excited and looking forward even more to the possibility of all this really happening.  It all makes us pause and wonder how we could be selected to have such an honor to welcome one of His fatherless ones into our home.  Wow.