Well... we were contacted by CAS two weeks ago (January 7th) and went on the 14th for our first home study meeting. Cathy was SO nervous!! We met at the Clayton Public Library and our case manager's name is Walt. Walt is the supervisor for all the CAS case workers and he's the one that signs off on their home study reports. Because he's the supervisor, his (our) home study report will be signed off by Jim (co-founder of CAS).
Walt told us that he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of information that we provided in our formal application paperwork. He said that the average couple will submit anywhere from 5-8 pages for their autobiographies, and Steve submitted 22 and Cathy submitted 28. We officially hold the record for the most information provided!! Whoo hoo!!
Because we submitted so much information, Walt contacted Jim and asked him what he should be talking with us about since everything he would have asked us was already answered in our paperwork. As a result, our meeting didn't last the typical two hours, it was actually a little more than one hour. He said he doesn't think our process will take very long and he's anticipating a quick placement for us. He said he'd be surprised if we had to wait longer than June for a baby!! YAY!!
So... we ended up scheduling our next meeting for the 28th. We'll be going back to Clayton to meet with Walt and this time he'll meet with Steve for 45 minutes and then with Cathy for 45 minutes. After that, we'll schedule our home visit where he'll come to our house and do our final meeting.
After the final meeting, Walt will write up his home study report and it'll go before a committee and they'll either approve us or deny us as a waiting family. We'll (hopefully) get a call from Doris (Jim's wife and co-founder of CAS) and we'll take our three Adoptive Family Albums, and our pictures for the website, and our Dear Birthmother letter and we'll give it all to her. At that point we'll be on the waiting list and just wait to be matched with a birth mother!
So when Cathy's dad was here he and Steve built shelves in the FROG. Last weekend we moved books from the plastic shelves that we had onto the new book shelves and the FROG practically doubled in size! We'll be adding items from the spare bedroom this weekend (Cathy's C4 desk) and then that room will be the nursery. We are going to put the crib together this weekend and put it in there.
This week Cathy discovered Craig's List and we actually bought just about everything that we need for our little tadpole! We have a frog theme, and we found "Sir Leapsalot" bedding-- it's super cute. It's a frog prince and princess and it's lavender, yellow, celery, and cream (very gender neutral) and then it came with a cute lamp, a diaper holder thingy, a changing pad, a really pretty picture of the two frogs, and then we also got two valances for the windows.
We also got two strollers-- one for easy trips, and then one that is our travel system, we also got a changing table, a high chair, an exersaucer, some toys, and then the car seat. We're super excited!!
We'll keep you posted on everything as it comes about... until the next posting please keep us in your prayers!!
:)
The Walkers
Walt told us that he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of information that we provided in our formal application paperwork. He said that the average couple will submit anywhere from 5-8 pages for their autobiographies, and Steve submitted 22 and Cathy submitted 28. We officially hold the record for the most information provided!! Whoo hoo!!
Because we submitted so much information, Walt contacted Jim and asked him what he should be talking with us about since everything he would have asked us was already answered in our paperwork. As a result, our meeting didn't last the typical two hours, it was actually a little more than one hour. He said he doesn't think our process will take very long and he's anticipating a quick placement for us. He said he'd be surprised if we had to wait longer than June for a baby!! YAY!!
So... we ended up scheduling our next meeting for the 28th. We'll be going back to Clayton to meet with Walt and this time he'll meet with Steve for 45 minutes and then with Cathy for 45 minutes. After that, we'll schedule our home visit where he'll come to our house and do our final meeting.
After the final meeting, Walt will write up his home study report and it'll go before a committee and they'll either approve us or deny us as a waiting family. We'll (hopefully) get a call from Doris (Jim's wife and co-founder of CAS) and we'll take our three Adoptive Family Albums, and our pictures for the website, and our Dear Birthmother letter and we'll give it all to her. At that point we'll be on the waiting list and just wait to be matched with a birth mother!
So when Cathy's dad was here he and Steve built shelves in the FROG. Last weekend we moved books from the plastic shelves that we had onto the new book shelves and the FROG practically doubled in size! We'll be adding items from the spare bedroom this weekend (Cathy's C4 desk) and then that room will be the nursery. We are going to put the crib together this weekend and put it in there.
This week Cathy discovered Craig's List and we actually bought just about everything that we need for our little tadpole! We have a frog theme, and we found "Sir Leapsalot" bedding-- it's super cute. It's a frog prince and princess and it's lavender, yellow, celery, and cream (very gender neutral) and then it came with a cute lamp, a diaper holder thingy, a changing pad, a really pretty picture of the two frogs, and then we also got two valances for the windows.
We also got two strollers-- one for easy trips, and then one that is our travel system, we also got a changing table, a high chair, an exersaucer, some toys, and then the car seat. We're super excited!!
We'll keep you posted on everything as it comes about... until the next posting please keep us in your prayers!!
:)
The Walkers
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