Timing and Renovations

Here is some more background information. When Sam and I first started talking about really moving forward with this adoption thing we started planning a timeline. It was important to us that our children have around a 2 year age difference. At that time we were not sure which route we would be taking (international or domestic) so figured we should start the process after Ian's 2nd birthday. Figuring it could take at least a year before a baby was placed with us. Well it turns out that although it still might take a year, the children in Thailand are not "babies" when they are available for adoption. Most children are around 10 months at the time of referral (match up between parents and child) and it could take up to 6 months before the Thai government gives approval to travel. A referral does not happen overnight and that in itself could take anywhere from 6-14 months (Sam and I have decided not to request a certain gender, we didn't decide the first time so why should we this time). All of this basically means that the kids should be at least 1 year apart, but probably not much more than that. I'm okay with that though, I don't think it should make a huge difference because it's not the same as having a 1 year old and a newborn. Y'know?

Anyway - waiting the extra couple of months have given us time to do some home renovations. I know the term "homestudy" is not an actually evaluation of your living space, however, there were so many things I felt needed to be done. With the help of my friend Sara and her incredibly generous family we are now nearly done with Phase 1 (the bedroom/hallway project). In one very long Saturday the bedroom and hallway managed to be striped of wallpaper, primed, painted, and have the carpeting removed. We are still working on hanging the pictures and coat hooks back up. But things look great. As a bonus feature, Sara's parents decided to help us out and redo the bathroom as well (a project I was not willing to tackle until long after everything was done). Brain, Sara's stepdad, practically did the entire bathroom project on his own. Now there is only some painting and wallpaper that needs to come down and we have a great bathroom. It's hard to explain the impact this has made if you've never seen the old bathroom. One day I'll figure out how to post pictures and you can see. Next we are doing the living room/dining room and the final phase will be the kitchen. A brand new house in less than two months! It just makes me feel better knowing when we are evaluated our surrounding will actually represent who we are.