Thursday, February 25, 2010
We are at the end of the pre-service process and Jack and I just signed our Foster and Adoptive Parent Agreement. CK told us today that we should be certified tomorrow. As many of you know we have been working on our Family Book. I have attached a link so you can see it.
http://jacknelson.net/CK%20Family%20Book.pdf (6MB)
Thank you to everyone that helped. Enjoy!
A Family Tradition - Chance and Courtney's Crib
Saturday, February 13, 2010
I made a quick trip to Houston this past week to pick up a crib from Christi. Chance and Courtney both slept in this bed when they were babies. I was so very touched when Christi told me that she saved it for me. I jumped at the opportunity to use it for our children.
My drive back from Houston was quite interesting. The drive was a bit longer than usual, because you typically don't see that much snow in Texas. It was certainly different scenery.
With the Snow Day yesterday, Jack and I cleaned up the crib with Murphy Oil Soap, (it has been in the attic for over 10 years) oiled it down and then buffed it dry. It now looks brand new. We rearranged the bedroom to make access to the crib easy and bought a new mattress and all the necessary accessories. The pictures don't do it justice. Hopefully everyone can visit soon and see how fabulous it looks.
If you read an earlier blog from Jack, you know he washed the new curtains for one of the rooms per the instructions on them. After ironing the wrinkles out, it was apparent we needed to return them since they shrunk over 4 inches. I will pick up new curtains on Wednesday.
Our next project is to create the Family Book. Jack eluded to this in his last blog. We have lots of family helping us out on this project and I hope to complete it this week. I'll post it on the blog so all can see. With the home study behind us the next step will be that our file will be audited to make sure that the agency has all of our necessary paperwork. We will then meet with Covenant Kids to receive our license and sign necessary paperwork. Immediately after that, we will be entered into the official database. All of this should happen within the next two weeks. Once in the State of Texas database, we immediately become eligible for foster care, respite care or adoption.
Till next time,
Melinda
I made a quick trip to Houston this past week to pick up a crib from Christi. Chance and Courtney both slept in this bed when they were babies. I was so very touched when Christi told me that she saved it for me. I jumped at the opportunity to use it for our children.
My drive back from Houston was quite interesting. The drive was a bit longer than usual, because you typically don't see that much snow in Texas. It was certainly different scenery.
With the Snow Day yesterday, Jack and I cleaned up the crib with Murphy Oil Soap, (it has been in the attic for over 10 years) oiled it down and then buffed it dry. It now looks brand new. We rearranged the bedroom to make access to the crib easy and bought a new mattress and all the necessary accessories. The pictures don't do it justice. Hopefully everyone can visit soon and see how fabulous it looks.
Our next project is to create the Family Book. Jack eluded to this in his last blog. We have lots of family helping us out on this project and I hope to complete it this week. I'll post it on the blog so all can see. With the home study behind us the next step will be that our file will be audited to make sure that the agency has all of our necessary paperwork. We will then meet with Covenant Kids to receive our license and sign necessary paperwork. Immediately after that, we will be entered into the official database. All of this should happen within the next two weeks. Once in the State of Texas database, we immediately become eligible for foster care, respite care or adoption.
Till next time,
Melinda
Surviving the 7-Hour "Home Study"
Friday, February 12, 2010
After a bit of discussion between the two of us, Melinda and I have decided NOT to publish the specific questions asked, but rather discuss things in generalities. We want to respect the integrity of the process and appreciate the sensitivity that our Home Study Interviewer, Corrine, displayed throughout the process.
We felt that Corrine did a great job of making us feel comfortable, thus creating a very open and safe environment to answer the tough questions (including a few things we had never much thought about before) and keeping the interview moving along. We discussed this morning that people like Corrine must like autobiographies and must have inquisitive minds like a good news reporter (think “Barbara Walters”).
Clearly she had not only read every word of what we had answered in the volumes of information that we had submitted, she also keyed into the specific life-changing events where individually Melinda and I had experienced trauma, pain, separation, etc. If you know either of us, I am sure you can figure out our big events. While displaying a great deal of empathy and tact in the questioning, she probed hard into those areas and we surmise the goal was never to find out what was “wrong” as much as it was, “how did you deal with it” and more importantly, “have you resolved the issues” and “are you now whole again.” She never point-blank asked that, but that seemed to be the line of questioning.
Other areas that were interesting included past childhood discipline; affection shown in the house between our parents and toward us; discipline that we used with my kids; personal childhoods; what “social and economic class” we perceived ourselves while growing up; EVERYTHING about how Melinda and I met, dated, fell in love, our engagement, up to the marriage and more!
We accepted that she had to ask questions about when and how we found out about “the birds and the bees” (although with more direct language) and how and when Alex and Erich were introduced to the concepts. While were asked about other “significant personal” relationships, there was nothing that seemed lurid in the questioning.
We were prepared for most, but not all of the questions of the type of child(ren) we were willing and interested in being placed with us including race, ages and numbers of kids and their religious beliefs. We discussed in detail possible major physical, medical and psychological make-up of these kids and what would best fit for us. We had three choices, “yes,” “no” or “case-by-case basis” (which is what we usually agreed to). Topics included ADHD, autism, mental retardation, depression, suicidal, reactive detachment disorder (RAD), self-abusive, feeding tubes, wheel chairs, HOMICIDAL (which we ruled out quickly), plus much more. Melinda and I agree that we are mature enough to handle kids with “issues.” We don’t expect a “perfect” child(ren) – that just does not exist – rather we want a child(ren) that we can love and are capable of eventually loving us back.
For those planning to go through this process, be prepared to name every surgery or major illness you ever had including years and recovery from those events. Also, you need to know every single move your family made, what year it was and WHY you moved. I had moved a lot, so it took a while. Melinda has not moved as much.
This whole process took a while. Corrine arrived at 2:45 and interviewed Melinda by herself until 4:15. I got home at 4:05, changed clothes (due to some of the slush of record snowfall – 12 inches!) and had to wait only a few minutes until I got to come in. We then got most of our “group” interviewing questions out of the way. That lasted until roughly 6:00. Then Melinda went into the bedroom and watched two “Law and Order” shows on the DVR and I finished my section about 7:45. Melinda was called back in and we did a little more questioning plus the whole home inspection. We finished everything up and signed the paperwork for the inspection at 9:30 – almost seven hours later. Of course, we passed the inspections. It was only then that we got to eat. We were starving, especially Melinda who hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We were in bed by 10:30 and crashed until this morning.
We feel like we conveyed what we want to. We covered “Team Nelson” and what that meant to us. I think she saw a 50/50 relationship with lots of love between us and the desire to have one or two more kids to love. We felt very satisfied with the process. Thank you Corrine and Covenant Kids!
After a bit of discussion between the two of us, Melinda and I have decided NOT to publish the specific questions asked, but rather discuss things in generalities. We want to respect the integrity of the process and appreciate the sensitivity that our Home Study Interviewer, Corrine, displayed throughout the process.
We felt that Corrine did a great job of making us feel comfortable, thus creating a very open and safe environment to answer the tough questions (including a few things we had never much thought about before) and keeping the interview moving along. We discussed this morning that people like Corrine must like autobiographies and must have inquisitive minds like a good news reporter (think “Barbara Walters”).
Clearly she had not only read every word of what we had answered in the volumes of information that we had submitted, she also keyed into the specific life-changing events where individually Melinda and I had experienced trauma, pain, separation, etc. If you know either of us, I am sure you can figure out our big events. While displaying a great deal of empathy and tact in the questioning, she probed hard into those areas and we surmise the goal was never to find out what was “wrong” as much as it was, “how did you deal with it” and more importantly, “have you resolved the issues” and “are you now whole again.” She never point-blank asked that, but that seemed to be the line of questioning.
Other areas that were interesting included past childhood discipline; affection shown in the house between our parents and toward us; discipline that we used with my kids; personal childhoods; what “social and economic class” we perceived ourselves while growing up; EVERYTHING about how Melinda and I met, dated, fell in love, our engagement, up to the marriage and more!
We accepted that she had to ask questions about when and how we found out about “the birds and the bees” (although with more direct language) and how and when Alex and Erich were introduced to the concepts. While were asked about other “significant personal” relationships, there was nothing that seemed lurid in the questioning.
We were prepared for most, but not all of the questions of the type of child(ren) we were willing and interested in being placed with us including race, ages and numbers of kids and their religious beliefs. We discussed in detail possible major physical, medical and psychological make-up of these kids and what would best fit for us. We had three choices, “yes,” “no” or “case-by-case basis” (which is what we usually agreed to). Topics included ADHD, autism, mental retardation, depression, suicidal, reactive detachment disorder (RAD), self-abusive, feeding tubes, wheel chairs, HOMICIDAL (which we ruled out quickly), plus much more. Melinda and I agree that we are mature enough to handle kids with “issues.” We don’t expect a “perfect” child(ren) – that just does not exist – rather we want a child(ren) that we can love and are capable of eventually loving us back.
For those planning to go through this process, be prepared to name every surgery or major illness you ever had including years and recovery from those events. Also, you need to know every single move your family made, what year it was and WHY you moved. I had moved a lot, so it took a while. Melinda has not moved as much.
This whole process took a while. Corrine arrived at 2:45 and interviewed Melinda by herself until 4:15. I got home at 4:05, changed clothes (due to some of the slush of record snowfall – 12 inches!) and had to wait only a few minutes until I got to come in. We then got most of our “group” interviewing questions out of the way. That lasted until roughly 6:00. Then Melinda went into the bedroom and watched two “Law and Order” shows on the DVR and I finished my section about 7:45. Melinda was called back in and we did a little more questioning plus the whole home inspection. We finished everything up and signed the paperwork for the inspection at 9:30 – almost seven hours later. Of course, we passed the inspections. It was only then that we got to eat. We were starving, especially Melinda who hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We were in bed by 10:30 and crashed until this morning.
We feel like we conveyed what we want to. We covered “Team Nelson” and what that meant to us. I think she saw a 50/50 relationship with lots of love between us and the desire to have one or two more kids to love. We felt very satisfied with the process. Thank you Corrine and Covenant Kids!
Almost Twins / Home Study Happening TODAY!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Tuesday afternoon was VERY interesting for Team Nelson!
Covenant Kids (CK) Development Director, Travis, sent out an urgent e-mail calling for respite help for twins whose foster mother was ill with the flu. Respite care is something I have not explained in prior blogs, but it affects us as foster parents.
According to Covenant Kids, “Respite/Alternative Care is a scheduled time for foster children to receive care by a trained caregiver for the purpose of rest and relaxation for the foster parent and foster child.”
Respite care cannot be weekly scheduled times, but is really for occasional use only and normally must be scheduled two weeks in advance. Of course, emergencies like this sometimes arise. One of the six-month-old twins was on oxygen and their health was a concern. Responsibilities for respite are basically the same as foster care other than the fact that it is usually only for a few days at the most.
We were being processed to take them (Melinda literally turned around while driving so she could get home to receive them) and almost had the opportunity to enjoy them for a few days, but at the last second a caregiver that had worked with them before stepped up and helped.
While it was a rollercoaster of emotions for a few hours, it gave us a glimpse of what we imagine might be how we get our first Foster Care child(ren). There was a flurry of back and forth e-mails, text messages and phone calls. Decisions needed to be made rapidly and from everything we have heard from CK and others, that is what emergency placement will be like.
We were a bit behind because we still had a few outstanding issues left to resolve (although Covenant Kids was jumping through hoops to get us certified for respite even with these shortcomings).
Here is what we needed:
Another note was that we realized that we must get the car seats. We have been avoiding this because it really does make a difference how old the child(ren) are when we get them. After checking out more than 100 models of car seats over the last month, we determined that we don't particularly care for the birth to 12-year-old, multi-everything options (although they certainly exists in abundance). We wanted to buy for the exact age when we get the kid(s). CK suggested we might be able to use the foster parent's car seats for the short haul, but it made us keenly aware that it was not the ideal situation. We are re-thinking our strategy.
Also yesterday, we got in the curtains for the kids’ rooms and I hung them up. They need a bit of work because they came straight out of the package. The tag on them said they are machine washable on gentle cycle on warm (although I didn’t trust warm water – only cold) and it said machine tumble dry on low. The tag lied! Fortunately, I only washed and dried one pair. They are now three inches too short. They also need ironing. HOWEVER, once they are ironed (after we survive the Home Study) and I move down the rod, it should look great. The other pair we may choose just to iron. Melinda knew I was washing them, but does not know they shrunk (I discovered it late last night while re-hanging them), so if you read this don’t tell her…yet.
The reason she does not know is because Wednesday she left early, headed to Nacogdoches and picked up her high school and college transcripts. This is the last of the paperwork we need. She had requested them a while back, but they just could not seem to get them to her. Unfortunately, she missed seeing her mother, Elaine, while there.
She then traveled from Nacogdoches to her sister Christi’s house near Houston to pick up a great crib that Melinda’s nephew and niece used and Christi had saved for Melinda.
Melinda also got a photo with the Rickel family holding a giant letter “O.” It is a surprise what we are doing with it. As a small hint, Alex is making a giant “A” that he and Leigh Anne will use and Erich and Michelle are making a giant “E.” We have plans for many other letters to be made very, very soon thanks to supportive family and friends.
Muhahaha ....What will the creative Team Nelson come up with? Stay tuned for more!
I have to stop writing now and clean up the part of the house that I messed up last night. Melinda should be back around 1:00 PM to do any final tweaking, but everything looks pretty good since she cleaned it all and took video of everything yesterday. We will be posting that sometime soon on this site.
We hope to have a great blog for tomorrow morning. This Home Study starts at 4:00 PM and should last until 8:00 or 9:00 tonight. I am sure we will be mentally exhausted afterwards.
Keep us in your prayers, keep your fingers crossed or at least send us good Karmic vibes for this evening.
Go Team Nelson tonight!
Tuesday afternoon was VERY interesting for Team Nelson!
Covenant Kids (CK) Development Director, Travis, sent out an urgent e-mail calling for respite help for twins whose foster mother was ill with the flu. Respite care is something I have not explained in prior blogs, but it affects us as foster parents.
According to Covenant Kids, “Respite/Alternative Care is a scheduled time for foster children to receive care by a trained caregiver for the purpose of rest and relaxation for the foster parent and foster child.”
Respite care cannot be weekly scheduled times, but is really for occasional use only and normally must be scheduled two weeks in advance. Of course, emergencies like this sometimes arise. One of the six-month-old twins was on oxygen and their health was a concern. Responsibilities for respite are basically the same as foster care other than the fact that it is usually only for a few days at the most.
We were being processed to take them (Melinda literally turned around while driving so she could get home to receive them) and almost had the opportunity to enjoy them for a few days, but at the last second a caregiver that had worked with them before stepped up and helped.
While it was a rollercoaster of emotions for a few hours, it gave us a glimpse of what we imagine might be how we get our first Foster Care child(ren). There was a flurry of back and forth e-mails, text messages and phone calls. Decisions needed to be made rapidly and from everything we have heard from CK and others, that is what emergency placement will be like.
We were a bit behind because we still had a few outstanding issues left to resolve (although Covenant Kids was jumping through hoops to get us certified for respite even with these shortcomings).
Here is what we needed:
- Proof of insurance on the house (which I had JUST received a copy of earlier that day and CK now has)
- TB test results (which Melinda had just received, scanned and send in)
- “Respite Home” forms filled out (which Travis sent us promptly and we scanned and sent back)
- A home visit (we only needed a quick home visit, but today we are doing the big HOME STUDY that will more than suffice! Travis was even willing to drive out himself to help make this happen)
Another note was that we realized that we must get the car seats. We have been avoiding this because it really does make a difference how old the child(ren) are when we get them. After checking out more than 100 models of car seats over the last month, we determined that we don't particularly care for the birth to 12-year-old, multi-everything options (although they certainly exists in abundance). We wanted to buy for the exact age when we get the kid(s). CK suggested we might be able to use the foster parent's car seats for the short haul, but it made us keenly aware that it was not the ideal situation. We are re-thinking our strategy.
Also yesterday, we got in the curtains for the kids’ rooms and I hung them up. They need a bit of work because they came straight out of the package. The tag on them said they are machine washable on gentle cycle on warm (although I didn’t trust warm water – only cold) and it said machine tumble dry on low. The tag lied! Fortunately, I only washed and dried one pair. They are now three inches too short. They also need ironing. HOWEVER, once they are ironed (after we survive the Home Study) and I move down the rod, it should look great. The other pair we may choose just to iron. Melinda knew I was washing them, but does not know they shrunk (I discovered it late last night while re-hanging them), so if you read this don’t tell her…yet.
The reason she does not know is because Wednesday she left early, headed to Nacogdoches and picked up her high school and college transcripts. This is the last of the paperwork we need. She had requested them a while back, but they just could not seem to get them to her. Unfortunately, she missed seeing her mother, Elaine, while there.
She then traveled from Nacogdoches to her sister Christi’s house near Houston to pick up a great crib that Melinda’s nephew and niece used and Christi had saved for Melinda.
Melinda also got a photo with the Rickel family holding a giant letter “O.” It is a surprise what we are doing with it. As a small hint, Alex is making a giant “A” that he and Leigh Anne will use and Erich and Michelle are making a giant “E.” We have plans for many other letters to be made very, very soon thanks to supportive family and friends.
Muhahaha ....What will the creative Team Nelson come up with? Stay tuned for more!
I have to stop writing now and clean up the part of the house that I messed up last night. Melinda should be back around 1:00 PM to do any final tweaking, but everything looks pretty good since she cleaned it all and took video of everything yesterday. We will be posting that sometime soon on this site.
We hope to have a great blog for tomorrow morning. This Home Study starts at 4:00 PM and should last until 8:00 or 9:00 tonight. I am sure we will be mentally exhausted afterwards.
Keep us in your prayers, keep your fingers crossed or at least send us good Karmic vibes for this evening.
Go Team Nelson tonight!
Saturday and Sunday Cleaning and Reading
Monday, February 8, 2010
Both Melinda and I finished off our second books and wrote our book reports that we have to turn in. Both were good books and listed several times in this blog.
From 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM on Saturday I (Jack) was at school working with our robotics teams. We had about 30 students who where there most of the day. In two weeks we have a big competition and this coming Saturday is three-day weekend for the students (district staff training) -- so we could not do practice then. While I was at school, Melinda (when not buying and delivering our pizza and snacks) was busy cleaning the house. Among many other things, she cleaned the two wall-mounted lights (that look like mini-chandeliers) that we have in the living room. It looked amazing afterwards. When I noticed the lights on Sunday, it set off a five-hour long diversion from our sacred "to-do" list as we decided to clean EVERY ceiling-hung light and fixture in the whole house -- including disassembling, cleaning and reassembling the 300+ piece living room chandelier! That alone took three hours. It looks brand new now and fixtures throughout the house that we thought were one color turned a completely different shade after a good soap and water scrubbing and polishing. We had just not done a thorough cleaning since we moved in last September.
Also on Saturday and Sunday we:
At the end of a long day Sunday, we took time out to grill burgers and chicken plus watch the Super Bowl. It was only after the Super Bowl that we got to finish our reading.
Today Melinda exchanges the curtain rod, gets more cabinet locks, scans all the last of the paperwork (including the insurance paperwork we just received via fax) and e-mails it to Covenant Kids.
Tonight we hang the last rod, install the last locks, put up a very few things up in the attic.
Tomorrow I put in all the rest of my grades for school for our three-week progress report that goes out Thursday. Melinda will do any last minute cleaning tomorrow since Wednesday she goes to her sister's to get her crib and won't return until right before the Home Study!
So close to being State-certified foster and adoptive parents!
Both Melinda and I finished off our second books and wrote our book reports that we have to turn in. Both were good books and listed several times in this blog.
From 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM on Saturday I (Jack) was at school working with our robotics teams. We had about 30 students who where there most of the day. In two weeks we have a big competition and this coming Saturday is three-day weekend for the students (district staff training) -- so we could not do practice then. While I was at school, Melinda (when not buying and delivering our pizza and snacks) was busy cleaning the house. Among many other things, she cleaned the two wall-mounted lights (that look like mini-chandeliers) that we have in the living room. It looked amazing afterwards. When I noticed the lights on Sunday, it set off a five-hour long diversion from our sacred "to-do" list as we decided to clean EVERY ceiling-hung light and fixture in the whole house -- including disassembling, cleaning and reassembling the 300+ piece living room chandelier! That alone took three hours. It looks brand new now and fixtures throughout the house that we thought were one color turned a completely different shade after a good soap and water scrubbing and polishing. We had just not done a thorough cleaning since we moved in last September.
Also on Saturday and Sunday we:
- Loaded all the songs and audio books from early Saturday onto an iPod and put a stereo with iPod dock in the Nelson Playroom
- Put locks on 90% of the cabinets that needed them (ran out and have to get more today)
- Took down the old drapes and sheers in both kids rooms, reset the sheers on new rods and installed one of the two rods for the new curtains (due to arrive Wednesday) -- the other rod was too short
- Hung pictures and small shelves
- Put up the few blinds that we got for super-cheap on Friday
- Did our "Consequences" and "Rewards" statements for Covenant Kids (my original submission was evidently not specific enough)
At the end of a long day Sunday, we took time out to grill burgers and chicken plus watch the Super Bowl. It was only after the Super Bowl that we got to finish our reading.
Today Melinda exchanges the curtain rod, gets more cabinet locks, scans all the last of the paperwork (including the insurance paperwork we just received via fax) and e-mails it to Covenant Kids.
Tonight we hang the last rod, install the last locks, put up a very few things up in the attic.
Tomorrow I put in all the rest of my grades for school for our three-week progress report that goes out Thursday. Melinda will do any last minute cleaning tomorrow since Wednesday she goes to her sister's to get her crib and won't return until right before the Home Study!
So close to being State-certified foster and adoptive parents!
Home Study Scheduled / Fun Audio Books and Music
Saturday, February 6, 2010
On Friday Melinda turned in almost every last piece of paperwork that was needed. We are waiting for Criminal Background Check forms returned from three family members, our high school and college transcripts and one form from our insurance company. Melinda and I need to finish off our books and do our book reports, but that should be it!
Also yesterday, we used a gift card from a returned Christmas gift to get new curtains for both kids rooms plus curtain rods (and we STILL had $9.58 left on the card due to a massive sale on curtains). We also bought a Mrs. Potato Head to keep Mr. Potato Head company and got a fun floor lamp. We originally wanted overhead canned lights for the playroom, but the quotes came back too high. With the unplanned cost of the landscaping (we were going to wait until late Spring, but it was such an incredible price now) and the creeping costs of all the thousands of little safety things, we decided to cut lights and this was our compromise. It is not as much light, but it is still very cool. We love it.
Next Wednesday Melinda will drive down to Houston to pick up the baby crib from Christi. She will need to leave early Thursday so she can polish up anything that needs last minute touch-ups for the 4:00 PM Home Study!
In case you are new to the blog, it is Home Study that we have been preparing for over these last several months and it is finally here! Getting the home study scheduled basically means you are done with all the preparatory paperwork (which is immense). The Home Study is scheduled for 4 to 6 hours Thursday. They talk with us together and separately and re-inspect our entire house, covering everything that the Health Inspector and Fire Marshals have covered, plus much more.
We have talked with every adoptive / foster family that we know and asked them what all their Home Study covered. Every one of them was different. Of course, there are the questions that we already expect, but there seems to always be curve balls. It appears that most agencies (like Covenant Kids) keep these questions a closely guarded secret.
Today we also picked some audio books and music. I had a bunch of credits I had been saving from Audible.com (a site that I subscribe to for "New York Times" highlights each morning).
For the youngest children, we got an hour long narration of "The Best Known and Loved Mother Goose: A Collection of Favorite Mother Goose Rhymes Set to Music"
For slightly older, over 3 hours of Dr. Seuss!
Plenty of books and music to fill our fun days ahead!
On Friday Melinda turned in almost every last piece of paperwork that was needed. We are waiting for Criminal Background Check forms returned from three family members, our high school and college transcripts and one form from our insurance company. Melinda and I need to finish off our books and do our book reports, but that should be it!
Also yesterday, we used a gift card from a returned Christmas gift to get new curtains for both kids rooms plus curtain rods (and we STILL had $9.58 left on the card due to a massive sale on curtains). We also bought a Mrs. Potato Head to keep Mr. Potato Head company and got a fun floor lamp. We originally wanted overhead canned lights for the playroom, but the quotes came back too high. With the unplanned cost of the landscaping (we were going to wait until late Spring, but it was such an incredible price now) and the creeping costs of all the thousands of little safety things, we decided to cut lights and this was our compromise. It is not as much light, but it is still very cool. We love it.
Next Wednesday Melinda will drive down to Houston to pick up the baby crib from Christi. She will need to leave early Thursday so she can polish up anything that needs last minute touch-ups for the 4:00 PM Home Study!
In case you are new to the blog, it is Home Study that we have been preparing for over these last several months and it is finally here! Getting the home study scheduled basically means you are done with all the preparatory paperwork (which is immense). The Home Study is scheduled for 4 to 6 hours Thursday. They talk with us together and separately and re-inspect our entire house, covering everything that the Health Inspector and Fire Marshals have covered, plus much more.
We have talked with every adoptive / foster family that we know and asked them what all their Home Study covered. Every one of them was different. Of course, there are the questions that we already expect, but there seems to always be curve balls. It appears that most agencies (like Covenant Kids) keep these questions a closely guarded secret.
Today we also picked some audio books and music. I had a bunch of credits I had been saving from Audible.com (a site that I subscribe to for "New York Times" highlights each morning).
For the youngest children, we got an hour long narration of "The Best Known and Loved Mother Goose: A Collection of Favorite Mother Goose Rhymes Set to Music"
For slightly older, over 3 hours of Dr. Seuss!
- "Green Eggs and Ham" read by Jason Alexander
- "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" read by David Hyde Pierce
- "Oh the Thinks You Can Think!" read by Michael McKean
- "I'm Not Going to Get Up Today" read by Jason Alexander
- "Oh Say Can You Say?" read by Michael McKean
- "Fox in Socks" read by David Hyde Pierce
- "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut" read by Michael McKean
- "Hop on Pop" read by David Hyde Pierce
- "Dr. Seuss's ABC" read by Jason Alexander
- "The Cat in the Hat" read by Kelsey Grammer
- "Horton Hears a Who" read by Dustin Hoffman
- "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" read by Walter Matthau
- "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?" read by John Cleese
- "The Lorax" read by Ted Danson
- "Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories," "Gertrude Mc Fuzz" and "The Big Brag" read by John Lithgow
- "Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose" read by Mercedes McCambridge
- "Horton Hatches the Egg" read by Billy Crystal
- "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" read by Kelsey Grammer
- "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" read by John Lithgow
- "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" read by Michael York
- "Prince Caspian" read by Lynn Redgrave
- "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" read by Derek Jacobi
- "The Silver Chair" read by Jeremy Northam
- "The Horse and His Boy" read by Alex Jennings
- "The Magician's Nephew" read by Kenneth Branagh
- "The Last Battle" read by Patrick Stewart
Plenty of books and music to fill our fun days ahead!
Pictures of the House
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Pictures By Melinda
New Playroom
New "Oklahoma Stone" pathway from the pool sidewalk around to storage shed.
Safety Window Decals
Resting after a long day of "honey do" projects.
Update on the Big Home Inspections
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Finally, the Week of Inspections!
Monday we had the Texas Department of Insurance State Fire Marshal's Office do the "Foster Family Home Fire Safety Evaluation Checklist."
The Fire Marshal made a few suggestions that we intend to implement, was impressed with the evacuation floor plan that Melinda and I spent so much time on and then remarked, "you didn't need to make a map of the house, you just needed to write the directions on what you were going to do to get out of the house." THAT, we had NOT done. Of course, in our Covenant Kids paperwork it said we had to do the whole map, but, like CK reminded us, there is no "locked-down standard" for the fire or health inspections. So... Melinda quickly wrote up a description and faxed to the fire department before the end of the day. One inspection down!
Finally, the Week of Inspections!
Monday we had the Texas Department of Insurance State Fire Marshal's Office do the "Foster Family Home Fire Safety Evaluation Checklist."
The Fire Marshal made a few suggestions that we intend to implement, was impressed with the evacuation floor plan that Melinda and I spent so much time on and then remarked, "you didn't need to make a map of the house, you just needed to write the directions on what you were going to do to get out of the house." THAT, we had NOT done. Of course, in our Covenant Kids paperwork it said we had to do the whole map, but, like CK reminded us, there is no "locked-down standard" for the fire or health inspections. So... Melinda quickly wrote up a description and faxed to the fire department before the end of the day. One inspection down!
The City of Richardson Health Department did their "Foster Home Checklist" on Wednesday. We did great on it, but Melinda had to run down and register Scarlett with the City of Richardson (we had done this when we lived in Dallas, but, of course, now that we are in Richardson, we needed to register her here). We also have to replace a cracked window. It is in child's bedroom and we noted that it was cracked when we moved in last September, but had forgotten about it since it was behind sheers that we never open. Since then it has cracked across the whole window. We are getting if fixed by a professional on Monday (these are unusual windows). The only true mark against us was the outside fence. It is very old, run down and needs to be replaced. Technically, it needed to be replaced because of the "splinters." We knew that we needed to replace it when we got the house and have always had that scheduled for demolition and rebuild this Spring. We wanted to wait until we did the landscaping done (which we just did) before dealing with the fence.
In a weird turn of coincidence, at the very end of the inspection when Melinda and the ladies were making small talk after the approval was done, Melinda discovered that the inspector was from Nacogdoches (our "hometown"), a friend of Christi's (Melinda's sister) and had graduated with Christi in 1988! As Melinda said, "Small world!"
Another inspection down!
In a weird turn of coincidence, at the very end of the inspection when Melinda and the ladies were making small talk after the approval was done, Melinda discovered that the inspector was from Nacogdoches (our "hometown"), a friend of Christi's (Melinda's sister) and had graduated with Christi in 1988! As Melinda said, "Small world!"
Another inspection down!
Other things that have happened:
I got my TB test results back - of course Negative and I got my physicians signature saying I am reasonably healthy and have no communicable diseases. Melinda got her test done yesterday and will get her results checked today. She also had to have blood work done (I have had so much blood work done recently, I was already cleared). She should be able to get the official TB test clearance, blood work clearance and physicians signature today. YEA!
I got my TB test results back - of course Negative and I got my physicians signature saying I am reasonably healthy and have no communicable diseases. Melinda got her test done yesterday and will get her results checked today. She also had to have blood work done (I have had so much blood work done recently, I was already cleared). She should be able to get the official TB test clearance, blood work clearance and physicians signature today. YEA!
We are waiting on some proof of insurance paperwork to come in and that should be ALL of the outside paperwork we are waiting on. The ONLY thing we think we have to do before the "Home Study" is that Melinda needs to finish off her two books (I am almost done with the second of mine) and she needs to finish up her "Adoption Packet" paperwork (see examples from a few days ago of my adoption packet). As a reminder, most of the paperwork is done individually -- NOT as a family. The idea is that they want to make sure both parents are on-board with foster care and adoption.
We did get the landscaping done and I have a picture on my phone, but have not figured out how to get it to the computer. We will try to take a photo soon with our real camera, but it is due to rain the next few days. They worked hard on both Monday and Tuesday. The floors and bathroom looked great from the cleaning, as well. The health inspection ladies (one was in-training) remarked on how neat and clean the house was and that it "looked like a museum."
I replaced the door knobs on the laundry room to ones with key locks. This allows us to store medicines or "keep out of reach from children under the age of..." bottles in a secure area. It is on a different key than the rest of the house.
Finally, Alex (our oldest son who graduated from Rice and now working for Princeton Review as a teacher for the LSAT) arrived at 4:00AM today as a pit stop (and sleep station) for his move to St. Louis, MO. There he will get to be with his girlfriend of over four years (we consider them a married couple) as she works toward becoming a physician. He will continue to do the same thing up there, but just out of their St. Louis office.
This weekend we need to finish off all the cabinets and drawers -- some with simple "child-proof" devices and others with full-fledge locking mechanisms that keep out the bigger kids or teens. It should take a half a day. Saturday I am doing robotics practice for my teams from 9:00 - 3:00, so it will have to be after that or on Sunday.
Tomorrow Melinda takes in the mound of paperwork to CK (although she has been scanning most of it and e-mailing it, so it can get processed).
Next stop (hopefully) the Home Study!
I replaced the door knobs on the laundry room to ones with key locks. This allows us to store medicines or "keep out of reach from children under the age of..." bottles in a secure area. It is on a different key than the rest of the house.
Finally, Alex (our oldest son who graduated from Rice and now working for Princeton Review as a teacher for the LSAT) arrived at 4:00AM today as a pit stop (and sleep station) for his move to St. Louis, MO. There he will get to be with his girlfriend of over four years (we consider them a married couple) as she works toward becoming a physician. He will continue to do the same thing up there, but just out of their St. Louis office.
This weekend we need to finish off all the cabinets and drawers -- some with simple "child-proof" devices and others with full-fledge locking mechanisms that keep out the bigger kids or teens. It should take a half a day. Saturday I am doing robotics practice for my teams from 9:00 - 3:00, so it will have to be after that or on Sunday.
Tomorrow Melinda takes in the mound of paperwork to CK (although she has been scanning most of it and e-mailing it, so it can get processed).
Next stop (hopefully) the Home Study!
Surviving the Weekend and Preparing for a Big Week!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Melinda noted last week that you can tell which of us posted the blog just by the length of the blog. Yes, I am the more verbose.
See Thursday for a list of what we wanted to do between Friday night and Sunday night. We got the vast majority of it done plus some minor items that were not on the list including going through 5 cans of "Great Stuff" expanding foam to insulate all the tiny spaces like where the water pipes come into the kitchen sink and dishwasher. That took two hours just by itself!
I was right. Installing the child-proof locks on the sliding glass doors was the most challenging thing. We ended up with a simple solution that left only a 1/2" hole in the metal railing on the inside of the door, but that took a lot of creative thinking between myself and a good friend of mine, Edison.
Edison and Stella Chiu have become good friends of ours and, in fact, we ate traditional Chinese food (definitely NOT the "Americanized" version) over at their house on Friday. I cannot tell you exactly what everything was, but it involved a boiling wok filled with water, oil and seasoning that sat on the center of the table (similar to the boiling chicken broth fondue we had just last weekend at "The Melting Pot" but without the chicken broth). Using one set of chopsticks and a little wire net, we individually put in several different types of carefully prepared fish dishes as well as steak, beef, shrimp and lots of vegetables. Stella did a wonderful job and the setting was divine. It is always a cultural treat to dine with Edison and Stella. We enjoyed the meal and, as always, the wonderful conversation.
It took over seven hours Saturday and Sunday with three VERY hard working guys from our landscaping company (the guys who normally just mow our yard) to do major cleaning up outside including getting rid of all the weeds, reshaping all the bushes, pruning the trees, cutting the grass very short and ripping out all the dead or very weak plants out of two of the gardens. A third small herb garden we took back to just St. Augustine grass. We don't do well with herb gardens. Tuesday the crew returns in-force with a truckload of river rock, "Oklahoma Stone," several large bushes and ornamental grass (for edging around the pool). We hope to have pictures on here by Wednesday. We got an incredible deal on all of this, in part because this is definitely off season (yet the perfect time to plant bushes). We are excited!
Here are the only things on the old list that are now moved to the new list.
More excitement to follow!
Melinda noted last week that you can tell which of us posted the blog just by the length of the blog. Yes, I am the more verbose.
See Thursday for a list of what we wanted to do between Friday night and Sunday night. We got the vast majority of it done plus some minor items that were not on the list including going through 5 cans of "Great Stuff" expanding foam to insulate all the tiny spaces like where the water pipes come into the kitchen sink and dishwasher. That took two hours just by itself!
I was right. Installing the child-proof locks on the sliding glass doors was the most challenging thing. We ended up with a simple solution that left only a 1/2" hole in the metal railing on the inside of the door, but that took a lot of creative thinking between myself and a good friend of mine, Edison.
Edison and Stella Chiu have become good friends of ours and, in fact, we ate traditional Chinese food (definitely NOT the "Americanized" version) over at their house on Friday. I cannot tell you exactly what everything was, but it involved a boiling wok filled with water, oil and seasoning that sat on the center of the table (similar to the boiling chicken broth fondue we had just last weekend at "The Melting Pot" but without the chicken broth). Using one set of chopsticks and a little wire net, we individually put in several different types of carefully prepared fish dishes as well as steak, beef, shrimp and lots of vegetables. Stella did a wonderful job and the setting was divine. It is always a cultural treat to dine with Edison and Stella. We enjoyed the meal and, as always, the wonderful conversation.
It took over seven hours Saturday and Sunday with three VERY hard working guys from our landscaping company (the guys who normally just mow our yard) to do major cleaning up outside including getting rid of all the weeds, reshaping all the bushes, pruning the trees, cutting the grass very short and ripping out all the dead or very weak plants out of two of the gardens. A third small herb garden we took back to just St. Augustine grass. We don't do well with herb gardens. Tuesday the crew returns in-force with a truckload of river rock, "Oklahoma Stone," several large bushes and ornamental grass (for edging around the pool). We hope to have pictures on here by Wednesday. We got an incredible deal on all of this, in part because this is definitely off season (yet the perfect time to plant bushes). We are excited!
Here are the only things on the old list that are now moved to the new list.
- Install the rest of the child-proof latches and magnetic locks throughout the house
- Buy and install a new door knob with key lock for the washer and dryer room
- Set up the wireless printer
- Get Mrs. Potato Head
- Get a buoy or safety throw for the pool
- Stop the minor washing machine connection leak
- Wait for the big Fire Marshal Inspection
- Wait for the wife of the landscaping owner (who is a housecleaner) to come by to give us a quote on JUST detail cleaning all the floors and bathrooms on Tuesday (we just don't have time before the City Health Inspection on Wednesday)
- Wait for the two electrical companies to give us bids on installing canned lights in the playroom (formerly the "study") since there are NO overhead lights -- just a switch to turn on a lamp that is in an awkward location
More excitement to follow!
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