Friday Roundup and home study part 2--7.23.2010

Well folks, a huge thanks to all of you who helped me through the nerves on Thursday before our home study visit. And you were right! It was super easy.

Our social worker is such a lovely woman and again we were reminded exactly why we wanted to work with her. She puts us at ease! We hung out at the dining table eating banana bread and drinking coffee. We did not eat any of the yummy fruit plate that I got up early to make because I completely forgot to offer it. We talked for nearly 3 hours and the conversations were so natural and easy. She's an adoptive mama too, so our chat was similar to those I've had with many of you, about what you've tried, what you have experienced, and what you are trying to do.

At the end of the visit, right before she left, I asked if she needed to see the house at all. She almost left without seeing it! I couldn't help but laugh and thought to myself...I cleaned for 3 days...you are going to see this house! The tour took about 5 minutes and she didn't look in our closets (you were right Mom) or even count smoke detectors (although we now have the proper amount and have them in the proper places).

We have a few last bits of paperwork to round up, but hopefully our home study will be written up in about a month! Yay! Now just waiting for the formal app from AIAA....

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So many super great blog posts this week. Here's a few you don't want to miss:

You absolutely MUST read the post Dog at Hyperbole and a half. The author blogs about the series of tests she gives to her dog to see if the dog should be riding the little bus to school. I love how the blogger describes the scene, and her illustrations of her dog crack me up. Don't hesitate. Check it out now.

This post at Rage Against The Minivan also had me in freaking stitches. I think anyone who has children should be able to relate. For those of us still waiting, we find it incredibly amusing and a little terrifying.

And while you are at Rage, keep rolling down the page to this post. It has a totally different tone, but the topic is super important. The blogger noticed the sale on every variety of African American Barbie at Target, which led to a great post about children and race.

I kept thinking about this post by Carrie Goldman, talking about how adoptive parents need to be better parents than biological parents. It sounds weird, and all you bio parents out there, don't go getting your panties in a bunch. I'm not saying that you aren't good parents, but the author makes an incredible point: birth mothers are placing their children for adoption with the assumption that adoptive parents can do a better job than they could. That's a high expectation to live up to. And an important thing to remember as we are filling out all this paperwork, taking tests, and jumping through endless hoops. We have to prove that we can do better.

One more, just for laughs. My sister T loves to decorate cakes. Every year my nephew comes up with some kind of cake request, and each year she manages to make it work! While I was searching for new ways to blow my healthy eating trend, I visited Cake Wrecks, a blog I love to troll through. Here's some cake disasters that make even me, a certified cake-lovin' junkie, lose my sweet tooth. T, don't try this at home!!