We have two weeks to catch up which feels great! We are not having another meeting until April 16th so we have chance to catch up on a few jobs. We have been left a to-do list, which includes

• taking photos of us and our home
• completing a finance form
• writing notes that answer questions about behaviour management and more!
• detail again our reasons for adopting in as few words as possible!
• write a bibliography of book and articles we have read re: adoption
• buy a fire extinguisher!

...plus a couple more minor tasks! If we get most of this done by next time we should be nearly finished for the home study part. Our social worker then has to write the 6 part report, which we have to sign three times! Then we should be ready for panel. You may have noticed our date has changed. That is because our agency has changed how often panel happens, but it is probably good as the slightly later date (2 weeks later) gives us a little more time to get ready and make up for the time we lost while our first social worker was taken ill.

Something our social worker said this week, "It is now very real!" It still feels a long way off, but when we look how far we have come and how quickly the next steps could move along we suppose it is. But we have been waiting for so long, and thinking 'one day' that soon seems a bit premature. In reality it could still take years, and we are prepared for that. But we are not sure when it will feel real. When we send our papers abroad? When we receive a photo? When we hold our child? When we get home with them? At the moment it is not sinking in. We will let you know when it does! Thanks again for your love and support,

Exhaustion is setting in a little bit! Constantly thinking through how to answer so many questions, completing paperwork, and finding evidence for so many things is an emotional journey that has more of an effect on us than we realise. We find after an interview we are starving and tried! Trying to carry on normal tasks seems to be more difficult, and we have to remind ourselves that we need time when we don't think about these issues and relax!
Yesterday went well, and we have a growing list of things to pull together, such as photos, legal documents, etc. We felt reassured by our social worker that we were on the right track with what we had completed so far, and that there was nothing jumping out at him that would worry him. Good to know! We have another meeting on Thursday, and we will then have Easter break to rest and get together the next lot of stuff!
Please pray that we are not relying on our own strength and that we find time over Easter especially to really rest. This is heavy going! Thanks,

Sorry for the delay but these last few days have been busy! We have been to visit with friends, and have been doing some DIY as well as more paperwork! Our social worker was friendly, made us feel relaxed and was very keen to move forward quickly, which is great. He said he will do all he can to keep the date for panel, and hope that he will be able to catch up on the interviews we have already done. We will of course have to go back over some stuff, as he needs to get to know us, but we should be able to do this in a condensed way!

We feel pleased to still be moving ahead, and are beginning to understand more about God's plan for us. We still fluctuate between fear and trust, but we think trust is winning!! We guess it is normal to second guess, and think of all the possible outcomes of this journey. There are still so many uncertainties. But ultimately it is not our decision. God has a plan, we just pray we have ears to hear and a willing heart. We are finding that it is not our role to understand God's ways through this journey, but to have faith that he will not let us fall. God bless,

We think we mentioned before about the need to be flexible when going through the adoption process? Well once again we have learnt this lesson! During the last day of training our social worker left early. We later found out that she was very ill, and had gone to the hospital. A few days later we received a call to explain that she would no longer be able to take our case, and we would be reassigned a new social worker! We were obviously concerned that she was ill, and felt that this was one of those things that could not be helped. So, today we meet our new social worker! We have a man this time, and he is hopeful that our panel date, the day we get a yes or no from the agency, will remain the same as panel is not held very often. We really hope so, and will probably have to add in some more dates when we will meet our new social worker over Easter break to catch up, and help him get to know us better.
This afternoon, he will be going over what we have done so far, and so hopefully we will not have to revisit everything again, but at this stage we don't know.
We value your prayers:

• That we quickly build a good relationship with our new social worker
• That we can organise enough appointments so that we can keep our panel date the same
• That we continue to trust God, His timing is still perfect!

We are quickly realising that relationship with the social worker is really important, as they are building a picture and making a judgement on you and your ability to parent! We will let you know how we get on later. Thanks,