First Post-Placement visit

After you complete an adoption, it's typical that you have several post-placement visits from a social worker. For us we have to do these visits at 3, 6, and 12 months. The social worker's job is to make sure the child and the family are doing okay, offer help and guidance if there are any issues that need attention, and they send a report to the placement agency.

Before the social worker N arrived, we explained to Katelyn that a visitor would be coming by, that she would talk with all of us, ask some questions, and maybe walk around the house, etc.. We told her that the social worker just wants to make sure everyone is doing well and see where we live. Of course we also told the boys. We didn't prep them in any way (and oh my word, we should have), but we just reminded them of the home study and the questions and told them to be polite and well behaved.

Next time I'm giving them a script.

N arrived and was very nice and easy to talk to. She asked the boys about changes in the family since Katelyn arrived, their likes and dislikes of having a sister...all pretty benign and expected questions. She asked similar questions of Katelyn. But as the visit went on, I realized that all of their responses (all 3 of them) had something to do with wrestling.

"So what's the best part of having a new sister?" and Nathan replied "Well, when I fight and wrestle Matt, she's here to help me defeat him."

"So do you like having brothers Katelyn?" and she said "Yes because I can wrestle with them and together we get Matt."

"Matt is there anything you don't like about having a sister or how things have changed?" to which Matt of course said "Well, it's hard now because when we wrestle they work together...but I can still get them down."

So, so, proud.

And if it wasn't wrestling, it was video games. These three little people play at the park, walk the dogs, build extravagant lego creations, have dart gun wars and target practice, play board games, play hide-and-seek, ride bikes and scooters, play soccer, etc... but you'd never know. It's as if we're running World Wrestling Federation or a video game headquarters.

"So what kinds of things do you do during the day?" and Nathan says "oh, play video games, and Wii, and Minecraft, and etc...

Oh. My. Word.

The crowning moment was this little gem. She asked Katelyn if she liked having brothers and Katelyn replied "Yes because boys drool, and girls rule."

And Nathan very adamantly added "oh yeah, well boys go to college to get more knowledge and girls go to Jupiter to get more stupider."

Seriously, either they get a script to follow or we're employing duct tape next time.

Thank the Lord N has a sense of humor. She did keep asking lots of questions and eventually got some answers that were more accurate and appropriate. But you can imagine Andy and I giving each other the oh-my-word-please-Lord-make-them-stop-talking looks.

N was really sweet and we are so happy to have found her agency to do our post-placement visits. We are very confident that Katelyn is really adjusting well and that we haven't seen any big issues that can be common with international or older child adoption. But it's always nice to have an outsider lay eyes on the situation and offer guidance if needed.

I'm off to hide the XBox and talk about sunshine and rainbows with our three lovely children.

Three and a half months later...

Wow, I'm not sure what just happened, but I haven't blogged since June. Well, I guess I do know what happened, we added a 7 year old Mandarin speaking girl to our family and moved from Alabama to Las Vegas, NV.

So much has happened and I'll come back and fill in the gaps but, here's a general update on everyone.

Andy's job is awesome. His boss is a great, Christian, family man and he and Andy get along very well. Andy respects him a lot and we're both very thankful that we ended up in Las Vegas again.

I am homeschooling all 3 kids. I absolutely love it and it's one of the best decisions we've made. It's definitely a challenge, but I'm incredibly thankful we have this choice and that I'm physically able to do it. I keep telling Andy it's great except that they never leave during the day. Ha!

Matt is playing soccer and his skills have definitely improved. It's awesome to watch! I love his sense of humor. I kind of am okay with his longish, Beiber hair. Andy is not. He plays with and torments Katelyn like any good big brother. He's adapted really well and we're both very proud of him. He's just a nice kid and I love him dearly.

Nathan is playing soccer as well. We're not so impressed with the coaching, but he's having a blast and that's what matters. He's sort of a beast on the soccer field and it's pretty fun to watch. Games start in a few weeks and I predict at least one yellow card this season. He too has adjusted well to his new sister. He has a really sweet heart and I see it nearly every day when he's helping her with something. He's also hilarious and I can't keep from smiling at his big front teeth and little giggle. It gets me in trouble. I  do think at times it's difficult since N and K are the same age and both of them are naturally competitive. I knew we were in trouble when I found them racing to finish their milk and both of them almost got sick. Ah..siblings.

Katelyn is playing soccer as well (yes we live at the soccer fields). She talks smack on the field and races anyone and everyone, and usually wins. We haven't used a translator tool in well over a month. She understands nearly everything, except when she's being funny and she very seriously asks "what's that?" to every. thing. I. say. She's funny, competitive, sweet, and very smart. There are a million things to update on her but you get the idea for now. She's very, very girly and loves to clean...it's obvious we aren't genetically related.

Vegas is treating us well. We found a great (though very large) church. Matt is enjoying the middle school youth group, and we've joined a small group that meets once a week. We're just dipping our feet in the water but so far so good. The people have been very welcoming and they all seem great. And I really, really miss my Alabama peeps. It's hard to walk away from what we had there.

Anyway, that's us in a nutshell. We continue to see blessings in our life every day and time is flying by. :)