I can almost see the finish line!

To think that we started this process almost two years ago is crazy. I don't think I could have ever imagined the twists and turns our lives would take between February 2013 and now. We still have some things to do, but I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.

First, we were told that we would not have to a whole new home study for Alex's adoption. What a relief. Honestly, we're getting pretty good at home studies at this point (we've had four done so far), but I'd rather not go through it again. All we'll need to do is submit a few documents and have our fingerprints redone. Easy peasy! Thankfully, I already had one of the documents, so really we just need to schedule with the county for our prints. We do still have one more home visit this month before we can move toward adoption. It sounds like we will finalize Alex much earlier than we anticipated.

For Jake, we have one more home visit this month. We just received a request for a local background check, but were able to visit Las Vegas Metro PD this morning to take care of that. I believe we've turned in everything possible to our attorney, so now we just wait for our final report to be written.

To say that I'm glad we're almost done is an understatement. I really like our social workers, but I would love to not have to worry about scheduling monthly visits. It feels a little surreal that the end is near. I just pray that this final stretch is a smooth one!

Brooke's tummy

I always wonder how much CJ understands about adoption. We talk about their birthmom and share their adoption stories (obviously age appropriate versions right now). We read kids books about adoption occasionally. We have worked hard to ensure that adoption is a normal word in our house. Even with all of that, I have always assumed that most of the information goes over his head. He's four; I don't think he cares a whole lot just yet.

Today at church, we had a conversation with one of CJ's friends about Jake. CJ's response blew me away.

E - "Miss Katie, when was baby Jake in your tummy?"
Me - "He wasn't. He was in someone else's tummy, but we get to take care of him."
CJ - "Yeah, we all came from Brooke's tummy."

What?!

I guess he pays attention when we talk about it. While I don't know if he really understands what it means to be in someone else's tummy, I think it is awesome that his response came so naturally.

Down the road, we will have many more conversations about adoption. I will have to answer more in-depth questions. He will want to know why he came into our family if started in Brooke's tummy. He will need to understand how she made her decisions. He will have to wrestle with various feelings often associated with adoption (i.e. grief, anger, confusion, etc.).

I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about having those conversations. I am confident in how we will answer them, but they are still scary to think about because we have no idea how our answers will affect him.

I have to say that after hearing him talk about Brooke, I feel a little better knowing that there will never be a moment when he is shocked to learn that he is adopted.