Holy cats! Our home study visit with the social worker is this weekend! How the heck did this happen so fast?

We’re making good progress on the paperwork. We’ve got our finger print and back ground check forms in. We’ve got our three recommendation letters lined up. We told our families. We did our medical appointment and have those forms signed. We’ve got our proof of employment letters from work. And, we’re gathering all of our financial documentation this week. We’ll go over all of this paperwork with the social worker on Saturday, and make sure we’re on track to get the rest in.

For the home study visit we’ll be interviewed together, and then individually, and we’ll have a tour of the apartment (to talk about child safety) and go over the paper work. We’re trying not to put too much pressure on this visit. We know that we still have a lot of decisions to make regarding what type of adoption we want to pursue. We’re not putting pressure on ourselves to know everything we need to know about adoption by this weekend. And, one of the things we want to discuss with the social worker is finding the right agency to work with once the home study is complete. It’s still a process, and we’re working through it.

I’m not concerned about “being judged” right now. I’m mostly concerned about getting emotional. About feeling overwhelmed. About crying in front of our social worker. I’m nervous about DH getting emotional, too. I feel like I’ll need to lay on the floor for the rest of the afternoon once the visit it over.

So, besides having our cleaning lady come the day before the visit - what should we know about the home study visit? I’d love your advice! How did yours go? What will help us feel ready for this? What should we expect?