Loose Screw

     I found a screw loose on a cabinet door the other day. Normally that’s no big deal, but around our house lately, this is a huge deal. This week we made some progress in that we finally got our paperwork sent off to our agency. This was a huge deal for us because after all of the time and effort spent trying to gather information and filling out forms, we were finally finished with this part. The celebration was short-lived though because we realized what came next. Our home study. Nothing has made us more paranoid than this home study mostly because we don’t know what to expect. I mean, are they just going to talk to us and look around the house a little bit? Or are they going through all our drawers and checking the fat content of items in our refrigerator? At this point, I wouldn’t be shocked if our case worker said she needed to get in the crawlspace under the house and start looking for termite damage.

      For the record, our house is fine. I mean, we’re not living in a mansion or anything, but everything seems normal, I suppose. But this home study has me worried beyond belief. Every time I see something that isn’t perfect, every time a door handle jiggles a little too much, a light flickers, or I see a loose screw, I automatically assume that we’re going to fail our home study and never get our kid. (And I’m sure some of you were already thinking I’ve had a few screws loose for years. I get it.)

     In reality, it will probably all be ok. The lady we’re working with from the adoption agency is great and I’m sure she’s not expecting perfection. After all, if they’re only letting perfect people have kids, then we’re all in trouble. I’m sure that all the worrying will be for nothing and that our home study will be fine. Until it’s finished though, we’ll have a few more weeks of being paranoid about everything. So consider this your warning, if you happen to come by our house in the next few weeks, compliment us on how great everything is. If not, be prepared for us to put you to work.