Home Study & Yard Sale

We had our first home study meeting yesterday and everything went great! She just asked us some basic questions about our adoption and how we plan to help our child adjust to our culture as well as inform them about their birth culture. The funniest part of the whole meeting was when she recommended we watch the movie Soul Food to learn more about African American culture… really?!?! She said that more than likely our child will be perceived as African American and will need to know how to assimilate that culture if they go to a black friend's house for dinner.  Is it bad that I'm not that worried about the physical differences between me and my child?  I know there will be questions and issues I will need to handle regarding our physical differences, and cultures related to those differences, at some point, and I definitely want to be prepared for those times before they happen, but right now I am much more worried about becoming a parent to an adopted baby from an orphanage who will need a ton of love and constant care once he/she is home.  I’ve been reading books about parenting adopted children and I've ordered some that deal with transracial adoptions, so I am hoping I will be as prepared as possible to help my child adjust to the social norms in their everyday life, no matter how people perceive them.  I may be naive, but I'm pretty sure with the educational material our agency requires, reading several adoption books, talking to other families who have adopted outside of their race, and relying on God, we can handle any situation that comes our way.  I'm not saying it will always be easy and that it won't break my heart when I don't know everything about another culture to help my child "fit in" and understand the differences between our family and someone else's, but I know that we can handle it... by relying on God's strength. 

Jason and I have been talking about how nervous and scared we are about becoming parents for the first time (which after child proofing the house with cabinet locks, outlet covers, putting cleaners out of a child's reach, etc. for our home study, has been a lot lately.)  However, the further we get in our adoption process, the more excited we get!  Man, I really, really can't imagine how excited we are going to be when we get our referral, when we get on a plane to head to Ethiopia, or when we pull up to the orphanage to meet our baby for the first time... it has to be an unexplainable feeling... and I absolutely cannot wait to experience it!!! 
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We have set a date for our yard sale! August 28th!!!  (Yes, we know it will be HOT!! but it is the only date that works for us before our first agency fee is due.)  So, if anyone has anything that is yard sell-able that they don’t want anymore please let us know and we will come pick it up. We hope everyone has a great week!