It's officially the end of summer. Football is back, pumpkin candles are burning, students are back on campus, Halloween costume planning has begun, PSL's are back... it's fall y'all.
Summer was jam-packed, but amazing. We roadtripped to Myrtle Beach, camped in Tennessee along the way, visited Door County, got a few tattoos, kayaked, camped some more, met my bestie's new baby, Jedd hosted an amazing art gallery for work, I took another roadtrip (girls trip to Denver!), we attended two beautiful weddings. We rounded out the summer by finally celebrating our marriage with Iowa family and friends. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day.
It's been a S U M M E R ☀️
It's been nothing but crickets here on the blog and on our @iowadopt instagram. Regardless of our busy summer, we unfortunately don't have an update to share on the adoption process... Our next step in the adoption journey is to complete a home study. A home study is a 6-month process required for all adoptions in the U.S. Before we can be matched with a kiddo, a social worker needs to assess our ability to give them a stable, supportive, safe home, and that we're fit to parent. We will complete multiple interviews and home visits. After our future kiddo(s) come home, the same social worker will also complete a series of reports detailing how we're adjusting as a family.
The pre- and post-adoption reports will contain:
Details about our home and neighborhood
Our financial statements, references, education info, and employment history
Medical exams and family medical history
A review of our relationships, social life, and daily routines
Our disciplinary practices, and any parenting experiences we may have
Interview responses including our reasons for wanting to adopt
At the completion of the home study, the social worker will provide our adoption agency with a recommendation of the child(ren) we could best parent. The recommendation gets as specific as the kiddos' physical, mental, and/or emotional needs; age, gender, and more). This will further determine our eligibility for adoption.
The reason we have not started the home study yet.... is because Jedd and I would love to adopt siblings ❤️ We will need a little more space than what we have now!
Our goal is to move in the new few months, but before we can sell our house, we need to fix the damage from last August's horrible derecho. Both the roof and siding on the house and garage were damaged, and we are just starting the repairs this weekend. State Farm is not willing to pay anywhere near what we've been quoted by multiple contractors. After many months of fighting with them, we finally decided the work would have to be done ourselves (by the way, if anyone is up for helping with shingles or siding the next 2 weekends, we will pay in Coors Light and Pizza Hut).
Many have been asking if we have any fundraisers coming up.... You all make my heart so happy! We are still collecting shoes for our shoe drive fundraiser. Remember we can accept men's, women's, and children's new and gently used shoes of any kind, as long as they're not damaged. Please let us know if you have any unwanted shoes laying around, and we'll pick them up! More info here.
Lots of people shared that they had fun playing Super Bowl Squares in February. Because the second most important game of the year (excluding all Packers games of course) is the Iowa vs. Iowa State game, we created the Iowa Rivalry Squares fundraiser for the game on Saturday, September 11!
The Iowa Rivalry Squares game will have all of the same rules as before on Super Bowl Sunday: We have a 10x10 grid of squares. Each row and column will be randomly assigned a number from 0 to 9 right before the game. Each square of the grid may be claimed with a $20 donation to our adoption fund. At the end of each quarter, the last digit of each teams' score is compared to the grid to determine the winner for that quarter! First quarter winner receives $100, second quarter $200, third $300, and fourth/final score $400.
Example: If the score at the end of the first quarter was Iowa State 14, and Iowa 3, the last number for the Cyclones is 4 and the last number for the Hawks is 3. The square on the grid at the intersection of ISU column 4, and Iowa row 3 wins that quarter!
Buy a square for $20 by:
💰 Venmo @Alissa-Spidell or @Jedd-Spidell
📮 Snail mail a check
Half of the money collected will be awarded to the winners each quarter! The other half will be put toward our adoption expenses. May the odds be ever in your favor (and also in the Cyclones❤️).
