Home Study...Check :-)

That's right friends!!  Our home study is officially done and yes, we passed :)  Bonnie sent us a rough draft to read over last night.  And this afternoon, we reviewed the home study together.  After that, Bonnie showed us pictures from her trip to Ethiopia in January.  It was cool to see pictures of places that Matt and I will actually be going to. 

We are so excited to check off another big piece of the puzzle.  But I must admit, I am anxious that we are getting closer to the dreaded wait--when all of our work is done and there is nothing we can do to speed things up.  I'm trying not to think about that now though.  It's time to celebrate another step and in the meantime, we still have paperwork to get together for the dossier.   We're getting closer everyday to meeting our little one.

Fuller Family Profile

I have wanted to share Matt and I's adoption profile for a while now, but my computer skills are pretty limited!!  But I finally got it, however without pictures--it will have to do for now.  So many people put a lot of time and effort into our profile, and even though we are not using it as is, we have definitely used bits and pieces as we have been writing letters to the ministry in Ethiopia and filling out questions in regards to the adoption.  So thank you again to family and friends, especially my brother who rewrote our entire profile, for your IQ points and time regarding our profile.  We are so thankful that so many are behind us regarding our adoption.  Love you all!!    

About Matt and Megan

Matt and Megan grew up in the same small town in Kansas. Matt spent his childhood helping his dad on the family farm, playing football, fishing, hunting, and spending weekends at the lake with family and friends. Megan’s childhood was spent playing softball and tennis, participating in church youth group, and taking family vacations to historical, interesting and just plain fun destinations across the country. Matt and Megan were high school sweethearts. We started dating when Megan was a sophomore and Matt a senior and never looked back.  

Matt is a very driven, intelligent, and fun-loving man. He is a respected software engineer and currently holds two master’s degrees, and soon plans to begin working on his third. Several years ago he decided that we should take up hiking as a hobby, which soon led to camping, biking, and running. Matt also enjoys spending time with his friends playing basketball and poker.   

Matt has a younger brother and sister who are married, and each has recently been blessed with a little one. Matt and Megan love spending time with their nephews, who are both 6 months old. We can’t wait for them to get a little bigger, so they can take them camping and hiking. Matt’s parents recently bought the farmstead in Kansas where Matt’s grandparents once lived and Matt enjoys making trips back home to help his parents remodel the farmhouse.

Megan is a dedicated nurse and passionate about caring for her patients.  Her compassion for others has never been limited only to her professional life, but spills over into everything she does. Recently Megan completed her third visit to the impoverished regions of Mexico on a mission trip. This trip was extra special to her because she was accompanied by her dad. Megan has also spent her time as a youth leader and high school Sunday school teacher at church.  Megan has always been very creative and spends her time decorating her home, taking and editing pictures, and always has a project to work on. She also loves spending time with friends shopping or hanging out at each other’s homes.

Megan has a younger brother who recently completed his undergraduate studies and will be starting graduate school soon. Megan’s parents have a vacation home on Table Rock Lake in southern Missouri. The house serves as a rendezvous point for family and friends throughout the year and we try to plan as many trips as possible. In the fall, many Saturday afternoons are spent at K-State football games with Megan’s entire family and often times Matt’s as well.

Matt and Megan have been married now for eight years and fall more deeply in love with each passing year together. We have worked very hard over the first few years of our marriage to create a solid foundation, both financially and emotionally, for our young family. We love animals and are the proud owners of Jack, our 6 year old dog. We rescued Jack from an animal shelter while they were living in Topeka, Kansas. He is a huge part of our family, and goes almost everywhere we go: on vacations, tailgating, hiking, and camping.

Family is very important to both Megan and Matt. We consider ourselves very blessed to be surrounded by such an amazing and supportive environment. We would love nothing more than for the next chapter of their lives to be spent loving and raising a child.

Matt and Megan

Home Study Status

The home study is going great!  In fact, we're all most done with it...I can't believe it!  The home study has been much more relaxed than I made it out to be.  Bonnie is terrific and makes us feel very comfortable to talk around her.  The first day we met, she stayed for about 2 hours.  We talked A LOT about us; our relationship, how we decided on adoption, and in particular why Ethiopia.  She had a few questions and wanted a little more information regarding some of our comments in our 20 page essay questions we submitted earlier.  At the end of that meeting, Bonnie left us with some homework to fill out before our next meeting.  The home work included two pages full of possible medical concerns, diseases, infections, malformations, ect.  Matt and I have mark on each one if we would be open to possibly adopting a child with that concern and to what degree (mild to severe).  It was tough.  I hate the thought of possibly missing out on a child because I said no to something.  In some ways, I felt like I had too much power to pick and choose.  But I trust that God will continue to guide us to the child who is meant for us.

Our second meeting was this last Tuesday for an hour.  Bonnie looked around our house.  We were able to show her where our baby's room will be!!  We visited for a little while longer and discussed how Matt and I deal with conflict.  And that's it...now we are just waiting to receive a rough draft of our home study via email.  We should have it early next week and then we meet with Bonnie one last time to finalize it.  Once we have the official copy of our home study we send it off to immigration and Ethiopia.  Time to start working on the international part!  So excited!!!