Home Assessment Report Started

Well, I got a call from Perdita, the gal that would be doing my home assessment report, and I was pretty pumped to get the ball moving. I gave her a call, in response to an answering machine message, on Wednesday, and let her know that I would be in the city (where she was coming from) on the Friday, visiting the family for the long weekend. That was okay by her, and so on Friday afternoon, she came over to meet at my mam's house and we sat and chatted for a couple of hours. The questions were, of course, personal in nature, but I'm pretty much an open book, so that was fine by me. She apologized for them being so personal, and acknowledged that it was probably pretty uncomfortable for me, but really, it didn't bother me. I worried a bit that the fact that I was single might come up, because it's an area of my life where I feel I have very little control, and am fine with, but not really thrilled about. Because it's a bit of an internal conflict for me, I was hoping it wouldn't come up, and it didn't, so that was good. She actually is an international adopter herself. She has a girl from China that she adopted as a toddler 10 years ago. So she had a lot of insight about adoption, because of that experience. I asked her as our meeting came to a close if she foresaw there being any problems, or if she had noticed any red flags, but she said no, that it all looked okay. She made arrangements to drive out to my place this coming weekend, and I am stoked to have things moving along so quickly. Really, it's mutually beneficial -- she gets paid by the HAR, and I want to get going, so good for us!
Oh! Another exciting development: I was offered a permanent teaching contract with my school district which means stability -- at just the right time! I mean, I could have, and would have still adopted if I'd only been offered another one year contract, and I don't think it would have been a huge issue, but now I have the security of income and maternity leave. I think the ATA might pitch in a bit there, so I should hopefully be able to get more than the EI 55% offered by the government. If that's all I get, I will take off 6 months and suck it up that my income is low, but if (which I hope) that ATA helps out and I can get 75 or 80%, than I will take off the year for maximum bonding, and it will actually save me money because that will be the last year that I would have to have them both in the family day home full-time. And I don't really want to spend an extra $1000 per month on childcare. Ouch! It'll be sweet when Jonah's in school and I can just keep him with me before and after school.
Yeah, so that's about it. A funny aside -- Jonah was enjoying his first independent walk in the rain this morning (on the sidewalk in front of my mam's house) when all of a sudden I hear him screaming hysterically. I rush out and find him standing it the grass, just shrieking away. He's obviously scared, so I ask him, "Jonah! What's wrong?" And he points to the sidewalk and cries, "SNAKES!" The earthworms had come up onto the sidewalk for a little air, as they do in the rain. That's my little braveheart!