Mashed Potatoes and Tall Actors

“All the great ones were tall. Alan Ladd wasn’t tall. Marshall Dylan was 6 foot 5. These mashed potatoes are so creamy. I could never make a good pot roast. You need good beef. Argentina has great beef. Beef and Nazis. John Wayne was tall. Dustin Hoffman was 5’6″. Would you want to see Dustin Hoffman save The Alamo? These mashed potatoes are so creamy! Spain has good beef. Mary mashed them. Caesar Romero was tall. Caesar Romero was not Spanish. I didn’t say Caesar Romero was Spanish. I said Caesar Romero was tall. We all know he’s tall!” ~While You Were Sleeping  
Sometimes family conversations feel like crazy talk. I was worried that during the home study I would sound crazy describing our families. What is a home study for? It is a time for the case worker to meet with you, get to know you and see the environment that the baby will be brought into. All of these things help when the case workers are talking to birth parents. The birth parents usually want to choose someone that likes similar things (i.e. books, movies, tv, music, sports, etc.). 
With Bethany Christian Services our first home study was about reviewing paperwork and preferences. Also, we discussed books we were asked to read and generally got to know our case worker(s). In our situation we have two case workers because they are training someone new to the company. What’s fun is that we also have the same case worker as a few of our friends who have adopted recently. And yes I cleaned the house frantically on the days leading up to our meeting even though it wasn’t necessary. 
The second home study sounded like an interrogation that no one would talk to us about. Anytime I would talk to another adoptive family they would say the same thing, “they will ask you about everything!” I am here to report that it was not as invasive as a root canal! There were times that I went into too much detail when they wanted only a timeline or a summary. Maybe the scariest part is that for this study Oscar and I were not together. I know we answered the questions honestly, but I’m a woman and I tend to worry. We talked about it over dinner that night. 
The third home study will be continued later. Due to the deaths in our immediate family, both sons and our fathers, the agency has asked us to do some counseling sessions. We were both disappointed to end 2015 that way, but we already have a session scheduled.