Home Study -- Draft!

Oi Bebes,
I received a draft of my home study which I am going through now. I have to supply two more documents which should be done by tomorrow and they it will be stamped FINAL! Final and OFFICIAL -- I could then begin the grant writing process and hopefully someone will fork over some cash! Here's some bits and pieces of our home study, some friends have been interested as to what it says and what kind of report it actually is... I was surprised at the simplicity of it when I read it!

MOTIVATION FOR ADOPTION

Ms. Safina shares that when she was six years old, her mother explained what adoption was. Since then, the idea of adoption intrigued her and she grew up feeling that she would grow her family through adoption. Ms. Safina states that at this point in her life she is in a secure financial situation and is able to financially handle having a family. She feels that she is also comfortable with herself and confident that this is the right time for her to be a mother.


APPLICANT FAMILY BACKGROUND

Patricia Safina was born in Queens, New York on December 16, 1967. She has two older brothers. Ms. Safina has good memories of her childhood. “When I was about eight years old my family moved to Glendale. We lived in a two family house with my grandparents living downstairs. Because my brothers were much older, I grew up feeling almost like an only child. I recall having great friends in the neighborhood and enjoyed playing with my friends.” Ms. Safina remembers that her family owned a house in upstate New York, where they would spend summers. She states that she has very fond memories of those summers as that is where she learned a lot of things such as swimming, gardening, sports, etc. Ms. Safina says that she enjoyed school and graduated from Forest Hills High School in 1985. She attended Queensborough Community College from 1990 to 1992 and earned her Associates. At the age of twenty-two Ms. Safina decided to attend school full time and earned her Bachelors Degree from Queens College in 1994. She traveled to Florence, Italy and stayed there for five years returning to New York in 1999. She worked together with her bothers for a few years and went back to school in 2005 attending the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College, earning a Masters of Science in Education in 2007. Ms. Safina shares that all during her education her parents were very supportive and helpful.

Ms. Safina’s mother, Rose Tilotta Safina died in November 2007. Ms. Safina shares that she still misses her mother. “My mother and I had a great relationship. We were together all the time. She was an amazing woman, she was always there for anything and everything I needed. She taught me everything she knew and encouraged and supported me in all I did. She was unconditionally dedicated to her family.” Ms. Safina has two brothers. The oldest Andrew Safina is fifty years old. He lives in California. He has three children, Julian age nineteen, Christian age sixteen and Austin age thirteen. “Andrew is a lot like me, he is a lot of fun. He is easy going and loves kids very much.” Her second brother is Rosario Safina who is forty-seven years old. He lives with his wife, Linda and their twelve year old son, Paolo in New York City. “Rosario tends to be very protective. I know he is there if I need him.” Ms. Safina shares that she has a close relationship with her brothers. She states that they are both glad for her and support her decision to adopt.

SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Ms. Safina is single and has never been married. She shares that she has had some very good relationships but none was the right one. “My parents were married for fifty-four years and had a great relationship, that is what I want for myself. I am at a point in my life where I am not willing to settle for less than what feels right for my life. I still date, but I am more choosy. I am very confident and sure of myself, that I can accomplish what I want as a single woman.” She says that when she lived in Florence and was 29 years old she was engaged, but she wanted to move back to New York and he did not want to leave Florence. She eventually moved back to New York two years later and the romantic part of the relationship ended, but they remained friends. Ms. Safina states that she is not in a relationship right now, nor is she actively looking for a husband. She says that, “ I am very comfortable living as a single woman. I have many friends through work and in the neighborhood and am happy with the way things are.” She states that if a relationship developed , the man would have to accept and love her children.

RELIGION

Ms. Safina is Catholic. She states that she belongs to her local parish, and attends occasionally. “I am a spiritual woman, and I believe in being a good person and treating others as I would like to be treated. I was raised Catholic and feel that it is important for children to believe in God and to learn values and faith. I plan to encourage them to continue their religious training.”

End

***and I'll leave it at that for now -- SO for any of my friends who were wondering what was written in a home study, there it is -- how I worried about this process, and it's here and gone! God's got my back!

OK bebes,
I have to go now, remember to ask God to connect us and protect us while we wait for each other. I'm doing whatever I can to make this process go a little faster and I promise you, in the end it will all be worth it! God is making very special things happen now, I know it, I could FEEL IT.

xxxMuito Muito AMOR
Mommy

Life is for Learning...

Oi Bebes,

Below are some sentences from my favorite of all time songs -- songs that I remember from my early childhood, with my hair grown past my butt and my peace signs all over the place, from most of my t-shirts and pants to the walls of my bedroom to my little hands -- Yep, my friends might say -- that's her...lol.

We are star dust, we are golden...
And let your love grow with the smallest of dreams...
Give me spots on my apples...but leave me the birds and the bees...please
Everything will bring a chain of love...
I like to dream yes, yes, right between my sound machine...
When I come home from a hard day's work and you're waiting there, not a care in the world...

and finally (this brings us into the new millenium, btw)

I feel there is nothing I can't do, yeah

I titled this entry, Life is for Learning, because 1) it comes from one of my fav songs, Woodstock by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and 2) because I've been learning a lot lately. First, I'll be with the DOE for another 2 years and have no angst inside of me whatsoever as I have had in the past. After trying to 'run away from home' my whole entire life, and succeeding for a time (a few times actually, lol) I've come to realize that the universe has been conspiring, with the help God of course, to get me to stay in Queens and for the first time since 2000 I'm ok with it. Really ok.

I spoke earlier about my childhood because I had such a great one. My parents gave us some great adventures that's for sure -- and all of them took place upstate. Ardonia, where I learned to swim, to ride a bike, to do cartwheels, to climb trees, to bake apple pies, where I twisted my ankle for the first time, where I learned to swing a bat, where I learned to appreciate the creek of an old wooden porch (the Ardonia Inn) where I went to my first anti war protest at the tender age of 7! Ardonia, where I learned to sit silent, where I got bit by a bee on my tounge, where I learned to put a worm on a hook, where I learned how to row a boat (Twin Lakes, remember brothers?), where I learned to braid my own hair, where I developed my love for the outdoors and my appreciation for nature, where I learned that the best sleep I ever get in my life is in a hammock with lots of OFF!, where I developed my love of all things animals, (thanks to the Catskill Game Farm) and the list actually goes on but I’m thinking you get the picture right about now.

And so, for my master plan: I can't possibly teach you all these things in Queens, nor can you ever experience them in the city and just as my parents set up base camp in Ardonia, I'll be setting up a base camp too. I'll take you to all the amazing places my parents took me: the Adironacks, the Catskills Mountains, Saranac Lake, Lake George, Howe Caverns, and in these places you'll run, climb, fish (catch and release), ride a bike, swim, jump in a lake (my favorite pastime, lol) watch the sunset, roast marshmallows, pitch a tent in the backyard where you'll fall asleep immediately because you're so exhausted from the days' activities....

It's my master plan. It's something else I'm working towards, something else I will make happen. Stay tuned bebes -- and again, before you go to sleep, ask God to keep us safe until we're together and after, and ask Him to give me the smarts to execute my master plan because without Him, I can't do it.

Muito Muito Amor,
Mommy