Classes Done!

We are happy to report we are FINALLY done with the required classes for our adoption!  We completed 12 hours of online courses and 24 hours of classroom courses.  We are glad to have our Saturday’s back! When people hear that we have to take classes as part of the adoption process they always wonder just what is it that we are learning about.  Well, we took classes on the following topics:

·         Attachment

·         Attachment II

·         Child development

·         Parenting through your child’s development stages

·         Basic child care

·         Grief and loss in adoption

·         Talking to your child about adoption

·         Being a multi-cultural family

·         Adopting black children

·         Adopting from African countries

Some of the courses were interesting and some seemed like they were repeating all the information we covered in a prior class.  I have said it before but will say it again, we should have received our PhD in parenting with all the classes we have had to take! 

Glad to have our courses behind us, it is time to move on to focusing on the quickly approaching Christmas season!  I took the opportunity today while my husband was watching the Broncos game to hit the stores to start my Christmas shopping.  I have to say I got quite a bit done in just a few hours.  I even felt motivated enough when I got home to wrap the gifts!  It feels really good to have the majority of my shopping done; this is by far the earliest I have ever started and it has me thinking I should make this my routine from now on.  I am looking forward to having it all done so I can focus on the spirit of Christmas and actually enjoy it without the headache of trying to get everything done in such a short amount of time.  I even finished ordering my Christmas photo cards tonight!  Next weekend, I might just start digging out the Christmas decorations and try to get a jump on decorating!