25-Aug to 31-Aug

Family finding:
Our annual review was today (Thursday). It's been a month since our failed match and a year since we were approved. We have been going down the family / adoption route in one way or another for six years now and we cant believe we are still so far away from having a family. Our social worker and the agency manager are certain that we will be matched, we just need to find the right littlies. We and they seem to be all doing the right things so there isnt much else we can do. We looked through previous history and what they are doing. We are going to review the profile they send out and add a couple of up to date photos and jazz it up a bit. Also we will have a copy too so that we are all sending out the same info (we currently don’t send one out). They said they are happy for us to contact social workers to instigate the first contact and then pass the info to our social worker. They mentioned exchange days and we have been to one in 18 months, so they are going to check the next ones coming up to ensure we are invited. It looks like we could have been missed off their distribution list for info on them. We advised them of our hits on the Adoption Register, so we just need to turn those hits into s/w visits! We already subscribe to Children Who Wait (the Adoption UK's periodical of children waiting to be adopted) and actively identify potentials to our social worker, so it doesnt seem that there is much else that can be done. We have another review meeting in 6 months and then its action stations if we don’t have any solid leads then. Our social worker has 3 leads she is working on at the moment and will contact us in a couple of weeks to discuss any potentials. So, the story of our lives: back to waiting around for someone else to do something - aaarrrggghhh!!!

Home and cars:
The cleaner is helping to keep the house spick and span. Household safety: items such as cupboard safety catches and stair gates will be attached when we get a match. We will sell Mary's car and purchase a nearly new car.

Work:
Mary is concentrating on her studies and hopes to be finished by the end of the year. Mungo is IT Manager for the UK arm of an international company situated a few minutes from home. His company, and indeed the MD, are very supportive of our plans.

Studying:
Mary's courses: Childcare, Learning and Development, NVQ Level 3 - received an A in her 5th assignment and is half way through number 6 (of 10). Nutrition and Health of School Aged Children, NVQ Level 2 - exam date is 15th September. Mungo's courses: T175 (Networked Living) – Course finished, PASS! M255 (Java Programming) – the fourth and final assignment (due 17th September) has been submitted; exam date is 14th October. MT264 (Designing Applications With Visual Basic) – registration complete, course starts 3rd October.