I found the chronology and family history work very cathartic and therapeutic. it was a little upsetting revisiting so many old wounds in one sitting (in hindsight i should have spaced out filling in the chronology but i did it all in one go over 5 hours!) but it did confirm that these wounds are well and truly healed and buried, which was comforting.
Our home visit was fine apart from a few issues like banister width that need sorting. Snippet the dog was unusually energetic, even though I'd taken him on a long walk beforehand, he got every toy out of his basket, some he hadn't even seen for months and proceeded to take them over to our SW and repeatedly snout her on the leg until she noticed! He does love meeting new people! Cat face remained aloof as per usual and refused to fill out the 'Pet questionare'. I was proud of my home, during the weeks leading up to the visit i had experienced what i like to call 'nesting', premature granted, but it was so much more purposeful and frantic than any other tidying spree I've experienced (and i do, often). I was a woman possessed by the need to take three bags a day to the charity shop, fill the loft, organise cupboards, drastically cut back the garden and scrub everything down. visiting the tip became a jolly outing and my main goal in life became having an empty chest of drawers in the spare room ready for someone to move in. My Mum came to visit which was great as she is a motivating influence on me, she 'Gets Things Done' and inspires the 'doer' in me.
Despite the challenges of watching powerpoint in a stuffy room the training days in Stage One were really insightful, interesting, challenging and inspiring - all they should be. I found the best part was having a chance to meet some 'real life adopters' and hear their stories. Having your beliefs stretched and challenged is also a real learning curve. One of the things i have taken away from this training is that adopted children need to be parented in a different way, a common misconception can be that 'once they have settled in everything will be normal', I still find my nearest and dearest making comments along these lines and have realised it might be a struggle to help them understand. Our agency has a family and friends training day in Stage Two which will be so valuable for this reason.
My overall experience of Stage One was very positive, I relished the challenge of the work and it felt good to be learning about something so important - one of the adopters on a training day said that when times get tough they try to re-focus themselves and think about 'the job in hand', this really made sense to me and will be something that sticks with me throughout because ultimately it is the most important, rewarding job anyone could have and it is vital to get it right...or as right as you can. A lot of people in the agency had warned us that Stage one is gruelling and intense for potential adopters - "whatever you do, don't take on anything new at work during this stage", funny how things work because during stage one my manager left with a days notice due to family reasons and I was left holding the fort - it was stressful to say the least. But my point is that even despite this I didn't find Stage One half as bad as they said and was infact left hungry for more...