Looking back at where you've been

It's been a busy couple of weeks on the adoption front (as well as with work stuff)
I spent a lot of time over the half term break sorting paperwork for the LA. They've asked us to provide 6 non-family members each to act as referees, but want people who have known us over various stages in our lives and in different capacities - not an easy task, but I think we have both managed it.

I know its a chronometer, but there aren't any good images for chronologies!

We've had to produce chronologies of all the key events that have happened in our lives since birth, including schools, addresses, key relationship events, employment etc. It took a while to collect all the information together but even if now I have sent it off, new minor things keep popping into my mind that I missed off.

I thought the wonderful thing about Tigger was that he was the only one.

We've also had to produce family trees for our immediate relations. These are complicated enough to start with, but when you start having to include ex - partners of current partners of step-siblings it gets a bit silly. They need to be in there though as they are parents of children we have contact with.  The final tree is too large to print out, even on A3 paper, so i'm going to have to do some reformatting of it at some point!
On a side note, producing the close family tree has inspired me to do some more research on the family tree that my dad started a few years ago.  With the help of Ancestry.co.uk I've tracked my paternal line back to 1780 - I think that's a bit more detail than the SW needs though!

All of this paperwork formed the starting point for my first preparation interview with our SW, which took place last Friday.  Although the SW was supportive throughout the interview, I found it quite grueling from an emotional point of view.  The purpose of the meeting was to look into how my life experiences might help me cope with the demands of parenting an adopted child and help guide them through the difficulties they are likely to face.  For understandable reasons a lot of the time was spent talking about some of the more difficult aspects of my life - being bullied, divorce as well reflections of my time spent working in the institutes in Romania.  It was a very intense hour and half to say the least, but generally very positive.
For any readers who are reading this blog for hints and advice, the main hint I would give is to give yourself time after the interview before having to do anything significant.  My interview took place at work (it was more convenient for me and the SW) but I was glad that I had a lunch break to collect my thoughts - I don't think I could have walked straight from the meeting into the classroom.