11 More Weeks!

We are happily and excitedly awaiting our son's arrival in just 77 days!  We have a crib and dresser all set and ready in his room- although, the walls are still pink from when it was my craft room so we still have something to fill our time with!  We've decided to do a Prince theme in the bedroom and found some lovely artwork on Etsy of animals with crowns and even a little boy with a crown catching stars :) 

We have a growing stash of cloth diapers, miscelaneous baby items and teeny tiny clothes!  We aren't any closer to picking a name even though we have both combed through the book multiple times.  Maybe we will just have to wait until we meet him!  We are registered at Baby's R Us and on Amazon and looking forward to the baby shower my sister and a dear friend are throwing in August! 

This also means I have just under 11 weeks of work left.  However, with this fire that has hit Colorado Springs, and the family I work for being evacuated it is unknown how much I will actually be working in the weeks to come.  The hours I do work will most likely be in a hotel room!  So far it seems their home will only have smoke damage so we are thankful for that.

We are in the third trimester now, so we are going to doctors appointment with our birth mom every 2-3 weeks!  Our next appointment is July 12.  We really enjoy these opportunities to get to know J better, to "see" our growing son and just be near him even though we can't yet hold him.  Everything is going along just fine with the pregnancy and adoption plan. 

77 short [loooong] days until we hold our baby boy!  It still feels like a dream :)  We are blessed beyond measure and thankful beyond expression.  Thank you for your prayers, love, excitement and joy!  We serve an amazing God who has ordained this from before we were born.  He is knitting our son together as we speak with tender love and wisdom. We stand in awe of this great work of creation!!!

Love & Blessings to all of you!

It's A Boy!

You've probably heard the news by now,  but just in case- we are super thrilled to be having a son!  We have no words to express how exited we are!  The ultrasound was great- we got to see alot of Noodle's organs & watch him move around for about a half an hour. I could have sat in that room all day long.  We heard his strong heart beat & were overwhelmed with how much we already love this tiny, 11 ounce baby boy!  We spoke with the doctor & received his thumbs up report on Noodle's health.  Everything looks as good as it can be.  His due date is September 20 but he will be delivered via c-section about one week prior.  (exact date tbd.)  We are loving the name picking process & making all of the little plans & arrangements for bringing our little guy home. 
After the ultrasound we went to lunch with J, her grandmother & her 4 year-old son.  It was a great casual meal & we left feeling very encouraged.  J has decided to stay with her adoption agency in Denver which changes a few things but nothing major.  Our fees are a little higher than if J were to switch to Hopes Promise but still significantly less than we originally anticipated.  Sometime in the next few weeks we will sign a new contact reflecting all of the changes & by the end of June hopefully have our home study completed & everything set.  (Our social worker is out of town for 3 weeks in June which is why we aren't doing all of this sooner.)
So far there are zero red flags of this placement not happening (J changing her mind about following through with her adoption plan.)  She has a very good relationship with a counselor from her agency & meets with her weekly.  Once we and J sign information release paperwork we will be able to speak with her counselor directly & hear her perspective of how J is handling all of this.
Every detail is firmly in God's hands.   We often have to choose whether to indulge the fears & anxieties of a failed adoption or trust that God has brought this little boy into our lives today & leave the future to Him.  God is faithful.  Pray that we choose to trust & delight in this gift rather than be consumed with worry of things we cannot control.
Before his birth we will get to see 2 more ultrasound (about every 6-8 weeks.)  Which is super exciting!  J asked if I wanted to be in the room while our baby was delivered & be the first to hold him.  I am super exited!!!  What a gift! 
So that our son recognizes our voices, we are working on recording ourselves reading stories, talking to the baby & even singing a little bit onto an ipod!  J was exited to be able to play this for him which will hopefully help him have a smother transition.  What a blessing that J is willing & even eager to take the time to do this! 
We are filled to the brim with praise to our God!  Join us in making our praises loud!!!
Here are some photos :)

Adoption Quilt

          July                      August                 September

    October                    November                    December

Sometime in January we decided that we really wanted to create something special for our child that captivated their journey to our family - from our perspective.  Something meaningful and unique.  We decided on creating an adoption quilt!  Each quilt square represents one month of waiting and there are 4 squares for each month.  My broken finger stalled progress for a bit but we are back at it and can't wait to get caught up!  Our May fabrics will be either PINK or BLUE and we are SO excited!  Our adoption process will have taken 15 months from decision to adopt to bringing home baby!  So unbelievable!  We plan to embroider into the border the specific dates and events of the process (mostly dates from Our Paper Pregnancy.) 

Our Adoption Profile Book

Curious what an adoption profile book looks like?  Just plain curious about our adoption profile book?  Well, here it is!  We have spent hours putting this together and due to our surprise blessing of finding a birthmom through a friend this book won't even be shown!  We are printing a copy to give to our birth mom and to keep for ourselves and our child.  While putting this together we seached for and looked through many many other couples' books and found it supremely helpful!  The agency actually gave us VERY little guidance on this.   So we are doing our part and sharing our book with the world.  Enjoy! :)

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

The BIG Day (Part Two)

After our counseling appointment David and I jumped in the car and headed up to Denver for our lunch date with Jemi!  Between Jemi running late and David and I accidentally going to the wrong restaurant our 1:00 meeting actually started at 2:00!  We finally got to the same place and sat down.  Jemi was very chatty and open which really helped keep the conversation going and comfortable.  She shared very openly about a whole host of details.  We talked about our ideas and expectations during pregnancy, at the birth and afterward.  She shared some of her hopes and dreams of the future as did we.  She invited us to the ultrasound May 1 to find out the sex of the baby!  She showed us ultrasound pictures from previous appointments and let us take pictures of them on our phones. :)  Jemi said that she's ready to move forward with us if we are!  UN.BE.LIEVABLE!  We felt really great about meeting with her and as we left were overwhelmed with a whole host of expected and unexpected emotions.

So, if everything goes as planned right now, our baby will be born by c-section September 15!!!  We will be there and bring the baby home from the hospital.  We are actually going to be parents in 5 months!  We can hardly believe it!!!

What are the next steps?  We really don't exactly know!  We wrote an email to our social worker Julie on Thursday night with a list of questions and have not heard back.  The next thing we have to achieve is home study approval which should just be a letter and a quick home inspection away.  This should be no problem to have done by September and we are going to pray things go smoothly.  We should be able to proceed with this process through Hopes Promise.  Since we have essentially found our own birth mother the agency adoption fees are cut nearly in half!  Our puzzle fundraiser nearly covers our entire cost of adoption!  Wow!  We cannot say thank you enough to everyone who has supported us, sponsored pieces, prayed for us and cheered us on!

Here is what we know about our baby-

He/She is Caucasian/Filipino/Black -- beautiful!
All tests so far have come back healthy.
Heart beat is strong and fast.
He/She is almost 18 weeks gestation and very active.

We are overwhelmed to say the least!  What an amazing gift and blessing to be matched before even being in the waiting pool.  Praise the Lord with us as we anticipate this indescribable blessing!

The BIG Day (Part One)

At the end of March I received a  message on facebook from an acquaintance at church.  She is friends with a lady whose son is friends with a girl who was looking to make an adoption plan for her baby.  We expressed interest & a couple of days later had the cell phone number of this girl!  After much prayer, speaking with our adoption agency & with a stomach full of butterflies I made the call.  At this point we didnt even know the girl's name!  I left a message & she called me back an hour later.

She gave us a whole bunch of information about herself, the bio dad, her situation, this pregnancy & her desires in an adoptive family.  We fit all of her criteria & she expressed a desire to meet!  We spoke a couple more times on the phone & planned to meet for lunch at Red Robin in Denver where she lives. 

That meeting was yesterday.

As you might remember we are right at the finish line of our home study.  We were asked to met with a counselor & complete a psychological profile test to make sure that we (especially me) are ready & equipped to be parents.  We took the 180 true/false question test a couple of weeks ago.  The time line & results of our home study hang on this test & what our counselor writes in her report to Hope's Promise.  We finally got the results. 

That appointment was yesterday.

BIG DAY!

10am was our appointment time.  We showed up a couple minutes early.  David being the kind, loving & amazing man that he is tried to distract me by talking about some things going on at his work.  Unfortunately, my nerves were getting the better of me & I'm not sure if I could tell you anything he was talking about.  Not being able to give David a child biologically is painful to say the least.  Not being able to give David a child through adoption because of my emotional scars from childhood...I'm not sure I could bear it.  We were called in & jumped right in to my report.  I felt really overwhelmed hearing these paragraphs of potentially harmful tenancies.  Amazingly, most everything sounded exactly like me...if you were to look at all of my weaknesses at once on a bad day.  Not what I would call fun or encouraging.  But I guess every forest contains some pretty ugly trees, yes?  As is typically the case in these situations we didn't finish up with my profile or get to touch David's.  We meet again in 2 weeks.  We were wrapping up & I couldn't take it anymore...

"So, big picture, what are your thoughts at this point in terms of our adoption process & moving forward in our home study?"  I asked.

"Oh, I believe you both will be excellent parents. I really do.  I don't see any reason not to continue.  I plan to write a letter sharing the report findings & a couple of areas I believe would be helpful for you to work through but also that you will be great parents."

HUGH sigh of relief...tears in my eyes...praises rising to the Lord who has done so much healing work in my life!  I will always wrestle with certain patterns that I learned very young in order to cope but what a huge blessing to hear such affirmation after all of the work I've done & especially God has done in my life!  This is definitely a moment to pause & boast in the incredible healing power of Jesus Christ!  2 years ago I am confident this would have been an entirely different experience!  God is good.

More to come soon!  I am writing this on my phone & can't swype anymore right now!  :)

Long Overdue Update

Although not the timetable we had planned, we are still moving along in the process.  We have had 3 home visits and have been asked to take a few extra steps before home study approval.  Because of my (Emma's) oh so exciting childhood, Julie (our social worker) has asked that I meet with one of their psychologists and get an official evaluation of a few specific aspects of my emotional health.  While our first reaction to this news was disappointment at running into another delay, we are praying and trusting that this is a necessary step and will help us be the best parents we can be.  No timeline is more important than that.

On another note, we are only thirty-nine pieces away from completing our puzzle! 

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we will keep you posted.

More in depth update to come when Emma's hand is not broken.  :)