Waiting for Our Baby

Less than 8 weeks to go!

2013-08-25T18:34:00.001-04:00

We are still matched and things are going so well! We absolutely love our expectant mother and her daughter, and we are very excited to meet this little one in less than 8 weeks! We are so blessed. :)

Matched!

2013-07-11T21:49:00.003-04:00

We have been matched with an amazing expectant mother! She is having a baby girl and is due in October! We are over the moon with excitement! Our match meeting is next week and we are really looking forward to it.

Update...

2013-06-07T14:35:00.001-04:00

It's been a while since we've updated! We're still hanging in there... we recently hit 29 months of waiting. It hasn't been the easiest thing, but it's all part of the journey that we're meant to embark upon. Everyone who adopts says that you forget the wait once you have your baby... we're counting on that! We're keeping busy... beach trip is at the end of the month and we're really looking forward to it!

We recently added some hanging paper lanterns to the nursery... I love them, they're so cheerful and happy!

Love makes a family...

2013-02-21T20:52:00.000-05:00

Here we are... 25 months in to this waiting game and still going strong! :) Some people have asked us how we're able to stay strong and continue to wait after such a long time. It's simple, really... we want a family. Adoption is the way we're going to get there... even after waiting as long as we have, adoption still feels very right to us and we'll continue to wait as long as it takes. :)

I've seen this graphic all over Pinterest and here and there on Facebook. I even posted it to our Facebook adoption page not too long ago. Every time I see it, it makes me smile because there is so much truth behind it. I plan to order a print for our nursery. :)

Wrapping up 2012...

2012-12-31T22:37:00.003-05:00

It's really hard to believe that 2012 is coming to a close and a new year is beginning. The new year brings a home study renewal for us... which we never expected and we are a little bummed about. But, renewing the home study means that we can continue on this adoption journey, and that's a good thing. :) When we started the adoption process, we never imagined we'd be waiting as long as we have. The waiting does start to take a toll on you, because we're only human. But, it's important to us to try and keep a positive outlook and see the bright side of things... we're still waiting because it isn't the right timing as far as the child that God has planned for our family. :) And, when that timing is right and we meet our precious baby, we'll know why we waited for so long.

Overall, 2012 was a good year for us... we made a lot of good memories with friends and family! We're excited about 2013 and what it has in store for us! Here we go!

December has been tough...

2012-12-15T18:12:00.002-05:00

The adoption journey has a lot of ups and downs... sometimes we feel on top of the world with hope that we'll meet our baby soon. And, other times we feel very low and hopeless about things. December has been really tough. But, I'm proud of the way we've been working to fight the hopelessness that sometimes tries to creep in. Instead of focusing on the fact that we're spending another Christmas together without children, we are trying to focus on spending time with family and friends, and with each other.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2012-11-22T17:57:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to pop in for a minute to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! We are so thankful for the many blessings in our life... and we pray every day that by next Thanksgiving we'll be able to add a child to that list of blessings! :)

Happy birthday Scott!

2012-10-27T21:57:00.001-04:00

We celebrated Scott's birthday this week! We met up with his family for dinner and painting at a really cool place that we've never been to before. The painting was a vintage Georgia Theater and we loved doing it!

Here's mine...

In adoption news... well, really, there isn't much to report right now. We've had a bunch of contacts during the last year, but nothing has worked out for various reasons. We're coming up on our home study renewal soon... which, is tough to think about. But, we know that all of this will lead to finding the right match eventually, and we hold on to that hope. :)

2012-09-16T19:28:00.000-04:00

We have been so busy that I just realized how long it's been since I've posted an update! There really isn't much to update on the adoption front... we're getting ready to start renewing things for home study renewal #2. It's hard to think about having to renew the home study again... because that will mean that we've been waiting for 2 years. But, we want to have a family and so we continue to move forward on this road as long as it takes to make that happen. :)

School started back up last month... this week will be our 6th week back and it feels like it's flown by! My new class is very sweet and I've enjoyed them. But, we've had a lot of changes take place for this new school year so it has been a bit stressful. But, I'm powering through... much like we're powering through this adoption wait! :)

I do wish I had more to update... but, that's pretty much it for now.

18 months...

2012-07-17T23:54:00.000-04:00

This week marked 18 months that we've been a waiting family with our agency. While we never thought we'd be waiting this long, we feel so blessed to be on this adoption journey because we know that it will make us a family. And, even though we haven't adopted yet, we are so thankful for adoption and for the blessing it will bring us when the time is right!

This past weekend, I went on a little getaway with a few awesome ladies from the little adoption support group we formed a while ago. The women in our group are just amazing and I love spending time with them. A few of us spent the weekend at a cabin in the North Georgia mountains. It was so peaceful and so beautiful! We had a fun time with lots of good food and great conversation! And the view was amazing!

Sweet Summertime...

2012-06-14T13:30:00.000-04:00

We are so excited that it's summertime! While neither of us are big fans of the hot temps that come with summer in Georgia, we love all of the fun things that come along with the season.

Being in summer vacation from school is always great! Teaching is a tough profession... and, although I love it and it is one of my passions, a break is always welcomed. I love being able to get things done around the house and spend time catching up on reading! We love spending time with our families celebrating all of the summer birthdays... we have 6 birthdays in June and July, including mine! :) We are also really looking forward to our family beach vacation in July. It's going to be so awesome to spend time with our family from New York!

This summer also brings us to the 18 month mark of our adoption journey... meaning that we've been an official waiting family for almost 18 months. It's been a long 18 months, but we know that each month that passes brings us closer to our baby. Sometimes it's hard to stay positive about the long wait... but, we will wait as long as it takes to match with the right expectant mom for us. We're feeling positive that the expectant mom who chooses us to parent her baby will be an awesome fit for our family. :)

Open Adoption Bloggers Roundtable Topic

2012-05-09T18:53:00.001-04:00

The Open Adoption Roundtable is a series of writing prompts that are posted periodically on the Open Adoption Bloggers website. Bloggers from all sides of the adoption community are welcome to respond to the prompt on their own adoption blogs. The most recent topic got me thinking and I decided to participate. The topic can be found here and my response follows...

Write to someone else in the adoption constellation (someone specific or a general group). What do you want to say to them on Mother’s Day?

To our future child's birth mother...

As we get closer to Mother's Day this year, there are so many emotions inside that it is difficult to sort through them and put them into words. For the past several years, Mother's Day has always been a painful day for me. It was once a day that reminded me of the difficulty we were having conceiving a child. Later, it became a day that reminded me of the babies we lost and of the fact that, despite conceiving twice, my arms were still empty. This year, while Mother's Day is still a tough day for me to face, I am looking at things differently than I have in the past. Because of you, I can look at Mother's Day with a hopefulness that I haven't always felt before.

It may seem hard to believe, but we already love your child, a child we've never even met, more than we thought we would ever love anyone. We love you for making us a family and we are forever grateful for your selflessness and sweet spirit. The gift you're giving us is priceless, and we promise that we will always love this child unconditionally with all that we are and with all that we have. So, on this Mother's Day, I want you to know that I am hopeful for the day that you will make me a mother. Not only that, but I am thankful for the many Mother's Days that we will celebrate together... mothers in different ways, connected by the love we both have for one child.

11 years...

2012-03-12T00:19:00.000-04:00

We celebrated our wedding anniversary last weekend... we've been married for 11 years! Yes, we've been married for more than a decade... our marriage is very strong and we really are each other's best friend. I realized this anniversary that, being 33 years old, means that I have been married for 1/3 of my life. :)

We decided to do sort of a "staycation" for our anniversary weekend, so we booked a hotel in Atlanta and spent the weekend visiting different places in the city. It was relaxing and so much fun! We want to take a cruise for one of our upcoming anniversaries... but being that we're still in the waiting phase of our adoption journey, we don't feel comfortable being so far from home at this time. Maybe somewhere down the line we can take our child(ren) on a family cruise!

Valentine's Day...

2012-02-12T15:47:00.000-05:00

I love Valentine's Day! I know that some people call it a "Hallmark Holiday" and feel like it doesn't really have much significance. But, for me, I don't think there's anything wrong with having a special day set aside that is devoted to telling the people you love and care about just how much you love and care about them. I look forward to making Valentine's Day memories and having little traditions with our children in the future. Making glittery hearts for Daddy, baking heart-shaped cookies, and decorating cupcakes with pink frosting and sprinkles for the classmates at school.

For our first Valentine's Day together when we were dating, Scott took me to dinner and to see the movie "Shakespeare in Love." Every year since then, we always try to do something special together. This year, I am cooking dinner for us at home... but, yesterday we had an early Valentine's celebration. We went to dinner at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant... and Scott's soup had a green onion shaped like a heart in it!

That was a super cute discovery! Then, after dinner we went to a local canvas painting place that was having a Valentine-themed date night... we each painted one-half of a painting onto our own canvas. When you put them together, it makes a large painting. Scott painted the one of the left and mine is the one on the right.

It was so much fun! I can't wait to finish up our celebration on Tuesday with a special dinner at home, complete with molten chocolate cake!

Last Minute Hospital List...

2012-01-07T20:11:00.001-05:00

We have been a waiting family with our agency for a year, so that makes us eligible to be on what is called the Last Minute Hospital List. After thinking about it for, oh, less than a second... we decided to sign up to be on that list. Basically, what this means for us is that there is a chance we could get a phone call on any day, at any time, telling us that we have been chosen by an expectant mom who is either in labor or recently had her baby at the hospital. We then have 30 minutes to decide if we want to accept the match... and, if we do, we'll immediately be on our way!

A last minute situation usually happens because a woman who wants to make an adoption plan for her baby is in labor at the hospital, but doesn't have a plan in place. If the hospital social worker contacts our agency, they will send over profiles of families on the Last Minute Hospital List that live within a 4 hour driving distance to the hospital.

This is very exciting for us, of course. But, in reality, the number of last minute hospital situations that the agency sees is pretty low. But definitely still something that can happen for us! As always, we're staying hopeful that we will bring our baby home soon.

2011 Wraps Up...

2011-12-31T11:03:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe it's the end of another year. Time really seems to go by quickly the older we get. Overall, 2011 was a good year for us!

We finally went live and on the books with our agency...

We celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary...

Our nephew's 1st birthday party was so much fun...

We had an amazing family vacation in Myrtle Beach...

We finished most of our nursery (and we love it)...

So, while 2011 was not the year we became parents, we are feeling hopeful that 2012 will be the year we meet our baby!

A little shopping...

2011-12-21T13:58:00.000-05:00

My mom is the queen of bargain shopping! Growing up, we always shopped the clearance racks and didn't buy things unless they were on sale. Of course, as a kid, it's hard to understand the reasons why Mom was limiting the things that could be purchased. But, as an adult, I now know why! And, even though we are usually able to afford to pay full-price for things, the bargain queen rubbed off on me and I almost always find myself hunting for those good deals like we did when we were kids.

So, all along this adoption journey, we have been filling the nursery and closet with things that we'll need when we bring our baby home. Some things were given to us by my sister when her baby grew out of them. Almost everything else was purchased on sale or clearance. I'm so thankful for the smart shopping I learned from my mom. :)

My newest finds are an awesome diaper bag and a travel bed. The diaper bag is cute and will work for a boy or a girl. The travel bed will be absolutely perfect to use when/if we are in a hotel waiting for ICPC clearance. It is compact and can even fit inside our suitcase if we need to fly instead of drive, depending on where our baby is born. I was excited by these new finds!

JJ Cole Collections Mode diaper bag in Black Magnolia

Eddie Bauer Travel Bed in Brown

Oh Christmas Tree...

2011-12-11T13:55:00.000-05:00

I love decorating our Christmas tree every year. It's very calming to me to take time to place the ornaments and think about where some of the special ones came from. I tend to keep a color scheme going with most of the ornaments... this year they're mostly silver and white. But there are still some on there that are meaningful or were given to us by someone special, and I include them on the tree even though they may not go with the color scheme. I do know that the day is coming when our Christmas tree will not have much of a color scheme going, but will instead be filled with mismatched ornaments that our children pick out or make themselves. It will be a change from the tree I decorate every year, but it is a very welcome change and I can't wait!

Guest Blogger

2011-12-07T11:12:00.001-05:00

Andrea is featured as a guest blogger on our agency's blog!

Check it out!

Opening Our Hearts to Open Adoption

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T19:26:00.001-05:00

We hope that everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! It's important to be thankful every day, but sometimes it's hard to take time out to think about all of the blessings in our lives. I love how Thanksgiving is a day where everyone takes time to be thankful together. :)

What we're thankful for this Thanksgiving (and every day)...

* Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

* Each other and our strong marriage.

* Our amazing family!

* Our cozy home.

* Our sweet pets who make us laugh every day.

* The miracle of adoption, which will allow us to become parents!

2011-11-19T20:03:00.001-05:00

I posted earlier this month about how November is National Adoption Month. Well, today, November 19th, is National Adoption Day!

I would love to know how adoption has touched your life!

National Adoption Month

2011-11-15T17:12:00.000-05:00

November is National Adoption Month! Adoption has touched my life in so many ways, and we haven't even brought our baby home yet! :) My mother was adopted by my grandparents, who were some of the most important people in my life. Without adoption, I wouldn't have had the amazing grandmother and grandfather that I was so blessed to have. Also, Scott was adopted as a teenager by his step-father, who then became his father. He is so thankful for this.

So, while we haven't adopted yet, our lives have already been impacted by adoption. Adoption is what will make us parents, and that is something special. By pursuing adoption, I have met so many wonderful people in the adoption community, both online and in real-life. The ladies in my local adoption group are so great, and being able to support one another through our journeys has been, and will continue to be, a blessing. Our agency also has an online message board where I have learned so much by interacting with other people who have adopted or who are currently waiting for their little ones.

In 2010, President Obama made a proclamation of November as National Adoption Month... he had some wonderful things to say about adoption and about parenthood. One of my favorite things he said is "Giving a child a strong foundation -- a home, a family to love, and a safe place to grow -- is one of life's greatest and most generous gifts." I love this and I can't wait until we are able to give these things to our child.

10 reasons we chose to work with our agency...

2011-10-26T19:04:00.005-04:00

When we first decided to pursue adoption, we really had no idea where to begin. We didn't know much about the adoption process and what it would take to finally become parents. We quickly decided that we wanted to work with an adoption agency... we needed someone to support us, educate us, and help us through the process from beginning to end.

We started researching agencies and it didn't take long for us to make our choice. Now that we have been working with them since June of last year, we continue to feel that we made the best choice for us.

So, here are 10 reasons that we chose to work with our agency...

1. They are a non-profit agency.

2. They do not have any exclusionary practices, like many other agencies do. Our agency does not discriminate against hopeful adoptive singles/couples based on things like race, sexual preference, marriage length, religion, etc.

3. They work with expectant moms to help them locate resources in their area to help with housing, food, etc, if needed.

4. They are counseling-based... they provide extensive counseling and support to expectant moms who choose to work with them, as well as counseling to the adoptee if/when it is needed.

5. They are very transparent with their fees, and they are up front about where the money goes.

6. Speaking of fees, the fees are the same no matter the race/ethnicity/gender of the baby that is adopted. This was a shock to me, but there are agencies that charge clients a higher fee if they adopt a Caucasian baby, and a lower fee if they adopt a biracial or African American child.

7. They believe that open adoptions are the healthiest choice for all members of the adoption triad (adoptive parents, birth parents, adoptee). They spend time educating their clients on the benefits of open adoption.

8. They encourage hopeful adoptive couples (or singles) and expectant mothers (and fathers) to develop close relationships during their match time that can carry over after placement.

9. They are "with the times"... meaning that they take advantage of today's advanced technology by helping clients develop a presence on the Internet, and they use the web and social networking as part of their outreach efforts.

10. They feel that when an expectant mother wants to make an adoption plan, it is her right to choose the family that she feels is the best fit for her baby. They do not suggest clients to her or give her a limited selection of profiles to look at. They give her the profiles of every client that matches her situation... plus, she (and anyone) has access to the profiles of all clients on the website.

Support systems...

2011-09-27T18:48:00.000-04:00

I am realizing lately how important it is to have a strong support system during an adoption journey. Having support was really important when we were trying to conceive and when we lost our babies, of course. But the ups and downs of an adoption journey call for lots of support. We are so blessed to have the family that we do. Everyone is so excited about our decision to adopt and they have been so supportive during every part of our journey and every obstacle we've come up against. It's a really great thing to have such wonderful people to lean on.

I spent the afternoon Sunday with a small group of ladies who have adopted or who are on their own adoption journeys. We went to a place where you paint your own pottery... we sat together, painted, and got to know more about one another. It was so nice to be able to spend time with ladies who can identify with what we are going through. We are planning to get together again, soon... hopefully with a few more ladies from our area.

In other news... not much else to report in our adoption world. :) We are getting close to our home study expiring in December, so we will start working on the renewal process soon. It's hard to believe that we are getting close to one year of waiting... but that's another post for another day.

Snapshots from our nursery...

2011-08-16T18:07:00.001-04:00

We have been slowly working on our nursery and gathering baby things since we started our home study. It has been a way to keep ourselves feeling hopeful about the process and knowing that we will bring our baby home one day. Our nursery has a monkey theme and the walls are a sage green and dark chocolate brown. It is such a happy, fun room and I love going in there. Instead of the usual nursery pictures, I wanted to capture some snapshots. Okay, well, one sort-of typical picture of the crib and rocker, and then snippets from there...