Changes

The holiday season is a time of Joy and also a time of stress. Right before Thanksgiving we found out my Uncle John has passed away. We went up to Montana for the funeral that was held on the 2nd. It was a beautiful service. I was grateful to have been able to attend. We ran into some snow! Fun to see, but horrible to drive in. We has a lot fall in Rexburg just over night.

While we were in Rexburg Idaho my sister Jessica and brother in law Garn presented me with a donation to our adoption fundraiser! They sold some things so the could contribute. It was so touching and appreciated. Thank you so much Jessica and Garn! I love you guys! Oh, and of course baby L as well!

I had such a great time getting to spend time with this little guy!

Today I found out that most likely I will not have a job come the new year, which really means in two weeks because of the Holiday closure. I don't know yet how this will affect our adoption, but I am devastated. I love my job, I have done it for 4 years and 5 month at the end of this month. With both of us being unemployed it will be very difficult to be able to adopt. However, I am not giving up hope. I know God has a plan for us, and I know that something will work out. Thank you to the family and friends who are already praying for us, and we ask that the rest of you join them. We need a miracle right now, and we know that through ours and your faith God will provide one. We love all of you and thank you for your support!

Limbo

Right now I don't have a lot to say. I seem to have no desire to do anything to prepare for a baby. As we were winding down our home study and anticipating getting approved I was really excited and wanted to get everything ready for baby. Now that we are approved it all feel like it is over and baby doesn’t feel anywhere near in our future. I do know God has a plan for us and it will happen in His time. I am trying to let it all go and just have complete faith in Him, but it is hard. It is really hard not knowing and not having anything to specifically be working on. I though once we were approved we would officially start getting the nursery ready, but like I said, I have no desire to do it. It is probably due to something in the back of my mind saying, maybe God's plan is for you to not have children in this life. I don't actually believe that. I know that we will have our turn. I just need to keep believing and keep having faith.

It's Official!!!

It's official, we are approved! We are finally after 5 months of paperwork, background checks, interviews, and lots of waiting we are now approved to adopt a child domestically. I am so excited! I know this was just one hurdle, and now we wait until the time the Lord unites us with our child(ren). Now I need to start applying for grants and making fliers to put around town to get the word out that we are adopting. Please if anyone hears of anyone in the US wanting to place their child let them know about us and us about them. Once our profile is up on https://itsaboutlove.org/ I will put a link on the side of the blog so you can direct people there. Yay! Here's to hoping it doesn't take another two year!

National Adoption Month

November is here! I can't believe the year has gone by so quickly, and we have already been on our adoption journey for going on 5 months. This is going to be a good month because:

Not only is November National Adoption Month, but it is also the month when our home study should be approved! Joe said he should be done writing it today and then it will be reviewed by his committee. That should be done Tuesday or Wednesday. They may have more questions, but if not we could be approved next week! Keep you eyes peeled for an exciting post next week.

Lots of things have been brewing on the adoption front. Just this week we have actually been made aware of two separate adoption opportunities. We have decided not to pursue the first one we heard about, it just didn't feel right. The second one sounds quite exciting, but we aren't sure if it is actually feasible. Until we know more, I am sorry but I am going to keep details under wraps. Just please keep us in your prayers. Even if nothing comes from this referral, we are excited to get our home study approved and have our profile put on https://itsaboutlove.org/. We also would like all our friends, family, and followers to keep us in mind when you hear of adoption opportunities. We know there are children out there for us and we hope you can help bring us together.

Also, I want to send I HUGE thank you out to my friend Katie A. for your generous donation to our adoption fund. What a perfect way to start off National Adoption Month. Thank you so much!

EDIT: Make that three opportunities. We just go another email. All of these cases and children are so different. It is kind of crazy how this week is progressing. It could be all very exciting, or turn into nothing. We will see!

Babies First Diapers

Sorry, I know it has been a while since I have posted. I don't feel like there is much to write right now. I bought my first cloth diapers! I am excited about that. They are BumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers.

I also went to My Precious Kid and looked at diapers with my sister Stephanie, and my friend Hollie. We all bough All in 2 diapers. I bought a cow print one, it is so cute! Steph bought a blue one to try on D and Hollie bought matching blue and green giraffe prints for her twin boys she is carrying! It was so much fun.

Joe is officially writing our home study! He talked with everyone he needed to talk to and is now plowing away. He has been emailing Justin and I questions to answer, such as who is older between Kaylynn and I. LOL. It is always funny telling people that we don't know. The response is typically telling us that we should look at the time on our birth certificates. Well, New Mexico doesn't put the time on them, at least Kaylynn and mine don't have the time. Funny though, Joe suggested that I look into the hospital records. He then said he didn't need to know, he was just trying to add to the sibling rivalry. It was funny. I hadn't seen anything other than a serious side of our caseworker so the little banter back and forth was nice.

Hopefully soon I will be able to blog about getting approved!

Off Day

Everyone always tells me that I am strong. Thank you for that. However, that is not always the case, and let's be honest most times it is probably a face. Today though I wanted to be open and just share how I am feeling. I am having an off day. I have been taking time to research different aspects of parenting and raising an infant as I wait to find out if we are approved to adopt, and I am sure it will continue as we wait to be picked. It has all progressed naturally in my mind. Something someone says will lead me to be overly curious about options and what I want for my child. I started by picking out paint for the nursery. Then I moved onto diapering. I have chosen to cloth diaper and am pretty sure what system I want to use. My new tropic I have moved onto is breastfeeding. For those of you out there that don't know, yes it is possible to breastfeed an adopted child. However, learning about what it would take for me to breastfeed my child got me thinking about the fact that I have no maternity leave/benefits. It wasn't going to be a big deal when Justin was working, but now that he is layed off I won't get to have that time to bond with my baby. I am going to miss the most vital bonding months. This makes me cry. I am feeling extremely hormonal today. I don't know why all of this just hit me and I know I will be fine tomorrow or the day after, but today I am having an off day.

Blessings

Saturday after 4 hours of General Conference my twin sister and I went to Deseret Book in Lake Oswego for Ladie's Night. I had a good time spending time with her and some friends. Look what I got for a steel!

I know it is hard to read, but it says:

"Some blessings come soon, some come late,

and some don't come until Heaven

but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ

they come."

- Jeffery R Holland

I thought it would be perfect for the nursery, especially since it is normally $79.99 and I got it for $7.99! Now I need to paint the walls so that I can hang it. : ) I promise I will paint eventually.

A little update on our progress. I have been speaking with our case worker and he is still trying to contact our social worker from the state. However, he said if everything goes smoothly we should be approved late October or early November!  I really hope everything goes well and stays on track. I can't wait!

Background Checks

Our background checks came back today all clear! It was supposed to take 3-6 weeks, and today was the 2 week mark. Yep, we are that good. : ) Now we are just waiting for our home study to be written and to be approved.

Friends

Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another,

"What? You, too? I thought I was the only one."

-C.S. Lewis

I stole this from a blog I follow because it is perfect for my post today. Thursday was a hard day for me. Physical things were going on with me and we had our personal interviews for the adoption approval process.  While Justin came out of his interview hopeful, optimistic, and in a relatively good mood, I felt drained, exhausted, and a little torn down. I know most of that is from me, the expectations I put on myself, and my anxiety. I went straight to my yoga class hoping that would help me feel better, but because of some of the physical issues I was having that day I just felt worse. Pretty much I was having an off day. I do think everyone is allowed one every once in a while. : ) Well... When I got home I have a pretty package on the table waiting for me.

I was baffled by who it might be from and what it might contain. I saw the street name and thought it was from someone in Washington. LOL. I was like, "I don't have any Aunts in Washington."

I pulled out this cute unicorn and was even more confused. Then I read the card and pulled out a smaller envelope and started tearing up. This wonderful package made my day. The little guy's name is Wishful, which is totally perfect. Infertility is a rough road to travel. However, it has been made easier by the wonderful life long friends I have made who share this road. Stephanie, Allison, Kerry, Eve, Amanda, Amy, and Katie all sent me beautiful notes and donations to our puzzle fundraiser.

These women have called themselves Aunties. Family is more then blood. These women have been such a strength and a blessing in my life and I can't wait for our children to play at the park together. Yes we already talk about play dates. I have made lifelong friends whom I would never have met if not for this trial we all share. Thank you guys. You hold a special place in my heart.

Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another,

"What? You, too? I thought I was the only one."

-C.S. Lewis

Paint

I like to keep busy and progressing toward a goal. Currently the biggest goal in my life is to start a family and be a mom. I have been working diligently on that goal the past few years with fertility tests and treatments and now adoption paperwork and training. Well, with our interviews being in two days and that being all we have left of our part of the approval process, my mind and subconscious keeps looking for something to do. I can't go around town "advertising" our adoption with hanging fliers and such until our home study is complete so I kind of feel like I am in a holding pattern. I am in a transition period in a lot of ways.

My focus has seemed to transition to the nursery. While we aren't ready to actually turn the kids room into a nursery, for many reasons, I do think I am ready to start working on the transformation. First step, PAINT! I am not a huge fan of painting, but I am excited to paint the nursery. Of course all you secret paint lovers are more than welcome to help! What do you think of these colors? Yes, I know it is really hard to tell from a picture on a blog on a computer. I have the samples in my purse if you want to see! I went to Home Depot to start browsing paint chips. I knew going there that I wanted a light grey. Other than that I wasn't sure. I didn't think it would be too difficulty, said the colorblind person trying to distinguish from a billion slightly different shades of every color in the rainbow. : ) I don't know what I was thinking. However, there was a kind lady working there to whom I laid out my story and she graciously helped me. She said they had just done a room in their house using these colors, and "it feels like eternity when you walk in." When she showed me the colors they were perfect! Now, that could change tomorrow, lol, especially because I have a hard time making decisions and Justin doesn't seem to have an opinion. We will see. I will show these around and see what people thing. Fun!

I have met some of the most amazing women through our infertility journey. I simply love them. Some of them have "graduated" and moved on from our infertility support group because they are expecting! I am so happy for them. I went to a baby shower for one of my dear friends on Saturday. She is having identical twin girl. Also, one of our friends just had her little girl two weeks ago. I made these barrettes for them. Aren't they cute?!? Now, if I could only figure out what to do for the ones having boys.

Homestudy Inspection Done

Our caseworker came over yesterday to do our inspection. It seemed to go well. The only thing we really needed to correct was we needed to go out and buy a carbon monoxide detector for each floor. I thought our smoke detectors were both. Hehe. Oh well. They are now installed and we are good to go.

It was nice that when he was talking about what happens next he said that the ball is in his court. We have done our part and now it is up to him. He did say there is another couple ahead of us whose homestudy he needs to write, but he will get ours done after that. He also said it is OK for me to check in on him and see how it is going. : ) Thank you for giving me permission to nag! One thing that was really helpful was Justin and I both agreed that when he was talking it sounded like he was saying WHEN we are approved not IF we are approved. We will see how our interviews go.

Yesterday I went to Babies R Us to pick up a baby shower for a dear friend who is having twins after a long hard bout with infertility. I am so excited for her! At first while I was there I kept my head down and tried to avoid all the baby stuff and the moms. However, I let my self, for the first time since we lost our baby, actually start thinking about the nursery, and the fact that we really are going to need a nursery. How crazy is that? Even while writing this that thought still scares me because it still feels abstract and so far in the future that is isn't really a possibility, but I am starting to let my self believe it. I looked around at the bedroom sets and even brought home a catalog.

I really don't like espresso, which EVERYTHING seems to come in, neither do I like the painted white look. I like having a little red in the wood. I I found two at the store that I likes and another in the catalog. I have no idea what Justin likes, or if he even cares. While it would be so fun picking out nursery furniture, I don't think we are ready for that. Maybe we can start thinking of painting the nursery? Something light and neutral, safe. : )

Tonight we have a class on Oregon Adoption Law changed that are being proposed. Next Thursday are our individual interviews, and that is all for now. How crazy is it that we have done all we can do to be approved for adoption? It feels great, but also a little scary.

Sleepover!

We got to have a sleepover with our nephews tonight! We had such a good time. We had pizza for dinner, watched Epic at the neighborhood activity, played at the park, and went to Dairy Queen for dessert. The boys seemed to have a good time and Justin and I loved getting to spend time with them. I have to say I love the feeling of having kids in the back seat as I run errands. I know I am weird.

One thing that kinda hit me and made me pause was how much they love me. I love them more than anything, other than their mom and dad and grandparents, but I can also tell they love me too. Justin and I were talking about this after they were in bed. It reiterated to us how it is possible for us to love and for our children to love us even though we will not be biologically related. These two beautiful boys are not ours, we don't see them every day, and we don't provide for all their needs and wants. However, we still love each other unconditionally, openly, and honestly.  It is hard to imagine how much that will be amplified when it is our children but we know it is possible and we can not wait. Also, we can't wait for our little one to get to have sleepovers with his/her cousins.

Dance in the Rain

We made it! All our training is done, all the paperwork is sent in, and all our wonderful references have gotten their form turned in! Now we are getting ready for our interviews. Our "home inspection" interview is next Thursday! Yikes! We are so excited to get it done, but we have a lot to do to get ready. Then our personal interviews are the week after. It feels great to be making progress and to be so close to being approved. Please keep us in your prayers that our interviews will go well and that we won't say the wrong thing. : )

I have the most wonderful friends in the world. I sent them my letter to the birth parents to be edited and they were so helpful! I am so grateful for the wonderful people I have met through this journey. While infertility is hard and I wouldn't wish it on anyone, I have been blessed along the way. I will be eternally grateful for the friends I have made. I was listening to Hillary Weeks new CD "Say Love" on my way home from yoga last night, and her song "Hero" made me think of them. I wish I could share it with all of you, but alas it isn't on You Tube yet. : ) If you want to hear it come over and I will play it for you.

I have been trying to take time to notice small glimpses of moments in my life when I feel content. It has been great. There are times driving in my car with my music on not thinking about life our this crazy world and I feel pure joy. It is amazing. I highly recommend searching for those quick snippets. They are there and recognising them will make life happier. I am hoping one of those times will be tonight watching the Century Jaguars beat the Hillsboro Spartans at the football game we are attending for date night. I can't wait!

We've Got Mail!

Ok, well, I tried to post a picture of the beautiful card, but for some reason I can't get it to load.

We got our first mail in our PO Box! You can't believe how excited I was to get it. It was a beautiful card with a butterfly on the front from our friends the Ericksons. They sponsored a puzzle piece and wrote us the sweetest note. Thank you so much Preston, Kristyn, and Bryce!

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Life has been crazy busy at work, and working two jobs, Justin getting layed off and us trying to figure out trade act and school stuff, and having family in town. We have been making a little progress on the adoption front, but we are nearing the end of what we have to do so it is slowing down.

Right now I am really anxious to schedule our interviews. However, in order to do that all of our references have to be turned in. We have half of them submitted. I am hoping by the end of the week all we will have left are our interviews. What we have remaining is 2 training classes which we are completing tonight, mail in the packet of off line documents, which I am hoping to do tonight, and then the 2 references we are waiting on. Can you believe we are so close! I can't believe it. It feels so weird though. I feel so many conflicting emotions. It seems like we have been trying to get all this done forever, but at the same time like it is going so quickly. I feel as though we are nearing the end, but also as though we still have forever to go. Also, I am super excited to have our homestudy done and approved, but at the same time that ends the biggest part where I have at least a semblance of control.

I of course do know that once our homestudy is approved birth moms can then start viewing our profile and selecting us to be the parents of their baby. I can't wait for that phase. We have no idea how long it will take, but we do know that the timing will be perfect because God is in control. I am having a hard time succumbing to His time table, but I am working on it. : ) I will also do my best to keep this updated more, but I am not sure how much I will have to write while we are "waiting". Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We couldn't do it without you.

Making lots of Progress

Looking through pictures to put on our profile on itsaboutlove.org and i ran across this one. I had to share. This is so typical of the pictures we take. Justin loves to make silly faces in our pictures. Hopefully this will give the birth moms looking at our profile a good idea of who we are. : )

We have made a lot of progress on our adoption paperwork. All we have left on Phase 2 is our training. We have completed 3 classes, and had we have 4 more to do. We are doing our 4th class tonight. We are practically done with phase three as well! Justin needs to write a paragraph about me for our letter to our birth mother and we need a few more pictures for the photo album. That is about it. If I want to create a blog for birth mothers to learn more about us I can do that as well. The really intimidates me though. I wouldn't know where to begin or how to make it stand apart from all the other blogs out there.

I am really excited that we are getting so close to having our part done. Soon we will be starting the interview process. We need to get our home ready for the home study. We have A LOT to do in that department. Anyone want to come help us? : )

Recap

I have had a request to write a post on how the puzzle fundraiser works. I would love to!

How the Puzzle Fundraiser Works:

In order to raise the necessary funds for our adoption (Domestic Newborn Adoptions range from approximately $20,000 to $40,000 and International Adoption ranges approximately from $30,000 to $40,000), we are starting a Puzzle Fundraiser. People who donate to our Adoption Fund will purchase puzzle piece/s. The puzzle piece/s purchased will have the name of the person/family donating written on the back. As people/families purchase puzzle pieces, the Adoption Puzzle will be assembled. I will be updating my blog with the progress of the puzzle as it is formed.

After the puzzle is completed, we will frame the puzzle between two pieces of glass and hang it in our baby's nursery. This will be a wonderful keepsake for our child to see all of the people who were part of bringing him/her home. 

 

Cost of 1 Puzzle Piece = $20

 

You may choose to purchase a single piece, or if you want to donate a larger amount, you may purchase as many pieces as you desire.

 

We would love for you to hand us your donations so that we can thank you in person, but we know that isn't always possible. You can sponsor a piece by clicking the paypal donate button on the right side of the page or also mailing to our PO Box. That address in on the puzzle fundraiser page.

 

Also, I am making a flyer to promote our fundraiser so if you would like a few to hang up some where please let me know! Thank you!

It's Here!!!

When I got home from work today there was a package waiting! Our puzzle is here! I am so excited to start putting it together as the pieces are sponsored.

I was contemplating whether to show what the puzzle is, or wait until all the pieces are sponsored to show the whole puzzle.

However, I can't wait. This puzzle turned out so cute!

 As I said before, we were only able to get my family picture on the puzzle due to circumstances with Justin's family.

 Once things are more under control and we are able to get all the pictures I will put a collage together of all Justin's family that is excited to welcome a little one into our family as well.

With Justin getting layed off at the end of the month we are praying that we will be able to raise the funds needed to add the missing piece to our family puzzle.

 We can't wait until we are selected and then able to bring a little one home. We hope that you like this puzzle my dad worked so hard to help me get put together and ordered. Please help us create this memento for our nursery. Feel free to share on your Facebook page and let all your friends know about our fundraiser. We can't go this without you. Thank you so much. We love you all.

There it is! Keep watching the puzzle fundraiser page to see the progress of the puzzle being put back together as the pieces are sponsored.

Thank you Karen!

We have another donation, and I feel so loved. Karen Weight had donated $100 which sponsors 5 puzzle pieces. I have served with Karen in the nursery and really grown to love her. Thank you so much! Your generous contribution will help so much.

Ready To Go

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I was waiting to hear back on our Bishop's Recommendation, and then I had a really busy weekend.

First off I want to send a giant shout out to Patricia Feenstra for sponsoring a puzzle piece! All the donors so far have been from my wonderful friends on babyandbump.com. Over the past year I have gotten to know these wonderful ladies as we struggle through infertility and trying to start a family. I have been so blessed to have found them and I am amazed at the love and generosity they have show me even though we have never met face to face. Thank you so much!

This weekend was an eventful one. It was so nice to make progress in our adoption paperwork. Our caseworker got back from vacation on Thursday so I thought I was going to hear about our bishop's recommendation then because it was emailed on Saturday July 27th. However, when I spoke with our caseworker he couldn't find the email. After emails and phone calls back and forth between all three parties around 4:30 pm Friday Joe told us that he got the paperwork from our Bishop and he did recommend us! Yay! That was the first huddle! Now this morning I am paying the $1000 application/homestudy fee and then we will get the phase 2 paperwork in the mail. Also, that means we can start our online training this week. That will be $350. I can't believe all the money we have fundraised will be gone, just like that! It still amazes me how much everything costs. I know it is so worth it and I am excited to keep moving down this path.

For those of you that don't know, Justin has gotten notice at work that he is getting layed off. His last day will be the 30th of this month. That has been tough on him. He isn't looking forward to saying good bye to all the friends he has made at work, and it will be really tough with only my paycheck. However, we are really excited that he is going to have the opportunity to go to school full time. He is hoping to finish his degree in two years. If this adoption really takes two years it will be really good timing. Of course we would be more than happy for it to take less time, and we will work it all out. We know God has a plan for us, and he is looking out for us. As long as we are trying to do our best, everything will work. out.

Also, I have another piece of exciting news, I ordered the puzzle! The puzzle for our puzzle fundraiser will be here in about 10 days! I can't wait to take a picture for you all to see, and I will be updating pics of the progress as pieces are sponsored. I will update a picture for every 100 pieces. I am so excited for this wonderful piece of art and history and love to hang in the nursery. 

Leafty Family Reunion

This weekend was my mom's family reunion. We had it at Glenadan Beach. I had so much fun! I was in heaven spending all that time with so much family. This is the view from our condo. It was so beautiful. I love going to the coast and seeing the beautiful things God created. It is humbling.

 Justin loves hats, and he loves this boy. One of our nephews took Justin's hat and put it on. He totally posed and was like, "Justin, are you going to take my picture?" He didn't actually say that, but his face did. It was so cute.

 We had so much fun playing with all three of our nephews this weekend. Aren't they so cute?!? I love seeing my dad with them as well.

One of my favorite things to see are little fingers poking under doors. One night this week as my siblings and I were playing games two of my nephews were supposed to be sleeping. We heard them playing and went to investigate. We saw them both sticking their little fingers under the door. Soon there were five of us adults around the door taking pictures and playing with them. : ) Someday there will be another hand added from our little one joining the cousins.

 The newest addition to the family was starting to crawl this weekend. It was so fun to see him learning and figuring it all out.

Of course D didn't want to be left our so when he saw L crawling to me he joined in on the fun! My mom got some fun pictures of all of us playing together, swimming in the pool, and just having fun being together. All this family together time really makes me think about what it will be like when we are able to bring our little one home and have our family grow.

We are moving along in the adoption process. Right now we are waiting on our Bishop's Recommendation. He should have had it for a week now. I am going to call this afternoon and make sure that he did get it. After that is turned in, we will be plowing ahead preparing for our home study and taking our training classes! I am excited for our journey ahead of us.

Orientation

Thursday I got a text that we got mail at our PO Box. I was so excited to get our first donation there! However, when we got there it was junk mail. Ugh! That was a little bit of a let down. It was nice to have a little outing together though.

Yesterday was our Orientation Interview at LDS Family Services! I was so nervous. Justin kept telling me there is no need to be nervous. I still don't know that there is nothing to be nervous about, but I am excited to get started on the paperwork and the process. We did get the phase one paperwork. I already have most of it done. Once I do the person we are working with will send our references their letters to fill out. Then we pay our application fee and get started on our home study. Also, we have online training we have to do before our home study. That will take about 14 hours so we want to get started on that as well.

We do know the time it is going to take to adopt varies a lot from couple to couple, however we did ask what the average time is. He said he would say two years. However they do have a couple that had been waiting for going on five years. What this all means is that we really need your help. The best way for us to find our baby is with your help. Please keep you eyes and ear peeled for anyone that might be looking into placing their baby. Spread the word around so others know you know someone who is hoping to adopt. I know we have great friends out there and you guys will be great!

Off to work on our paperwork! Have a great Saturday.

We made a wish...

We made a wish and you came true! I saw that today and love it! I am hoping to put it on the nursery wall.  The past few days I have been reading adoption stories and words from birth mothers about how they made their choice. I have cried a few times. You can see some as well at https://itsaboutlove.org/ . Reading everyone else's experiences are really getting me excited to start our journey. However, I am also really nervous for our orientation/intake interview Friday. I know there are a million ways this can go wrong from start to finish. I am trying to remember to have faith and put it all in the Lord's hands. Please pray for us Friday!

Here we go!

We are so excited! We have chosen, more like we have been led, to an adoption agency. Funny enough, we really should have just gone here first. We have decided to pursue the application process with LDS Family Services. We know they are an honest and established agency, and we feel like the Lord has lead us here. Our orientation interview is this Friday! We are so excited! I literally can't hold it in! We know there will be hurdles and lots of paperwork to fill out before we are approved and then an undetermined waiting period with we wait for a birth mom to feel inspired to unite our families. We are ready! It feels like we are officially starting this journey, even though we have really been on it for years. We ask for you prayers as we embark on this journey.

Updates

I have updated the Current Events and Our Progress pages! Remember to keep your eye on those so you can see all that is going on throughout this exciting journey!

Thank you!

Thank you Camille! You have been such a blessing in our journey if trying to start a family. Thank you for all your support as we went through our fertility treatments, and now as we are moving onto adoption. Camille has sponsored a puzzle piece! That is one more! I couldn't be more excited.

Also, I do think we have picked our adoption agency. I am playing phone tag with the director, but I do believe we will make contact today. Once everything if for sure I will announce it. As you guys can probably tell, I don't like to talk about specifics until they are sure things. : ) We have just had way too many things not go as planned in our lives. I know that is because God has a plan, and it is better than ours so we need to trust it and Him and come along for the ride. I really am so excited to move a little forward in this process though.

Please keep those puzzle piece sponsors coming and I will keep you all updated. Thank you!

Blessed

People are being so supportive. Thank you so much! I have met so many wonderful people throughout this journey of trying to start a family. One of my friends is being so generous and doing a fundraiser for us. She is doing a fundraiser with her Etsy shop. My friends will receive 10% off and 10% of the profit will go to our adoption. The coupon code will be JKHADOPTION. Her shop can be found at www.etsy.com/shop/PreciousHardware. I hope you all check it out!

Also, we are still attempting to choose an adoption agency to work with. However, we may have narrowed it down. I called them yesterday to look into getting started and they said I should receive a call today. I am excited to get that step done. I feel as though once we are officially with an agency we will be on track. I have to many friends who have offered to help us by editing our letter to our birth mom, helping with the graphic design for our blog/website, pass out fliers and business cards, prepping for evaluations, and however else they can. Thank you so much girls for being there and supporting me in this journey. God has really blessed me throughout this trial.

We are making progress on our puzzle. I can’t wait to order it. However, I am still waiting on a few pictures. The day a few were supposed to be taken my sister-on-law went into the hospital. After being in there for a week my niece was born! Welcome to the world and this crazy family beautiful little girl!

Here is a sneak peak at one of the pictures for the collage that will be the puzzle. Enjoy! Please sponsor a piece!

And it has started!

Yesterday I woke up to two emails informing me that two people have sponsored puzzle pieces! We was to shout thank you to Mandy Lewis and Wendy Mitchell! I will try and post pictures of the puzzle every 100 pieces. We are currently at 22! We have 5 of the pictures done, two getting done today, and then two more to go. We are getting close! I can't wait for the puzzle to get here!

I hope you all had a great 4th of July. I was blessed to spend it with two of my sisters. We had a great time. I am ready for all the family that is out of town to get back though. Also, I am looking forward to our family reunion later this month! That will be the best!

Ok Ok, here you go...

This weekend and now week have been really busy. I am attempting to get together our next fundraiser in the midst of this heat wave we are having on the West Coast. Working at the pool has been torture with the 95+ weather and not being able to get in to cool off. Doesn't it look so inviting?!?

 My baby sister Clarrissa was in town this weekend. Family means the world to me so I was so excited when everyone showed up at the pool! Justin just loves our nephews, and they love him too. D especially likes putting on Justin's hats and glasses.

 I really enjoyed watching everyone have a good time. Since Clarrissa was in town I was able to get a jump start on the fundraiser prep. Since Justin has to go to Boise this week it is pushing back the completion of fundraiser prep so I won't be mean and keep you in suspense any longer.

We are going to do a puzzle fundraiser. If you haven't heard of it, don't worry, it is easy to participate in. I have a page on here that is specifically for the puzzle fundraiser. Pretty much what you do I sponsor puzzle pieces for a puzzle that will hang in the nursery. It is taking a lot of prep because I am doing a custom puzzle.

The puzzle will be a collage of pictures of Justin's and my family members holding up signs with messages for the baby. It is going to be so cute! I have four of the nine pictures done. I thought I was going to have three more yesterday, but I am not sure. I will follow up on those this week. I really wanted to get the puzzle ordered today, but since I don't have all the pictures yet it will have to wait. Justin and I still need to have ours taken. He forgot he had a meeting when we were going to take the picture. Once I get all the pictures put together it will still take 15 days for me to get the puzzle. It will be amazing though! If you want to start sponsoring pieces that is OK, I will start putting the progress of the puzzle up once I get it. My Grandmas was our first sponsor. She is so sweet and Amazing! Grandma gets a shout out because she sponsored 20 pieces! Thank you so much! Head on over to the Puzzle Fundraiser page and sponsor your piece/s! Thank you for your support!

Excited for next Fundraiser

Some of you know, and some of you don't that I am a planner. I love to have and be working toward a goal. I have to be making progress toward something. I guess you could say I am a little bit of a control freak.

Well, I am so excited to be in the throws of planning our next fundraiser! It does take the cooperation of family member, so of whom are out of state, so I don't know how long it will be until I am ready to launch it.

Let me tell you, it is a really cute idea, and will help us out so much. I hope you all are anxiously waiting on the edge of your seats just like I am! I hope to be able to fill you in on it quickly. Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers! We

feel so blessed to have you all as friends and family.

Confused

     Justin and I know that adoption is for us. We have no doubt of that. We want a family more than anything, and have felt for most of our marriage that adoption was in our future. Now that we are finally here I have been doing A LOT of research. We had been set on international adoption. We loved the idea of being able to help orphans around the world, and we liked what we thought the process of international adoption was. We started looking into countries and quickly landed on Ethiopia. We were so excited about the prospects of adopting from that beautiful country and the beautiful children there.

Picture from Google

     Next came the task of deciding which agency to go through. I looked into many online and also talked with friends and neighbors who have and are currently going through the process of international adoption in Africa. We have heard the name of one particular agency come up a few times and really felt as though they were a reputable agency, which you have to be really careful when adopting internationally. One of our neighbors is currently adoption through this agency from Ethiopia. I contacted this agency and was excited to work with them. However, I learned that the only country we would qualify for would be Bulgaria, because they stopped taking applicants for Ethiopia a month ago, and everywhere else you need to be open to children six or older, we had set 5 as our limit. We found this really frustrating because we had looked into Bulgaria before settling on Ethiopia but the other agency we are considering said not to adopt there because they are taking years to give referrals.

     The more I look into it is appears that it is going to take 3-4 years to get a child AFTER we apply and we don't think we will have to $30,000 - $40,000 for another 4 years. That means this process would take 8 years. I am sorry, but that is so overwhelming. We were thinking that if it takes 3-4 years then we could apply now and raise the money while waiting for a child, however most of the money is due within the first 6 months of applying.

     Honestly, I have no idea right now what God wants for us. I am trying to gather as much information as I can so I can take an informed decision to Him and ask if it is what He wants for us. However, the more I look into it the more it doesn't feel right. Is that because it isn't what we are to do right now? Do I need to forget about and agency and country and just try to save $30,000 before I even look into it? I feel bad asking people for money when we don't have something set for them to contribute to, so that doesn't feel right. Maybe we should be looking into domestic infant adoption. We would really love a baby, and that is looking more and more like an impossibility through international adoption. We could look into LDS Family Services again. The issue we have with domestic infant adoption is that there is no guarantee of a child. We could spend years and and lots of money campaining and marketing our selves and then nothing come from it. I probably need more faith. I know God has a plan for us, and he has promised that we will be parents. I just don't know how or when.

     I am a planner, and a doer. If I am not making progress toward my goal I have a hard time with it. Not knowing what direction we should go right now is really hard. I will just keep praying that the Lord will guide our path and lead is to the child or children that need us and are meant to be part of our family. In the mean time we do KNOW that we are going to adopt, and will need the funds to be able to do so, so please keep your eyes and ears out for our next fundraiser!

Success!

Our garage sale was the first garage sale we have even had. I had no idea how much work it would be. We started organizing the things we would be selling Friday night. My sister Stephanie brought her boys over and we got to work. After a few hours my sisters Kaylynn and Kendra came over to help as well. We took a much needed break for pizza dinner and swimming fun!

I love being able to spend time with my nephews and can't wait until our kids are able to play with them too. Family times is my favorite thing to do.

Bright and early Saturday morning Justin and I started pulling everything out of the garage. At 9am the sprinklers decided to go off. I was not happy the the HOA planned and 8 am garage sale and didn't turn the sprinklers off. The grass was soaked as was two thirds of the driveway. Luckily the sun came out and things dried up rather quickly.

After some very generous friends, and a lot of community members we were able to raise $670! We are a tenth of the way to our application costs! We also met some neighbors just down the street who are currently adopting from the country we are looking into. They were so helpful giving us a realistic look at what adopting from the country currently looks like. We look forward to getting to know them better at the street 4th of July BBQ and being able to share with people going through this same process. I have already been able to see God's hands in this process. We feel so blessed to have Him guiding this process and bringing all of the wonderful people into our lives. We truly can't wait to share this with our children.

Two Days Left

Originaly Posted: June 20, 2013

Our first fundraiser is just two days away! We have been busy getting stuff pulled together. I know we are getting at least three deliveries of donations today after work. Poor Justin gets to deal with all the stuff while I am at my second job.

I took a second job working at the pool in our neighborhood for the summer to earn money for the adoption! I got my first check, and as soon as I figure out how to add a goal thermometer to my “OUR PROGRESS” page I will update you all.

I took this one day at the pool. Not a bad job to have. I even had time to make that fundraise let while at the pool yesterday! I look forward to seeing you Saturday!