New Blog Design

While we're wishing, hoping and fervently praying that we hear something soon, I decided to update the background to reflect our hopeful Christmas Miracle.

Maybe it'll bring us some luck!

A Prayers and Positive Thoughs Request

Tonight, we heard of a possibly available adoption situation - a baby girl born on CHRISTMAS DAY, no less - from a dear friend!

We have passed along all of our information and praying to hear that this could be our baby!

I don't want to post details until we know more, but please send out thoughts and prayers for us! This is very nerve-racking to say the least. The planner in me is ready to start getting things in order, but I don't want to do that and have things fall through. So maybe throw in a prayer or two for patience?

Adoption thus far...

There hasn't been a whole lot of action on the adoption front. Our home study is nearly complete - just waiting on the background checks from the last two states we have lived in, and then it will be absolutely, finally complete. This gives me some measure of hope, as then we will be able to be presented to potential first families that are making a last minute decision.

I have decided to donate all of my maternity clothes to our adoption facilitators birth mother closet. They give clothing, food and other assistance to mothers that they are working with that need help. I am clearly not going to be needing the maternity clothes, and someone else can get much more use out of them.

The waiting seems...interminable.

I know it hasn't been very long in the grand scheme of things, as we've only been active for about four months. In pregnancy time, we'd be past the first trimester and the most risk of miscarriage. We'd be hearing the heartbeat for the first time. We'd wonder about screening results, and bicker about whether or not to find out the gender. We'd start finalizing what type of birth we wanted and work toward that goal.

With adoption, we don't have milestones to look forward to. We don't have a way to mark the passage of the time, or a definitive - or even a hazy - outlook on when we can expect to be blessed with our second child.



I have not ever been a very religious person. I have felt the need to "try on" different faiths but nothing has ever felt quite right. Honestly, I was content with out it. I felt that there was SOMETHING out there, bigger than we can know, but not what or who. In general, I regard faith as a mountain, with many paths to the top. And my view of God has been like a beautifully cut diamond - one whole with many different facets, and each facet having had a name.

Now...I feel something different. I don't have a name for it. I find myself reading and reading to find where I fit. Most recently, I have read, in order: The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner; The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller; and finally, The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.

I really liked the first and last book - the second didn't hold my attention as well. Lee Strobel's book convinced me to buy it because he was an atheist, whose wife became Christian. He thought she was out of her mind, so did a ton of research for himself, that led to his own conversion to Christianity. He also has some other books that I intend to read - The Case for a Creator, The Case for Faith, The Case for the Real Jesus.

I'm not sure where my journey will lead me, but I hope that it is a fulfilling one. It relates back to our Adoption Journey, because I have felt what I haven't really felt the need to do before, except sporadically. To pray. I am not sure to Who, and I hope that someone is Listening to my pleas. I think I want to believe, and have faith, but I'm not sure how.

For now, what I have will be enough.

Tonight, that is a fervent prayer, hope and wish for all of the women struggling with the decision to place their precious children for adoption. I pray for a faceless woman that I have yet to meet that she finds peace with herself, her God, and her decision. I hope she finds Joy in finding the perfect family for her Child. I hope that one day, some how, one of you beautiful souls chooses our family.

Another Catch Up

Apparently, I am a lot worse at blogging than I thought I would be. I think it will be my New Years Resolution to update the blog once a week. Not much consolation, but it's what I can do now.

November was National Adoption Awareness Month! It was a pretty good month here in the R house. Early in the month, Kevin bought tickets for us to see Dane Cook for my birthday! I was very excited, and wish I hadn't forgotten to take my camera. We've settled into a routine though, a new cleaning routine and one with regards to Monkey and his twice a week/half day school and once a week gymnastics class.

I turned 27 on November 19th. My mom got here to visit for Thanksgiving the day after. And the next day she watched Monkey so Kevin and I could go see Dane! SQUEE! He was funny as I don't know what and it felt good to be out and about without Monkey. It was a bit strange though. While Mom was here, we went to visit a nearby town a couple of times and White Sands National Monument. It's beautiful there. Monkey had tons of fun visiting his Nana.

On Thanksgiving, we had a couple from down the street and their son over. He's a few months younger than Monkey, and they have lots of fun playing. Mom stayed until the next Wednesday.

The next week was not as great - we found out that our beloved Great Dane, Kira, has some back, hip and knee issues. She is now on anti-inflammatory medication and such and seems to be moving around so much better.

Now it is December, which has mostly been un-eventful. Christmas is in just a few days! I am so very excited for Monkey to wake up Christmas morning. It was so magical as a child, and I can't wait to see his face. His big gifts this year are a train table and new bedroom furniture. The furniture is kind of a necessity, seeing as he is very tall like Mr Monkey and the toddler bed just isn't working anymore!

All in all, it has been very good. Next up: Adoption feelings and update.

A Post of Pictures

Pumpkins from our Hay Ride out to the Pumpkin Patch



Me & Monkey



Racing the Duckies!



The end of the line for Ducky...

An Adoption Journey Update!

Things are moving, slowly but surely towards our dream coming true and adding another child to our family.

Before the laptop felt the need to stop working, we completed our first draft of the profile that is sent to mothers considering an adoption plan. It was mailed out to our facilitator, and reviewed. They suggested a few changes; all pictures to be changed. Once the computer was back to us, I edited the pages that required it. (Gotta love Photoshop! I digitally scrapbooked our whole profile with it!) Those are now on the way in to the facilitator. I anticipate that they will arrive tomorrow.

On the homestudy front, it's kind of a slow process (for us). Apparently I have the most smudgy fingerprints on the planet! Kevin and I both had them done, and mailed in to the CPS division in our state. Mine came back unreadable, so I had them done again using a product called Ridge Builder at the Sheriff's office. They came back. I went and had them done using alcohol wipes beforehand, but they came out odd as well. With the third set, I had to get two affidavits notarized stating all the names I have used (just my maiden), that I swear I am who I say I am, where and when I was born and our addresses for the last five years.

That finally worked.

Now I am waiting on my arrest records to come back to them, and we will be done with that part of the home study. I think that will be the final part for our social worker to add to our completed study, along with her written report. That will get sent to the facilitator, us and eventually our attorney. (Still looking for an in-state attorney to represent us).

Our website has also gone live on the adoption facilitator website! We are *thisclose* to being to the just WAITING part. This part is the most difficult. Unlike a pregnancy, we don't have a definite end. Kevin and I just have to hope and pray that a mother making an adoption plan chooses us to parent her child.

I think the blog will start venturing onto other day to day topics, with adoption updates as they come from this point on. There just isn't much we can actively "DO" at this point to report back on!

The "My Laptop Died & Had To Be Sent Out For Repair" Post

So, bloggity bloggers, I am BACK! My laptop committed some type of laptopicide and wouldn't work. Fortunately, when sent back to Gateway, the repair was covered by warranty! WooHoo! Unfortunately,that meant I couldn't blog away.

I am a terrible project finisher. There, I have admitted it. I love my projects! And my crafts! I just do not find the time to finish what I start, or start the others I want to. I am working on this - this week I am GOING to finish that quilt for Monkey. And I plan to start cutting fabric for some gifts for Christmas. These things include - canvas shopping bags, plastic grocery bag holders, laptop covers and a few things that shouldn't - in theory - take too long. Pics to come to mark my progress and prove to you that I CAN do this!

Monkey is still loving school. There are no more tears in the mornings, just a bit of extra reassurance in the car on the way there. He even shoos me out of the room sometimes - and he cried once when he had to leave. That broke my Mommy heart. Monkey has been bringing things home left and right (a painted Moon, a Sun, a life sized tracing of himself, a mailman hat/bag, a rainbow, an umbrella...and on & on). So, I wonder...

What do I do with all of these things?!

I love them all, but surely I can't keep every scrap of paper and project from now until forever! He's TWO! I have at least 16 more years of projects to look forward to! But I feel terrible not keeping something.

I think that I have devised a plan. I am going to get a bin. Everything shall go into it. At the end of the year, I will choose a couple of things to keep and the rest can disappear. That way, he can help choose at the end of the year as he gets older and everything gets pared down regardless.

Moving on!

Our little family has been a bit busy the past weekends. Last weekend, we took Monkey to the Southern New Mexico State Fair. It was fun! He is too small for the rides, so we skipped that part until a later year. But we saw police cars, ambulances - Monkey pretended to drive a fire truck! We watched a horse trainer working with a horse. Monkey went on a pony ride and visited a petting zoo.

There was a camel. In a petting zoo. In NEW MEXICO. It was strange, but kind of cool. I've never seen a camel up close before. They also had a ZONKEY! I forgot my camera (grrrr), so no pictures.

This weekend was also fun. Today we went to a fall festival. We went on hayrides and visited a pumpkin patch! A real one, where you pick pumpkins off of their vines. Not like that place we went to in DC - they lined the pumpkins up on the ground and had them in giant boxes. That place was also expensive. Today we got EIGHT - yes folks, 8 - pumpkins of varying sizes and colors for $13. Thirteen dollars!

This means that I will be attempting to cook these pumpkins into pumpkin puree so that I can make pie. And bread. Muffins. Whatever other pumpkiny - things I can find. Maybe there is a copy cat recipe somewhere online for Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Frappucino?

We also rode giant slides, watched Monkey run through the kiddie maze and generally had a lot of fun. So much, that we forgot the main reason we went. That had been to go through the maze that was cut into a corn field! Oh well - next year we will tackle this.

I do have pictures from today, but I will have to post them at a later date. Next post will be adoption updates! :)