Totes and Shirts and Cards...OH MY!!

Ornament/Decoration Front....$10

Ornament/Decoration Back

As of 12/07: Sorry...current orders will not be received by this Christmas (If you have already spoken with me then your order is in and will be done by Christmas).

Click on pictures for a closer look.

Really cute folded notecards. Crisp black on white. Packs of 10.... $10

The design on all the items is the country of Ethiopia. The whole family thought of words that we think of when we think of adoption. I think my favorite is my 2 yr. old's word, "roar"....after the roller coaster we have been on, I think it's perfect :) Click photo for a closer look at all the words.

Tote Bag. It expands A LOT. Great quality. ....$10.

Ladies Shirt. Sizes medium available. I am wearing the medium. I am 5' 8" and 140ish lbs. The cotton is pre-shrunk. ....$10.

Close up of Kid's shirt. The orange color turned out great!
Sizes 24 months and 6-8 yr. See Below. ...$10.

Size 6-8 (my son is 5 yr. old).

24 months. (my son is 2 1/2 yr old)

This is the Men's Large. We also have XL in this color. It is Black on Dark Grey. That way Dad won't be embarrassed to have words like "cuddle" and "kiss" on his shirt :)
....$10.

This is the men's 2xL...They only had the lighter grey in this size. I figured if you are a 2xL no one is going to mess with you even if they can read "cuddle" and "kiss" on your shirt, ha.
.....$10

Private Blog Countdown begins...

Hi....

Still here :)  I'm going to figure out this private blog thing and go private next Monday.  If you haven't sent me an E-mail or left me your E-mail address in the comments section please do so you can follow along our adoption journey.  Everything is still moving forward and our baby girl is due August 7th...as in this August....as in just a few weeks....YIKES :)  I have a lot more to update you with so please leave me your E-mail address to send you an official "Private Blog" invite.

p.s. Oh, sister of mine that is uncomfortable with all the sentimental, emotional, touchy feely stuff...I love you, but you are soooo not invited :)

Private

Hello.  I will be taking this blog private for a couple months.  If you would like to follow along please send me an E-mail and I will add you to the "permission" list :)

Thanks.

calmil2@yahoo.com

Mix of Emotions

I am having such a contrast of emotions.  I am excited and happy and so sad and depleted.  

The social worker met with G, the birthmom, yesterday for 3 hours.  I know I have said it so many times, but I am really thankful for the social worker I found.  I feel like it is one of the many pieces of this adoption journey that was meant to be.  I think if she hadn't come into the picture than this young, sweet birthmom would have just tried to keep all her emotions inside which would have been detrimental to her future.  G is still processing everything and asking all the right questions and she is grieving.  I am feeling so sad and protective of G that I am finding it so hard to be excited about the baby.  I think I am going to write G a letter just to get all my emotions out.  Whether I give it to her or not it will feel good to get my thoughts and feelings out of my head and down on paper.  The social worker said that G is going to E-mail me to make contact so of'course I am checking my E-mail every 10 seconds :)  I really am glad we are moving forward and even through all her grieving G told the social worker that she is so happy that the baby is going to us.  I feel so honored that placing her baby with us gives her some peace.  I only hope she can continue to find peace throughout this journey.  I hope we all can.

One Step Closer

We are one step closer to our daughter.  Yesterday the birthmom, G, had an ultrasound and everything looks good AND they were able to confirm that the baby is a GIRL!!!  Her due date is August 7th....WOW, that is sooner than we thought.  My sister-in-law, aka Angel, talked with G and although yesterday was a hard day for G (her first time seeing the baby) she said that she thinks an adoption plan is best for the baby.  It is hard to be excited when I know G is hurting.  She's so young and sweet and I have really grown to care about her.  The GREAT news is it sounds like G and her parents are more interested in an open adoption which we truly believe is best for everyone.  Initially they were in shock and just wanted the situation to go away, so it didn't seem like they wanted any contact with the baby, but now they are adjusting and softening and that is great.

The social worker (who I adore) meets with G today and will have a lot more information.  I am also hoping that G wants to talk to us and if she does than I am looking forward to calling her tomorrow.

I have moments of overwhelming joy and peace.  The personal growth I have been through, and am still going through, with this journey is amazing and I almost can't think about it or I will crumble into a pile on the floor.  It is all so much and yet exactly right.  I don't know how excited to be.  I know that G could change her mind or the bio father could say he wants custody (which is unlikely, but you never know).  So, can I be excited now, or do I need to wait until we are holding our baby girl and G has signed the paperwork?  This whole process is so different than international adoption and I don't feel prepared.  I want to go buy a couple girlie outfits, but I am cautious.  I know if G decides to raise the baby then that is her right and I will honor that, but it will be hard to let go.  Any advice is appreciated.

This Week

Hopefully we will get some answers this week.  The birthmom has her ultrasound on Tuesday and she called the social worker and set up an appointment for Wednesday.  I think this coming week will bring us a lot of answers.  I just need to try to keep breathing in and breathing out...

Phone Call

I talked to the social worker today and she is going to call the Birthmom today or tomorrow to set up a time to meet with her.  I found out that with an independent (domestic) adoption the Birthmom has to have information about the adopting family so that she can actually "choose" the family, which we are fine with, I just hope it doesn't overwhelm the young birthmom.  I am really happy that the social worker is calling the birthmom directly and that the birthmom's parents agreed to that.  I think the social worker is wonderful and will really be able to help the birthmom work through her emotions.  I am hoping to hear this weekend how the talk or meeting goes with the birthmom.  Please say some prayers and/or send some good energy for the meeting to go well.

Thanks!!

Who Me?

Today is just one of those days that I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN!  But, I don't have a crystal ball and I just have to wait and let things unfold and I just need to vent that today I don't like it!  The birthmom's ultrasound in next Tuesday and I think we will hear something after that (hopefully).  I just need to know...

Roller Coaster

Aaaaaand We're Back....

So, I just heard from my sister-in-law (man, I love that girl) and the domestic birth family called her and asked for the social worker's phone number to set up an appointment.  So, I guess they are still interested in making an adoption plan.  She also said that the family is doing better, not in crisis as much, so that's good.  I am still saying, "We will see" as nothing is final until it's final :) 

Disappear

Well, it looks like the domestic adoption is not going to happen.  The birthfamily has kind of disappeared, well not entirely, but they have greatly reduced communication with my sister in law and they are not talking about the adoption anymore.  There is still a chance that they will call in a few weeks and be interested in making an adoption plan and we will have to decide what the best decision is for our family.  I am a little disappointed because I did start to fantasize about a newborn baby girl, but on the other hand I was also freaking out about all that comes with a newborn.  One of my friends said, "you know it always seems that in the situations that are not meant to be you find yourself trying too hard to make it be," and I think that is exactly what I was doing.  

I am excited to be back on our Ethiopia adoption path because my heart still had a foot, a big foot, over the line and into Ethiopia :)  We are taking it somewhat slow so that we can continue to save the money needed to complete the process, but I know we will get there.  Another one of my friends (man I have smart friends) said, "At the end of all this your precious daughter that is meant to be in your family will be in your arms." Kind of makes my arms ache :)

Heavy Heart

Today I heard some difficult news and my heart hearts.  The birthfamily that we are connected too is really struggling.  We are hoping they call the social worker ASAP to get help for their family.  We are also hoping that if we are blessed with a baby girl from this family that we can help her understand, forgive and love her birthfamily.  I know we have the strength to get through this, I just hope we can do a good job!!

Birthmom

As I posted earlier, we are now pursuing a domestic adoption.  We do have a birthmother that is considering placing her baby with us.  It did not come about the "traditional" way, whatever that means :)  We were starting our international adoption and a family member contacted us to tell us of a young birthmom that she knows who is pregnant and wants to place the baby for adoption.  

So, I have now been researching domestic adoption and we have a "plan" in place, but we're waiting....and waiting....and, yep, waiting.......

I really feel for the birthfamily.  This young girl and her parents are in shock and no one is really talking :(  We have located a WONDERFUL social worker that will go meet with the family as soon as they are ready.  At the end of this month the birthmom has an ultrasound appointment (hopefully sooner if they can get in) and after that, if they are still interested, we will have the social worker set up an appointment with them.  

Waiting for things to unfold is a good lesson in patience, which I need...desperately (but don't like)!  When I know something more (I will be sane again) I will let you know :)

Have a great weekend!!!

1st Homestudy Visit

So, we had our first Homestudy visit on May 21st and approximately (actually, exactly) 11 a.m.  A Homestudy is when a social worker comes to (put you under a microscope) ask you questions and tour your house.  Everyone gets nervous about this. I really didn't think I would be that nervous until I read that the house should be "TIDY"...yikes!!!  "TIDY" is not a word I would EVER us to describe my house.  "Clean", as in not covered in dirt, yes, but "TIDY", um....no.  Somehow we managed to "TIDY" it up and then we took pictures because it was unbelievable...no, actually because we have to give pictures of our house to our placement agency, so that seemed like a good time to take them.

All in all, it really was "no problem".  We talked about how we met (and finally agreed on the story:), what we like about each other (I'm funny, he puts up with me:), how we train, I mean parent our kids (bribes) and why we want to adopt (because it's the best experience in the whole wide world, equal to having our biological kids of'course :).

So, now we finish up a few more forms (medical, 2 more on-line classes and 1 reference letter) and then we schedule our final visit....HOWEVER...we are now considering a Domestic adoption and so we are waiting to hear more details from the birthfamily to see if it is likely to go through.  Can you say..."ROLLERCOASTER RIDE"?  We will continue down our same path of our international adoption and if we decide to take a turn down the path of domestic adoption then we will finish the Homestudy as a domestic homestudy.

The birthmother is due at the beginning of AUGUST!!!! ( so mom if you are reading this, we may have to bank those plane tickets....don't be mad....love you :)

Stay Tuned............................

Follow Our Journey

Hello and welcome.  We are so happy to share our journey to our daughter with others! Currently we are a family of 4 humans and 1 big dog.  Our family consist of mom, dad, Big Brother (age 5 yrs) and Little Brother (2 yrs).  So, as you can see we have a lot of male energy in our house (even our dog is a boy) so we are very excited to be on the path to adding a daughter to our family.

We decided to adopt for many reasons.  We wanted to add to our family, we wanted to provide loving  home to a child in need, I had 2 C-Section deliveries and didn't want to have another abdominal surgery, we feel fortunate to have been able to have 2 wonderful biological boys and have always talked about wanting to adopt, so now is the time :)

There are many options with adoption and we have considered them all.  We have decided on using international adoption, however we are also staying open to what the universe presents us :)  There are also many international adoption programs that we researched and in the end decided on Ethiopia....But again, we are staying open...

At the end of this journey we will have our daughter in our arms and this winding, difficult, exciting journey will all be worth it.  Please follow along as we take steps closer to our little girl. As they say(I don't know who they are), it takes a village...

If you have any questions about adoption please feel free to leave a comment and we will respond.  If you would like us to respond to you privately please leave me your E-mail address and we will respond to that account.

Thanks for your love and support....