Adoption/Birthday Party!

So my Cupcake is turning one and we are going to finally get to finalize Love Bug's adoption!  Cupcake doesn't turn one until March 19th, but Bug's adoption finalization is on March 9th so we are going to celebrate both in one big party!  I have been having a difficult time trying to figure out how to combine the parties and yet include something special for both of them!  On the way home from our wearhouse shopping trip last night Handsome and I finally got a moment to chat!  I was telling him how I didn't like how the Cupcakes and Ladybug themes were not meshing as well as I would have liked them too and how I love this song called "Blessings" by Laura Story and how it would be fun to turn part of that song into the inspiration for the party.  On both accounts (Cupcake and Love Bug) we spent much time in tearful prayer begging God to grow our family because we knew it was a desire He placed in our hearts!  And Handsome (who is such an amazing man) said we should do a garden theme because there is a quote "What if Your blessings come through raindrops, what if Your healing comes through tears."  He said that would work for a garden theme because of the tear drops from our prayers falling and watering the seed He placed in our hearts for a family.  That has grown into why we are celebrating; celebrating two little precious lives that are forever in our family!  SOOOOO, we are going to do a garden themed party in pale pink, white, green and we will use red and black lady bugs for accents! 

I am really excited about it, finally, something that is okay in my mind to fuse two parties into one!  Love bug will have her own cake that my wonderful Pastor's wife will make and Cupcake will have, wait for it, CUPCAKES!  I am not sure if I am going to try and make them myself or if I am going to have someone else do it...but either way, there will be cupcakes!  But the fact that we can use a song that is very meaningful to me is huge too!  Thank you to everyone that gave input while I was trying to find the 'perfect' party idea!  It will be fun to start putting it together now!  I will leave you with the lyrics to Laura Story's "Blessings" :

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom

Your voice to hear

And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

All the while, You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know that pain reminds this heart

That this is not, this is not our home

It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise

Our Adoption Agency

I have decided that my "Thankful Thursday" post should be about our adoption agency: Family to Family Adoptions, Inc. So as not to ramble on and on, when we started the process we had signed a contract with a different agency & they falsely matched us 26 times and took around $10,000 of our money.

Enter the wonderful Family to Family! There are not really words to explain what I think of the ladies at F2F, they were so wonderful to work with and so caring. We drove 27 hours straight through to get from our Midwest home to Texas and arrived at the hospital when our beautiful baby was 22 hours old! We made a stop by the agencies office to do some paperwork first, but they only did what we HAD to do at that moment because they knew how badly we wanted to meet our little one! The faces of these ladies are forever in my memory, their sweet spirits and great smiles were just heart warming. When we first arrived we met P (secretary), J (our contact person), D (helped us with paperwork, and B (who went with us to the hospital.) We later met M (the founder of F2F) and R (who we were in most contact with dealing with legals afterwards.) Each and every one of these ladies played a very important part of growing our family and to them I am forever grateful! We are currently praying that we would be able to work with Family to Family again.

If you would like more information about adoption, please feel free to contact me through this blog or visit the Family to Family site here.

THANK YOU FAMILY TO FAMILY ADOPTIONS!

Adoption Status

Just because there are many people that have been asking us where we are at...

We have been eligible according to the state to adopt again since August 1st 2008 (EEs adoption day) and our original desire was to contract with our agency right away. HOWEVER, we have not been able to do that because we need $9000 to do that. So, at this point they keep us in the back of their minds for a 'hard to place' situation (AG was because of the fact that when birthmom came to them she had about a week and 2 days until she was scheduled for a C-Section and AG actually came a week earlier than that!) They have talked to us a couple of times in the last year and so far they have not worked out for various reasons.

While we know that when it is Gods time to bring a child into our home it will happen whether we are contracted or not, but we would like to be 100% ready when that time comes. Here is a breakdown of the fees we need to be prepared for.

Agency Fee $15,500.00

~We need to have $7000 when we join the program or 'contract' with them and then $4250 is due when we are matched and the remaining $4250 is due when the baby is born.

Interstate Compact $1000.00

~Also needs to be paid upon joining the program

Birthmother Expenses $5000.00 (an estimate)

~Due when the baby is born

Home Study Update $300.00 (a cost we have every year if we adopt or not)

~We will need to update around April

Travel Expenses $1500.00 (estimated)

~Due when when we travel to baby's birth

Legal Fees $1000.00 (estimated)

~Usually due around 6 months after baby is born

If anyone has any suggestions as to fundraisers or ways that we could come up with this money we would appreciate any suggestions. We have applied for a no interest loan through the ABBA Fund and are working on applying for grants through Katlyns Fund & Shaohannah's Hope. We have also contacted a handful of other organizations that have grants or no interest loans for adoptive families and have heard no from 3 of them. One does not have funds for grants at this time, one only accepts apps from families in Minnesota and one from families in Iowa! We pray that we will be able to get at least one grant and that we will be able to get a no interest loan for the rest or all of the adoption. The ABBA Fund helped us with $7000 in no interest loans when AG was born!

There are many grants available out there, and I have looked into about 50 of them total, but it all depends on the type of adoption you are doing, where you live, how many children you already have, and your reasons for adopting; the list goes on and on for the criteria that is out there!

Another Blog!

I recently was asked to become a contributor for the Family to Family adoptions blog. It is a great blog for a more than AWESOME agency. Check it out, if you are considering adoption I would highly recommend Family to Family. Through this blog you will be able to see some of what family to family is all about. If you would like more information that what you receive on the blog, you can go to the Family to Family Adoptions Inc. website.

I am not sure if the Lord is ever going to give us the funds for another adoption. We could easily take care more children, but the loan payments are what make things supper tight. If we do (by God's wonderful Grace) get the opportunity to grow our family, you can be sure that it will be with Family to Family!

In the mean time, I have officially decided to start doing daycare in our home. The name of my daycare is Pumpkin Patch Daycare! At this point it is going to be on a very small scale, 2-3 children at most...but our goal is to live off of Jason's income and use the Daycare income to pay down AG's adoption loans, and when that is paid for start saving! If I am able to care for 3 children, we should have AG's loans paid off in 11 months or less! YEAH!

Anyway, do go check out the new blog...I have already written a post called "Voice of an Adoptive Mother." And am starting to think about what my next post will be!

Adoption Words

I realized today that just because we have been in the "adoption circle" for almost 5 years now and are familiar with certain terms, that you (my faithful readers) may not be! Here is a list of common terms used in adoption, many of which I have used regularly on this blog! Hope this helps!


Adoptee: Any person who has been adopted.
Adoption Facilitator: Unlicensed organizations or individuals offering adoption services, illegal in many states.
Adoption Triad/Triangle: The three parties involved in an adoption (adoptee, adoptive parents and birth parents).
Adoptive Parent: Someone who legally assumes parental rights/responsibilities for an adopted child or children.
Birth Mother/Birth Father/Birth Parents: Biological mother or father of a child that is adopted or planning to be adopted (sometimes referred to as natural or first mother/father).
Closed Adoption: Adoption in which confidentiality of both adoptive parents and birth parents are protected under the law, the courts seal all records.
Consent: The legal document signed by the birth mother and birth father allowing their child to be placed for adoption (also referred to as a surrender or relinquishment).
Finalization: Court action that grants permanent legal custody of a child to the adoptive parents.
Home Study: A study that is conducted on all prospective adoptive parents by an authorized adoption professional in their state. A home study is normally completed prior to placement of a child in the home and validates suitability to adopt for the courts.
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC): The legal compact between states that allows for the placement of children for adoption across state lines. Required when the birth mother and adoptive parents reside in different states.
Living Expenses: Expenses in adoption that help the birth parents with items such as rent, food, clothing and utilities. Living expenses are provided by prospective adoptive parents and are provided based on the birth parents' needs and state laws.
Match: When a birth mother and adoptive family are connected in anticipation that the birth mother will place her baby with that adoptive family.
Open Adoption: An adoption where birth parents and adoptive parents meet, names and addresses may be exchanged and communication may continue indefinitely; terms of open adoptions vary greatly depending on the needs and comfort levels of everyone involved.
Post-Placement Visits: Meetings and interviews with an adoptive family once a child has been placed with them that is typically conducted by the professional who completed the home study.
Semi-Open Adoption/Semi-Closed Adoption: Adoption where the adoptive family and birth parents may talk, meet and have correspondence after the adoption, but little or no identifying information is exchanged. At American Adoptions, we assist adoptive families and birth parents in semi-open adoptions by handling all correspondence through the agency.

The story of Ada Grace, Pt2 ~

Two years ago September 30th ~

Today we woke up knowing it was the last day to wake up with Daddy and Grandma Pam here with us. We had a rather large agenda for the day. Dorthy wanted us to stop by her apartment to meet AG's halfsister, K & her daughter J. One of the wonderful ladies from Family to Family Adoptions Inc. was there with us as a neutral person to keep things positive. While we were there Dorthy held AG, asked us some questions, allowed us to ask her some questions. We were able to get all of AG's half siblings names and birthdays...and Dorthy's 2 granddaughters names and birthdays as well. We tried to keep it as brief as possible, took a couple of pictures and were on our way.

We had talked that as long as we were that close, we would drive to Galveston Texas and see the gulf. We went to the beach and took some fun pictures, even let Ada Grace put her feet in the water! It was so much fun, starting already at 3 days old our little princess was getting compliments about how beautiful she was and still is! Those compliments have not stopped since! We were able to eat at this little local place in Galveston where Jason and Grandma had what they claim to be the 'BEST SHRIMP EVER!' They look forward to eating there again if and when we go back to Texas...and you all know that the only reason we would go there is to work with Family to Family again and add to our family through adoption.

When we returned to the apartment it wasn't long before Jason and my mom had to pack up their things and leave me stranded there with my new baby. I did my best to send home what I wouldn't need so when Ada Grace and I flew back in about a week I wouldn't have too much stuff to worry about. It was rather emotional saying goodbye to my husband. Here is something that we had prayed for for so long, and he was having to return home to work. I have to say, it wasn't AS hard hugging my mother good -bye, although there were plenty of times through the next 6 days that it would have been GREAT to have her there! But something about becoming parents and having to send one away just didn't seem right. The only thing that kept me knowing that things would be okay was the fact that they wonderful ladies at Family to Family promised that if I needed anything at all to give them a call and they would be more than happy to help me out!

After Jason and my mother left, I cried for a little while...but ultimately I just held my baby girl and could not believe that I was finally a Mommy! I decided it was time to give her the first sponge bath. I also had to do a little laundry, but otherwise it was just bonding time.


Two years ago October 1st ~

What a crazy/wonderful day! While it is in my nature to be in church every time the doors are open, I have to admit that we didn't go to church this Sunday. My husband and mother were still driving home and I didn't really have any idea where a church was, let alone being able to get there! Instead, Ada Grace and I just spent more time forming the bond as mother and daughter. We walked and bounced alot because she had troubles (still does!) have dirty diapers...but what a wonderful day it was. I was a Mommy!


Two years ago October 2nd ~

How amazing! Waking up to hearing a newborn baby crying, wait...that newborn is MY baby! I remembered back to hearing mothers in the past complaining about how their 2 month old wasn't sleeping through the night and they were having to get up and rock and feed their little ones...I remember holding back tears on numbers of occasions thinking, "if only I had a baby to rock and feed in the middle of the night!" Well, because of adoption...I now had that very precious baby! And I really didn't think the midnight feedings were all that bad. I jumped at every opportunity to have her awake to cuddle and snuggle. To the point that there were times I just thought about waking her up so I could see her beautiful eyes, hear her cry, and know that it wasn't a dream!


Two years ago October 4th ~

The day we were originally told that Ada Grace was going to be born, and she is already a week old! Where does time go?!? Since she was already a week old we had to go the doctor for a check up. One of the wonderful ladies at Family to Family adoptions, Inc agreed to drive us there. The doctor said that you were very healthy and had no concerns at all! We were brought back to the apartment to spend the rest of the day together! We also had to start thinking about packing our things up, as we would be flying home on the 6th.


Two years ago October 5th ~

Once again the wonderful ladies at Family to Family came through for us...Dorthy had requested that she have one final visit with Ada Grace before we flew home. I, of course, didn't want to go alone...so one of the fam2fam ladies came with us, if I remember correctly it was the founder of Family to Family, Maxine. It was a short visit, Dorthy took pictures and said good bye. After the visit was over, we went back to the apartment...Maxine came in and just checked up on us. Made sure things were going well and that we were all set. I thanked her for helping to grow our family! We spent the rest of the day packing and getting ready to go home!


Two years ago October 6th ~

Jennifer from Family to Family Adoptions, Inc picked us up to drive us to the airport in Houston. What a wonderful time we had with all of those ladies! Maxine, Debbie, Jennifer, Belinda, and Pat...they took such good care of us, and of Dorthy. I cannot imagine an adoption going any smoother that ours did! When we arrived at the airport Jennifer helped us in as far as she could go...it was so nice to have help with the luggage! We boarded our plane and had a great trip. Our first leg of our flight we sat next to a wonderful lady who had lots of helpful advise about how to take care of Ada Grace's skin and hair. We had a layover in Salt Lake City, and they it was a short 45 minute flight home. Upon arriving at the airport we were welcomed by a large group of people...some that I had not even met before! It was such a blessing! Our pastor and wife, our 'adopted' west river Grandparents, some wonderful friends and 9 of their 11 (at the time, now 12) children, a friend that I had only met on the phone, DADDY, and surprise! Grandma Pam! Our friend had made little pink frosted cookies, there were balloons and signs all over the place. How was I not suppose to cry? What a welcome home it was! I still remember that day as if it were yesterday...crystal clear!

This journey is definitely not over, but the most exciting part it. I just want to take this chance to publicly thank Maxine and the other ladies at Family to Family Adoptions Inc. for the wonderful treatment they gave to us in this very exciting time of our life. I remember telling my husband that the name of the agency really fits, you very much feel as if they are family and are helping our family! It has been fun over the last two years to be in contact via email and phone with the ladies that played a big part in growing our family! We pray even now that the Lord would allow the funds to come in so that we could work with Family to Family again and add to our wonderful little crew of Jason, Ashley, Ada Grace, and Ethan.

If anyone is considering adoption, I would highly recommend them to at least call Family to Family. This is their website...you can find their contact information there!

2 years ago, the Ada Grace story! Pt1

So since I was not in the blogging world 2 years ago when all of a sudden AG came into our lives, I thought some of you might like to relive the story with us.

2 years ago September 25th~
We got a phone call from Family to Family Adoptions Inc. telling us that there was a birthmother whom was due on October 4th (1 week and 2 days away) who was going to be considered a 'hard to place' situation. When asking what they meant by 'hard to place' the first thing that they said was that they didn't have any families that were ready to bring home a baby that quickly and the second thing was a much more unfortunate reason. I asked about the health of the baby and was told that the birthmother was carrying a perfectly healthy African America baby girl. They realized we wouldn't be able to get the money together in 9 days, but did encourage us to have at least $10,000 when we arrived in Texas. I told them that we would have to pray about this, talk to each other and to the banker before we could say yes. They said that was fine because we needed to fax them our profile and homestudy so the birthmother, we will call Dorthy, could learn about us and decide if we were the family for her baby. I made many phone calls and talked with my husband and prayed for a miracle. When going to bed that night we pretty much thought that there was no way that this was going to happen because we couldn't afford the cost of adoption in that short of order. I put my head on my pillow and cried and prayed that the Lord would do a miracle.

2 years ago September 26th~
We woke up this morning sure that life was just going to continue on like it had for the past 4 1/2 years of our marriage. Jason left for work around 7 am like always, and did some housework and then had to leave for work at 9:45. While walking to work the adoption agency called us and said that Dorthy would love for us to adopt her little girl and I responded that we hadn't heard back from the bank, so didn't know if it was going to work out...would let them know as soon as I did. Well, at about 10:20 the bank called and told us that even though we had been turned down for a $10,000 unsecured loan before...they were able to give it to us this time but we would have to make an appointment at the bank in Belle Fourche and sign some papers and then the money would be available 24 hours after that. So I called the agency (probably my husband first) and told them that we knew that we could get the first $10,000 at least and we would start making plans to come to Texas. They asked if we would come a few days early so we could meet Dorthy and ask her questions and answer questions she may have for us. We agreed we would leave either Saturday or Monday depending on what we could get for plane tickets. My boss told me to go home and we would talk about my work schedule after I returned from Texas with my beautiful baby girl! What wonderful bosses I had/have! I believe that I spoke on the phone with Dorthy that afternoon for a short time. But most of the afternoon was spent on the phone.

2 years ago September 27th~
I woke up earlier than normal because I was SOOOOO excited! Jason went to work like normal and my goal that day was to nail down our plane tickets and get situated to go to Texas in a few days. While making phone call to travel agents (we didn't have Internet then) I received a phone call from Family to Family stating that we needed to get to Texas ASAP because our baby was coming TODAY! This was one week earlier than what we were expecting and less than 24 hours after we heard from the bank that this was going to be possible! I called Jason and couldn't get him on his cell...kept trying and he wasn't answering. Finally I called his place of work and got his bosses cell phone number, whom he was on a job site with, and called it. Sure enough Jason was working in an attic and couldn't get to his phone so through his boss James, I was able to tell him that he needed to come home because we needed to get to Texas to meet our princess! I in turn called my mother to tell her to meet us in Sioux Falls in 6 hours because we were going to Texas to meet her Granddaughter! She was so excited! I quickly packed up some things for myself and Jason and then dug out of storage some of the things that we already had in preparation for a baby! The car seat, some clothes, some lotion, bath soaps, hair do dads, etc and we were on the road! We did meet up with mom who had 1/2 to pack and 5 1/2 hours to shop for pink stuff! And the three of us headed off to Texas! We drove straight through the night and the trip was about 26 hours long! Our Ada Grace was born at 4:44 pm CST!

2 years ago September 28th~
We arrived to Family to Family Adoptions Inc in Richmond Texas at about 1:00 pm very tired, but excited none the less! There was some paperwork to sign and the $10,000 check to write...one blessing was that we were able to get another $8,000 loan from the ABBA fund in North Carolina that gives interest free loans to Christian adoptive couples...what a blessing! So we only have $4,000 left to come up with! Anyway, after signing the paperwork, meeting the ladies at the office, and having a drink of water...they drove us to the hospital to meet our Ada Grace! We arrive there around 2:30 so she was about 22 hours old! At first AG was in the nursery and we were brought into Dorthy's room and chatted with her, but she being a wonderful person called the nurses in almost right away to bring AG to us! What a wonderful experience! She was so tiny and perfect! She has lots of soft, black, curly hair and wasn't as dark as she is now. Daddy held her first, we asked if it was okay to take pictures and Dorthy said "she is yours, of course you can!" Mommy held her next, I do not even know if there are words to express what I felt at that moment, something that I had given up on...this little miracle that God had given to us! After all the troubles that we had with adoptions before this we just thought we would never be parents! It took fractions of a second of having her in my arms to know that I was her Mommy and life as we know it had just changed! Grandma Pam got to hold her next. Oh how fun to see my mother hold her first grandchild, one that she had waited for for such a long time! Belinda, one of the ladies from Fam 2 Fam, was in the room with us the entire time. I think we only stayed for 2 1/2 hours that day because we were so tired from the drive. It was so hard to leave that hospital knowing that precious hours were ticking away in our daughters life in that hospital nursery! But we had decided that we were not going to remove her from the hospital until the 48 hours papers were signed by Dorthy relinquishing her parental rights. So we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a golden corral, dropped off the film at the local WalGreens and went back to the little apartment that I would call home until October 6th. Grandma and I went to Walmart and bought a few snacks, and of course some PINK baby things! We also got me set up for the week that I would be in Texas without Mom and Jason and would be making meals and things of that sort while waiting for the ICPC paperwork to go through so we could bring Ada Grace home to South Dakota. What a wonderful day it was!

2 years ago today (September 29th)~
We went to the adoption agency first thing to make sure every thing was in order. Today was the day that the paperwork would be signed at around 5 pm and we would be able to bring our baby girl back to the apartment with us! The ladies suggested that we pick up something for Dorthy as a gift to her and so we bought a flower arrangement and a stuffed animal, if I remember correctly! Grandma Pam also found a white teddy bear with the state of Texas embroidered on it chest...that was for AG though! After that we were able to go up to the hospital and see our baby again. We actually spent several hours there that day, and we were able to get arm bands that allowed us to take Ada out of the nursery into private rooms and spend time with her, without Dorthy in the room. It came time to take hospital pictures and do the paper work. The ladies at the adoption agency were a huge help in all of this. We did not actually get the chance to say good bye to Dorthy because it wasn't made clear that we would not actually see her again. She did get time to say good bye to AG, but while we were doing our paperwork and nurses were going over newborn care with us in one room, Dorthy was being released from the hospital and signing her paperwork in another room. When we finished with our papers we were expecting to go and have this awkward good bye and instead the founder of Fam2Fam walked us out to the car...actually funny story...I received new mom treatment and was wheeled out to the car in a wheelchair with AG in her infant carried on my lap! She was ours! It was around 5:45 and we were officially parents forever! We went back to the apartment and made phone calls, took pictures, and of course studies every inch of her beautiful body! It was also a very sad day for me! I knew that tomorrow (Saturday September 30th) Jason and Mom were going to have to head back to SD and I was going to be left in a scary new place without transportation with a new baby! But we enjoyed every last bit of it! We went out to a steakhouse for supper and showed off our beautiful baby girl! And came home to get some sleep. I honestly do not remember having to wake up that night...maybe I didn't sleep! I don't remember! I just remember knowing that God had given us a MIRACLE! Stay tuned for the rest of the story day by day as they come!

Adoption Profile Scrapbook 2008-09

A little encouragement...

I guess that I have not exactly been the encouraging type lately. Most of you probably know that Jason and I have been working with a fertility specialist for a few months now and I have to say it has been a journey! Forever ago a dear friend of ours told me that I should be checked out for polycystic ovarian syndrome, something that she had AND was successful in having 4 healthy pregnancies. I asked 3 doctors about it and every time they said, "no point in testing, you are not a classic case." Well, back when we started working with my current doctor, I actually went to her because we thought there was a good chance that I was expecting. I chose this Dr. because I have heard LOTS of great things about her and most of all that "SHE WAS THE BEST!" Well, I went in and they drew blood for a pregnancy test and without my knowledge also for the PCOS test...I wasn't pregnant, but I do have PCOS. Now depending on which side you take there are two different stories about what PCOS is...doctors say one thing and nutritionists say another. But that is a different debate. Anyway, due to some of the happening with my PCOS, my body actually was tricked into thinking it was pregnant when in fact I was not. All the classic symptoms AND THEN SOME and yet there would be no bundle of joy at the end of 9 months.

Anyway, the Dr. said that she thought there was a high possibility that she could help us so we decided, after much prayer, to go ahead and work with her. We tried some meds the first 2 times with NO results, and we have now tried a method where I gave myself shots in the tummy 5 days in a row of HCG. This has done some good things for me and we are encouraged that there is light at the end of the tunnel. ENTER SOME BAD NEWS! My doctor is moving her practice to New Zealand! ENTER BETTER NEWS: Her last day of seeing patients is September 30th! So, now we have a doctor that is actually helping and she is taking off on me! Whoa, this is great. Well, there is someone that she said would work with me in town and we are going to have a meeting with him in the near future.

But in the midst of all of this I have to say that I have not been the help meet to my husband that I should be. When dealing with PCOS it messes with the Pituitary Gland (basically the master hormone) and does funny things to emotions! Jason says he can tell which Ashley he is getting when he looks at me, this is not the way that I would like to be with my husband and I are praying that each time I have to do the shots that the effect on my emotions will be less and less.

Now with all of that said, I do not want you all to think that I have been a monster to live with or anything...but as the doctor stated it, it will make you very tired and you will have times that you act as if you were pregnant.

I guess why I am sharing this with all of you dear faithful readers is because I like to be an approachable open book to friends and family. There is also a certain level of accountability when you have shared a weakness with other people, and it will (or at least SHOULD) help drive a person, in this case me, to work at being better in particular areas of life. I need to work at not letting the shots get me down so bad that I neglect my responsibility as a wife. I also want to warn others about polycystic ovarian syndrome, it is the leading cause of infertility and a high cause of miscarriages. The thing that I really want people to know is if you have a hunch that you may have it to push your doctors harder than I did...the sooner you get a grip on it, the less cysts are there and the easier it is to deal with. My doctor says I have a 50% chance of conceiving, and after that a 25% chance of carrying full term. Not great odds, but I know that we serve a faithful God and if it is His will that we have a child naturally, it will happen.

In the mean time, if any of you are in a great giving mood...please feel free to send Adoption Donations our way as we would still like to adopt one more time!

Rummage Sale!!!

Saturday the 6th is the big day! Please pray that our rummage sale will help raise a good amount to help pay of our adoption loans. That is the main purpose we decided to have a sale this summer.

Thank you to everyone who donated items for the sale!

More Adoption weekend!

After we finished eating at Guadalajaras, Grandpas & Grandmas, Daddy & Mommy, and AG & E all sat outside...it was a beautiful night! The kiddos talked Mama into blowing some bubbles for them! Just in case you are wondering, they have balloons clipped to the back of their shirts.Before Mommy took their clothes off they decided they wanted to go for a night swim! Silly kids!
Watching the Bubbles!

Playing ball with Grandma Hartung
Praising the Lord with Grandma Norgaard
Snuggling with Grandma Norgaard, everyone was a little tired out after such a wonderful day.E being silly!

Playing in the water
Throwing his Nemo ball
Ethan playing with the fun noodles
Notice his diaper got a little wet...I wasn't prepared for my children to just hop into their pool. They hadn't ever done that without Mommy being in there with them.
He enjoyed the extra attention

Silly Boy
The kids have always loved their ducks
Just hanging out
Ada Grace in her CUTE orange dress that she has now out grown! Why do my babies have to grow SO fast!

Adoption Day!!! ***Lots of pictures!

We started with a few family pics
E praising the Lord

The kids enjoyed looking out the window at the courthouse with Grandma Hartung, we arrived a little early so that we would be there when they were ready for us.Grandma Pam, Grandpa & Grandma Hartung, and Daddy chatting while waiting for our turn in court.Ada Grace "gichu gichu" GrandpaAda Grace trying to steal center stage back from her brother...it didn't work, it was Ethan's day!

Three generations...Grandpa Hartung, Daddy, and Ethan
Handsome little cowboy
Ada Grace sneaking in some Daddy time
This dress is just too adorable, she kept saying, "pretty pretty!"
Ada Grace copying Grandpa Hartung with his leg up on the ledge! Ma wanted to take a picture of us reading the Tyler Tribute in front of the courthouse so she could put it in the paper!
Less than 20 minutes after court started, it was finished and Ethan was finally OURS! After court the Judge allowed us to take some pictures.


This is the WONDERFUL Eric, our lawyer...he did amazing things to help us adopt our son!Looks to me like someone is VERY happy to be officially ours forever!
Ada Grace is looking pretty happy about having Ethan her brother forever as well!
This is Ethans PERFECT cake that Shelisa made for him! THANKS SO MUCH SHELISA! I loved it, it tasted yummy and it was wonderful

The punch bowl....or bucket!
Ethan enjoying some of the turkey and cheese Opening a JOHN DEERE tractor from Daddy and Mommy
Kate and Paige helping his open his PJ's from the Grenz family
Very excited about his Mega Blocks from Uncle Zachie and Aunt Christy...we were soooo happy that Aunt Christy was able to celebrate Ethan's adoption with us!

I had asked for tool sets and tractors TO PLAY WITH when people asked me what he needed. Ethan received this tool set from Gpa & Gma Norgaard, he also received two others...one from Gpa & Gma Hartung and one from his Speech Therapist Christy. Yeah!Ethan and Ada Grace really enjoyed having 2 week old Baby Ben with us...Here E went over to Ben's car seat and said "where baby go?"
Aunt Christy had him!

"Gichu Gichu"
Ethan hanging out on his waiting for Daddy bench
When we got home from court Mommy took his hat away from him but when Papa and Grandma Lila showed up he managed to get Papa's hat away from him.
OUR handsome little guyFor supper we went to GuadalajarasOur lawyer thought this was a great idea... Ada Grace at Guadalajaras

We are so blessed by the two great children that God has blessed us with! Thank you to all of the friends and family that celebrated this occasion with us!