Carry On

Twins on the Beltline 

We don't have much to update on the adoption front but I thought I would post an update on our daily lives and put out a reminder that we are still waiting to be matched. We began the process of updating our homestudy in March. Our social worker came to visit and chat for an hour and that was a piece of cake, just like it was last year. Everything else involved with updating our homestudy was just as tedious as it was the year before - physicals, financial statements, letters from employers, 911 call clearance, child abuse clearance, separate sets of fingerprints for the FBI and the GBI. At least we didn't have to fill out the 20 page questionaire again. ;-) We are still confident that our agency is doing their job and we know that the right match will come along when the time is right, but that doesn't make the wait any easier. We knew this adoption may take longer than Avery's but we certainly never imagined we'd be without a match or a baby a year later.

House for Sale!

In other news, our house in Charlotte is on the market! We had the interior and exterior painted and it probably looks better than it did when we lived there. We loved that little house and the memories made while we lived there but when we went to visit a few weeks ago, we both left feeling like that chapter of our lives was truly finished and we feel so at home in Atlanta. We have loved apartment living these last 3 years (hello - 2 pools, a gym, and valet trash?) but we want a little more space. We aren't quite ready to buy but once our house sells we are hoping to rent a house close to where we live now with a little bit of a yard. 

Avery and Nana on Tybee Island

My mom came to visit over Shawn's spring break and we packed a ton into her short time here. She had never been to Savannah so we went to Savannah and Hilton Head along with hiking around here and a little shopping. 

Hiking along the Chattahoochie 

Shawn and I both finished our school year this past Friday! We both had good years but are looking forward to a little relaxation and refreshing over the summer. I will continue with my teacher training position over the summer and Shawn will work most of the summer with a 3 week break. We kicked off our summer with a quick trip to Charleston. We had fun on the beach on Sullivan's Island, exploring the USS Yorktown at Patriot's Point and walking around downtown. 

So grateful to be a Mommy!

Avery is almost finished with Kindergarten - she has one week left! It has been pretty amazing to see her learn to read this year. She follows along when we read to her and loves to point out when we skip a word - that's really fun! Hah! She loves reading the Berenstain Bear books and Shawn recently found the Bear family figures from 1987 Happy Meals on eBay. Avery loves reenacting all of the books. 

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts as we continue to wait. We honestly don't mind people asking if there's been any progress. Once we are matched we may not broadcast it but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. In the meantime, if you'd like to share our story or out blog to help us spread the word we would appreciate it. You never know who knows someone who may be considering adoption.

We'll See What 2015 Holds for Us

It seems as though I haven't been the best blogger but there hasn't been much to update on the adoption front. We're still waiting! I'll update with what has filled our days during November, December and the first of January so that one day we can look back and see what we were doing while "waiting."

My mom and dad came down over Veteran's Day weekend. Mom, Avery and I climbed Sawnee Mt. and had a picnic while Dad and Shawn went antiquing. Dad brought his truck so he'd have room for purchases and Shawn said he mastered Atlanta traffic like a man on a mission! We spent some time downtown on Saturday and just happened upon the Veteran's day parade. We went to Centennial Park and had lunch in the CNN Center. Avery just adores her Nana and Papa and we think they're pretty special too!

When we moved we didn't keep much from when Avery was a baby because we didn't know if we'd ever have the privilege of another baby. I kept a small bag of things and once in a while Avery asks to get the bag down to play with the contents. Here she is rocking a pair of 0-3 month pants..hah...she wore them all afternoon!

Just two weeks later we made the haul to NY to see both sets of parents over Thanksgiving. For the first time ever, Shawn had a whole week off at Thanksgiving and we hadn't been home for Thanksgiving in 5 years so it was the perfect time. Avery got to see a little bit of snow, which she has decided she loves. We also went to the Museum of Play in Rochester and got to spend some time with Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Brother and Sister. We spent about 4 hours there and could have spent much longer. I, personally, was jealous of the mini Wegman's grocery store. We also got to celebrate Papa Dale's birthday with him! We had a wonderful holiday and made it safely home.

We had some gorgeous December day and Avery and I enjoyed taking walks and stopping at the neighborhood playgrounds. We also celebrated Shawn's birthday with a dinner at Texas Roadhouse and an evening seeing the lights and festivities at Lanier World. 

What were we thinking?! Just three weeks after Thanksgiving we headed back to NY for Christmas! Good thing Avery is a pro traveler and Shawn is a pro driver! On both trips we left Friday afternoon when Shawn got home from work and made it into Kentucky before spending the night. This helped make the long day of travel a little more bearable. Once again, Shawn did some antiquing with Dad and Mom, Avery and I did a little shopping, a little baking, and lots of chatting. We also went up to see Grandma Esther for a day. Avery loves admiring all of her pretty glassware...and dancing in front of her mirror. Katie, George, and their kids came on Christmas eve and Avery got in lots of cousin time. Avery idolizes Madeline and tries to copy her every move - fashion, dance, secret languages - and both Madeline and Oscar are so patient with her. Grant has her number and likes to tease her.  :-)

Loving the snow again!

Matching coats with Nana.

Mom and I

Me - n - Katie

Avery and Madeline

Excited kids!

We came home after Christmas and had a relaxing week here at home before school started back up again last Monday. We went to the zoo, the aquarium, and IKEA. We read lots of stories and Avery played with her new toys. 

I've been trying not to buy too much until we need it, but sometimes when you see something cute, you just have to have it...especially when it's 70% off! :-) So, if we happen to get a baby girl - she's going to need some cute headbands to go with her gender neutral clothing. :-)

As if I needed another hobby - I have begun sewing! I haven't sewed since home ec in 8th grade so I really have no clue what I'm doing but I'm learning and having fun! Whenever we do get a baby, he or she is going to be well equipped with burp cloths! I've also finished a blanket for a baby girl and I'm in the process of making one for a boy so we'll be all set! Avery thinks everything I make is amazing so I've made her 2 skirts, a blanket, and tiny sleeping bag for her Mickey Mouse. She'll probably look back when she's older and think the clothes I made for her were ridiculous but I'll enjoy her admiration for now.

Baby blankets and burp cloths! Who knew there were so many adorable fabrics?!

Our adoption liason keeps us updated with how many of our profiles she is sending out to expectant mothers each month. We know they are working hard to find a match for us but we really have peace in knowing that when it is the right match it will happen. Avery continues to ask when we'll get our baby and she's very anxious for that to happen. Today she drew a picture of our family that included a baby so that was pretty sweet. It also included a dog so she might be pushing her luck there.  :-)

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts! We're excited to see what 2015 holds for us!

Our Paper Profile

I can't believe October is more than half over! This is such a pretty time of year. The changing leaves are so pretty this year and I love all of the fall decorations and activities. Tomorrow Avery has her first Halloween party and we are hoping to go to our favorite pumpkin patch this weekend. Avery is going to be a witch for Halloween this year but now she has also talked herself into being scared of witches so it's going to be interesting.

This summer when we were on our big road trip our media consultant had emailed me a copy of our paper profile and I just remembered the other day that I had never looked at it full size, just on my phone. I thought I would share it here. We are working with an agency but we would still love it if you would share our blog and/or profile. You never know who knows someone who may be considering placing her baby for adoption. 

We continue to keep busy while we wait but not a day goes by that we don't wonder if today will be the day we get THE CALL. We had heard that we might expect to wait longer the second time so we are definitely learning patience. We also know that our wait hasn't really been that long yet and that we could be waiting for quite a bit longer.

You can click on the pictures below to see them bigger.

Keeping Busy While We Wait

Avery and I at the Arch at 10 PM.

 

It's been on my to-do list to do a blog update for quite a while and I know there are so many people thinking of us so I made it a priority to update today! Thank you for continuing to think of us during our wait these last few months!

 Avery at the hospital where she was born.

On June 13th our websites with our agency finally went "live." It's funny to see the 15 or so pictures they chose to use out of the 180 that we sent them but I guess they know what they're doing.  ;-) Our consultant has kept in touch with us every few weeks but basically all we are doing now is waiting. We can keep track of how many people view our profile online but that number doesn't necessarily mean anything - It could be potential birth mothers but it could also be other couples seeing what kind of pictures to send or checking out the competition.  :-) So, at this point we've been waiting just over 3 months, which seems like a long time on some days but we know in the grand scheme of things we could be waiting for a while longer.

 Maverick, Cora, Avery, and Lilla on the night we walked from Idaho to Oregon.

This summer was actually the first time since we began teaching that Shawn had a full 3 weeks off. Having summers off is definitely an attractive part of teaching but somehow we've always done summer school or had another job during the summer. We had wanted to take a cross country trip for about the last 5 years so we were excited that we could actually make it happen this summer. I had a new niece in Idaho that I was anxious to see and Shawn had a family reunion in Nebraska. Because of the dates of the reunion we ended up crossing Wyoming 3 times - good thing we thought it was beautiful!

 I got in some great baby snuggles with Myra.

 

Our first stop was in St. Louis. We spent 2 weeks here when we adopted Avery so she was anxious to see the city where she was born. We had started out after Shawn got out of work on Friday so we got in late and made it in to see the Arch just before they closed the gates. Shawn and I went up in the Arch when we met Avery's birth mother the week before she was born and then we went back with Avery when she was one week old. We also stopped early in the morning so that Avery could see the hospital where she was born. 

 Avery was sleeping so Shawn and I did a selfie when we got to Yellowstone.

We made it to Idaho and enjoyed a few fun filled day with Justin and Jill and their kiddos. Cora, Maverick and Avery were like 3 peas in a pod! From there we went to Yellowstone and then back to Nebraska for a few days for Shawn's family reunion. Our next stop was Las Vegas. We walked 6 miles in one evening to see everything there was to see on the Strip. Needless to say we were exhausted. Next we stopped at Hoover Dam and went on to Arizona to see our friend, Paul. We had a great evening with Paul and Erika! Next, we headed for Texas and boy, is that a big state! We loved San Antonio and definitely want to go back to spend more time. Our last destination was New Orleans. From there it was a short 8 hours home and we were never so glad to see Atlanta traffic as we were that day!  20 states in 19 days!

 Yellowstone

One of the prettiest places we stopped - Shell Creek Falls in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming.

 

Shawn went back to work the Monday after we got home. He is enjoying his 3rd year as Assistant Principal at Haynes Bridge. I started a new job on August 1st - in addition to teaching Biology online, I am training new teachers to teach online. It was an honor to be chosen for a leadership position in the organization that I love. The first few weeks were pretty overwhelming since I didn't quite know what my job was but 8 weeks later, it's still a lot of work but I'm loving it!

 Black Hills - South Dakota

Avery and I went to NY for a week in the beginning of August. It was great to spend some time with family and friends. Avery enjoyed spending so much time with her cousins that we don't get to see as often as we'd like. 

 San Antonio

 New Orleans

 Some of the cousins in NY.

 At the Pike Fair, where Avery had her first and possibly last ride on the Tilt-A-Whirl.

 My big girl in the airport.

 

Not a day goes by that we don't wonder if today will be the day we get "the call" but we are patiently waiting and know that it will come when the time is right. We had been wondering how and when to tell Avery's birth mother that we were adopting again and didn't know how she'd feel about it. We had decided we'd wait until we at least heard something. Yesterday I received a text from her that said, "Have you all thought about adopting another child? I was an only child & been praying that Avery wouldn't suffer the same. lol" Wow! We texted back and forth for a bit and she is so excited that Avery will be a big sister! Needless to say, I was relieved - one less thing to worry about! :-)

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers!

Now We Wait...

We officially signed with Adoption Network Law Center on May 16th.  This is the adoption agency we used 5 years ago when we adopted Avery. Once our payment was processed on Monday the 19th, we had another round of work ahead of us.  Our media consultant got in touch and let us know all that they would need to build our online profile - our birthmother letter, 5 separate paragraphs about each other, us as a couple, our home, and family and friends, another questionnaire of questions frequently asked by birthmothers (some of those were really hard, thought provoking questions) and 170 pictures!  Who has 170 pictures of themselves? Oh yeah, and they all have to be horizontal, no selfies, some formal, some with Avery, some of us as a couple, some of us as individuals, some action shots, etc.  Probably the most challenging photo qualification for us was no sunglasses.  We wear our sunglasses outside all the time! We know these photos will give prospective birthmothers a little insight into our everyday lives so this was definitely a labor of love. We finished everything on Memorial Day, compressed it into a zip file and uploaded it to their dropbox - ready and waiting for them Tuesday morning.

Checking out some historic sites in Roswell.

We know they've received our materials and are now working on building our online profiles.  I've been stalking their website to see when everything will be up but so far our little square says, "Our profile will be ready soon!" So, now we wait!  

 Hanging out at Stone Mountain - one of our favorite places.

Of course we hope our wait won't be long but we're prepared that the journey may take awhile. We know that when the timing is right, we'll get the baby that is meant for us.  In the meantime, we know that at any time we could get a call telling us our baby has been born or is about to be born and we need to get to the hospital. So we have gotten together a few basics - a diaper bag, some gender neutral onesies, sleepers, receiving blankets, and bottles.  I washed everything and packed the diaper bag and put it in a laundry basket in the guest room closet so it's ready to go but we also don't have to see it everyday.

Kudos to Avery for her fab photography skills!  :-)

Several have asked how they can help us right now and your kind thoughts and prayers mean the most to us.  When the time comes that we are matched with a birthmother we will have lawyer and travel expenses. If the baby is born outside of the state of Georgia, we will have to stay in a hotel in the state the baby is born in until ICPC (Interstate Compact) clears - usually about 2 weeks.  We have set up a paypal account and if you are moved to contribute to our adoption fund we appreciate your generosity in helping us grow our family.  The paypal button for our adoption fund is located on the right hand side of our blog.  

Our happy family, just waiting on our baby!

Thank you again for reading our blog and following along on our adoption journey.

Great Happenings

A lot has happened since our last post.  Two weeks ago at this time, I was at my wit's end researching adoption agencies, facilitators, and consultants.  I guess we didn't do much research when we adopted Avery - we found something we liked, it sounded great, and everything did work out amazingly smooth.  This time around we wanted to see what else was out there.  Every time I started researching a place I would find things I liked, things that sounded great and then something I didn't like.  I had found one place I really liked but then found out that they don't accept outside homestudies and that we would have to start the process all over again.  I was about in tears and decided to call the company we used to adopt Avery.  Within minutes I was talking to an adoption counselor we had talked to before and she answered several questions I had and then told me about some new programs and features they have that are new in the last 5 years.  She addressed several of our fears and after talking to her for 20 minutes, I felt like things were starting to look up.  We scheduled a phone conference for Monday night so Shawn could be in on the conversation.  Even though we worked with them before she talked to us together about everything in the adoption process and answered even more questions that we had come up with.  We scheduled another meeting for Thursday night with the owner of the company - that was a really encouraging meeting as well!

 We had a fun afternoon at the beach of Lake Lanier.

Friday, we received lots of exciting news! We found out that our homestudy was approved!  We never really had any doubt that it would be, but it's still a huge relief!  We also found out later in the day that our application for Adoption Network Law Center was approved!  Shawn was on a field trip to Chattanooga, TN so we were exchanging joyful text messages.  So, now, we're really making progress!

 Celebrating Mother's Day - Avery made me a book called "Why I <3 Mom"

Yesterday was Birthmother's Day and today being Mother's Day has caused me to think a lot about Avery's birthmother and how thankful I am for the choice she made.  I am so grateful she chose me to be Avery's mommy!  We sent her a card earlier this week and Avery drew some pictures for her.  She sent me a text first thing this morning, wishing me Happy Mother's Day and said to go out and enjoy this special day.  Very touching!

 Avery's photography skills!

We will sign all of our paperwork and make everything official with ANLC this Friday so as of Saturday we could get a call at any time saying we have been matched with a birthmother or that our baby has been born.  We are prepared for a long wait but of course, we hope things happen quickly.  Tonight we went to Baby's R Us and Buy Buy Baby, just to window shop! We sold and gave away a lot of baby stuff when we moved from NC to GA so we're pretty much starting from scratch.  This week my goal is to make a list of everything we NEED and then get together a diaper bag just in case we get a call sooner rather than later.

 We went to an arts festival and Avery made a paper flower and slime and got her face painted for the first time.

Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers, and encouraging words along this journey!