Overwhelmed, Thankful & Blessed

I don’t even know where to start…..we sent out the letter below to our friends and family – it was to update them on where we are at in the process of our adoption, information on costs for out of state adoption and prayer requests. With the letter I added a little business size prayer reminder card and an envelope with our address on if they wanted to support us financially too.

I am lost for words at the generosity of our friends and family. As I mentioned in the letter – yes we are able to financially raise another little one, but with out of state costs associated with adoption it is a LOT up front once matched. Plus the cost of travel expenses and all that it entails. I just can’t thank everyone enough for their support, their prayers and also their excitement for our family.

No, we aren’t matched yet – and that’s ok. We know that God has our birth family chosen as well as our baby. We know that the wait might be long, we know that it’s not in our control and we’re good with that. He chose our son Wyatt for us and his birth family (who are amazing) and our prayer is that we are close to our next birth family as well.

Feel free to copy this letter, share it with friends who are also adopting and wanting to do a fundraiser. I used many different examples that I found on Google and Pinterest to write ours. I’ve shared it with our social worker to share with other families in our agency to write their own. We want to support other families who are also adopting – this is something that God has used us for many times over.

You can also check out our FB page for more updates: Paddock Family Adventures

Letter to Friends and Family:

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Hello Family and Friends!

We’re embarking on a new adventure this year with our family…another adoption. Yes, you read that right, we’re adding to our little family! We’ve felt that our family isn’t quite complete and last spring, while on a kid free vacation, Ryan and I felt God pulling us towards adoption again. It’s scary, exciting, stressful and awesome, all at the same time, and we can’t wait!

As of right now we are an “Official Waiting Family”, what does that mean? It means that we are home study approved by the state of Minnesota and are able to adopt! But one BIG difference with this adoption is we will be adopting outside of Minnesota. Specifically from one of these states: Michigan, Florida, Nevada, Utah or Arizona – these are the states that have approved our ‘cap amount’. What does ‘cap amount’ mean and why not Minnesota…the ‘cap amount’ is the amount that we’re willing to spend with an out of state agency (application fees, social worker fees, birth family fees), this is on top of our local agency fees – and we are going outside of Minnesota because the Domestic Infant programs have been closed to additional families, there are more waiting families than birth families creating adoption plans.

The National Infant Program (NIP) is helping us step out of our comfort zone a bit, we’re thankful that we are able to provide for a child’s daily needs, but the reality is a substantial amount of money is needed to bring our child home. Would you be willing to join us on this adventure? Whether you feel led to help us financially, or through your prayers and encouragement, it all means the world to us!

Support:

Your support will help with the cost of the adoption and travel expenses for Ryan and I, sadly, due to COVID, the boys will not be able to travel with us. We’ve been told that we will be in a different state for a minimum of two to four weeks. We are not allowed to leave the state, with our baby, until the paperwork has been approved by the courts.

There are a couple of ways to financially support us, you can use Venmo: @Marianne-Paddock, or if you’d rather send a check that’s completely fine too.

Prayer Requests:

Our prayer requests are: a quick match and placement, healthy little baby (or babies, we’re open to twins), healthy birth mom and safe delivery, openness between the birth family and our family (we have a beautiful relationship with Wyatt’s birth family and would love to have the same for our new addition), and safe travel with quick court approval to come back to the boys. It’s going to be hard to be away from them but they will be with grandparents and other family.

This is not an easy letter to write, we struggle with asking for your support. We would be forever grateful to know that you helped us bring our child home, knowing that this child will have the opportunity of growing up in a Christian home. We know that God already has our plan laid out, and our birth family chosen, we can’t wait to see what adventure he has planned.

Thank you for your prayers and support for our family.

– Ryan, Marianne, Hunter & Wyatt

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Luke 11:9-10

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Changes Happening

Hello World!!!

So, we’ve made some changes to our platform on getting information out to people on the craziness that is our life. We have a FB family page where I will hop on live and answer questions, give updates and overall post about everything.

Head on over to Paddock Family Adventures and follow the page there. I like the video part more than the writing of a blog.

AAAAANNNNNNDDDD……since I haven’t been on here in a LONG time…..we’re adopting again!!! Say what?!?! Yup, started the process and are 90% done with the home study portion 🙂 Head over to the FB page to find out more details!!

God is AMAZING and we are soooooo excited!

Finding JOY in the Journey…

Do you find it easy to find joy in the journey? I used to struggle with this, there was a time when I was angry, depressed and didn’t understand why things were going the way they were even though I was putting in 110% of myself….well guess what….I wasn’t putting myself and trust in the right place. Ryan and I have talked about this sooooo many times and looking back now and seeing how much we’ve grown in our faith, our own personal development and as husband and wife – kinda makes us kick ourselves for not figuring it out sooner! We’re not in control.

We have been on a crazy ride together, we haven’t always leaned on Christ to help us through and it shows! But everything changed in an instant, like a light was turned on once we started going to church regularly, attended a small group, growing more in our own faith and then together as a couple. Infertility is no joke, and it will test you in ways you never could imagine. It breaks up couples, it causes depression, anxiety and anger, it makes you think things you’ve never wanted, you learn things that you never knew you needed to know; and with it usually comes loss…Loss of a relationship, loss of a child, loss of part of yourself, loss of the hope you’ve been clinging to…

I am here to tell you…you can get through it and come out stronger than you’ve ever been before! Ryan and I agree that if we didn’t have a relationship with Christ, we wouldn’t have made it through all of this. Yes, it still hurt. Yes, part of us feels like it’s missing. Yes, we still think and cry about the babies we’ve loss.

BUT…

Without the loss we wouldn’t have the AMAZING little family we are blessed with. We have two CRAZY little monsters who keep us on our toes daily! To the point where we no longer have chairs around our table because Wyatt kept climbing them and climbing onto the table. Baby gates are going to be something of the past real quick too…he’s learning how to climb those right now (big brothers are so much fun!).

Anyways…in other news…we will be celebrating a HUGE event at the end of this month….Jonah Wyatt’s adoption day!!!!! Yup….one year ago on May 31, 2019 we stood before a judge and our family and friends to finalize his adoption, officially becoming a Paddock. Can you believe it?!?! So much has happened over the last year – 2019 was fully of adventures as a family of four.

2020 has gotten a little strange with COVID-19 going on right now. This has kinda put a bit of a damper on the celebration we had planned at the end of the month. We were hoping to have all the family and friends over to celebrate his one year birthday and one year adoption day. But, we are needing to do things a little differently. Not what I had hoped for, planned for, wished for – but guess what….that’s life! You can’t plan everything out, as much as I’d love to be able to do that, it has taken a lot to finally get it though my head that I’m not in control.

Working from home…COVID-19 style

Working from home…COVID-19 style

Working from home COVID-19 style…

So this year we will be splitting his celebration into two days for those who are comfortable gathering together. We will grill hot dogs/burgers, play on the ninja course, play set, hang out and just visit with each other here at the house. Being away from other people starts to mess with your head after a while, I’m the kind of person who needs interaction with my family – I miss them and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone as socially acceptable as possible to celebrate Wyatt.

In conclusion of my initial thought…

Our family is beautiful, our family was chosen for us before we even knew what it would look like, without loss we wouldn’t have Hunter, without loss we wouldn’t have met the most amazing birth mom and adopted a beautiful little boy, without loss we wouldn’t  have the relationship we have with each other or Christ. Also, without loss we wouldn’t be able to witness to so many other couples going through infertility, loss or adoption.

James 1:2-3 – Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Jeremiah 29:11 –  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Romans 12:12 – Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Proverbs 17:22 – A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones

 

Everything happens for a reason, it’s up to us to Find JOY in the Journey where ever it ends up taking us.

 

 

I never knew the LOVE I’d have for our Birth Mom…she is simply amazing

Birth Mom…when you first read that what does it mean to you? What is your definition? What are your first initial feelings when you read Birth Mom? My first thoughts when it came to reading the word Birth Mom was fear. Fear about: what if she doesn’t like me? What if we don’t get along? What if she wants to be really involved with all decisions? What if she doesn’t like Hunter? What if her family doesn’t like us? So much fear in the unknown when I first heard the word Birth Mom.

You guys….my fear was STUPID!!!

Our story started out with putting our trust and faith in God. He already knew who our birth mom would be, who our child would be and when we would get to meet both. He knew it all! Me being human and fearful forgot about that until I started reading a devotional (Tandem: Adopting with God in the Lead) <– highly recommend! Anyways, once I put the fear of the unknown behind me things just started to happen, as you’ve read in past posts.

Our birth mom is AMAZING! I can say that I will never know that level of love she has for Wyatt, she made the decision for adoption. Her relationship with God helped her with that decision and let her know that he already had a family for her picked as well. The Expectant Parent Advocate she worked with at the agency really helped her with her counseling and coming to this decision. I’ve never said anything negative about her; she is a strong – wonderful – kind – amazing person and I am so thankful she is in our life. I won’t ever be able to put into the words the love I have for her, the respect I have for her and how protective I feel about her and her family. Don’t mess with this Momma Bear!

I have heard so many people talk so negatively about birth families, talking about their past or judging them for their decisions. It breaks my heart for those birth families, they chose to make a decision for the best interest of their child.

We just had a family birthday party for Mr. Jonah Wyatt last weekend. She came over to the house with one of her sons and her really great boyfriend. We watched the Vikings game, let the boys all play together, ate cupcakes opened presents and took some pictures. It has NEVER been awkward or uncomfortable – they are part of my family and our relationship has been so easy over the past year.

On this day last year….we got to meet little baby Wyatt for the FIRST TIME! On this day last year she told us she wanted us to be his parents! On this day last year my heart burst with the most amazing amount of love for her and for him and for our families growing together.

You guys, this past year has been an amazing ride and I can’t WAIT to see what happens for our family in 2020!

” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 

First time meeting our son

Happy 1st Birthday

Apparently I’m doing it wrong…

Story time: last Thursday (10/31) Hunter had preschool and at school they were having a Halloween parade – he was totally stoked about it and about being a hot dog again, I was equally excited. I never did anything for Halloween growing up, so I was exited for him to have his first school party and it being Halloween made it a little extra special for me. Because of his parade I took the morning off so I could go and see him. I’ve never done drop off for school because I work. Yup, I’m a full time working mom who is sometimes at the office before the house is even awake. I don’t get to do things like drop off, room volunteer or other things like that with his class. I’m OK with this and I try not to dwell on it to much or else I’m sure it would make me sad that I can’t do it all and be everywhere.

Back to the story: Wyatt and I were sitting in the lobby waiting for the kids to line up and walk past. Another mom from Hunter’s class comes over and we start chatting – here’s where I find out that I’m doing this whole mom/working mom thing wrong…

• Mom: Who is your child?
• Me: Hunter, he’s a hot dog today (I’m very proud of this btw). Which one is your child? Do you know if they play together? Hunter can’t remember names, but he can tell you the color of his friends shirts.
• Mom: Oh, you’re his mom… I’ve never seen you here before. I think I know his dad and have seen the person who picks him up every day, grandma? My child is XXXXXX and he talks about Hunter at home, even wanted to know if he was going to dress up too. (This makes me feel good – hooray for friends)
• Me: Yes, this is my first time dropping him off this year. Usually I’m already at work and my husband, Ryan, does drop off. The woman who picks him up is his grandma, she just lives down the road.
• Mom: (just looking at me like I’m a crazy person, or so it felt like) Oh, you work – that’s why I haven’t met you before.
• Me: Yes, I work full time and I pick up the boys after the day is done. (Now I’m feeling like a bad mom because I work and I’m not part of the fun stay-at-home-mom club)
• Mom: Huh, well it was nice to meet you.

End conversation…

After this very short chat with her, once she found out that I worked and this is my first time at school for Hunter, she turns back to the other group of moms and schedules a play date with them while the kids are in class but also talks loud enough to let every one near by know what their plans are. It seems like I can’t be part of that group because I work.

At times I think that being part of play dates and daytime outings would be a lot of fun, and lets face it – I would LOVE to have a group of moms from Hunter’s class to get to know and do things with and form some sort of relationship. But the look I got for letting her know that I work full time and this was my first time at school makes me not want to be part of that group. Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh and according to social media I’m the worst: I had a c-section so I took the ‘easy‘ way out of having a baby – both my kids were/are FORMULA babies (gasp!!) – we have infertility issues and went through a sperm donor, so there is another mark against us 🙂 Everything we’re doing seems to go against the grain of others opinions – personally I’m 100% ok with this. But I know that these things can really bring others down – I don’t want to be that type of person. I know I’m not perfect but I hope that I’ve never made anyone feel this way.

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With how much we already beat ourselves up for not being able to do everything for our families we do not need others making comments on the same topics. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’d LOVE to be able to be at EVERY doctors appointment, school event, play date – I really would, but that is just not how our life/family works. Please, don’t try and make me feel guilty because I’m not a stay at home mom or that I have a full time job or that I’ve missed doctors appointments – I already feel bad enough for all those things.

So from one full time working mom to ALL moms out there (stay at home mom, working mom, dog mom, cat mom…..any other moms I missed) – Keep it up, you’re doing amazing. I see you, I know you’re tired and the days/nights get long but you’re killing it! Don’t beat yourself up if you forgot an apple on apple day at school (I did this already) or forgetting it’s Orange Day, don’t beat yourself up for missing a school event, don’t beat yourself up for having a career, don’t beat yourself up for being a stay at home mom and miss working outside the home. We all have our own adventures in life, we all have different paths – seriously, lift each other up. Look at her and say “you’re doing great” “keep it up”.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

 

Hello world…Did ya miss us?

Ok so I know it’s been a LLOONNGG time since I’ve taken the time to do a little writing and updating. I have a pretty good excuse though…I’m officially a mom of two working full time and the ‘household manager’.  Wyatt is almost 10 months old now and is truly an amazing addition to our family. Looking back on my last post (May) we were just getting ready for our finalization to happen with the courts. Here’s a break down of what has happened since then…

May:

• Mother’s Day: Our whole family gathered at church to witness our dedication of Mr. Wyatt, also our amazing birth mom came to celebrate with us. It was an amazing day, lots of pictures, laughter and I’m so unbelievably thankful for everyone who came. Another really special thing that happened for Mother’s Day and dedication is that we are able to pick a verse that is read to the congregation that we ‘give’ to our child. Wyatt has two, one from his birth mom and one from us.
  • Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
  • Hebrews 13: 20,21 – Now may the God of peace… (21) equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

• May 31: Officially a Paddock!! We had both of our parents, one of our best friends and our Social Worker at the court house to witness this amazing event! The crazy thing is….it took all of 5 minutes!?!? Can you believe that! The judge asked us our names and if everything was correct on our paperwork – and that was that, he was officially a Paddock within 5 minutes. Then we all went to the river and took family pictures!

June/July: First family road trip!!! Where did we go….NEBRASKA! Yes, you read that correctly. We all hopped in the new minivan (again…yes, you read that correctly – I now have a minivan) and drove the 6 hours to Omaha. Side note: we took on this adventure while also in the middle of potty training Hunter – we are the proud owners of a travel potty. Since we (my brothers and I) were born there and I lived there until I was 12 we wanted to bring all of our kiddos down and see the Henry Doorly Zoo and celebrate July 4th together. Also, it’s not a true road trip to Omaha if you don’t stop in Story City, Iowa – it’s a must. It was a very successful FIRST family vacation!

At the end of July, Mr. Wyatt became a proud owner of a little helmet. We noticed his head looking a little flat at his 6 month appointment, we tried physical therapy to help loosen up his neck muscles – but that didn’t work the way we were hoping so he has a helmet. He looks pretty cute in it and really doesn’t mind it at all. He first started wearing it for an hour to two hours, and now he’s in it for 23-24 hours/day (we take it off to clean it and bath time). We go to the specialist every three weeks for measurements, and we’re hopeful that he will be out of it by Christmas. If you have a little one who needs a helmet we ordered all of our stickers from Bling Your Band ! They have a TON of options on their site and if you want to paint your helmet they have the paint and steps to follow so that it doesn’t peal or fade. I didn’t want to paint his helmet because I needed to keep my sticker options open, I wasn’t willing to get locked into one design 🙂

August: First Flight for Wyatt – Hello hot and steamy Florida! My grandparents are in FL and do not travel anymore so we hopped on a plane and headed down for a visit! Let me tell ya….I have the BEST kids when it comes to traveling. They were awesome on the plane. Funny story: the guy we were sitting next to on the flight was not too happy that he was going to be sitting next to two kids. After the flight attendants closed the main door he asked if there were any open seats so he could move…there was one a few rows ahead of us – turns out it was right next to the kid who cried/screamed the ENTIRE flight. My boys…quietly playing with toys, cars and watching a movie – not a peep! 🙂 Made my flight – I had an extra seat for Wyatt to sit and my kids were awesome. We had a wonderful visit with my grandparents, my aunt and uncle even came down from Alabama to see us. It was a very fast trip but worth it. There were a lot of firsts on this trip for Wyatt: first flight, first time in the ocean, first time meeting Ggmama & Ggpapa and other family.

September: Second Family Vacation – Oregon!! Last year Ryan fell in love with Oregon, so now it’s a yearly family vacation – which you won’t find me complaining about at all. I LOVE Oregon. This year we stayed in the mountains – the foothills of Mt. Hood to be exact. Again, both boys did awesome on the flight out and back and even the 1.5 hour car ride from Portland out to Rhododendron where we were staying. We rented a house/cabin for the week. Travel Advice: always rent a house/condo when traveling with tiny humans, it makes the trip SOOOO much better to have a ‘home base’ and a room of their own. We were there for a week, it rained EVERY DAY – but hey, it’s Oregon and the rain didn’t stop us from going out hiking daily. Another side note: We love our toddler hiking packs – I swear by these things. Once the kids were loaded up it only took Wyatt about 10 minutes of sitting in his to pass out – he took amazing naps in that thing. Hunter did really good too, after a while we’d let him do his own hiking too but he was fine being put back in it – he never slept but I think that he enjoyed the ability to just look around and take it all in. It was a very very busy week – only day we took off from hiking was to drive out to Eugene to see my grandma and family.

Adventures included:

• Hiking to Little Zigzag falls-very easy hike

• Hiking Salmon River Trail – easy hike, could have gone further

• Trillium Lake – this hike started out absolutely beautiful and we ended the hike running to the car in a downpour

• Cascade Locks – Bridge of the Gods (Legend of the Bridge) and hiked a little on the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington

• Horsetail Falls & Multnomah Falls – one of the most photographed waterfalls / bridges in Oregon. Trail head said it’s a mile to the top of the fall…yeah it ended up being over 2 miles with 11 switchbacks, no rails and a VERY steep drop if something were to happen…BUT we did it! I had Wyatt on my back, Hunter and Ryan walked the whole way up. The view from the top is amazing – worth the climb!

• Drive out to Eugene, Oregon! Took a day to drive out to see my grandma, aunt/uncle and cousin. It was a scary drive back to the cabin though, a few times hydroplaning and LOTS of rain. But everyone was able to meet Wyatt and play with Hunter. Memories are worth the ‘white knuckle’ drive

• Mt Hood Adventure – Timberline Lodge – if the outside of the lodge looks familiar to you….it was used in The Shining (Jack Nicholson) and in the movie Wild (Reese Witherspoon). When we arrived at Timberline we could see a very TINY sliver of Mt. Hood and that was it, the rest of the time we were walking in the clouds and never saw the mountain. Never the less it was still a lot of fun to see the different trails, do more hiking and scope out the lodge. I’d love to stay there one day and really explore the different hikes around the mountain.

I’m ready to start planning out our next family vacation and see what adventures we can go on. It’s been a great year so far and the boys. Wyatt is on the move which means Hunter needs to include him when he is playing or Hunter goes to his room and shuts the door to play with his toys. He isn’t used to sharing and now that Wyatt can get around her’s learning really quick that little brothers can be a lot of fun or super annoying 🙂 ah the joys of having siblings. Hunter is still asking for a sister and wants another little baby in the house – I told him I’d love another little baby in the house (boy or girl) but right now we need to enjoy the little baby that we have and we will see what the future holds for our family. My gut is telling me that our family isn’t done growing just yet but again, we will wait and see what God has planned for our future.

Other Highlights:

• Hunter started Preschool this year and Cubbies! He loves both!
• Hunter started Ninja School (and yes, it is exactly what is sounds like) Saturday mornings start out with Ninja School. It’s awesome to watch him too, he’s the smallest one in his class but I feel like he’s the strongest one
• Wyatt is crawling, pulling himself up on things and climbing up stairs. He thinks Hunter is the best thing in the world and anything Hunter does Wyatt laughs at (these two will be trouble as they get older)
• Our agency reached out today to see if we would be willing to share our adoption story for National Adoption Month – which is November. I said absolutely we would love to share our story with others. We still have a strong relationship with our birth mom as well as our social worker, they are both amazing and part of our family. 

Until next time!

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

 

It’s Happening – AMAZING Update!!

You may be asking…what’s happening?

Answer: Adoption Finalization!!!!

Yes, that is correct, our baby boy will be an official Paddock on May 31! Can you believe it?! We can’t – it’s crazy how fast this part of adoption as gone, we’re still spinning from it all! My last post was talking about filing our first set of paperwork with the court…we did that on April 25! Got a letter on Tuesday, April 30 our social worker got the call from the family court letting her know that everything looked awesome and to go ahead a file the second set of paperwork. She mailed that in on  May 1 – I received a call on May 7th from the court admin wanting to know when we would like to come in to finalize our adoption with the judge! He gave me five options and the first one was May 31 – so of course I chose that one!

Ok…let’s back up for one second and look at this: Usually (from what the lady at the court house told us) once we file our first set of paperwork they have 30 days to review the documents and let us/our social worker know if we are missing anything. If not, we file the second set of documents and from there they have another 60 days to review those documents and let us know if there are any issues or if we are missing anything. After all of that they will give us a call and see when we can get on the judges schedule…so it could have been another three or more months before anything was finalized. We were all prepared that this would happen end of summer!

We filed on April 25 – got the OK from the courts FOUR days (not counting weekends) after we dropped off the first set… then another FOUR days (not counting weekends) we received a call asking us when we want to come in and meet the judge! And now 24 days later he will be a Paddock! 

It’s all crazy:

• Birth date: December 26, 2018
• Placement: January 24, 2019
• 1st Social Worker Visit: February 6, 2019
• 2nd Social Worker Visit: March 6, 2019
• Final Social Worker Visit: April 2, 2019
• 1st set of paperwork filed: April 25, 2019
• 2nd set of paperwork filed: May 1, 2019
• Call to schedule finalization: May 7, 2019

• Finalization: Friday May 31, 2019

Total time in our family from placement to finalization: 127 days!!!

We’ve invited just the grandparents to be witnesses for this event and will plan a big celebration to happen a little later. This is absolutely amazing and I am still in complete awe of our Lord and how unbelievably faithful He is and also how if we just stop, lay it all at his feet and fully trust him wonderful things happen.

Wyatt was always ours, we just didn’t know when we would be meeting him or how or that we would meet an amazingly strong woman who would give him to us. Seriously, if anyone is doubting or is scared for the relationship with a birth family – reach out, ask me anything – I was you a few months ago and I can’t put into words how much God has done in my heart and the love that I feel for her. She is a blessing beyond blessings.

Ok – I’ve rambled on and on and on, time to go Mother’s Day shopping!! Hope you have a blessed day!!

“Not flesh of my flesh – Nor bone of my bone – But still miraculously my own – Never forget for a single minute – You didn’t grow under my heart – But in it.”

Wow…it’s been a while!

Hello Everyone – how the heck are ya?!?! So I know it’s been a LLLOOONNNGGGGG time since I’ve been on here to give an update of our crazy, busy, wonderful life!

So here it goes….starting with the house…

Basement: In the family room we have flooring, window coverings (which nerd alert…are AMAZING – you can have them open, closed or sheer – OH and ZERO cords. Told ya…kinda nerdy but I lobe them we ordered them from Budget Blinds), we have a huge couch (perfect for Hunter and his ninja moves), kiddo toys have been moved back to the basement and the bar is coming along! Ryan did an absolutely beautiful job on the bar top. He saw online someplace how to burn wood and use epoxy for the top – seriously, it’s really beautiful and fits perfectly in with the basement. We still need to finish laying flooring in the hall, back bedroom, stairs and landing but at least the family room is done and we have a big tv and couch perfect for movies. Here’s the To Do List for the basement:

• Install the cupboards at the back of the bar
• Install the little bar sink
• Find and install countertops
• Stain and hang upper cupboards, stain the wood on the edges of the bar
• Make shelving for under bar for storage

My very talented husband made this bar 🙂 it’s awesome and I love the top!!

I LOVE these blinds/shades – whatever you want to call them! Also, don’t mind the ceiling tiles….they are getting replaced as well. As always, never ending projects.

Basement Bathroom: All the tile is done – I will NEVER use slate tiles again. You have to seal them two to three times before you install them and after need to seal them two more times. It’s a pain in the butt, if you want the color and look of slate find a different tile that looks like it. With that, I am VERY happy with the way the shower has turned out. Grout is Delorean Gray (sand free) looks perfect with the slate and the glass tiles. We also have the same caulking color to match everything – because in my world things need to match.  Vanity and sink are all set up and ready to go, I did notice that the light isn’t centered with the sink and that is going to really bother my OCD brain – but it will be ok, I will survive 🙂  Here’s the newest To Do list:

• Now need to hang the mirror
• Install the shower door
• Install the shower heads and other fixtures
• Make a cupboard door for the access area to the sump pump
• Add shelving to the cubby for towels and other items

Back Bedroom/Dog Room: We haven’t done anything in this room except add outlets to the new walls we had to rebuild from the mold. I still need to seal the drywall, paint the whole room, install the flooring, put the moldings back on, and put the closets back together. This room is not high on the list to get things done, but eventually it will get there 🙂

OK So here’s the BEST update EVER….Adoption!

My beautiful boys – heart exploding

Tomorrow our Social Worker will file our first set of paperwork for our Petition of Adoption with Anoka County!!! AHHHHHHH —- Freak out with me! It’s soooooo amazingly exciting I can hardly contain myself!! I know that I haven’t given much of an update on any of the adoption news since January and that’s because we aren’t supposed to right now. I will give a FULL Story once we have our court date. Just know that Mr. Jonah Wyatt is absolutely perfect! I mean look at these Easter pictures – Hunter is an AMAZING big brother and always wanting to help out, I’m so in love with their relationship and it’s just a blessing to see him want to take care of his baby brother. I will say…I’m a little jealous of my three year old…he gets the BIGGEST smiles from Wyatt – I try and try and try but Wyatt just loves watching Hunter and is starting to giggle a little now. It’s magical!

God has truly blessed us with an amazing birth mom and an amazing son. As I’ve said in the past, this entire adoption adventure has been put together by Him and only Him. He had these two picked out for us from the beginning, he was just waiting on us to take that leap of faith and figure out what He was telling us — Adoption is for you — once we started listening things started happening and they happened VERY QUICKLY!

The power prayer is something that we will never be able to comprehend and it’s something that I will never question. When you put it out in the world that you are asking for prayers, small groups, Prayer Works (KTIS), family and friends never fail. Our adoption story is proof of that.

Wyatt will be dedicated on Mother’s Day and these are the two verses that we will present him with:

From his birth mom: Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

From us, his parents: Hebrews 13:20, 21 “Now may the God of peace, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Stay tuned for the Full Story!!

Updates: Basement & Adoption

Hello faithful readers, I hope and trust that you had a wonderful Christmas!

Basement:

We’ve finished tiling the bathroom, now all I have to do is clean up the grout lines, add grout, seal the stone and grout, add the shower fixtures, toilet, vanity, lights and doors. Ryan’s dad will help with finishing the electrical that needs to be done (switches, outlets, lights). I love having talented parents who are able to help near by 🙂 Still feels like we are far away from the finish line with all the little things left – Oh and we need to actually buy a door, but it’s looking awesome and I am very happy with how it’s all coming together.

Family room flooring…my knees and back hurt but it’s coming along! We were able to get two days in with finishing the tiling and starting the flooring. We are using a vinyl plank floating floor for the entire basement (family room, bathroom, hallway, 4th bedroom, stairs and entry landing), right now we are almost done with the family room. We need to add treated 2x4s to where we will put the bar and also put in the cabinets and sink before we can finish laying the flooring. Menards and Home Depot are our best friends lately. I will say I’m LOVING the look of the new floor and I can’t wait to have all the trim and doors done. Hunter already loves being able to run around down there and he’s been very ‘helpful‘ during the floor install. We will need to stain the bathroom door, molding, bar and cabinets to match the existing woodwork because I’m not redoing all of that, so still lots to do, but we are getting closer.

I have to say I have some pretty amazing parents! While dad and I were finishing up in the bathroom for tile, mom was cleaning up the family room and starting to paint! And then once dad and I were done with the bathroom mom was pretty much done painting the family room 🙂 Like I said….I have pretty amazing parents and I am SOOOOOO thankful that they’ve been able to come over and help get things finished. Yesterday while dad and I were working on the floor mom was upstairs getting the nursery ready….

Adoption:

So yes, you read that last sentence correctly. BUT please don’t get overly excited just yet. I know you are asking why? Why can’t I jump up and down and get crazy excited…well, lets go back a week or so and give an update on how things have been going 🙂

OK so on December 20th we had the chance to meet an amazing birth mom through our agency. She is wonderful and she is someone I connected with back in October after reading about her in our adoption month end newsletter. At that time she hadn’t decided if she was going to parent of create an adoption plan. On Wednesday, December 19 she was looking through a lot of different family profile books, and she wanted to meet two families. We were one of them (read my last post, more details). We met with her on the 20th and I feel like we all connected right away, our social worker said that she’s never laughed so much in a first meeting — which we took as a good sign.

After our meeting we weren’t sure what to expect or how soon she might be making a decision. A week went by and during that time baby was born, December 26!! Baby is doing wonderfully and is happy and healthy. We found out on Thursday (12/27) that she picked us! How amazingly wonderful is that!!!!!!! We are beyond excited but still guarded — why you may be asking…well we still aren’t sure who the father is, and until then we won’t know if we are able to bring this beautiful child into our home and love them unconditionally as our baby.

Right now we continue to wait, continue to search for bottles, diapers and other essentials that are packed away. (I want to do a little clothes shopping but I’m not going to – as hard as it is.) We hope and pray that the DNA tests comes back quickly but we aren’t sure how long it will take because of the new year holiday coming up. So for right now baby is in a Gentle Transition Home.

We met with the birth mom today, we also met her mom and her two boys. They were able to meet Hunter today as well and we let the boys play and wear each other out — went to the indoor playground in Maple Grove. FYI that place is AWESOME, I see future birthday parties there.  It was a really great meeting and again Ryan and I felt a calmness around us and we didn’t feel stressed out about meeting everyone or seeing the birth mom again. Honestly it’s all about making sure that the baby is taken care of, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us all. It’s really hard not to get excited and start planning things, but then we also don’t want to get too excited because we still aren’t sure how this will all end up.

Continued prayers for our birth mom as this is not an easy decision for her, continued prayers for baby and continued prayers for Ryan and I. God already has this little person’s life planned out, we jut don’t know if it is with us or not.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.

Isaiah 43:5

Can you be nervous and calm at the same time…

Oh boy….so tomorrow is a BIG day for us! Tomorrow afternoon we meet the birth mom who really liked our profile book. I think we are a mixed bag of emotions but every time I think about it I feel calmer than I think that I should. I feel like I’m supposed to be all mixed up and freaking out, but I’m not.

I’ve been drawn to this birth mom since October and I’ve only known here form a paragraph in an email update from the agency but when I think about her I pray for her and I feel God around me keeping me calm. I have no idea what will happen tomorrow or how we will feel or how she is feeling but I’m praying that she feels the same calmness that I do and I hope she can feel the prayers we are all saying for her and the decision she will be making.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m nervous — kinda like a blind date sort of nervous — she only knows us from a book and tomorrow we will get to ask each other questions about our families, what we see for this child, how we would raise them. I’m nervous that I won’t answer a question ‘right’, I’m nervous that I will forget to ask something and then think of it tomorrow night as I’m trying to go to bed. Nervous if we look better in the book vs in person 🙂 You know, all the crazy thoughts that run through my mind.

I am really looking forward to meeting her and seeing what she looks like. From what the Expectant Parent Advocate (EPA) has said she is a wonderful person, easy to talk to, easy to like, very open about everything and won’t shy away from questions. We have some questions from the EPA that she may ask us and we will be getting our list together tonight.

Thank you all for the continued prayers as we navigate this adventure! We know that God has a path already set for this little child and for the birth mom — she is an AMAZINGLY STRONG woman and I wish she knew how much we already love her and support her and pray for her.

Tomorrow at 3:15 we will be meeting her!! I can’t wait to update you on how everything went.