Wordless Wednesday

A Family of Three

This is the post I have wanted to write since our journey to become parents began!!! We welcomed Christopher Michael into our home on Saturday!!! We basically received a call that a baby had been born and that the birth mother wanted to place him with us. Michael called to tell me and my body went into shock...I was shaking, scared, crying and excited! We spent one night in the hospital and brought him home. We are in love with this adorable bundle of joy! I am taking a little over 10 weeks off work and I will enjoy every single minute of it even if that means being sleep deprived. Christopher has already been spoiled rotten with friends arriving with gifts, gifts via mail and the mini "baby shower" we came home to. I will post more about our precious bundle of joy when I have time...It looks like 2013 will be a great year!!!

Christopher Michael

Leaving the hospital as a family of three!!!  

Mini baby shower thanks to a couple friends and my mom and dad!

Happy New Year!

2013 is here! The older I get the faster the years fly by! What will 2013 bring? Hopefully is will be a year filled with laughter and time spent with family and friends. We hope to run our first 5K...maybe a couple, and I pray that I am able to pass National Boards the first time! Maybe we can finally upgrade Michael's cell phone from a flip phone (or dumb phone as my stepsister calls it) to a smartphone. We hope his car makes it through 2013...225,000 miles and still going. Of course, there is the obvious...adopting a baby. While I hate to think about it I'm sure we will run into more hurdles, but it will only make us stronger. We will celebrate our 7th year of marriage, 11th year of being a couple and our 8th year of living in South Carolina. I'm sure there are many more things we will change, experience or conquer in 2013. I hope you are able to achieve your goals in 2013 and that it is filled with laughter, love and happiness!!!

 

Frustrated

I'm sure I have mentioned that we receive recruitment emails every now and then from the agency. In an email like this it gives us information about an expectant mother (EM) and her baby. We can respond if we are interested in being considered for the baby or we can do nothing. If we respond that we are interested than the agency sends out more information and we can either go forward or decide the baby isn't a good fit for us.

We received a recruitment email in November and were interested in being considered for the baby...so did 19 other couples and we weren't chosen. We knew our chances were slim, but we had hope. Rejection hurts! We received another email this week with information on a EM and her baby that we wanted to be considered for. Yesterday, we received more information about the EM and baby and after researching a few of our concerns we decided not to move forward.

What frustrated me while researching the issues/concerns (I can't be specific due to privacy issues.) was the simple fact that I'm having to research what effects a baby could have due to the choices the EM has made or is making. Yes, I know women put their babies up for adoption for a reason and the situation isn't going to be perfect, but if I could have my own baby I wouldn't do anything that could affect his/her health. Life is a precious gift, and I'm having a really hard time understanding why I can't have a baby of my own!!!!!

Sandy Hook

My heart breaks for all the children, teachers and families that have been affected by the horrific event that occurred on Friday. This tragedy has affected me more than any other shooting. I found myself crying as I watched the news reports this weekend. While I don't have a child of my own...I do teach a classroom full of 8 and 9 year olds. Yes, some of them are frustrating at times, but I would never want anything to happen to any of them. They are so young and still have full lives ahead of them. It makes me want to teach with my classroom door locked, but I don't want to live in fear either.

I pray for the victims, their families, and the Sandy Hook community. I pray that the teachers find the strength to continue their school year leading their students to success. I pray that the students who survived can return to a normal childhood in the coming weeks and months.

Win-Win Situation

The wishbone from our turkey has been sitting on the top of our stove since Thanksgiving. We forgot about it, but finally decided to break it today. I'm sure we both had very similar wishes, so I wasn't too concerned with breaking the bigger piece...even though I did. Maybe my wish will come true!?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for...

a wonderful and supportive family!

a fantastic husband that cooks Thanksgiving dinner!

wonderful friends to laugh with!

a fabulous class this school year!

my health!

my cuddly cat, Trixie!

seafood, peanut butter and chocolate! :)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and take time to enjoy the people and things you are thankful for!!!