Best.Day.Ever!

Today we finalized the adoption. It's official. What we have known all along is now true and binding in the eyes of the court! We love you baby girl!!!

Most days I forget

that you are a foster baby...but then reality strikes when the social worker calls.  Usually it's when I least expect it.  Dinner time, reading emails and one will pop up scheduling a visit, talking with friends and the phone rings.  It's a hard dance to dance sometimes.  Let's face it...all the time.  It's not so much that I want to forget that you are in the foster care system trying to reunite with your birth mom, but it's just so hard sometimes when she calls and makes an appointment for the "child" in my care.  The "child" I love.  The "child" I really would love to see in a permanent home.  I want you to have a permanent name and be seen for the beautiful baby you are. 

A Letter To Her Birth Mother

I hope that one day she and I can meet you.
I hope that I can tell you how much you giving birth to her means
to me. She is the most beautiful baby girl. I know that she was taken from you and although you have not seen her in months I am sure that doesn't go without pain. I want you to know that even though I have never met you that I have a place in my heart for you. I pray for you.  I hope that one day you will be well enough to see your daughter again because you gave life to her. I thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to raise such a beautiful, sweet baby.  Thank you.

With Love,

Jennifer

Our lives will probably never be the same again

We got the call for our beautiful baby girl today at 4:30 pm. It was completely unexpected. Our social worker is out of town and we had just decided to go on vacation next week. However the call changed everything. We cannot wait to meet her. So excited.

One year ago today...

we were approved to foster to adopt a baby.  Still waiting...

But in the meantime we have been doing respite and short-term placements for babies/toddlers.  We have had four wonderful children so far.  The experience has been more than I could have imagined (both confusing, great, exciting, scary, hard, happy, sad, so many different emotions!).  I would like to blog about them soon, but for now I have to get some sleep so I am ready for the little one when he wakes up in the morning :)

A baby in the house

We signed up to do respite a few weeks ago and got a call last week asking if we would take a baby boy for two weeks. Now respite is usually short term - less than 72 hours. Of course I said yes. I was so excited to have a baby in the house.

He is such a sweet baby. I keep saying that I don't remember my babies being so good when they were this age. I guess I should see how tonight goes before I write this in stone. Anyhow I am off to bed just in case he is awake in an hour!

6 months today

we were approved to add a new baby to our family. I have to say the wait has been long. But so it is with waiting for a baby to be born when I was pregnant with our first three. 10 months in fact. Plus the time it took to try to have one. So I guess all in all we haven't spent much more time waiting, it just seems like it. We also don't have a "due date", which makes it all that much harder for me to wait. We spoke with an acquaintance of ours today and found out they are trying to adopt their second child domestically and have also been waiting about 6 months. They have to be chosen by the birth mother.
I would love to start buying things for our baby but have been waiting until we get the "phone call". However, what any new baby needs is a lot of love and we have that.

*Update on my friend in the post below. He had the biopsies on the nodules done and is waiting for the results. Praying for him!