Thank you!

Thanks for all the sweet words, congratulations, and excitement you shared with us!  We are still on Cloud 9 and can't wait to meet A.  Speaking of which... we'll be making a trip to his city tomorrow (on D's birthday!) to meet him and spend time with the family who has taken care of him for the duration of his life.  I talked to his foster mom yesterday (J) for close to an hour and fell in love with her and her husband immediately!  They are seriously the cutest things and I can't wait to meet them almost as much as A! 

Anyway, the past few days have been a whirlwind and I find myself not being able to fall asleep at night because of the excitement I'm feeling.  It also feels very surreal and I keep thinking I'm going to wake up from this dream I'm living. 

Since I only prepared myself for disappointment, I never thought I'd actually be the one feeling the 'happy' emotions.  But I'm also deeply aware of the heartbreak that's occurring for the other two families and I think about and pray for them often.  People keep telling me, "You and D deserve this so much," and "This is your time."  But I think to myself, "No, we don't." And who's to say it's our time and not theirs?  Don't get me wrong- I'm so grateful to have been chosen and praise God for answering our prayers.  At the end of the day, though, we don't deserve this.  We don't deserve getting chosen for A.  We don't deserve the joy we're feeling.  We don't deserve any of this. 

But wow- the gratitude we feel, the total awe we have, the complete joy that this life has already brought to our hearts- we are amazed.  And thankful; thankful beyond words.

We got him!

I can't believe I'm getting to write this post... but the conference call took place today and 90 seconds after the call ended, they called our adoption coordinator and picked us!  I was in shock.  Like any good infertile, I had prepared myself for the worst, thinking I would only be pleasantly surprised if things turned out differently.  Well, they did!

Placement will take place in 2-3 weeks, but hopefully we'll get to meet A sooner than that.  His foster parents seem to be really sweet (from what our coordinator told me), so I really can't wait to meet them.

There are lots of things to do to prepare for his arrival in our lives: car seats to buy, stroller shopping to do, and toys and books and blocks and trains!  But for tonight, there's celebrating to do!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day- the day of the conference call.  This past weekend, I was busy putting together a web page on Shutterfly to display pictures of us, our families, our home, anything we could think of that would show who we are to A's caseworker.

The call will take place at 10am.  My sweet assistant will be coming into my classroom at that time while I step out to find a quiet place to pray.  I don't know if D and I have prayed about something as much as we have about this.  Oh wait, we've been praying about this for over 3 years! 

I need His peace so much.  I'm not scared about becoming parents.  I'm not scared about becoming responsible for another life.  I'm scared about being disappointed.  I'm scared about experiencing heart break.  But if I keep my focus on A and off myself, I find true joy.  Joy that he will be finding his forever family in the next few days.  Joy that he will have a mom and a dad, a home, a family to call his own.  Joy that he will go to bed each night, surrounded by love.

So I choose to think- and pray- for this little boy who has captured our hearts.  I can handle the heart break.  He shouldn't have to.

Top 3, Baby!

I remember waking up this morning from my flu-induced coma and calculating in my head how many days it had been since we submitted our home study on A.  And thinking that we hadn't made it to the minimum number of days we had been told to expect to wait before hearing something.

I'm feeling better.  I don't feel quite so close to my deathbed today.  I even took a shower and brushed my teeth!  TMI, I know, but it's amazing how much better a person feels after washing all those germs off.

Watching TV all day is really boring.  Which is why I'm glad I have my handy laptop so I can surf the web all day.  Which can get to be boring too.  But not when you get an email from the adoption coordinator saying, "Call me when you get a chance."

Which is what I did after I finished all the other things on my to-do list for the day.  Oh wait, I don't have one of those.  I'm sick.  And bored out of my mind.  And I really wanted to know what she needed to talk about, so I called her as soon as I read the email.  After learning I had been sick (she didn't need to ask- though I'm feeling better, I still sound like death warmed over), she told me she might have some news to really make me feel better.  D and I have been chosen as one of the final 3 families for little A!

Basically, she'll take part in a conference call next week where she'll learn more about A, ask questions about him, then tell them about us and answer any questions they might have about us.  The decision could be made that day or a few days later.  Please pray that if we are the family for A that it will be made clear to those making the decision.  And pray for peace for myself and D- that we will remember that if this is His will, if A is to join our family, that it will happen.

Aaaaaahhhh!  :)

How to get ready for swimsuit season:

1. Develop a hacking cough.
2. Begin the cough-drop-only diet.
3. Take cold medicine to help ease the cough.
4. Get awful side effects from medicine, causing you not to eat.
5. Take a nap to sleep off the medicine- wake up feeling like you've been hit by a truck.
6. Continue coughing, strengthening your stomach muscles.
7. Keep downing the cough drops.
8. Don't eat anything else- complete loss of appetite.
9. Go see Dr.
10. Answer the question, "Did you get a flu shot?" with a negative.
11. Take the week off from school. (ok, that doesn't really help out with swimsuit season)

If you can't tell, I've got the flu.  It came Sunday afternoon, went to the Dr. Monday and got started on meds.  I feel awful.  I rarely get the flu, so I guess I kinda forget how bad it makes a person feel.

The plus side: I'm at home nice and warm and not going out in the arctic temperatures.

Untitled

Accepted our first foster placement yesterday. A 5 month-old baby boy. After receiving the call, I ran around the house, talking to D on the phone, looking for my gift cards, trying to rack my brain for all the things we were going to need. Told D he was a dad. Celebrated together. Got in the car to make a Target trip before the baby arrived.

Then got a 2nd call. CPS had already given the child to another family. Turned the car around. Called D back to tell him false alarm. And called a friend who was on the way to help me make a Target trip. And my Mom to tell her she wasn't going to be a Mumsie again so soon.

And D came home. And we celebrated that a little boy had a family tonight to keep him safe and take care of him. Even if we weren't the family.

a post of firsts

• first day at school this week (I was out sick yesterday)
• first quarterly evaluation today (which we passed!)
• first time to meet our AFS- hereby known as T- love her already!
• booked our first ever airplane tickets (we've never flown.  like ever. in case you didn't understand that this was a list of firsts)
• taking my first (and probably only) trip to Key West this summer!  D's already been there since his parents were continental travelers and took 2-week vacations each summer driving all over the US.  But I haven't and I'm so excited!  It's been on my bucket list for a few years ( I know.  I know.  What 25 year-old has a bucket list already?)
• first post of the week!  Hopefully not the only one...

Hope you're having a great week!