Some days adoption is hard. Some days waiting is hard. Every day is worth it.
Every. Single. Day. (Even the day my ipod was dropped in the toilet)
So grateful to be going through this journey with my Jon-O. Isn’t he foxy? (btw-it takes a REAL man to pose with a pink umbrella!)
Tomorrow we’ll be walking for adoption. We’ll be walking in honor of Sam’s birthparents. We’ll be walking in celebration of our family. We’ll be walking in gratitude for the HOPE that adoption brings.
Rumor has it that a certain boy will be wearing a superman costume as his way of celebrating the day. Jon and I will be wearing orange. It is the adoption color…which is my favorite color.
Hope to see you there!
November is National Adoption Month! This picture was taken seconds after I met Sam and his beautiful birthmom for the first time. Pure joy, pure love, pure delicious curly-haired sweet-smelling heaven. We were lucky to spend a lot of time with Sam’s birthmom in the hospital. She is the one who taught me to change a diaper. She taught me how to feed Sam. She taught me how to take care of her sweet baby. Most of all, she taught me so much about love.
Love you Holly & Greg! You are loved, appreciated and remembered every single day. XOXOX!
Rachel
This summer we attended a family reunion with Rachel’s parents & siblings. Sam had a great time and spent his time exploring nature, discovering stars, and trying to blow on the fire because it was “hot.” It was great spending some time away with the family playing games, laughing and simply enjoying each other’s company. Sam took his first hike (nature walk) and lasted for 30 minutes. What a trooper! We played on the lake in a paddle boat. Sam was in absolute heaven. So was Rachel. They both are water babies at heart…
Love this little family of mine!
I love watching Jon and Sam together. They are best buds. I adore how Sam runs to the front door when Jon gets home. The way he hops on our bed and “wakes” up his Daddy on Saturday morning. The way they both like the same cereal. The way Sam imitates everything Jon does. The way they play on the floor together. The way Sam lays his head on Jon’s shoulder at the end of the night. There isn’t anything like watching the bond between a dad and his boy. These two boys have my heart forever.
I love you, Jon! Happy Father’s Day!!!
XOXOXO!
Rachel
We just got back from a trip to the midwest to help our friends move. The highlight of our trip was being able to stop and see Sam’s birthparents. Oh how we adore them. It was great being back in Sam’s birthtown. So many tender emotions surfaced as we remembered our journey there less than two years ago. Memories of getting on an airplane nervous with anticipation, meeting Sam’s beautiful birthmom, meeting Sam, falling in love with curly-haired perfection, learning from Sam’s birthmom how to take care of her tiny baby, soaking up every word she said, savoring every moment we had together, being new parents….it all come flooding back.
What a joy it was to see Sam’s birthparents again! They love Sam so much. We love them so much! I hope they see how much he is loved and adored. It was great to be able to ask them about some of Sam’s traits. He is left-handed (maybe) like his birthmom. He get his love of animals from them. He gets his curiosity about how things work from his birthdad. They both share Sam’s love of music.
We stayed in the same hotel we “lived” in for the first week of Sam’s life until we were cleared by ICPC to return home. This time we took Sam swimming. He LOVED the pool….somewhere we did not venture the first time around. We saw our favorite waitress who served us nearly nightly right after Sam was born. We had the nachos again and they were every bit as tasty as we remembered.
So many reminders. So many memories. Such fabulous nachos.
Truly a reminder that we have been living our miracle for the past 19 months and three weeks (but who is counting, right?).
We have been approved to adopt again! YEA!!! That means we are officially “waiting.” We are so excited to be taking this step to add to our family again through the love and hope of adoption.
View our official profile here.
Love adoption. Love hope.
I love this picture! Sam has so much personality. He is 17 months and 100% boy. Here are some of his latest stats. 
Favorite foods: Cheese and chicken
Favorite toys: Balls, measuring cups, pots and pans, remotes, cell phones, keys
Vocabulary: Mom, Dad, Nana (banana), bottle, blankie, book, ball, cheese, all done, thank you, please, bye bye, hi, hello, no, yes, uh-oh
Animal sounds: Woof, meow, quack, whoo whoo, spit (camel), moo
Favorite animal: Nemo, my sister’s cat
New tricks: climbing in the bath tub by himself, jumping in his bed, climbing on the furniture, running, playing outside, going down slides
Sleeping: through the night…most nights
Favorite meals: pasta, fried rice, anything with cheese, enchiladas
Favorite books: anything with animals (he has to kiss all of the puppies), Goodnight Moon, Time for Bed
As a side note, we get to see Sam’s birthparents this summer. They live about 1400 miles away so we haven’t seen them since he was born. We are beyond excited to see both of them. We love them so much and can’t wait to spend time with them again.
We are getting ready to start the application process for adoption again. We are thrilled & humbled. Our first interview with our caseworker is next week! Stay tuned….