Today Joel and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. It seems like just yesterday that we got married on that beautiful April day. It was warm and sunny even though the forecasters said it was going to snow. We were surrounded by friends and family to celebrate one of the best days of our life.
Fastforward four years. On this day in 2009, we met Gus' birthfather. I mentioned it before on this blog but did not go into any detail. The reason we met with "K" was because he was reconsidering his parental rights. Unlike birthmothers, the birthfather can sign off his rights before the baby is born. He was considering the option of raising the unborn baby. We met with K and our social worker, Dawn. We all sat at a table in a little conference room. I was sweating....I felt sick to my stomach. What if this man did change his mind? How would my legs even carry me out of this building before I collapsed to the ground in an unconsolable heap? How would I ever be able to celebrate my anniversary again since all I would ever remember is what happened on this day? I watched in awe as Dawn spoke to K. That woman is worth her weight in gold!! I would have paid her a million dollars for her work on that day alone. She was able to facilitate conversation between the three of us and make us all feel more comfortable with one another. He shared some things about his life that he wanted to make sure that we shared with Gus one day. Long story short, we had a successful meeting that day and K ended up signing later that week. We never saw or heard from K after that. And I am sure that we probably never will. Not sure how I feel about that....I think that is something for me to investigate further some other day.
Move forward to today...today was delightful. It was relaxing. I did some organizing in my craft/Thirty-One room. I wrote some thank you notes. I packaged up some items to be mailed out to friends. Joel and Gus went grocery shopping together today and left me in an empty, quiet house. This was one of the first days that I had that was free of any plans. LOVED it! I loved getting to just relax and hangout with my boys. Gus was full of energy and full of giggles. Such a fun day!
Showing posts with label anniversary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anniversary. Show all posts
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Happy Month-iversary!
WOW! It has been a month since I signed on the dotted lines (many, many lines) and became a home owner. My name was never on our old place so this was my first home purchase. It all still feels a little surreal. I am still a little overwhelmed with the fact that this is our home. I can't believe that it is actually ours! So crazy!!
We had our house warming party last weekend. Throughout the evening we had over 50 people in here....crazy to think about!! Granted they were coming and going, but this place was insane! And I LOVED it!! I love the fact that I can entertain in this house. I love that we can all get together in my home. I can't wait to have people over again!!
One thing that the party forced us to do was get this house ready for company...quickly. I'm glad that we did because right now I am sitting in a clean house...many things are put away. Granted we still have a garage full of stuff to unpack. I decided before we moved here that I would not bring anything into this house that we didn't need anymore. So instead of just unloading everything in the house and shoving it into places, we decided to take our time. The goal is to be able to park both cars in our garage by the summer time. With our crazy busy lives, it is a realistic goal. Not only that but I really like the idea of taking my time to really go through everything and purge so much of the stuff that we have held onto.
Slowly but surely we will be all moved in. Right now, I still feel like we are housesitting someone else's house...I'm sure it will become real sooner or later. Probably when we get our first bills!
We had our house warming party last weekend. Throughout the evening we had over 50 people in here....crazy to think about!! Granted they were coming and going, but this place was insane! And I LOVED it!! I love the fact that I can entertain in this house. I love that we can all get together in my home. I can't wait to have people over again!!
One thing that the party forced us to do was get this house ready for company...quickly. I'm glad that we did because right now I am sitting in a clean house...many things are put away. Granted we still have a garage full of stuff to unpack. I decided before we moved here that I would not bring anything into this house that we didn't need anymore. So instead of just unloading everything in the house and shoving it into places, we decided to take our time. The goal is to be able to park both cars in our garage by the summer time. With our crazy busy lives, it is a realistic goal. Not only that but I really like the idea of taking my time to really go through everything and purge so much of the stuff that we have held onto.
Slowly but surely we will be all moved in. Right now, I still feel like we are housesitting someone else's house...I'm sure it will become real sooner or later. Probably when we get our first bills!
Friday, January 28, 2011
The Call
Two years ago today I was supposed to have a cheerleading meet. Unfortunately, it was canceled due to the weather. So home I went after school. Once I got home, I noticed the red blinking light on my answering machine.
"Hi Beth and Joel! My name is Dawn Baker. I am calling from Bethany Christian Services. Please call me as soon as you get this message. You can call me at .......until 5 and then on my cell phone at ......until 10 PM tonight. Talk to you soon."
That's weird I thought. We JUST updated our adoption application 2 weeks ago, what did they want now? I called the number, asked for Dawn and was greeted by the most cheerful voice.
"Hi Beth! So glad that you were able to call back so quickly. I have a birthmom who really wants to meet with you and Joel to see if you are a match!"
I almost fell over. My legs felt weak and I had to sit down. I sat on the bottom step of our stairs as Dawn gave me some background about J and K, the birthparents. I remember my hands shaking, my voice wouldn't work. It was all I could do not to fall completely apart. Was this real? Was this lady really calling to tell me that there was someone who chose US?
Dawn and I set up a time to meet with J the next week to see if we were a match and before we hung up, Dawn mentioned one more thing. "Oh by the way....it's a boy!"
I thanked Dawn, hung up the phone and still shaking like a leaf, I tried to call Joel. Joel was coaching wrestling at the time and his wrestling meet still happened (despite the weather). I called Joel about 27 times and he ignored me every time.
I decided that I couldn't tell anyone about this until I told Joel so I had to figure out how to spend my time. So what did I do...I went shopping! I remember wandering around Home Goods for about an hour while talking on my cell phone with Dawn. She had called back with some more information so I got to at least talk to her a little bit. After Home Goods (yes, I bought some really fun stuff while I was there!) I wandered over to Target. I spent another two hours wandering around Target. Up and down each aisle. I found myself in toys and purchased the first baby toy for our household. I bought a green football for our little boy.
Finally, Joel was home and we could celebrate. There were lots of tears and both completely stunned. We were in disbelief that this was happening and so quickly for us. We told only our family and a few very close friends and kept our fingers crossed for our meeting with J. We are so happy that J chose us! The past two years have flown right by and we are loving every minute of it!!
"Hi Beth and Joel! My name is Dawn Baker. I am calling from Bethany Christian Services. Please call me as soon as you get this message. You can call me at .......until 5 and then on my cell phone at ......until 10 PM tonight. Talk to you soon."
That's weird I thought. We JUST updated our adoption application 2 weeks ago, what did they want now? I called the number, asked for Dawn and was greeted by the most cheerful voice.
"Hi Beth! So glad that you were able to call back so quickly. I have a birthmom who really wants to meet with you and Joel to see if you are a match!"
I almost fell over. My legs felt weak and I had to sit down. I sat on the bottom step of our stairs as Dawn gave me some background about J and K, the birthparents. I remember my hands shaking, my voice wouldn't work. It was all I could do not to fall completely apart. Was this real? Was this lady really calling to tell me that there was someone who chose US?
Dawn and I set up a time to meet with J the next week to see if we were a match and before we hung up, Dawn mentioned one more thing. "Oh by the way....it's a boy!"
I thanked Dawn, hung up the phone and still shaking like a leaf, I tried to call Joel. Joel was coaching wrestling at the time and his wrestling meet still happened (despite the weather). I called Joel about 27 times and he ignored me every time.
I decided that I couldn't tell anyone about this until I told Joel so I had to figure out how to spend my time. So what did I do...I went shopping! I remember wandering around Home Goods for about an hour while talking on my cell phone with Dawn. She had called back with some more information so I got to at least talk to her a little bit. After Home Goods (yes, I bought some really fun stuff while I was there!) I wandered over to Target. I spent another two hours wandering around Target. Up and down each aisle. I found myself in toys and purchased the first baby toy for our household. I bought a green football for our little boy.
Finally, Joel was home and we could celebrate. There were lots of tears and both completely stunned. We were in disbelief that this was happening and so quickly for us. We told only our family and a few very close friends and kept our fingers crossed for our meeting with J. We are so happy that J chose us! The past two years have flown right by and we are loving every minute of it!!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Happy 2 Year Anniversary My Dear Blog!
Can you believe it?!?! I have been writing this blog for TWO years!! I went back to the very beginning at my first post. Wanna see it? Click here! I remember thinking, "Man, I really can't stand everyone asking me about our adoption process. Still waiting. Not much to report." I decided then to start a blog so that I could just tell friends and family to check our blog for the latest news. Little did I know that I was going to have lots to post soon after that!
Today I spent a little bit of time looking back on those earlier posts. And I have been bawling like a baby ever since. I did fine during the first couple posts but it was the third one that got me. I was fine until I read "Today we met the birthmom of our baby!" Instant tears. I remember feeling so excited that I was shaking and so nervous that I was throwing up in the parking lot of the church we met her in while Joel was cool as a cucumber and asleep in the car while his wife was freaking out! I remember calling my family and friends and trying to tell them through uncontrollable sobbing that I was going to be a momma! Finding out that you are pregnant and getting to tell people is very exciting....but for those of you out there who have had a long road to parenthood like we did, understand the uncontrolable sobbing because you are excited that it is finally happening. Something that you have waited so long for and struggled for is finally happening. I'm pretty sure that everyone that I spoke to could barely understand me....but I didn't care. I wanted to scream it from the rooftops! I was going to be a momma!!! (In case you are wondering...yes, I am still crying as I write this post.)
I continued to read through some of my other posts, some from last year and some along the way this year. I can't believe how quickly two years have passed. I wish that I wrote more eloquently and was more diligent about posting on my blog and I hope that people enjoy reading about us (I know, mom...you do. Thanks for being my #1 reader!) but I am pretty proud of myself for continuing to write about our crazy family and the life we lead. I can't wait to see what 2011 brings for Stapes House. And I can't wait for the day when I get to post about the Stape House growing again. So stay tuned and see what is in store for us in the future. THANKS FOR READING!!
Today I spent a little bit of time looking back on those earlier posts. And I have been bawling like a baby ever since. I did fine during the first couple posts but it was the third one that got me. I was fine until I read "Today we met the birthmom of our baby!" Instant tears. I remember feeling so excited that I was shaking and so nervous that I was throwing up in the parking lot of the church we met her in while Joel was cool as a cucumber and asleep in the car while his wife was freaking out! I remember calling my family and friends and trying to tell them through uncontrollable sobbing that I was going to be a momma! Finding out that you are pregnant and getting to tell people is very exciting....but for those of you out there who have had a long road to parenthood like we did, understand the uncontrolable sobbing because you are excited that it is finally happening. Something that you have waited so long for and struggled for is finally happening. I'm pretty sure that everyone that I spoke to could barely understand me....but I didn't care. I wanted to scream it from the rooftops! I was going to be a momma!!! (In case you are wondering...yes, I am still crying as I write this post.)
I continued to read through some of my other posts, some from last year and some along the way this year. I can't believe how quickly two years have passed. I wish that I wrote more eloquently and was more diligent about posting on my blog and I hope that people enjoy reading about us (I know, mom...you do. Thanks for being my #1 reader!) but I am pretty proud of myself for continuing to write about our crazy family and the life we lead. I can't wait to see what 2011 brings for Stapes House. And I can't wait for the day when I get to post about the Stape House growing again. So stay tuned and see what is in store for us in the future. THANKS FOR READING!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
