Weekend in Iowa City

Well Ross, Nolan and I left Saturday morning at about 8:00 for Iowa City. We got into town around 2:30 or so and went to Erin's apartment. Ross and Nolan decided to stay at the apartment and take a nap while Erin and I went downtown and did some shopping. Nolan and Ross met us at at the law center for supper. Then we headed for the Hawkeye game. It was a good experience. I had never been to a football game other than High School so I really enjoyed it. The Hawkeye's won 35 to 0 so it was a good game to see. Sunday morning Erin made us breakfast and we went to church with her. Sunday afternoon Erin made dinner for us. We had a good time. Looking forward to going back next year. Here are some pictures from the game.

Look at all those nice Hawks!!!!


The Hawkeyes getting ready to come onto the field.


Running onto the field!


Game in progress...


A closer view of Kinkenborg!


Awww how cute!!!



Herkie!


Us again...


Amber, Ross, Erin and Nolan!


Okay he was making me laugh but isn't he the one laughing?


The 4 of us during the game.

Steps in stopping Fraudulent Birthmoms

Well I did it. I took it upon myself to contact the Iowa Attorney General's office to advise them of what this fraudulent birthmom is doing. I didn't think it would do any good because all I had was an email addresses and first names which probably aren't even real. I emailed them about 2 weeks ago and I got a response back today. This is what I got back today:

Dear Ms. "K"

Thank you for contacting the offices of Attorney General Tom Miller. We appreciate the opportunity to review your concerns about the sender of the emails you received. To help spread the word, and if you have not already done so, you may wish to post this information on the various Internet adoption message boards, contact Yahoo representatives since the emails are using Yahoo services, and make a report through www.ic3.gov, a web reporting portal operated by the National White Collar Crime Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. By copy of this email we are sharing your information with state of Iowa adoption authorities in the Iowa Department of Human Services. We hope you find this information helpful.

Sincerely,
Stephen Switzer,
InvestigatorConsumer Protection Division
Attorney General's Office/Department of Justice
State of IowaHoover State Office
Building1305
East Walnut Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50319

I did following through and filed a complaint on the website provided. Even though this person would have never gotten any money out of us, he or she might get to some adoptive parent that falls for her stunt. I think she needs to be stopped and I'm just thankful I did everything I could to keep her from doing this. I also posted on various adoption boards the email addresses and pictures that were sent to me. Boy I bet this person is sorry they messed with me!

Latest Decision

Well Ross and I have done a lot of praying and talking. We have come to a conclusion. We are now going to open up our race selection to African American. Originally we did not put AA down because we weren't sure if an AA child would fit into our community as we are a mostly CA community. After doing some research and talking to some people and the power of prayer, we have decided we are willing to accept an AA child if the situation would come about. We know there could be challenges down the road but we are willing to take that chance. We will love our child no matter what color their skin is and are excited that God has lead us to this decision. Monday marks our 8 month wait. I can't believe 8 months have gone by, boy is time flying!!!!!

Photography

I've had my camera for well over a year now and I'm just starting to actually experiment with the different settings and figure out how to use them. I'm hoping by the time we have kids, I will be able to take some pretty good pictures so I don't have to haul them to the photographer all the time and spend tons of money:-)

Here's some pictures I've taken within the past few months.

Adoption Scam

I don't get the point in adoption scams. I mean obviously the truth comes out sooner or later. Well I was scammed. Last week I got an email from someone stating they had a 3 week old AA/CA daughter. She indicated she could not take care of the baby and wondered if I was interested. She sent 2 pictures of the baby. After further communication with her, she sent two more pictures that were supposed to be of herself with the baby. So many red flags came up with this situation. First of all she referred to herself as a birthparent and the father as the birthfather. Normally expectant moms don't refer themselves as a birthparent until after they have placed their child for adoption. At this point she should be considered a parent. Second of all, the way she was looking at the baby in the picture, she definitely did not look like someone ready to relinquish their child. She would never tell me why she felt she needed to place the child for adoption and would never tell me what state she lived in. I also noticed that the emails she sent came from Vanessa Maya. In her first email she signed her name Vanessa. In her second email she signed her name Maya. In another email where the pictures were attached, the pictures were called Alexis and Claire. I informed her that in order to consider this situation she must contact Bethany. She informed me she would do so.

I didn't hear from her today so I knew it was really looking suspicious. I made a post on the Bethany discussion board and found out that another waiting adoptive parent was scammed the same way. She was sent pictures of this Mom and baby last night as well.

It really makes you wonder why on earth this person took time to respond to emails, send pictures, etc. She never requested anything from me so it was basically just a waste of time.

All I have to say is thank goodness for "gut instincts" and thank goodness for Adoption agencies!!!!

Social worker is back!

Our social worker Renae has been on maternity leave for 3 months. She started back to work on Monday but we haven't heard anything from her. The director who we had been working with during Renae's time off thought she would be contacting us this week. I am hoping to hear from her soon. Our profile has not been shown since April. All we know is that they are working with some birthmom's but they aren't at a point where they are ready to look at profiles yet.

My friend Alyssa had a dream about Ross and I. She dreamt that we got our baby the end of summer. She felt it was so real and so vivid. I just find this amazing. Alyssa and I see each other through my nieces from time to time but we don't know each other THAT well. It's so amazing that she would have a dream about us out of the blue. Alyssa hasn't even met Ross yet, it just seems so amazing. I know our time will come, I can feel it getting closer.

I'm on my final cross stitch project. Once I finish Tigger I will be able to hang all four in the Nursery and then hang a couple other pictures my sister in law Michelle got for me. I also have some Pooh stickups to put on the walls. Once that is up, the Nursery will be complete. Don't worry, pictures of the final project will follow!!!

Prayers for friends

A few weeks ago I found out that some friends of ours were expecting a baby. K is 37 and G is 44. This was not planned or expected. They have a 9 year old daughter S. The only symptoms K experienced was tiredness and moodiness. After an examination and ultrasound it was determined she was 18 weeks pregnant. They were very shocked but estatic as they didn't even think this was possible. Due to K's age they sent her to get a few more tests. It has been determined that baby girl is missing most of her left ventricle and the valve is too small. It is such a sad situation. Please pray for this family. We know that God plants miracles and I know we are praying with all our heart that Baby girl will make it and prove to us what a miracle she really is.

Fun with the girls!!!

Kim, Emily and Daryan came to our house this weekend. We had tons of fun together. Daryan had never been to our house so it was a fun trip for her. We went to the park to play for a while, we went down to Island park and took some pictures, we played with the kittens at our place. The biggest event was taking the girls to Sioux Center to the All Seasons Center for swimming. We spent 3 hours there enjoying both the indoor and outdoor pools and slides. The girls got along wonderful which made us very happy. Emily as usual is the comic. When headed to Sioux Center, Ross made a comment "I think I missed my turn" so I in turn said "oh great now we have to backtrack a bit", and Emily's response "can we get our time back". She is so cute when she thinks about things like this. After we got home we ordered pizza and watched a movie. Hopefully in a couple years Miss Norah can come and stay too!!!!

Kimberly Caitlin


Emily Marie


Daryan Taylor


The girls and I, thank goodness for self timers!


Kimmy is so cute isn't she?


Miss D


The girls at Island Park, having lots of fun!


The girls playing outside on the farm!

The girls hanging out on the ramp, yeah we haven't gotten rid of it, might need it someday:-)



Emily and Libby the kitty

Happy Birthday Norah Bear!

Norah is 1 year old today. I can't believe how fast this past year has gone. I still remember the day Michelle told me she was 7 weeks pregnant with a baby. I am so proud to call Norah my niece and Goddaughter. She is so much fun and has really helped some of our down days turn into bright days. We celebrated Norah's birthday this past weekend. I wasn't able to be there for cake and pizza so I gave Norah her present early. We got her a Build and Spill Musical Turtle. I've heard a lot of good reviews on this toy and she should be able to use it for a while. She seemed to like opening the gift but I think she was more interested in the box! That's a 1 year old for ya!

Happy Birthday sweet Norah Bear, we love you!!!!!

Wisconsin Dells

Ross and I took our annual vacation to Wisconsin Dells. We had always talked about it but hadn't ever done it so this year we decided to. Who knows, it may be one of the last vacations we take without children. We stayed at a very nice hotel owned by a family. It was more like mini apartments then a motel room. The rooms were very nice and we had a fridge and microwave in our room. There were a lot of nice restaurants around our hotel, we made it to a pizza place a couple times and to an italian restaurant. We had an outdoor heated pool at our motel which was very nice because there weren't a lot of guests staying so we basically had it to ourselves whenever we wanted. Some of the activities we did was to go to Mount Olympus which is an amusement park and water park. We spent over 8 hours there and had a blast. There were so many things to do and we would definitely go back again. We also took a tour on the Ducks which was pretty fun. The Duck is a vehicle that can go on land and in water. We also took a tour on the jet boat. We got pretty wet that day but did enjoy the ride. We also went to a couple other places but I won't go into detail. Here are some pictures from our vacation.

Top Secret


Inside Top Secret


Nice Boat for display


Army Ducks


Ross & Amber before riding the Ducks


Monster inside Top Secret


Bill Clinton inside Top Secret


Touring the lake on the Duck


Big rock on the lake, can see right through to the other side


Mt. Olympus roller coaster


Amber and Elvis at Denny's


Barge


Barge coming in


Elvis

WAIT (a poem)

Wait Desperately, helplessly, longingly I cried,
Quietly, patiently, lovingly He replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate.
And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait.”

“Wait! You say wait!” my indignant reply,
Lord, I need answers - I need to know why.
Is Your hand shortened, or have You not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming Your word.”

My future and all to which I can relate,
Hangs in the balance and You tell me ‘wait’?
I’m needing a ‘yes’—a go ahead sign,
Or at least a ‘no’ to which I can resign.

And Lord, I’ve been asking and this is my cry,
I’m weary of asking, I need a reply,
Then quietly, softly I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied, once again, “You must wait.”

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut.
And I grumbled to God—”So I’m waiting, for what?”
He seemed then to kneel and His eyes met with mine,
And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.”

“I could shake the heavens, darken the sun,
Raise up the dead, cause the mountain to run.
All you seek, I could give and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me.”

“You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint.
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.
You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair.
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there.”

“You’d not know the joy of resting in Me.
When darkness and silence was all you could see.
You’d never experience that fullness of love,
As the peace of my Spirit descends like a dove.”

“You would know that I give and save for a start,
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart,
The glow of My comfort, late in the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,

“The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask,
Of an infinite God that makes what you have last!
And you never would know should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

Yes, your dreams for that loved one,
One night would come true.
But oh the loss if you lost what I’m doing to you.

So be silent, my child, and in time you will see,
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft may My answers seem terribly late,
That My most precious answer of all is still ‘wait’.”

by Russell Kelfer

First Road Race

Well I had my very first road race on June 16th. I ran the 2 mile race. I walked a small portion of the race. I was very pleased with my results. I finished 5th out of 8 in my age bracket with a time of 22:05. I placed 39 out of 60 in the 2 mile with all ages combined so I think I did fairly well for my first time. I'm hoping to try the 5k next year. This is definitely an improvement considering I've never really been a runner. Heck I never even went out for track in High School. I didn't really even train for the race. I mean I went on the treadmill about 4 days a week and I would run some of it, but that's about. I entered the race basically to prove to myself that I can do it and now I know I can. I guess we'll see how next year goes and how I am doing in the exercise department. Hopefully I can keep up with it and not slack off at all.

A Rollercoaster ride

Our social worker Renae is on maternity leave now so we have been assigned to a new social worker Kim. We have never met her but have corresponded with her via email. She seems like a wonderful person and very informative. Last Thursday she emailed to let us know there was a 19 year old Hispanic Mom that is due in July. She came from Mexico recently and Birthdad is still there. She does not speak any English. They were waiting to receive medical information before deciding whether to send our profile out to this mom or not. The social worker from Mason City went to the birthmom's clinic this week and waited for 1 1/2 hours to speak to the clinic. She was only able to speak to the clinic personnell for about 5 minutes. The social worker encouraged the gal at the clinic to have the birthmom call them. As of this date they have not heard from Birthmom so aren't really sure what is going on. It appears Birthmom may have decided to parent after all. I'm actually handling this pretty well. My only concern is the child. I hope and pray she does what is best for the baby. It appears she has no financial support and no family support, so obviously the best interest of the child is adoption. We just pray for this birthmom and child no matter what happens.

On another note, we have hit our 5 month mark. So we're hoping we're half way there to meeting our child.