Weekend with the girls!

Well it was a good weekend. I had a lot of time to spend with Norah, Kim and Emily. We took Norah over to the park Saturday morning, Norah loves the swings and slide. I can't believe how much cooler it was Saturday then Sunday. Norah sure is growing up fast. She's developing quite the personality. She has a new monkey face that she makes and she looks just like her Dad when she does it. Here are some pictures I captured of the girls!

Sleeping Angel. I tried to get her to move her arm.

She loves loves loves the swings!!!

So grown up...where did the baby go?

MMMM...CHEESE!

What are we waiting for...the park is over there!

I know I'm cute.

Hey look at me in my little chair!

Awww Mattie I love you!!!!

Who? It wasn't me.

Snack time!!!! YUM!

I love this dog!

Kimmy this is fun!

Relaxing at Grandma's house!

I this was the cutest expression of Em going down the slide

Emily taking Norah down the small slide

Prayers for Patience

Well this week I have been pretty anxious. I can honestly say I've felt at peace for the past 3 or 4 months but now I'm getting anxious again. I can't help how I feel but it is what it is. It all comes down to why does so and so get to be blessed with a second or third baby and we haven't had 1 yet? Why did that person get matched after waiting a week and we've been waiting 8 1/2 months? Why Why Why??? There is a reason for it I am sure of it. I just don't particularly understand it right now. God is in control I know this. We will be blessed with a baby I know this. I'm just having a hard time figuring out why our time is yet to come.

Thanks to the world of blogging I can actually write what I'm feeling and feel better. I know some probably don't check in on the blog that often, but for those that do, thanks for thinking of us. Some day I'll have to print out all these journal entries and show our child just how much we went through.

Biological vs. Adopted

So I have been contemplating an issue. I belong to several adoption/infertility boards and I came across a post that really hit home.

Hypotetically speaking lets say we are placed with a son or daughter. I'm at the store buying an adorable outfit for my child. The cashier strikes up a conversation with me and says "oh for a new little one", what should my response be?

A. Yes for my adopted son/daughter

B. Yes for my son/daughter

Well if you answered B. you are correct. Now I'm not saying I am planning on hiding my child's adoption because that is furthest from the truth, but I honestly don't think this is something that needs to be shared with the entire world. If we would adopt a child of another race it would be obvious he or she is adopted so that wouldn't even need to be brought up. Our son or daughter will be our child whether it's through birth or adoption and that's all anyone needs to know. As our child grows older I firmly believe it is up to them whether or not they want to share their adoption story. If they aren't comfortable sharing it with others then we're not either.

So as you may be able to tell I have been reading up on adoption. I can honestly say I have learned a lot since we first started this process.

We are nearing 8 1/2 months now. I can't believe how fast time is just flying by. The weather is really changing, sure was cool out this morning. I think we went straight from hot summer days to cool fall days. At least for this week anyway, next week could be a whole different story. That's IOWA weather I guess.

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