The Nursery is complete

Well after many months of getting the Pooh room turned into the Nursery, we believe it is ready to go, it's only missing one thing...a baby!!!! I enjoyed working on it though, it has been fun and has kept my mind off of the adoption somewhat. I did the individual cross stitch pictures of Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and Piglet. I also did the Pooh cross stitch quilt a few years ago. We are basically set for needs for a baby for the first few weeks besides diapers, formula and bottles. Here are some pictures of the Nursery. It was hard to work with cement walls but we did it!

"T" is for Tigger, who loves to bounce high!


All of the Pooh collectibles I have purchased or received!


"E" is for Eyeore who often feels gloomy.


"P" is for Piglet who's just a bit shy.


My mom and I covered this with Pooh fabric. Turned out great.


"P" is for Pooh, the best kind of friend.


The adoption book I purchased.


This is the quilt I made a few years ago.


Here are the Pooh pictures my Sister in Law picked up for me. They are great.


A close up on the stickups we put on the walls.


The crib. Pooh Like a Cloud theme.


Another view


Winnie the Pooh Ross gave me when we were dating.


This is my cabbage patch Abe I had as a child. I bought a Pooh outfit for him.


I did all these cross stitch projects within a few months.


We're using my old dresser instead of buying a changing table.

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.