When Love Takes You In - Steven Curtis Chapman

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Steven Curtis Chapman as they mourn the tragic loss of their youngest daughter. It is truly a tragedy to hear of this news - we are holding our Sophie a little tighter as we are reminded of the remarkable gift we have been given.

This song by Steven Curtis Chapman has been a favorite of mine since we have entered into the adoption world as it touches on the miracle of adoption and I felt it appropriate to post at this time.

For more info: http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=315536&silentchk=1&<

To learn more about the Chapman family's foundation to help families unite through adoption, you can find Shaohannah's Hope at: http://members.shaohannahshope.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abt_home

I *heart* mom!

Happy Mother's Day to all the fabulous moms in my life! To celebrate, 4 generations of women in my fam - my grandma, mom, Sophie and myself took part in a Mother's Day 5K walk. It was chilly and very windy, but we all had high spirits and finished like champs! I am so proud of my grandma for rising to the challenge and of my mom for making this our second Mother's Day walk together and of my Sophie-girl who didn't complain once and actually enjoyed being bundled up with the wind in her hair. I have such great female role models in my life and I'm glad that Sophie does as well.

I also have to give a shout-out to all of my mommy friends, some of whom I saw Friday night (Ladies night was so-needed!) and some of whom I haven't seen in a while. I carry you in my thoughts always! A special thanks to those who supported all moms, especially adoptive moms, when seeing the unfairness in a recent NBC contest* - my friends are amazing! I am so blessed to be surrounded by great friends and family - I *heart* all of you!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sophie!

Can this truly be?! It seems like only yesterday you were first placed in our arms - tiny and quiet and ever so sweet. NOW, you are full of personality, growing into a lovely little girl, making us laugh every single day! We love the way you sing along with all kinds of music and chatter on and on about things (even though we don't understand 50% of what you're trying to say!). We love your goofy ways of cracking yourself up and your dramatic pauses for added affect. We love your independent spirit and the loving hugs you give us throughout the day, for no apparent reason. We love that you always want to play with the big kids and you assert yourself to keep up with 'em. We love that you make everyday a dance party - you have dance moves for everything! Baby girl, no one could love you more than your mommy and daddy do - we are so proud of you, our vivacious 2 year-old! Happy, happy birthday, kiddo!

Oh, Happy Wedding Day!

This Saturday, my mom, Gayla married her sweetheart, Charlie in a lovely little ceremony that took place in Parkville, Missouri. It was such a perfect day, a fantastic party and Mom has never looked as stunning as she was that day! We are happy to welcome Charlie to the family, although he's felt like a part of the fam for awhile now. Here's to Gayla and Charlie and to finding their best and last love!

Homestudy Visit #2 Recap

Well folks, last night was our final homestudy visit and I don't think it could've gone any better. Our social worker is becoming an old family friend if you add up all of the times she's been out to our house and that makes it a lot easier to talk to her and answer her questions. This visit consisted of our individual interviews and a tour of our home. The interview questions were mostly surrounding what challenges we have had to face since adding Sophie to our family and what challenges we anticipate in adding a second baby into the mix. She also inquired as to how our personal lives and marriage have been affected by having children. (How about COMPLETELY?!?!) The visit then ended with a quick tour of our house...do you know just how difficult it is to clean the house with a 2 year-old under your feet all day?!

It's amusing to us just how differently we are approaching this adoption. Last time, we were so nervous about every little step and this time, we were able to really relax and realize that our social worker is working for us to make sure we have the supports we need to make our family the best it can be! We seem at peace as this process continues to roll along at this pace...no real anxieties this time. Plus, our social worker is a KU grad, so that automatically makes her part of our family!

Speaking of KU, I've finally posted some pics from watching our Jayhawks win the National Championship at Brian and Casey's and the day after, greeting the team in Lawrence at the football stadium. Thanks to Casey and my cheapo disposable camera for the images.

Next step in this journey of adoption is getting the word that our homestudy has been approved and that we are officially on that wait list. Hopefully, we can post that good news sooner rather than later...

Homestudy visit #2 is set!

In all of the excitement of KU winning the National Championship and Sophie entering into her "terrible twos," we almost forgot that we are also in the process of adopting again! Whoops.

Anyway, we are thrilled that we have our last homestudy visit scheduled for next Wednesday, the 16th, at 6 p.m. This is our last step before getting on that all-important wait list!

Off to clean the house...

The celebration continues...

Yesterday, Steve took off work and we made our way to Lawrence to welcome our championship team home. It was a cold, gloomy day but nothing could have stopped us from being there to share in history. As I've posted, our digital camera is still being repaired so I've had to revert to the ol' disposable camera with film that hasn't been developed yet. To tide everyone over, this photo was taken by a photographer with the Lawrence Journal World...we were there along with 25,000 of our closest friends! Rock Chalk!