Blessings Unnumbered: December 2007

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Jared flew in just in the nick of time and I was able to pick him up from he airport at midnight on Christmas Eve. If he had been much later he might have spotted Santa from the airplane ;) I'm very happy that Jared is back. I wish I could say that we had an absolutely wonderful Christmas... but it just isn't the same when your not home. I'm still bummed that I didn't get to put up any of my decorations this year *sniff*. I love decorating for Christmas and my stuff is usually up the week before thanksgiving, and up until the third week of January. I feel like I've missed out on all the big holidays this year... halloween, thanksgiving, christmas, new years etc.

This week we found out that our caseworker has been changed to agency director over Sandy because of the unique circumstances around this adoption. Our agencies director used to live in Illinois and is more familiar with Michigan adoptions so we won't be working with Debbie quite as much anymore. She's been AMAZING though and has been so helpful. I hope our situation hasn't ruffled too many feathers back home because our situation is absolutely not a typical adoption, especially within LDSFS. In fact, our situation is so unique that now the commissioner that is over the worldwide LDSFS is now familiar with our case. I don't think there is much we could have done to prevented us from being in the predicament that we are in. We had met with the birthfather's mother two months before Kylie was due and though it was difficult for her, she was supportive of the adoption. Once she saw her in the hospital she must have changed her tune. I'm just so thankful that he didn't decide to pursue paternity until weeks after Kylie was born. If he had filed papers pursuing paternity before she was born Abbie most likely would not have been able to place her for adoption because the birthfather would legally have the same rights to paternity as Abbie now has. As Abbie recently said, Kylie needs to be protected from her birthfather. So as harrowing as this has all been we know that it is for the best.

I feel so blessed that this is the first Christmas that instead of being a family of two we are a family of three! What a wonderful blessing Kylie has been. I'm so grateful that she is with our family. We love her so much! Her birthmother made some tremendous sacrifices for her and Kylie will always know how loved she was. She truly has brought so much love into the world.
Some friends sent us a gift package with such fun things inside. I have such amazing and wonderful friends. I miss them so very much, along with my ward family. Here are a few pictures donning a few gifts that people have sent.

Kylie with her Santa hat & doll

"I have an idea!"

"Woa Baby!" Okay, I know this bow is meant for a toddler,
but a friend sent it as a gift and I just had to try it on her.
It will now be tucked away until she's big enough for it :)

Thursday, December 20, 2007

gosh she's cute...

I finally downloaded a few pictures from last week and these are my favorites by far! I love this first picture... she seems so happy as she is dreaming away. It's by far my favorite! She is becoming so much fun to play with. She becomes much more awake now and has been giving us some great smiles and coos. She's been sleeping well at night also. I have to pinch myself she's been such a good baby. She rarely cries. I keep thinking that the crying spells will kick in at any point but she's just been perfect. I couldn't have asked for a happier baby then she has been. My mom and I have been busy this week buying some last minute gifts for our family and getting them mailed out. Our caseworker in Utah has been trying very hard in attempts to find some way of getting us home. The ICPC approach was rejected yesterday. So our caseworker has sent in some paperwork to see if changing the legal terms around will make a difference (aka. being her "foster parents" in a foster to adopt placement) to allow us to come home, or if we can place a bond with the court. She's been working her tail off trying to find a way. I hope everyone has a great holiday and I love you all! Have fun getting those last minute gifts together.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Flashback Friday...

Well since it's Friday I'll take note of my friend's blogs and start flashback Friday. I'll use the opportunity to brag on my sweet hubby Jared! He's seriously the best. Our anniversary is July 10th and we've now been married for about six and a half years. It's flown by so fast and I'm so grateful that Jared and I have such a great marriage. It's not to say that we always agree on everything. But I new that I had found someone special when I first started dating Jared. And I've never regretted marrying him. For me that is very important because about a year before I met Jared I was dating a boy that I was in love with. We had been dating pretty steadily for awhile and he wanted to know what I thought about getting married that summer (but didn't want to even think about buying a ring until he knew we were both on the same page). I spent quite a few weeks thinking things out and spent a lot of time praying. I remember specifically one night after praying for an entire month about the situation and it just kind of hit me. I knew my answer was that if I married him that I would regret my decision later. So needless to say we broke up shortly after that and I never looked back. Anyway Jared was a MUCH BETTER catch. And I've never regretted spending my life with him. Jared's learned over the past few years that I just love getting flowers and he really surprised me on our anniversary this year! Usually our anniversary isn't much of a big deal so I wasn't even expecting anything. I showed up to work and found these amazing flowers on my desk! What a stud. He definately earned his brownie points this year. I love you Jared! Kylie sends you kisses also :).

Sunday, December 9, 2007

attack of the big pink bow

Okay I can't help it... I love dressing this little gal up! It's so much fun having a little girl. Kylie started smiling a little bit this week, a big wide open smile that seems to say "Thanks for feeding me mom!". It usually happens after she has eaten and has gotten her bottom changed. I can't believe she's already six weeks old and I'm still not home. As some of you know we got less than stellar news this week about the upcoming trial date. It was a pretty rough week for me and my mom flew out here a few days ago to spend some time with me and Kylie. I'm so glad she came! I'm trying to stay positive though. I just heard of a couple in American Fork that adopted a baby that is now almost six months old and unfortunately the birth father's name wasn't advertised on the punitive father's regristy at placement and the birth father is now contesting their adoption. Their situation sounds much, much worse than ours and its a very real possibility that they may loose their little son. I sit her and complain about being out here, but at least I know that the chances of her birth father winning are close to nothing and when this is all said and done our little girl will be able to come home with us. I've got so much to be grateful for.

Can I just say that I absolutely love photoshop! It's the best. I've been playing around with it a lot lately learning to do "actions". It basically means that instead of having to digitally alter each and every individual image I can do it in one command with the touch of a button. I found an action to resize and sharpen pictures for the web and it rocks! Until I get my Christmas present this year this action is making my poor photographs look much better. I'm so excited for Christmas this year and I hope that it will help me be a much better photographer. I'm about ready to throw my camera off a ledge I'm so tired of it taking crappy pictures. Here are some pictures of the princess...