I had a very different opinion of registering than Bethany did. I was lost in a maze of bottles, pacis, diaper things, and wipe warmers...who needs all this junk?!? But as Bethany said, "I was absolutely glowing!!" and she was, so I let her be the expert (since she was that as well) and just basked in her "glow."
After a little while (just before being overwhelmed), I decided to take a breather to Sears for some man-time. Upon returning, I noticed Bethany had covered maybe 10% of the store and had all kinds of strollers off the rack to "demo." It was a good thing that I appeared at that time because she had picked out a great tall stroller, but failed to notice that it would take an engineer, mechanic, strong man, & nuclear physicist to fold/break down. We decided on a model that was tall & easy for her to break down with only one hand.
We did the same for the pack-n-plays before God in His infinite mercy allowed the store to announce its CLOSING for the night. Needless to say, I'm sure we'll be back, and even I can agree that it is an exciting process.
*I do have to add my favorite part of the night: After the store had closed, we (along with another couple) were waiting to turn in our scanners. The other couple was using the same book ("Baby Bargains") that we were to register, so (naturally) Bethany started chatting with them about the book. When we started to walk away from them, the other lady (who was quite pregnant) turned to her husband and, in a very loud whisper, said, "Do you even think she's pregnant?" while pointing to Bethany...only my wife could look this good while expecting a baby! ;)
Monday, April 20, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Our Surprises!
If you know Dave & me at all, then it's no shock to you that we absolutely *love* surprises! Needless to say, we had a lot of fun planning how we would tell our parents that we are adopting! Our fun started two weekends ago on Saturday night when we had my (Bethany's) parents over for dinner. Even though the crib isn't completely finished, Dave had set it up in the nursery, and we had arranged blocks on top of it to say "We Are Adopting a Baby."
After my parents were here, we told them that we weren't quite ready to eat because the hotdish in the oven needed a few more minutes. Dave said he would show them his latest woodworking project, so my parents naturally headed to the garage (aka "the woodshop"). When Dave redirected them toward the empty bedroom, I think my mom started to get suspicious. (Little did they also know that we had set up a videocamera to record their reactions!)
My mom opened the nursery door first, and you could hear both her & my dad gasp! At first, my dad said, "Princess, are you pregnant?" and, at nearly the same time, my mom started jumping up and down and screaming, "No Kal--read the blocks! Read the blocks!" My mom didn't stop jumping up and down for quite a while, and the entire time she was just screaming questions--"Is it a boy?" "Is it a girl?" "What state?" "Have you done your homestudy yet?"
Once we answered all her questions, and they started to calm down a little, we gave them little grandpa and grandma presents. (I personally think my dad's "Grandpa loves trains and me" shirt is absolutely adorable!!) When we finally sat down to eat dinner (nearly an hour later), Dave blessed the food, and before he said "Amen," I could hear my dad sniffling. After the prayer, my dad just sobbed and sobbed, saying "We have been praying for this for so many years! Every morning and evening we would pray together for this." It was one of those precious moments that I will never, ever forget.
And I love this picture of my mom & Dave laughing while watching it all again (and again) on the videocamera!
Our fun in telling Dave's parents occurred one week later, when we flew to Colorado for Easter! Tim & Susie recently celebrated their 35th anniversary, so on Friday night, we said we wanted to give them their belated anniversary present. (At this point, I'm surprised they didn't become suspicious, since our family doesn't usually give anniversary presents. They also didn't seem to think it was strange that we set up our camera right when they started opening the gift.)
Their present was a framed picture of Dave and me in front of crib. Dave & I were waiting with bated breath while they opened it. This is exactly what they said:
Susie: Oh this is such a cute picture! You guys look great! Tim, look how cute it is!
Tim: That is a cute picture of you two! Wow!
Susie: I just love this frame--the wood is....WHAT?!?!?
And that is when Dave perfectly snapped this picture!
Needless to say, they were completely shocked! They, too, had endless questions, and we stayed up until nearly midnight talking. We also had a little grandma gift for Susie. She is best-known for her fabulous cooking, so we had a little apron made that says "Grandma's Little Taste Tester." While the guys all skiied the next day, Susie & I went to an adorable little baby store in downtown Steamboat called "Duck Duck Goose."
We are all so excited to meet this little one...and in the meantime, the baby gear and sweet gifts just keep piling up! All the district music teachers are throwing me my first shower this Monday!
After my parents were here, we told them that we weren't quite ready to eat because the hotdish in the oven needed a few more minutes. Dave said he would show them his latest woodworking project, so my parents naturally headed to the garage (aka "the woodshop"). When Dave redirected them toward the empty bedroom, I think my mom started to get suspicious. (Little did they also know that we had set up a videocamera to record their reactions!)
My mom opened the nursery door first, and you could hear both her & my dad gasp! At first, my dad said, "Princess, are you pregnant?" and, at nearly the same time, my mom started jumping up and down and screaming, "No Kal--read the blocks! Read the blocks!" My mom didn't stop jumping up and down for quite a while, and the entire time she was just screaming questions--"Is it a boy?" "Is it a girl?" "What state?" "Have you done your homestudy yet?"
Once we answered all her questions, and they started to calm down a little, we gave them little grandpa and grandma presents. (I personally think my dad's "Grandpa loves trains and me" shirt is absolutely adorable!!) When we finally sat down to eat dinner (nearly an hour later), Dave blessed the food, and before he said "Amen," I could hear my dad sniffling. After the prayer, my dad just sobbed and sobbed, saying "We have been praying for this for so many years! Every morning and evening we would pray together for this." It was one of those precious moments that I will never, ever forget.
And I love this picture of my mom & Dave laughing while watching it all again (and again) on the videocamera!
Our fun in telling Dave's parents occurred one week later, when we flew to Colorado for Easter! Tim & Susie recently celebrated their 35th anniversary, so on Friday night, we said we wanted to give them their belated anniversary present. (At this point, I'm surprised they didn't become suspicious, since our family doesn't usually give anniversary presents. They also didn't seem to think it was strange that we set up our camera right when they started opening the gift.)
Their present was a framed picture of Dave and me in front of crib. Dave & I were waiting with bated breath while they opened it. This is exactly what they said:
Susie: Oh this is such a cute picture! You guys look great! Tim, look how cute it is!
Tim: That is a cute picture of you two! Wow!
Susie: I just love this frame--the wood is....WHAT?!?!?
And that is when Dave perfectly snapped this picture!
Needless to say, they were completely shocked! They, too, had endless questions, and we stayed up until nearly midnight talking. We also had a little grandma gift for Susie. She is best-known for her fabulous cooking, so we had a little apron made that says "Grandma's Little Taste Tester." While the guys all skiied the next day, Susie & I went to an adorable little baby store in downtown Steamboat called "Duck Duck Goose."
We are all so excited to meet this little one...and in the meantime, the baby gear and sweet gifts just keep piling up! All the district music teachers are throwing me my first shower this Monday!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Our *big* news!
To our sweet family & friends:
We are so excited to share with you our big news that we are adopting a baby! Many of you know that we have struggled to grow our family for several years now. Our journey of infertility has been extremely difficult, but even through our darkest times, we clung to the promise from God's Word in Romans 8:28 that "all things work together for good for those who love God!" We are so excited to say that the best thing that has come from our journey is our joy & excitement at welcoming a precious little baby into our family through adoption!
We are working with a law center that specializes in placing domestic infants for adoption. Our past few months have been filled with more paperwork than we could ever imagine, completing our adoption homestudy, and preparing the nursery for little Rinn. In addition to all of this, Dave has kept busy building a gorgeous crib!
A prospective birthmother is able to view information on waiting families and choose which family she wants to raise her child. As excited as we are for the phone to ring with a call that we have been chosen, we have already discovered that this part of the journey is not easy, either. On Wednesday night, we received a call that a birthmother had selected us. After a tough 24 hours of reviewing all the information on the birth family, praying, and talking, we made the very difficult choice that we were not the right family for this baby. This experience has opened our eyes even more as to how much we need this entire process bathed in prayer.
Specifically, we ask you to pray for the following things:
**for the health & safety of our birthmother & baby
**for the families of the birthmother & birthfather to be supportive of their plans to place the baby for adoption
**for us to have wisdom in making a decision when another call comes
**for the details of the adoption--legal paperwork & potential travel out of state--to work out smoothly
**for our hearts to be patient & hopeful during this time of waiting
So many of you have supported and prayed for us through some very rough times, and we can't tell you enough how grateful we are for those prayers. We continue to ask for your prayers as we wait for little Rinn!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
