Monday, May 31, 2010

Velkommen Hjem



Welcome Home! to my parents who are returning from their mission in Norway tomorrow. They spent a year in a small Norwegian town called Arendal on the east coast. The picture above is of Arendal. You can see what a quaint seaside town it is. We never did get a chance to go and visit them, but my mother was good to share lots of pictures on her blog.

Our whole family is excited to have Mummi and Grandpa back on the same continent and even in the same state for the next month. At the end of June, they'll return to their home in North Carolina, but we'll enjoy having them here until then. I'm sure my mother will return to her previous schedule of coming to Arizona every 2 months. :-) We hope.

My sister's wedding is less than 2 weeks away. I know she'll be happy to have my mother around to help with all the last minute stuff. I can hardly believe that we've already made it to June. What a crazy few months it's been. Having some family events will be a good break.

And Happy Memorial Day! Here's to the many soldiers who have lost their lives defending our country.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Counting My Blessings

Despite the disappointment we're experiencing with our failed adoption, I have come to appreciate my 3 little children more than ever. I hug them a little closer and more often, and I'm stopping more to watch the crazy and adorable things they do.

These are my 3 blessings:


Friday, May 21, 2010

The Trial of Our Faith

Our adoption agency has been trying to contact our birthmom, K, all week and have only gotten one text from her saying that she's thinking of parenting the baby. Since that text, K had agreed to talk on the phone to our caseworker, but then she wouldn't answer her calls. So...we're pretty sure that she has decided to keep the baby.

Of course my heart is broken. I feel like I've lost a child, but I keep reminding myself that the Lord has a plan for our family and for K and her baby. If he were supposed to be our son, he would be our son. We still know that our family is not complete and that there is a little person somewhere out there who God intends to be our child. Having faith in a plan that you can't see working out is a challenge. But I've been down this road before many times in different ways. It's so hard to understand what the plan is when you can only see one perspective.

"I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."
- Ether 12:6


We are definitely hoping for things which are not seen...yet. And, yes, this is absolutely a trial of our faith.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Second Thoughts

This has been a rough week so far. We found out that our birthmother, K, is having second thoughts about placing her baby. As I wrote before, her mother has been in the hospital with severe pneumonia. She's been in for almost 2 weeks now and is currently on a respirator, so things are not going well at all. K's mother has not been happy about the adoption from the beginning, but K was feeling fairly confident about her decision. Now that her mother's so sick, K said she feels confused and is considering her mother's wishes to keep the family together.

Needless to say, Kent and I are very sad. I feel like there's a big giant hole in my heart that just won't be filled. We've been in this process for 6 months now, and we've already been through one disappointment not being able to adopt Forest's sibling. Now to be so close to the birth of another baby that we've been waiting for, and to have it be falling apart, it is devastating. K has not made her mind up for sure, so we're saying lots of prayers and mostly hoping that what is the right thing for her, her baby, and for us is what will happen.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Waiting... and new couch

Today our birthmom, K, is 35 weeks along in her pregnancy. I am SO grateful that she's endured all her difficulties and discomforts and gotten to this point. Joseph will most likely be healthy and strong now that he's gotten this far and hopefully even further along. We missed our weekly phone call with K because she had to take her mother to the ER. We've been hearing updates through our caseworker, but I can only imagine the stress she must be under right now.

On our end, we're also experiencing stress not knowing when or how things will happen and worrying about K. I am so ready to start life with our new baby and to have our family be complete. We've been living in limbo for 6 months now, and it is only getting harder. Every time there is something that needs to be scheduled, there's this nagging voice in your head, "Why schedule anything? You might not even be here." Although I am glad that we have scheduled things and tried to live normal life because we never thought we'd get to mid-May and still be waiting.

One of the things we decided not to put off was buying a new sectional sofa. Our yellow couches were beautiful once upon a time, but after being in an apartment of singles with cats and dogs and then enduring the abuse of children after I got married, they are threadbare. My parents were kind enough to offer to help us get new couches as long as they could count it for my birthday, both our Christmas presents, and Kent's birthday next year. :-) We were happy to forego future gifts to get a beautiful sectional.

Here are pics:


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Because of My Brain




I have to post the funny things my kids say or I'll forget them. Here's a good one from tonight.

Maija: Yeah, our dog Remy is 9 years old.

Me: How do you remember that?
(I didn't even remember that. Took me a sec to figure out that she was right.)

Maija: Because of my brain.


Enough said.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

"Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption"

- Romans 8:23

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Ronald Reagan on Adoption

I was reading an adoptive family's blog about their adoption journey, and I happened on this YouTube video (actually it's audio with a picture) of a 1975 radio broadcast by Ronald Reagan. Apparently, he did a weekly radio show at the time. Here is his very moving explanation of adoption versus abortion:



BTW, Ronald Reagan was himself an adoptive parent.