Hi,
What a busy couple of weeks! We haven't blogged in quite a while and have a few updates. Right now we are keeping ourselves busy by registering for baby stuff for our upcoming shower on the 7th in San Antonio. That has been fun. Also, my parents bought us a crib and we set it up in the nursery. It is really cute!! Jerry has been doing what he loves........building stuff! He is redesigning the nursery closet.
All these things are coming along and are quite fun. It is also helpful to be busy so we can keep our minds off of baby "when, where, why and what". That is difficult some days because we are officially "active and waiting" so we know that news could come any time or way LATER. God is definitely helping me with patience right now. Some days I am more patient than others. :) For those of you that know me........patience isn't exactly my strongest attribute. PRAY for me!!
Other ways we are keeping busy are........water skiing and boating. Of course it is great that it is summer because we can be out on the water enjoying the weather, hanging out together and not worrying about anything else.
That is all I know right now. Thanks to all of you for continuing to be involved in this process and for praying for us. We look forward to sharing each update with you.
God be with you and bless you always,
Jenny
Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
Friday, May 29, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
The Fun Begins!!
Howdy!
This week has been fun. Since we found out we were officially approved and waiting for baby we have been busy looking for baby stuff. We are having a baby shower on June 7th in San Antonio and the invitations went out. But we weren't registered anywhere so......Wednesday we went to Target and had a blast registering for baby stuff!
For so long we stood clear of the baby aisle for obvious reasons so now it was really cool to go in there for US and OUR baby! It was surreal but really fun. Jerry had more fun once he could use the registering "gun"! :)
One thing became chrystal clear though.........we have no idea what in the world most of those things are for. The obvious things were there....diapers, formula, cribs etc... but which ones......noone told us there were 10 different kinds of diapers and formula and 5 different cribs ranging from 200-500 bucks! Yikes! What do we do and which one do we choose? So we registered for what we knew and came home to research different cribs. Thanks to those of you moms that helped me decide! Once again, I couldn't have done it without you. Also, since we don't know if our baby will be a boy or girl we couldn't register for anything blue or pink. That is hard to do. Next time you go to the store check out just how many things are blue and pink. ALOT! No big deal though...that time will come and then we will go nuts with color. We have chosen to use an adorable baby pattern that a friend of ours gave us. It is called Malawi by kidsline. You can google it to see. We love it!
One more thing........we are now on the website of Generations. Go check it out! Our profile is on there with our letter to the birthmom. We don't have a picture of the pups on there because it wouldn't fit I guess, but they are on the paper version of the profile that the moms are looking at at the adoption agency.
That is all for now....Thanks for all of your prayers. We are getting closer and closer every day to our baby.
Have a great weekend. We love you all.
*Jenny
This week has been fun. Since we found out we were officially approved and waiting for baby we have been busy looking for baby stuff. We are having a baby shower on June 7th in San Antonio and the invitations went out. But we weren't registered anywhere so......Wednesday we went to Target and had a blast registering for baby stuff!
For so long we stood clear of the baby aisle for obvious reasons so now it was really cool to go in there for US and OUR baby! It was surreal but really fun. Jerry had more fun once he could use the registering "gun"! :)
One thing became chrystal clear though.........we have no idea what in the world most of those things are for. The obvious things were there....diapers, formula, cribs etc... but which ones......noone told us there were 10 different kinds of diapers and formula and 5 different cribs ranging from 200-500 bucks! Yikes! What do we do and which one do we choose? So we registered for what we knew and came home to research different cribs. Thanks to those of you moms that helped me decide! Once again, I couldn't have done it without you. Also, since we don't know if our baby will be a boy or girl we couldn't register for anything blue or pink. That is hard to do. Next time you go to the store check out just how many things are blue and pink. ALOT! No big deal though...that time will come and then we will go nuts with color. We have chosen to use an adorable baby pattern that a friend of ours gave us. It is called Malawi by kidsline. You can google it to see. We love it!
One more thing........we are now on the website of Generations. Go check it out! Our profile is on there with our letter to the birthmom. We don't have a picture of the pups on there because it wouldn't fit I guess, but they are on the paper version of the profile that the moms are looking at at the adoption agency.
That is all for now....Thanks for all of your prayers. We are getting closer and closer every day to our baby.
Have a great weekend. We love you all.
*Jenny
Friday, May 8, 2009
It's Official
That's right......it's official......WE are approved! We recieved the approval this morning and are officially "waiting for baby". Jerry dropped off the check and the scrapbook today and now we just have to wait for the phone call telling us a birthmom has chosen us. It could happen at any time and it could be a couple months or several. It is all in God's hands.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers; specifically for patience and trust in God for THE baby for us. There will be decisions, questions, and concerns along the way that might be difficult but we are hopeful that God will let us know what is right.
We are heading out of town this weekend so I will give more details next week. Thanks again for all your help and stay tuned for any updates.
God bless,
Jenny
Please continue to keep us in your prayers; specifically for patience and trust in God for THE baby for us. There will be decisions, questions, and concerns along the way that might be difficult but we are hopeful that God will let us know what is right.
We are heading out of town this weekend so I will give more details next week. Thanks again for all your help and stay tuned for any updates.
God bless,
Jenny
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Training etc...
Hello,
So sorry I am so far behind on updating you all on our training from April 23rd. So much has happened since then! Wow! What a crazy couple of weeks. Thank God we had the energy to make it....and it all turned out very well. I can't believe I was so stressed about it. :)
First of all, the training went great. We really enjoyed it and felt at peace with our decisions thus
far. We learned alot about open adoption and even talked more with the social worker, other adoptive parents, and even a birthmom about the entire process and also about multiracial adoptions.
As Jerry stated, we have decided on an open adoption plan. It is just that...open... for us to decide the level of openess when we meet the birthmom. We have learned that most adoption agencies and birthmoms prefer open adoptions mainly because they just want open communication with us. That is a good thing! The more open we can be the more comfortable the birth mom will be with her baby being raised by us. We hope and pray that we will be comfortable in that situation when it arises. We are truly looking forward to that meeting!
I would say that Jerry and I have learned a ton about adoption going through this all and would love to answer any questions you have about the process. Adoption has changed so much in the last 2o years. One thing we have learned is that through open adoption the birthmom, child, and adoptive parents cope much better in the years to come. There are answers to those questions such as "Where did I come from?" "What was my mom like." With those questions/answers the child can feel more at peace with being adopted and we will be able to comfort that instead of not knowing. The birthmom can also feel more comfortable with her decision and have closure knowing that her child is safe and thriving. There are some great books out there that are very helpful as well.
All that to say..........it has been a great learning experience and we know we have a ton to learn yet. Now I am feeling much more comfortable looking for baby stuff and setting up the nursery. We get to register for baby stuff. I can't believe it is really happening. It has been 34 years in the making! I am gonna be a mom soon........and Jerry is gonna be a dad. Wow! God is good and He is faithful.
thanks for all your prayers and text messages re: our home study. We love all of you very much and are so blessed everyday.
To all you Moms out there..........Happy Mother's Day. Mom, I love you and pray every day that I will be an amazing mom just like you. You are my friend, my constant support and I treasure you more every day! Mom Snider- you are the best mother in law and I admire your strength and character and I love you very much.
love,
Jenny
So sorry I am so far behind on updating you all on our training from April 23rd. So much has happened since then! Wow! What a crazy couple of weeks. Thank God we had the energy to make it....and it all turned out very well. I can't believe I was so stressed about it. :)
First of all, the training went great. We really enjoyed it and felt at peace with our decisions thus
far. We learned alot about open adoption and even talked more with the social worker, other adoptive parents, and even a birthmom about the entire process and also about multiracial adoptions.
As Jerry stated, we have decided on an open adoption plan. It is just that...open... for us to decide the level of openess when we meet the birthmom. We have learned that most adoption agencies and birthmoms prefer open adoptions mainly because they just want open communication with us. That is a good thing! The more open we can be the more comfortable the birth mom will be with her baby being raised by us. We hope and pray that we will be comfortable in that situation when it arises. We are truly looking forward to that meeting!
I would say that Jerry and I have learned a ton about adoption going through this all and would love to answer any questions you have about the process. Adoption has changed so much in the last 2o years. One thing we have learned is that through open adoption the birthmom, child, and adoptive parents cope much better in the years to come. There are answers to those questions such as "Where did I come from?" "What was my mom like." With those questions/answers the child can feel more at peace with being adopted and we will be able to comfort that instead of not knowing. The birthmom can also feel more comfortable with her decision and have closure knowing that her child is safe and thriving. There are some great books out there that are very helpful as well.
All that to say..........it has been a great learning experience and we know we have a ton to learn yet. Now I am feeling much more comfortable looking for baby stuff and setting up the nursery. We get to register for baby stuff. I can't believe it is really happening. It has been 34 years in the making! I am gonna be a mom soon........and Jerry is gonna be a dad. Wow! God is good and He is faithful.
thanks for all your prayers and text messages re: our home study. We love all of you very much and are so blessed everyday.
To all you Moms out there..........Happy Mother's Day. Mom, I love you and pray every day that I will be an amazing mom just like you. You are my friend, my constant support and I treasure you more every day! Mom Snider- you are the best mother in law and I admire your strength and character and I love you very much.
love,
Jenny
"Unofficially Approved"
What a busy weekend. Not quite as busy as the garage sale but it was full of tasks around the house. We both took Monday off from work so that we could be home for the Health/Environmental Evaluation and Home Study. It went very well and the puppies behaved themselves beautifully, as I expected.
The health inspection was simple and easy. There were really no concerns at all. The funniest part though was our lame excuse at marking the glass door at a child's height. It is required so that the kids do not run through the glass (like I did in college so I'm all for it). Although I don't know how often we will be worried about that with an infant. Anyway, we could not find peel and stick decals anywhere so we decided to stencil with glass paint. Totally a waste of money on the stencils, they didn't work at all so we just spray painted 2 lines about 2 inches thick straight across the doors. It gets the job done, you definitely notice the doors and probably would stop to laugh at them instead of running through it.
On to the home study. It was very smooth and not stressful at all. Our social worker had put together most of the information she needed from our application and autobiographies, so there were very few questions to answer. We answered a few together and then she "interviewed" each of us individually. We toured the house, went over a few specifics about what we are open to with the adoption and discussed the next steps. Which basically are waiting to hear that we are "Officially Approved", which should happen later this week, and then just waiting to find out when a birthmother picks us. We should be listed on the Generations Adoptions website under the approved families section by next week.
So the "wait" part of the "hurry up and wait" situation is upon us now. Please pray that we can keep our emotions in check. We know that God has a baby already picked for us and we have to remember to let him bring us together under his timetable and not ours.
What are we going to do now you ask? Jenny is already talking about registering for the upcoming baby showers that people have planned for us. My focus is back to our debt. I figure we should be able to complete our adoption fund and be out of debt by mid-August. How our lives are going to change over the next few months in so many ways.
For those of you still waiting for information about how the 8 hour training class went, Jenny will be posting about that soon. She'll probably also tell you a little about our decision to move towards an open adoption and what that means. So stay tuned.
In Christ,
Jerry
And remember..."If you're not first you're last!" from the great Ricky Bobby (yes he has two first names).
The health inspection was simple and easy. There were really no concerns at all. The funniest part though was our lame excuse at marking the glass door at a child's height. It is required so that the kids do not run through the glass (like I did in college so I'm all for it). Although I don't know how often we will be worried about that with an infant. Anyway, we could not find peel and stick decals anywhere so we decided to stencil with glass paint. Totally a waste of money on the stencils, they didn't work at all so we just spray painted 2 lines about 2 inches thick straight across the doors. It gets the job done, you definitely notice the doors and probably would stop to laugh at them instead of running through it.
On to the home study. It was very smooth and not stressful at all. Our social worker had put together most of the information she needed from our application and autobiographies, so there were very few questions to answer. We answered a few together and then she "interviewed" each of us individually. We toured the house, went over a few specifics about what we are open to with the adoption and discussed the next steps. Which basically are waiting to hear that we are "Officially Approved", which should happen later this week, and then just waiting to find out when a birthmother picks us. We should be listed on the Generations Adoptions website under the approved families section by next week.
So the "wait" part of the "hurry up and wait" situation is upon us now. Please pray that we can keep our emotions in check. We know that God has a baby already picked for us and we have to remember to let him bring us together under his timetable and not ours.
What are we going to do now you ask? Jenny is already talking about registering for the upcoming baby showers that people have planned for us. My focus is back to our debt. I figure we should be able to complete our adoption fund and be out of debt by mid-August. How our lives are going to change over the next few months in so many ways.
For those of you still waiting for information about how the 8 hour training class went, Jenny will be posting about that soon. She'll probably also tell you a little about our decision to move towards an open adoption and what that means. So stay tuned.
In Christ,
Jerry
And remember..."If you're not first you're last!" from the great Ricky Bobby (yes he has two first names).
Friday, May 1, 2009
Need Prayers....
Praise.... We just passed our fire inspection. The fire dept. just came by to inspect our house and we passed with flying colors. We had to describe our evacuation plan and now we need to have it on paper to turn in to the agency. The pups behaved marvelously! (thank God!) They greeted them at the door and ran right out the door to the front lawn. Thankfully the girls ran right back in and Buddy came back when called. What a crazy thing that would have been........Jerry and I and two firemen running down the street after Buddy! Thank you Lord for not letting that happen. :) All in all it was a good experience and the pups did great!
Now we are gearing up for a long and tiring weekend. We are so exhausted right now so we are planning on taking tonight off and just chillin and going to bed early. Saturday and Sunday we are in mass cleaning mode since our home study is Monday. Here is our schedule for the weekend:
Saturday- take all the metal items to recycling, return tables and items borrowed for garage sale.
Sunday-church then clean, paint, clean, clean, mop....etc......
Monday- 830 Local charity to pick up donated items
11:00 Health inspector coming
1:00 Home study with social worker and evaluation
Please pray for us. Specifically that I will not stress so much and just trust in God that He will give me the strength to get through it. Pray that Jerry and I get the sleep we need to be strong and well rested for the busy days ahead.
You all have been so wonderful. I am simply amazed at the generosity and kindness people have shown to us. I truly know that God has His hand in all this and I am so thankful for all of you.
Have a great weekend. Take care and God bless,
Jenny
Now we are gearing up for a long and tiring weekend. We are so exhausted right now so we are planning on taking tonight off and just chillin and going to bed early. Saturday and Sunday we are in mass cleaning mode since our home study is Monday. Here is our schedule for the weekend:
Saturday- take all the metal items to recycling, return tables and items borrowed for garage sale.
Sunday-church then clean, paint, clean, clean, mop....etc......
Monday- 830 Local charity to pick up donated items
11:00 Health inspector coming
1:00 Home study with social worker and evaluation
Please pray for us. Specifically that I will not stress so much and just trust in God that He will give me the strength to get through it. Pray that Jerry and I get the sleep we need to be strong and well rested for the busy days ahead.
You all have been so wonderful. I am simply amazed at the generosity and kindness people have shown to us. I truly know that God has His hand in all this and I am so thankful for all of you.
Have a great weekend. Take care and God bless,
Jenny
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