Tai's journey

Wow, what an amazing journey it has been the last 2 weeks. Who would have thought that when we started the adoption paperwork in March we would have a baby boy in our home by mid-May. So here is the timeline:

April 15th - Approved to be a waiting family
May 5th - Jenny got the call that we were matched with a birthmom
May 9th - Match meeting with birthmom and her parents
May 11th - Tai born
May 13th - Placement paperwork signed, Tai brought home

Seriously that is crazy fast. And he was born in the Houston area so it meant travel for us. If all of that doesn't convince you that God wanted Tai to be our son, here is a picture of Tai next to a picture of Abigail when she was just a few days old.

Just amazing that they are completely biologically unrelated but look very similar. A big difference thou is that Tai's fingers and toes are super long, his toes are almost longer than Abigail's are right now. Chances are he will be on the taller side.

So here are his stats: Born on 5/11/11 at 11:21am, 6 lbs 7 ozs, 18 in.

Abigail is adjusting more an more everyday to having a little brother. She regressed just a little bit with her pacifier but I'm sure it is hard to understand, especially since we barely had any notice to try and figure out how to give her any notice. She does love her little brother thou, she's already incorporated the need to give him a hug before she goes to bed. And if you ask where her little brother is she points right to Tai.

She is going to be a great help to Jenny as Tai gets older. Oh, and don't tell Abigail this, but the birthmother picked our family for Tai because she saw Abigail's picture and saw how happy she is with us as parents.

Now we have to get to work on his room, we were planning on doing that this summer because we didn't think he was coming until at the earliest October. But God had a different plan, which is fine by us. Hopefully I'll post more pics this weekend, as you can imagine it has been a little busy around our house this past week.

Trust in Christ,
Jerry

Abigail is a.....

Big Sister!!!

Today we brought home our little boy, Tai Mikel Snider. He is awesome and, only as God could plan it, looks exactly like Abigail did as a baby. We are so happy but also very tired from a difficult and emotional 8 days of notice that he was coming to us.

We will post much more tomorrow with pictures and more of the story. God Bless birthmoms for their courage and love for their babies. Our family is now complete.

To God Be the Glory!

Jerry

Developments...

How quickly life can change. Without giving out too much information, we have been told there are developments in our near future with our second adoption plan. All we can do right now is ask for prayers of peace in decision making for all involved.

I will say though that we have a distinctively different peace about how things are going with this adoption process. I don't know if it is because we are still so early in the process, only being approved less than a month ago. Or if it is because we have been through the experience and know that God truly will live up to His promises of making us a family. Whatever the case, it has been less stressful to this point and we must thank God for that peace.

On to our little Abigail's developments. She is learning so much every day. Not just about things in her world, but also about how to interact with her Momma and Dadda. She is attempting to pull out the drama queen card more and more as she wants things that she can't have. It's really pretty cute although unsuccessful.

She is starting to put words together instead of just repeating the same one word. Granted we don't know what most of the things she says mean but she does. But this week she started with a lyrical repetition of "Mamma, Dadda, Mamma, Dadda" said as quickly as she can for nearly a minute.

The most precious thing she has started doing recently involves her bedtime routine. She no longer requires being rocked to sleep and then put in bed. She prefers to sit with Momma and drink her milk and then brush her teeth. She then will point to me and point to her bedroom and sign "Please". This means she is ready to go lay in bed and listen to her music and fall asleep. As I pick her up to take her to her room, Abigail will wave to Momma until she is out of sight. I put her in bed with her glow-worm in one arm playing music and her puppy dog in the other arm. And when I say "I Love You" on my way out of the room she nods her head back at me. Typically she will listen to her music for about 10 minutes and then be fast asleep.

Such a precious gift she is. Well, it is Mother's Day morning and I need to feed the dogs and then get ready to make breakfast. You will hear more developments in the coming days.

Peace to all,
Jerry

A great weekend!

We had a great weekend. We went camping at the lake Thursday through Sunday. Friday morning we woke up (tired) and ate pancakes. Abigail had a difficult time going to sleep Thursday night because she was just sooooo excited to be staying in the travel trailer. She literally could not stop jumping around! After the pancakes we went out in the boat. Jerry and I went on our first ski run of the year. The water was a bit cold but we wore our wetsuits. Abigail did not ski Friday. She did have fun riding in and "driving" the boat. Friday afternoon was a struggle for nap time....Abigail won the battle. Oh my goodness....that is all i will say. :) Apparently, the trailer is WAY too much fun to play in. Who needs sleep anyway?? Party on!

Late afternoon on Friday my parents and grandparents came up to stay in their travel trailer. Abigail played in the dirt, picked up sticks, and laughed for hours. We had a great time Friday evening and ate way too much food. A very sleepy 18 month old crashed out about 9pm and slept really well. Sweet girl!

One of the main reasons my family came in to camp with us was to go to the Race for the Cure walk. Mom completed her chemo/radiation treatments last June and has been getting great reports from the doctor with each check up. We praise God for that and we wanted to celebrate her life by attending the Race. I was really looking forward to having her there with me this year. Last year I ran the race in honor of her and with every step I ran I thought of her fighting for her life. I was so honored that she was there with me this year. We went to the race and I said hello to some of my friends on the Race committee. They were talking with a local news crew and asked us if we wanted to share our story. Uh?? Sure! So they asked us to come sit for the interview...I asked them if I could bring my daughter because she was and is an important part of Mom's story.

If you want to see our interview you can go to http://www.kwtx.com/ and click on the Central Texas RAce for the Cure clip. It was so amazing to tell our story and let everyone know that God is faithful. Just when Mom heard the devastating news of her cancer He showed her that he loved her and gave her an amazing granddaughter to help her smile through her pain. Even today, Abigail will see my mom and she will drop everything and race over to see her. Her face lights up when Mimi is around. They have a precious bond that only God can put together. Wow!
After the interview, all the survivors were honored and Mom and Dad completed their walk. I completed the 5K and Jerry and Abigail were there at the finish line waiting for me. What a great way to finish a race!

We went back to the campsite and had a great brunch and a much needed nap. Just before dinner we took the boat out. Jerry, Da, Abigail and I went out for a quick ski run. Jerry trick skied and I skied on two. Jerry and Abigail skied together. She wasn't sure what to think when momma drove the boat away. Jerry was holding her in the water but the boat driving away was very unpleasant. Once she was up on skis with daddy all was great!

We had a yummy fajita dinner and then sat out under the stars for a bit before we all went to bed. This morning we ate breakfast, Mimi, Abigail and I played on the playground slide and then we said our goodbyes. It was a wonderful weekend. Jerry is a great camper and keeps us all very safe and cared for. My parents and grandparents are a treasure and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Abigail was the center of attention and was a joy to have with us. She is a perfect example of God's love and faithfulness. I love her so much I can't even describe it. The smiles she brings to everyone she encounters and the story she brings with her is only due to our Father. Amen!

(We hope to have pictures downloaded soon....)

God bless you all today and always,

Jenny