Finalization is in the air

We got the word today from our attorney that our daughter's finalization is definitely next week (Dec. 5th) at our county surrogate's court. We are so happy and excited! I already picked out what me and the girls are going to wear! I can't speak for my DH!

I guess this is the culmination of our adoption quest that began just a year ago. On Dec 11th, 2006 we had our first home study-look how far we've come in a year. Full circle actually! We will celebrate with family-maybe go out to lunch or have a cake at night. I know even though we are celebrating, I know there is a woman hundreds of miles, away, who we do care about, who still misses the baby she gave to us six months ago. Today I mailed a bunch of pictures to her attorney with a letter as our daughter is six months old. This is her birthmom's 2nd update. I sent lots of pictures this time. I hope they comfort her and do not make her feel bad. I wrote a letter telling her what's going on with our lives and asking what's new with her. I told her about our daughters likes and dislikes and milestones. It's so hard, not wanting to write anything that will make her feel bad, but yet want to tell her how much we love our daughter and are thankful to have her. We will certainly be thinking of our daughter's birthom on finalization day.

I have to say, Finalization is like Christmas a few weeks early for our family. It's better then any gift anyone could ever give us! We are so blessed this holiday season. I will continue to help those who I know hope to adopt domestically and hope to change lives in a positive way. I have been so lucky to have met so many wonderful people on our adoption journey-which actually started in 2001!

Thanksgiving was great!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in spite of my grandfather being admitted to the hospital the night before for a mini stroke. He's OK and they let him out Friday. It put a damper on the day that he was not at the table with us, but we are thankful he is OK.

I feel more thankful then ever this year. With the addition of our baby, our family is complete. We are now a family of four!! My older daughter really enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The girls wore their dresses all day and looked so beautiful. My pumpkin pie, homemade fudge and sweet potato pie came out great. All in all it was a really nice day, it would have been perfect had my grandfather not been in the hospital.

It was just last Thanksgiving that we took a picture of me, my hubby and older daughter to use for our adoption profile. I had already scheduled the homestudy too-look how far we have come in a year, our baby is home 6 months already. We are so blessed...

Here is my favorite picture of my two little turkeys....

Give Thanks....to a soldier

The unsung heroes. Thousands of soldier lie wounded in military hospitals. Many with injuries that will alter the rest of their lives. We often here of the soldiers that died, those that were deployed and the ones coming home. We never hear of the ones that are injured and will return home without limbs or with serious debilitating injuries. These soldiers need to know that we are thinking of them and support them. Even if you don't agree with the war, we do need to show our support for the troops.

Please take a few minutes of your day and write a get well card or holiday card to an injured soldier. It will make the world of difference to them-send it to:

A recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001

I must be old fashioned...

I get an email from a friend of mine who is in her late 30's - she has happy news to share! I figured she was announcing her engagement-I was right. Great news. Also in the same sentence she announces she is pregnant and due late March/early April. She must have know she was pregnant since the end of September, if not earlier. She just got engaged last week. I don't even know if the wedding will be pre baby or post baby. Even more interesting-would it be a church wedding since she is Catholc too???

So the way I see it, it's a case of "Let's get married since you are already pregnant". I am really opposed to that. We are talking about people in their late 30s. I don't care if you are 17, 27 or 37, I think you should be married first, then conceive the baby. I don't think a marriage should be based on a circumstance. I think you should be committed before you start making babies. Maybe I am just an old fashioned catholic whose still thinking like it's the 1940s or 50s, but I strongly believe in marriage before kids and hope that someday my girls don't disappoint me and choose to have children after they are married.

Let's face it, kids get older, they can do the math and they will realize they were born less then 9 months after their parents married. Heck, years ago my family got a Christmas card from friends outlining when they got married, when the kids joined the family, etc. Their family Christmas card announced that they got married in February and their first child was born that April-just two months later. Why would you announce that in a timeline Christmas card??? They got married and had the baby in the early 70s when it was much less accepted. I was embarassed for them.

Don't get me wrong. I am very happy for my friend and wish her all the best, but my own personal morals and values don't agree with the order in which things panned out for her. I know she really wanted a baby, so much so that she was considering being a single Mom and going to a sperm bank a couple of years ago. I just hope they are really in love and getting married for the right reasons. Getting married because a baby is on the way is one of the reasons this country has such a high divorce rate.

I still believe-first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage! Call me old fashioned.

What do these people have in common??

Sarah McLaughlin
Faith Hill
Greg Louganis
Ray Liotta
Debbie Harry
Steve Jobs
Ted Danson
Daunte Culpepper
Melissa Gilbert
Liz Phair
Dave Thomas
Ella Fitzgerald
John Lennon

Ok - well if you guessed "They are all famous" that would be a correct answer. But the answer I was looking for was "They were all adopted!". You'd be surprised how many famous people were adopted by relatives or non relatives!

November is national adoption awareness month! Celebrate it!!! Spread the word!!

A small victory....

Yes, today I feel victorious! My scale says I haven't weighed this little since 2004. That's good news. I decided to be daring today and wear an old sweater that's a size L-Large, not XL or 2XL. Just Large-Ok it runs a bit on the big side. But it fits!!!!! Not tightly-it fits right. Sounds silly, but fitting into this sweater made my day! A small victory! I'm actually thinking of buying more clothes in Large to motivate me to keep losing weight!

22 pounds lost on Weight Watchers since September 19th-many more to go, but I'm on my way!!!

Halloween was great!

Halloween was great! We had great weather and the girls enjoyed dressing up. My older daughter finally wore a costume!! She was a fairie. The last time she wore a costume was when she was 1o months old-her first Halloween. Every year since, I buy the costume and she refuses to wear it-screaming and crying until I give in. This year, she finally has gotten over some of her major fears. She wore the costume and went trick or treating door to door with her cousins. She said "This is a lot of fun". I told her you've been missing out on the fun the past few years!!!
My little pumpkin was the cutest pumpkin I ever saw and didn't fuss in her costume!

I am so pround of my big girl. A clown came to their school on Halloween and she was NOT afraid. We went to see a live Sesame Street show a few days before Halloween and she was not scared of the characters for the first time and she wore her costume. Everyone said she woud outgrow her fears and she did-all at once it seems!!