A Great Start to 2013...

Today we got the official word that our home study has been approved!

Tomorrow morning, Jeff & Shay will drop off our family profile books and we will officially be a waiting family. It feels great to have all of the paperwork, interviews, study sessions, home visits, etc. completed. Moreover, it’s very exciting to be at the point of knowing that we could get a call at any time informing us of a match. This could be the year that we welcome a baby into our family!

I fully understand that our wait may be long. In fact I’ve been so prepared that adoption can be a long process that I need to work on mentally preparing myself in the off-chance that it might be a short process at this point. Either way, I trust that God has the timing and the child so I will wait and enjoy our family as it is right now. Shay is into everything and we get more glimpses into her personality each and every day so the present is just as exciting as anticipation of what the future holds.

Special thanks to my mom, Jeff’s dad, Pastor John, Chris S. & Jon B. for taking the time to complete the references for us for our home study. The paperwork states that we received 5 “favorable” references. Yes, some may agree with Jon who pointed out that our agency must have a loose definition of the term “favorable!"

In other news, we returned from a week-long trip to Minnesota over Christmas. Though we brought back a couple of extra “presents” (colds for Shay & me), we were so happy to see family and catch up with some old friends. We stayed at my brother & sister-in-law’s house and got to meet our insanely cute niece Leah in person for the first time. Despite being on the tail end of a cold, she was all smiles. Shay discovered the joys of sledding, playing in the snow, ice skating with Uncle Ty and napping in front of a warm fire. Thank you to everyone for all that you did to make this Christmas special!

I brought our digital camera but never once got it out of our suitcase, so all I have to post are some photos taken on my iPhone:

Little Miss Leah

 Jeff & Shay sledding

A little boot hockey anyone?

My Mom & her 2 Granddaughters

 My Dad & his 2 Granddaughters

My Grandma with all 6 of her Great-Grandchildren - All Girls from 4 Grandchildren (as someone said during Christmas Eve, "Would somebody please have a boy?!")

It's all about the little things.  Yesterday I found out that I won a "When My Baby Dreams" calendar from Adele Enerson (creative mom extraordinaire/photographer/author/blogger) who personally messaged me to tell me that she had selected my comment on her blog as a winner of the "I Dream of..." contest.  My comment?  "I dream of holding my adopted son/daughter in my arms and introducing him/her to big sister Shay..."

I have a feeling that 2013 will be a wonderful year!  May yours be filled with good health, happiness & lots of love!

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson