Hail to My Birth Mothers....You Deserve Every Honor.

I absolutely had to post this on my blog as soon as I read it. In fact I just finished reading it twice. Once to myself and once aloud to Steve. It is one of the most well written articles I have ever read on adoption and birth mothers.

Thank you Raina Kelley and thank you Newsweek for bringing it to the world. Thank you for saying so clearly what I have felt for years. The next time I try to explain to someone why we chose adoption, why we choose open adoption at that, or why I love my children as if they were born of me I will pull out this article and read it to them. Because my children are born of me, not of my womb but of my heart.

Sometimes, when people ask me why I care so deeply and am so affected by the women who willing place their babies with me I want to ask them to think about how much they love their children. Then ask them that if you were to witness a woman in a state of such humility that she chose to break her own heart to place her child in your arms would your heart not break just a little too? When she tells you that you are the best thing she can imagine for her child, would you not also feel so humble that you hardly feel worthy of the task? Would you not forever after smile when you heard her name, wonder if you in her position would have that kind of strength when you see that child do something great, and when you kneel down to thank your Heavenly Father for that child, could you not also thank Him for her?

Love this article!

Bambino #2....Where are You???? We can't wait!

So I just have to blog real quick and say how excited I am getting to have a new little baby boy in our house! It has finally hit me! I am getting so EXCITED!!!! We have spent the past few months doing so much prep that I feel like I have just been buried in all the work and worry that comes with adopting a baby but here we are with only a week maybe two to go and I just feel so happy and peaceful and excited!


I am also falling in love with a little toddler I now have, Zadok! He's just so much fun. He has always had a very fun personality, very happy, laid back, and carefree but lately he is just hilarious too. Belly laughing at the funniest things, playing chase with us, and hiding from us to to only jump and out and start laughing again! I love it all!

Zadok will be 16 months tomorrow! Right now he loves toothbrushes, pie pans, swimming, cuddling with daddy, Teddy Grahams, yogurt, any fruit, well actually any food that we are eating. I love him to pieces and worry about splitting my time and attention between two cute boys. Somehow it will all work out.

Here we all are celebrating Birth Mother's Day, the day before Mother's Day (if you don't already know); very appropriate I think since brave women like Norma make motherhood possible for barren women like me....that's supposed to be a little funny. The barren part, not the birth mother part.

We went to Fajitas, our favorite and a tradition we started last year with Norma, even funnier I'm wearing the same dress I did last year, hopefully that won't be a part of the tradition too!

And yes, he had fallen earlier in the day on the pool deck, his second big fall for the day. The first was covered by his voluminous hair.





We celebrated earlier in the day with Hannah at a baby shower, graciously given by Hannah's mother, April. It was so nice to meet all her friends and family who came out and showed their support for Hannah and her incredible decision to place her baby with us.

We love our Norma and we love our Hannah.

Zadok getting his haircut earlier today as we make the final preparations for our new arrival. I can't believe it's coming so soon, and I still have so much to get ready!



Well I'm off to paint the boys room, buy Z some new shoes (one fell off in Walmart yesterday...we've only had them 2 weeks), make and freeze some dinners, and maybe just fit in a massage! Definitely appreciating the not being pregnant part of the last few weeks of preparing for a baby, thank you Hannah! You're really doing the tough work.



Maybe my next post will be about Isaac, or Magnus, or Maksim, or Edgar, or Asher, or....who knows what we will name him!