More Excitement!

The agency in Iowa called this morning. They mailed us a sonogram picture yesterday! Can't wait to see the little guy! :-)

More Odds & Ends

Well, the Pampered Chef show invites went out. If you didn't get an email, it means I don't have your email address. If you'd like to come to the party next Monday night in Alexandria, we'd love to have you! If you can't but would like to order, you can visit http://www.pamperedchef.biz/angie?page=product-order-guest-login&showId=1936956 and buy something. We get 30% of the sales, which is pretty good. We've only had 2 orders so far, but we've already earned $27. Thanks book club gals Cecily and Kate!

We've also started an Ebay account for the adoption. Michael has some computer gear that he wants to sell and I have some autographed books that I could get rid of. We'll be going through the house and hopefully coming up with some things that we can sell off that we don't want/need any more. I may try selling a few of my pictures too. It's a pretty cheap project, but could potentially make some money from photography lovers in Ebay-land.

That's about it, really. We've paid our Virginia attorney's fees and part of the birthmom's attorney's fees, and still have plenty of money to get by. We are anxiously awaiting our tax documents, because then we will be able to breathe a bit easier--we need that return! :-)

And everyone's been so helpful with the lodging situation. We found one posting on Craigslist Detroit for a woman who rents out her guest house for $40 per month. We are going to try calling her for more information. Lauren is on the quest with a friend of hers who works for a chain. My former boss is from Michigan and is checking with family and friends to see if they might know of someplace we could stay cheap.

We have a checklist from the Michigan attorney of paperwork we need to get in order, so we are busy finding all that. February 16th is "Nursery Day". We will be putting down the carpet tile, building the crib, hanging shelves, and hopefully putting the closet together. So much to do, and so much excitement in doing it. And then we will get to take a mini vacation courtesy of the Talmadge Glecks, NettieMacs and Mamorys in order to get a little down time/Mike and Susan and friends time before the real insanity hits.

Thanks to all who have been so generous and helpful with money, time, advice, connections, and affection. It's amazing the people who the people you know know. Ya know?

Extended Stay Suites

Our MI attorney sent us a bunch of places to look at staying in the county where we will finalize the adoption. I had looked at these extended stay places before, when the General was moving to DC and I had a bit of sticker shock then, which was 5 1/2 years ago. I was dreading what the price would add up to on a 3 week stay--the absolute worst case scenario if everything goes totally crazy.

Life outside the DC area is pretty nice. It's looking like the total hotel costs will be about $1500 if we have to stay the full time--hopefully we'll stay one week less than that, so it'll cost about $1000. That is definitely doable.

We are taking baby steps to ensure that we don't go crazy with waiting. Things like this give us something to keep our minds busy and active.

The great debate raging in my head is whether we should fly there and rent a car or if we should drive. Driving has advantages--we can take all our gear with us, don't have to pay extra to fly and then rent a car. It also has disadvantages--namely taking forever to get out there and forever to get back. And if I haven't been sleeping well with a newborn and I am the sole driver, that could spell big trouble. The debate rages on.

Etc.

The carpet tiles arrived today, so that project is ready to take place. Unfortunately, we have a ton of things to do this weekend, so it will probably happen next weekend instead, but at least they are here!

It's been a fun week--now that it seems more real, I am enjoying chatting with friends about their babies. It's nice to enjoy it and not dread hearing about babies any more--hope is a wonderful thing. We've done some window shopping online via AIM, and I must say, there are some awesome things out there for babies. I've pledged not to shop yet, but it's definitely hard!

More funds are going out this week, but more funds are coming in, as well! We've gotten our first two donations: $10 from the Stanley clan and $30 from the Hanlon clan. Thank you all! :0D Plus our RSVP list for our Pampered Chef fundraiser is looking good too. If you don't live in the area but would like to order towards our total, please let me know and I'll try to send you a link where you can do so. I believe we get 15% of the take.

A friend of Michael's at work is expecting and she and her husband are apparently terrified about the prospect of parenthood and asked if we weren't. Honestly, I'm nervous--I want to do the best job I possibly can to live up to the task. But we've been waiting so long that it's just such a relief and I'm so happy to know that we can take a crack at parenting. I think it's going to be just great, and he's going to be just great, and we're in for an adventure. The responsibility is a little awe-inspiring, but the overall feeling I have is joy.

I read a book recently with various quotes by women. Dorothy Canfield Fisher said, "A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary." I hope I can teach this little dude to stand on his own two feet, but maybe to need me just a little bit.

Moving Along

Well, it's been a whirlwind since we got our match on Tuesday--one week ago!! We were busy getting a loan for the lion's share of the money, and now are trying to make up the last little bit. We have an attorney selected in Michigan, and are speaking with him by telephone today. Our attorney in Virginia has been notified and made sure everything was kosher, giving us the green flag to proceed.

Friday we made the big payment to the agency, and last night I came home to all the information about our match and what to expect in the coming weeks. It was a treat to read, "Act as if you were giving birth--have a suitcase packed and by the door, ready to go when you get the call." So exciting!

We will know more about everything after speaking with the attorney today. I am making a list of questions to ask--I'm a little OCD about things and need a ton of answers so we know how to proceed.

We also ordered our carpet tiles last night. Hopefully they will arrive in time to be put down this weekend. I look forward to getting the nursery put together!

More updates as they happen.

A Match and Fundraising

We received news yesterday that we have been matched with a birth mom in Michigan. The great joy we feel is beyond description. We are excited to have spoken with this young woman and felt thrilled that she was of the opinion that the agency did not need to look anywhere else, she wanted us to have her son when he is born.

She is due on or around April 15th. We will name our son George Henry Kosior, but we have chosen "Jack" as a nickname for him. He's going to need some time to grow into George Henry--but it sure sounds good when you yell it ("George Henry, get upstairs and clean up your room!")!

There is so much to do in the few short months until we bring little Jack home. Among them is some major league fundraising. We have been fortunate to get a major loan from a family member, but still need to come up with another pile of cash to pay attorney's fees, travel costs, and other fees related to the adoption. We understand that many people cannot, but if you can donate a dollar or ten dollars or any amount, we would humbly appreciate it. We need to come up with roughly $5,000-$10,000 by the time we bring him home. (We are awaiting a final figure.) There is a PayPal link to the right if you are able to make a donation to the cause.

We are also actively seeking fundraising ideas! We have suggestions for a spaghetti dinner and silent auction, which a friend is working diligently on. I will be hosting a Pampered Chef fundraiser--date and time to come. Other ideas would be appreciated! It's going to be too cold for a car wash, but maybe there are other things we can do.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts, prayers, and good wishes. We are excited to show this little guy off for the world to see.

No Real Updates

We've had a few people asking why we haven't updated recently and many more asking if there is any news.

Unfortunately, no there isn't. We received our notarized copies of the homestudy in the mail and that felt great. Otherwise, we're in a holding pattern.

This is a somewhat frustrating thing about an adoption--sitting and waiting. But it's all a part of the process, and knowing that something could happen tomorrow or could happen next week or a year from now is kind of exciting in its own way.

In the meantime, we are enjoying some time with our new niece, and just waiting and hoping and praying that our own baby is on the way. People have asked if news of other people's pregnancies have gotten us upset.

It's a strange thing, because you are truly happy for that person, but at the same time, you think, "Well, geez, we really must be defective." Particularly if someone didn't have to try very hard. I have had clients who said, "I looked at my husband and I got pregnant." And I thought, "Geez, that must be nice."

But honestly, there are a couple of things that bother me much more. The number of people in grocery stores and restaurants whose kids are being rambunctious and who say something like, "I don't know why I ever became a parent". That is my number one pet peeve. I want to grab them by the shirt and say, "Do you know how freakin' lucky you are?!" Same with people with babies who complain about how tired they are and how they haven't slept or showered in days or gotten in a full meal. "Do you know how freakin' lucky you are?!" And when people complain about being pregnant, I just want to scream. I'm sure it's not a fun experience, and I now know first hand that labor and delivery is not a whole lot of fun at all, but don't complain about it. At least you have the chance.

I guess that's kind of a 3 in 1. But the other is how easy commercially companies make it seem to have babies.

A couple cases in point: I recently bought a new computer game called "Dream Home". You are playing as newlyweds renovating your first home after your wedding, and as you go along, you can renovate different rooms, etc. And there is an attic room in particular that you keep making progress on. Well, after about 6 turns in the attic room, it is clear that the room is going to be a nursery. And sure enough, when you win, the game says, "Guess what!? We're having a baby!" The game is a sequel to Dream Day Wedding and Dream Day Honeymoon, neither of which I have played. However, the impression given is, you get married, buy a house, and have a baby in a short span of less than 3 or 4 months.

The other day, I was driving around listening to the radio, and a jeweler in Charlottesville was advertising its engagement rings. And the announcer says, "When she sees the ring, she's seeing the wedding, their first house, and their children."

Ok, I and thousands of people like me are living proof that it just doesn't happen that way. And I can attest to the fact that when you get the A-OK from the doctor to go ahead and start trying, it's not like you "have relations" once and boom, you're expecting. We waited for six freakin' years, only to be told "Sorry, not going to happen". And I think we did ultimately wait an abnormally long time, but life has a way of intervening. The point is, for many, many of us, it just isn't that easy, and it is both painful and frustrating to have these types of scenarios presented as the norm.

So anyway, that's my little venting session about that. And we are managing. We are both very excited about the decision to adopt, and neither one of us regrets it or at this point wishes it were any different. I think we are at peace with the way things turned out, and just hope that the end process of building our family doesn't take forever to get done.

If we do get a little gloomy, one of us invariably says to the other, "It's OK, our baby just isn't ready for us yet" or "We have to wait so we get just the right one". This does cheer us up a bit.

We'll be sending out Christmas cards soon and everyone's card will have our little adoption business card taped to it, to remind people that we are still looking and can they please keep us in mind.

Just trying to keep positive! It's all we can do at this point :-)