The Best Gift

I came across this video this week and it touched my heart, especially at this time while Nathan and I are still waiting and hoping for our own little miracle to find it way into our lives through the gift of adoption.

Happy Sunday!!!

Great friend

My friend Megan wrote a sweet blog post about our adoption hopes on the blog that she shares with several of her friends called Life of Women an Inspirational Outlook. She asked for my permission to share our story when it was her turn to submit a post on what they call "good cause Wednesday"  I gladly gave it and I am so touched and humbled by the sweet words that she shared.
Megan and I became friends while working together at the hospital several years ago.  A short time later her life led her on several adventures including becoming a mother of three sweet angels of her own and living for at time in Germany while her husband was stationed there in the military.  Although we have not seen each other in person in over two years we keep in touch through facebook and a still think of her fondly and often as a true friend.
You can read Megan's post HERE.

Thank you Megan

We must have faith

Share our Button Please

As another way to spread the word of our desire to become adoptive parents we now have buttons available on our blog for other bloggers to post on their blogs. 

I have to admit prior to creating my own buttons, the concept of blog buttons was pretty foreign to me.  I had seen cute buttons on other blogs but I had not known what their function was or how to use them.  I am still learning. 

For those of you who are new to blog buttons here is one bloggers definition of what a blog button is: http://www.mommymentionables.com/mommy-blogging/blog-button/

After hours of internet searches and many unsuccessful attempts I am now the proud creator of three of our own "hoping to adopt" blog buttons.  You can see all three on the right side-bar of this blog.

Please if you have a blog 'grab' one of our buttons so that others who see you blog may learn about us as well.

If you are unsure of how to add our Button to your blog you can get instructions at http://29faces.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-grab-blog-button.html

Thank You.

Happy Tuesday!!!

Dear Birth Mother

While I did not write these words I wish to share them here because Nathan and I feel the same way about the special woman who will someday give us a gift that we can never repay.  Where ever you are we hope for you, we think of you, and we pray for you.

Dear Birth Mother, 

I know that you might be scared. Bringing your precious little one into this world at time you were not planning on. I feel your uncertainty and fear. I want so badly to know you and help you. Just know that at any second of the day, I am sending you love, gratitude, peace and beautiful thoughts of security and safety. I would do anything to be able to give you a giant hug and tell you how much you mean to us. Your bravery, your love, your sacrifice is nothing short of extraordinary. We will be forever in your debt for the gift you will be giving us. We will pray for your  health, happiness and safety always. Till we meet, we love you and are eternally grateful for your love and sacrifice. 

All our love and gratitude we give you,

Source (http://baldwinadoptionjourney.blogspot.com)

Field of Dreams Completed

After many months of stop and go work on our 'field of dreams' nursery I am happy to announce that it is officially 99% completed.  We have done all that we can do at this time to prepare a place for our future little one.  Finding and bringing our little miracle home will complete the final 1% remaining.
As I have explained in past posts the building of our nursery has been a long process for us.  When we began our adoption journey the truth of our infertility and the uncertainty of the path before us made even thinking about setting up an empty nursery too difficult.  As the months and eventual year passed in 'waiting' we realized that we needed to work on our faith that this was in fact the Lords plan for us.  (If this was truly what our Heavenly Father had planned for us why was it taking so long for our baby to find us?)  As the saying goes, 'faith without works is dead.'  We needed to work.
It has been hard work, both physical and emotional to plan and build our nursery.  We would work hard for a week or two and then close the door and move onto other project for a time only to open the door both literally and emotionally again to build this space in our lives and home.
We know that there is a very special woman out there who will find us and together we can help one another receive answers to our prayers.  Our baby will come home.  And when he or she does their room is ready.  Our faith is renewed.  
As the movie says:  "If your build it, they will come."

Our field of dreams Polar Bear Nursery:

I would like to say thank you to all of our family, friends, co-workers and neighbors who have helped us to reach this point.  Siblings and parents who helped with paint and construction, friends, co-workers, and neighbors who continually encouraged us and asked us how things were going and if we had any new adoption news.  Thank you for your support.  They say that it takes a village to raise a child, well it may just take a village for us to get a child but we are proud to say that we are part of a great 'village' and we are luck to have each of you in our lives.

Happy Sunday!!!

Maybe Baby's Christmas

Even though our 'Maybe Baby' has not joined our family yet or even scheduled an arrival, our future baby received their own Christmas gifts this year.  With the work we have done in recent months to put the nursery together many of our family members gave us Christmas gifts specifically for the babies room and the future child.

My brother Caleb made us a one-of-a-kind Polar Bear rocker. You can see the step by step process here.

Nathan's cousin Adam and his wife Candace gave us the print of Christ that is now hung in the nursery.

Santa gave us the toy polar bear mom and cub.

And my Mother found the wonderful book 'Forever' by Emma Dodd.   I would like to share the words of this book with you.

Forever

When you're happy, having fun, I feel happy, too.

When you giggle, play, and run, I laugh along with you.

I do my best to cheer you up when you are feeling down...

to see if I can make you smile and smooth away your frown.

If you're ever feeling scared, I'll be right beside you.

If you're ever feeling lost, know that I will find you.

When you share your hopes and wishes, I'll keep them safe for you...

and promise to do all I can to make those dreams come true.

And no matter what may come as we journey on together...

know that deep within my heart, I will love you...

forever.

by, Emma Dodd

Merry Christmas to our future 'Maybe Baby. 

We will love you Forever.

Feild of Dreams Update #3

We have been hard at work putting our 'Field of Dreams' Polar bear nursery together.  Here is the latest update:

I have completed re-finishing the changing table my mother-in-law found for us. 



After

Before

I love it!

I have also finished painting all the trim and bead board.  All I have left is a bit of touch-up painting to do, and the room will be ready for us to put all the furniture in.

It is really starting to come together.

Happy Sunday!!!





Birth of a Polar Bear Rocker

My amazingly talented brother used his skill to make me a one of a kind Polar Bear Rocker for our Polar Bear themed nursery.  He just finished it yesterday and sent me pictures of the process from start to finish.  I want to share them with all of you. 
Just so you know how talented he truly is, he built this free-hand.  No pattern.  Just his artistic eye and a pinterest picture I had pinned of one someone else had made.

Beginning with all raw materials.

Oh and a rocking horse for perspective

courtesy of a little boy down the block

Pattern. black bear, or jungle cat?

rough cut

perspective

Paint

polyurethane

assembled

Foot brackets

My brother and the Polar Bear Rocker

 Happy Saturday!

Field of Dreams Update #2

Thanks to my wonderful brother and sister driving up to help me, we were able to make a ton of progress on the nursery.  It is so amazing to watch as the vision I have seen in my head for the last few months begin to come to life before my eyes. 

There is still a lot of work left to do.  But today we were able to put a big dent into the project.  The room is really starting to look like a perfect polar bear paradise!

Happy National Adoption Day!

Field of Dreams Update #1

For those of you that remember from a post about a month ago (see here) I am doing a little project I call my 'Field of Dreams.'  My fancy title for putting together our nursery in the hopes that someday soon we will require such a room.

Updates on the progress so far:

• I have chosen a color pallet and room design.  This weekend I will be painting and hopefully hanging the bead board.

• I have been cleaning out the former office and selling items that we no longer need in order to make room.

• My mother-in-law made an awesome D.I. find of a gently used changing table/dresser that we are refinishing and painting.  I just added the second coat tonight.

• My wonderful brother is busy in the workshop building a one-of-a-kind rocking polar bear (think rocking horse).  It was suppose to be a surprise but a little birdy has been keeping me updated on his progress.

I promise that soon I will post pictures and share with you all more of my vision.  I am so excited to be seeing real progress.

P.S.  Wow we just reached 4,000 views to our blog.  Thank you so much for stopping by and checking it out.  We love you.

Happy Wednesday (Again)!!!

Field of Dreams

As the saying goes, Faith without works is dead. Well my faith needs a bit of a boost. It is time to add some work into the equation.
Have you seen the movie Field of Dreams? A man builds a baseball field with the faith that "if he builds it they will come." My turn. No I'm not planning on building a baseball field I am going to build a nursery. It is time to show more faith and make a room for our 'someday' baby.
Over the next few weeks we will be working hard to clean out my office and set up the nursery. 

Theme: Polar Bear/Arctic

I am so excited to see how cute it will turn out!

Disclaimer: *My sister has told me that I need to dig a little deeper and be more open in my blog.  I tend to protect/hide my feelings and not share them very frequently in such an open place as the world wide web.  It is hard for me to share my inner-most thoughts with strangers.  Today I will give it a try.

Today was a rough day for me at work.  Nothing horrible or catastrophic happened, it was actually a mellow day as for as the work load went.  What was hard was listening to the conversations going on around me.  My job requires me to stay at my desk as much as possible.  I must be there to answer phone, great visitors and answer patients call-lights.  Sometimes I call my desk my cage, I only tell you this to explain why I could not just get up and move or distance myself from the situation. 
Back to the conversation(s), as they kept restarting throughout the day.  The charge nurse today happens to be six months pregnant.  I am happy for her and all other woman who are currently pregnant around me.  But she usually spends most of the day complaining about the side-effects of pregnancy.  OK, I know that not all aspects of creating a child are pleasant and enjoyable.  And I know that every woman handles each pregnancy differently. I am used to hearing this.  But it doesn't mean that you have to whine and complain about it for the entire nine months.  (This particular person, was dreading it at the same time she was openly telling us she was trying to conceive.)
For one stretch of 30 minutes today this nurse and two other co-workers were only five feet away from my desk discussing all the horrible, uncomfortable, exhausting aspects of each of their past pregnancies.  This is not the first time I have silently sat inwardly hurting as they complain about the miracle that is happening within their bodies, and the experience that I can only dream of. 
I know that the time will come when Nathan and I are able to be part of our own miracle.  Adoption is its own horrible, uncomfortable, exhausting experience.  We have be 'paper-pregnant' (the adoption equivalent) for much longer than the 'natural pregnancies nine month timetable.'  It has been over nine months of just waiting for the right woman to choose us to be parents. Before that it was two and a half years of trying to conceive and medical tests before beginning the year of work it took to become certified to adopt.  It has been a long journey.  I do not regret it.  We have grown and become stronger because of it.  But I do not wish it on anyone.  It is hard.  I'm sure it is just as hard as pregnancy, but sometimes it just hurts to hear others degrade and complain and have to hold my feeling in.  It is not these girls fault, I do not blame them.  It is a natural thing for women to talk about.  I know they did not mean to hurt me or be intensive to my situation.  I just need to acknowledge my own feelings. 
I know that the time will come when I will become a mother and it will happen because of a woman like this who is willing to endure the hardship and joys of carrying a child and giving birth.  I know that it will happen.  I have a quote that sits in my front room too keep me from getting discouraged.  It says "Even miracles take a little time" -Cinderella.  We will continue to be patient and hope and pray for our own little miracle.

A good friend posted this to my Facebook wall this week,
she said that it made her think of me.

Button, Button, who has one of our Buttons?

As another way to spread the word of our desire to become adoptive parents we now have buttons available on our blog for other bloggers to post on their blogs. 
I have to admit prior to creating my own buttons, the concept of blog buttons was pretty foreign to me.  I had seen cute buttons on other blogs but I had not known what their function was or how to use them.  I am still learning. 
For those of you who are new to blog buttons here is one bloggers definition of what a blog button is: http://www.mommymentionables.com/mommy-blogging/blog-button/

After hours of internet searches and many unsuccessful attempts I am now the proud creator of three of our own "hoping to adopt" blog buttons.  You can see all three on the right side-bar of this blog. 

Please if you have a blog 'grab' one of our buttons so that others who see your blog may learn about us as well. 

Thank You.

Happy Tuesday!!!

Birth-Mother's Day

A little known holiday is celebrated the day before Mother's Day is observed, that is Birth-Mother's Day.  It is not well known, publicly recognized, noted on the calender, or even marketed.  You will not see commercials revering it, see banners commemorating it, special sales in stores, or a large section in your local Hallmark card shop.  It is celebrated quietly and reverently in the lives of those who have been impacted by the miracle of adoption.
Today is that day, dedicated to the women who selflessly sacrifice to share the gift of motherhood with another. 
We first learned of this special day a year ago while Nathan and I were completing the steps necessary to become certified to adopt.  Now even though we are still awaiting the day that we are selected by one of these amazing women to be the parents of her child; we are celebrating this day.
We do not know her name, we do not know where she is at this time, or her life story.  But we do know that we look forward to embracing her into our lives.  She is special to us.  She is part of us, and we think of her daily.  We hope and we pray for her.  We love her.  This day is for HER.

Happy Birth-Mother's Day!

The Power of Technology

Our little blog reached 1000 views today!  I find this amazing!

I started this blog a year ago at the suggestion of our adoption agency as a way that prospective birth-families could better get to know us when choosing a couple to adopt their baby.  We send it out to the universe as a little seed of faith, hoping a praying that through it our hopes and dreams my come true.  Over the last year we have shared many things here, mostly about our day to day activities or special things we do.  It is not always easy for me to sit and write and share with you some of my innermost thoughts and feelings with no feedback or comment.  But I do it anyway.  I like to think that I am writing to a special friend who is faraway.  I am writing to YOU.

Up until this last week this blog has been mostly read by only our families and close friends; but that all changed on Wednesday.  That is because on Wednesday morning I shared a digital copy of our adoption networking card on my Facebook page and invited everyone to pass-it-along and share it with everyone they knew.   Again sending out our message and hoping it crosses the path of as many people as possible that we are hoping to adopt.   Because of that simple act on Facebook our little blog has experienced tremendous growth with almost 400 new views in just the last five days.  We are so grateful to our many friends and family members who have helped us in sharing our information; through Facebook, handing out our cards, and by word of mouth.  We couldn't do it without any of you. 

Happy Sunday

Approved!!!

Nathan and I are pleased to announce that Monday afternoon we received notification that our application had been approved and we can now legally adopt.  Now the hard task of waiting to be found by our child's expectant birth-parent's begins.  You can all help out by spreading the word and sharing our information with everyone you know.

This is digital copy of our adoption cards we are handing out. If you are interested in any hard copies to distribute please send us a message and we will send you some.

Window well covers

Nathan and I have been working very hard in order to get our home ready for our adoption home evaluation.  One of the requirements that LDS Family Services has is that we must have safety covers over each basement window.  We have know about this for a couple of months and Nathan wanted to build them himself but has been busy with other projects during the summer and fall.  Now that we have finally scheduled the day for the Case Manager to come out to our home it is crunch time. 

Nathan spent two days cutting, bending, and welding these wonderful window well covers for us.  He only has one more to do and then we will be ready.

Large cover

Small cover

Both of them side by side.

And for your viewing pleasure, Here is a sweet picture of Jasper.  This picture makes him look like a little puppy, so peaceful.  This dog really does make me smile most days.

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!