It's been awhile...

I apologize for not posting in such a long time. When we started this blog, I told myself that I would post on a regular basis. Obviously, life sometimes gets in the way.

Clint and I just returned from a fantastic trip to Orlando, Florida. We spent a total of 6 days there, and truly enjoyed ourselves. The reason behind the trip was to see our niece, Emily, compete in the World Cheerleading Competition, but, honestly, the vacation ended up being so much more than that. Clint and I were able to get away from the day-to-day routine and focus on each other.

It was amazing to think that the next time we are there will be with our own little boy or girl. The only souvenir we purchased was for our future child - a teddy bear and corresponding book about the bear's visit to Disney as well as a unisex, yellow onesie with Pooh and friends. Buying something for the baby we will one day have was such a special experience. We truly are looking forward to expanding our family.

Our life is changing...

Like the weather in Indiana, our life together changes without a moments notice. Within the past year, one or both of us has started school, graduated from school, changed jobs, moved, and now we are going to adopt!

Almost two months ago, we learned that I would not be able to get pregnant without the help of modern medicine. Rather than focusing on the sadness infertility can cause, we have chosen to embrace life and begin the process of domestic adoption. With this decision has come a new outlook on life and openness to God's plan.

A few weeks ago we retained an adoption attorney, and recently started our home study. Fran (the SW) was a hoot! I was so nervous about the home visit that I thought I was going to be sick, but Clint remained calm and tried to help me do the same - one of the many reasons why I love him. As usual, all of my worries were for nothing. The visit went great. We spent two hours with Fran discussing our families, relationships, desire for children and love of Notre Dame (she is a double domer!).

The next step was to complete all of the paperwork (and there is a lot of it), and we sent it off last Thursday. Now it’s up to Fran to compile it all and submit a "Dear Judge" letter to our lawyer approving us as adoptive parents. As she was preparing to leave, she said that she was planning on approving us for not one, but two little babies...because she has a feeling that we will adopt twins. Honestly, Clint and I never even considered that a possibility. This is all just so incredibly exciting!

Now that all of the paperwork is in, we need to finish our "Dear Birth Mother" letter. Aside from waiting, this is probably the hardest part of this process. This is our one and only chance to connect to the birth mother. I keep praying that God will help us find the right words to say and know that it is important to write from the heart. Our letter combined with Fran's will put us on the active adoption list.

It is hard to believe that sometime in the next 12 to 18 months we could become parents. How different will our lives be? What else does God have in store for us? What's next in the adoption process? We plan on writing about it here. Thank you for being part of our adoption journey.