Match Meeting

I have forgotten how emotionally intense and emotionally draining a match meeting is.  You go into it with great anticipation and excitement and face the reality that this is one of the most difficult decisions a parent will probably have to make in their lives for their child.  You grieve for their potential loss and the pain they are experiencing.  You hurt for their hearts.  You wonder how they even had the strength to show up to meet you.  You wonder what they thought of you.  My husband and I hope that this young woman and her mother left feeling like all their questions were answered.  We hope they felt supported and loved by us.  We hope we have helped them to know in their hearts what their decision will be--even if it isn't to place her baby with us.  We do truly believe that God brings people into our lives for a reason.  He felt they needed us (or we needed them) and that we needed to meet.  Even though this will be our third child, the process has not been any easier (except for maybe the wait for the match meeting).  It still is as emotionally intense as I remember when me met Jakob's birthmom and her mother for the first time.  (We didn't have a match meeting with Jada's birthmom--she just chose us and we came and picked up Jada--that was "easy"--so to speak.)  We have no idea what to expect--none--nada--zippo.  I pray that she feels at peace with whatever decision she makes and that we will always be here to support her, no matter what.  She really is amazing--really!

We have been talking about our match meeting with the kids.  We said we were going to meet with someone like Kaiti and Carmen who wanted to find a family for their baby and that she wanted to meet us to see if she wanted her baby to come to our family.  Evidently Jakob thought we were bringing a baby home and was severely disappointed when we got home.  He asked where the baby was.  The look on his face was so heart breaking.  I really didn't think he was processing what we were saying to that level.  He surprises me every day.  It is just a reminder how important it is to keep talking about our children's adoption stories to them.  They are listening and they want to know.  It was a treat to actually have Kaiti be able to watch Jakob and Jada while we were at our match meeting.  The kids love her to death!!!  Oh, we are so blessed already it is impossible to think that it could really happen again.  It's in God's hands!

APPROVED!

We are officially homestudy approved as of 1/4/2010! Yeah! I can't believe we are starting the adoption journey again! I am so excited! Currently, we are on a waiting list to get into the book. We are #5 to be exact. It may take a few months to get into the book, but we are thankful that we are done with all the nitty gritty paper work and our profile. I still have to work on our photo album (an extra item for those interested to page through). I've been plagued with all kinds of viruses (me, not my computer) lately and just couldn't even sit at the computer to work on it. Now, I'm playing catch up with disinfecting the house, getting laundry done, reading everyone else's blogs, watching American Idol, listing things on craigslist to make more space in our house and save money for the adoption (even if it is only $5 or $10 every now and then), and just having to be the eagle eye for my dare devil Jada who insists on climbing everything. I really can't get anything done unless she is sleeping. She has graduated into a toddler bed--since she climbs out of her crib--so keeping her in bed is even more of a challenge.

Christmas was fun!! It was awesome to have all of our family make it to mom and dad's with the bad weather. Aside from the fact that Jakob had pneumonia and Jada had an ear infection. It really hasn't been a lucky winter for us in the health department! But, Jada and I were able to show off our matching"Lucky Brand" shirts on Christmas day. Jakob stayed in his pj's for a couple of days. . . they were so soft and warm! Thanks Carmen! Hope 2010 brings everyone the blessings they have hoped for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our house has not been left short with things to do! I'm glad I got a head start on some of our "summery" November days and set up our outdoor Christmas decorations since these past two weeks I've been blessed with what is now a sinus infection which has pretty much knocked me on my hiney! I say blessed because just before I got sick, I met with my mom's group at church and we committed to choosing a bible verse to memorize. I chose, "Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak, Slow to Anger James 1:19". God works in mysterious ways. He took my voice with my sickness--so I couldn't speak. He took my energy so I was certainly unable to even get angry at anything. All I could do was listen--and that I did. All those simple things we take for granted. My kids have been amazing through all of this. It's like they know they need to be helpful, and nice, and good--most of the time. I can't expect them to be that ALL of the time! :0)

I also chose a second verse, "Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Psalms 30:5" It has always been a verse that has helped me through our adoption process--for both me and our childrens' birth families. I know that adoption can bring much sadness, but I pray that we can all rejoice as our families come together to celebrate God's gifts! But, the reason I wanted to remember this verse again, is through my grief of losing two highschool classmates this past month. It is still unknown to me how one has died, but the other lost her battle to breast cancer after a 2 year battle. I took for granted that her strong and spunky personality would get her through this. It is difficult to grieve, knowing that they have gone to be with Jesus, but so hard to let go of them at such a young age. Both were only 39 and will be greatly missed by many until we all meet again.

I just don't have enough time to write about everything I would love to tell you! If you know me personally. . . you know I love to talk and definitely love to babble in emails. I hope you all can find something fortunate in your life this holiday season. This time of year has always brought me great joy and I am so excited to celebrate with friends and family! (I just need to ditch my cough!) haha! Here's some more pictures of my blessings!

Jakob and Jada are "cooking something". If you look closely, though, Jada is taking bites out of the raw potatoes--which, Jakob thinks are kiwi. At least they aren't fighting! :0)

Another loving moment! I just can't get enough of these!


Celebrating Thanksgiving with Jakob's birthmom (and her family whom are not pictured--haha). I was not feeling well, so Craig pretty much did everything. The food was great along with the company and we are doing it all over again for Christmas! Yeah! We have found that it is much easier to have people to our home--since we know about 99% of homes just aren't Jada proofed! :0)

CHA CHA CHANGES!

Wow! Has time flown! Life has definitely been keeping me busy (mostly Craig, Jakob and Jada--all equally pining for my love and attention.) Poor Craig. . . the kids almost always win my attention first. We've been working on "enriching" our relationship as "husband and wife"--or at least giving it some more time rather than always being "mom and dad." It's definitely not as easy as it sounds with our busy schedules, lack of family in MN, lack of funds to pay for resources, and just that feeling of not wanting to take advantage of others. (Not to mention that I miss being with my babies almost instantly after leaving!) I'm not sure I will ever get over that!


I'm going to have to learn how to deal with it since Jakob will be starting preschool in a couple of weeks. I just look at him and wonder when the heck he got so "big" (as in age--he is still a petite child!). At least I will be in parent education one day of his preschool--so he won't be so far away! haha! He comes up with the funniest things. Like, Jada, mama and dada will be in school with me. He has really developed into a loving big brother. We were worried for awhile--if he would ever get over the jealousy, but as Jada keeps getting bigger and bigger and able to play better with him--it only seems that they are getting closer and closer. He is sensitive, shy, loving, obstinate at times, but happy happy happy! (as long as he gets his way!)


It will be amazing to watch his personality grow even more at school. I worry that it may be too overwhelming at times but it will be good. Big crowds are a bit over stimulating for him so hopefully his class isn't too large--and hopefully--he doesn't bite anyone! He has been "jamming" out to his radio lately, turning it up as loud as it goes. I picture a teen rebel dancing in his room to KTIS! :0) He is just so adorable and will run to turn it up if he hears one of his favorite songs! The Newsboys, He Reigns is his number one!

Jada baby will be in daycare for the two hours that I am in parent education. She will be in the room right next to me and it will be interesting. I thought that nothing would phase her, but we tried out church daycare and she only lasted 10 minutes and was wailing for her mommy. I would have thought that Jakob would have been the one--I was surprised--totally! She has been teething--molars--and they are really causing all of us some grief. I can't wait until they come through. Hopefully soon, so we can start the next round of teeth--the worst ones--the I-teeth. Jada keeps us on our toes--literally. In two seconds flat (or less) you will be able to find her somewhere that she really shouldn't be. She can climb faster than I ever thought a child could climb, is virtually not afraid of falling, and likes to run away really fast when you see her. (So, you really must be careful when you come upon her standing on a chair or sitting on the play stove!


I think she is a born Diva. . . . she loves shoes, and clothes, and princess stuff, and definitely knows how to get her way. I can only imagine just how loud our house is going to be in the later teen years--with all of the kids' friends. Loud music, lots of laughter, lots of whispering and plenty of all nighters! :0)



We tried a new church--Evergreen Community Church. We've only been there twice and it feels like we've been there forever. The people are great! We went to a free BBQ one weekend and thought we would give it a try. There is nothing wrong with the church we are members at. We were just looking for a church with more diversity and more young families. We are Lutheran and Evergreen is non-denominational. It is contemporary and seems to have a lot of really great programs that fit our needs right now. I cannot begin to explain how important it is for us to be intertwined with families of many cultures--as a multi-cultural family ourselves. I feel sad, in a way, that the church our children were baptized in just isn't meeting our needs--but I want my children to be a part of God and a church community and I think this one will be perfect for us!

I hope that summer has been good to everyone! I am looking forward to our changes coming and hope to have some time to share it with you! ;0)

Happy Birthday Jada!

One year ago tonight. . .my baby girl was born and I didn't even know about it. We didn't find out until the next afternoon that we were chosen to be her parents and that she would be coming home the very next day. It's a good thing they called us when they did--as we were on our way out of town for my 20 year class reunion. Nope--we didn't make it and I certainly have no regrets. There are sacrifices you make just to be a parent and that had to be one of them.

Jada's birthmom is amazing. I cannot even imagine how this whole first year has been for her. We went from the concept of her adoption being closed, to emailing, to visits, to building a very wonderful, beautiful and trusting relationship (at least I hope she feels that way.) We were even blessed with an unexpected meeting with Jada's birth grandmother when they stopped by on the way to the airport to drop off some gifts for Jada. It is amazing how things evolve and turn out the way they do. I cannot imagine our life without Jada. I cannot imagine our life without Carmen.

Jada giving the thumbs up on her fancy pants robe. I think she has expensive taste already! :0)

This is a very very special plaque that hung on Carmen's wall when she was growing up. I cannot think of a more endearing gift from the heart. Jada loves to carry it around, but she is not very gentle with it--so it sitting on her dresser waiting to be hung on her wall.

This year has gone by far too fast and yet I am so excited for the things to come. We have a tradition to take a photo at the time of baby's birth. Jakob was born at 10:08pm so he has been easy so far since he is sleeping (I'm sure that will change in the coming years!). Jada, however, seriously, would not hold still for a second--so all the actual 7:29pm pictures are blurry. If that is any indication of Carmen's labor and birth with Jada, I know she is even more amazing than I thought! haha! If that is any indication of what she is going to be like in the future. . . we may be in trouble! :0) Here's my sweet sweet baby girl one year later after arriving in the outside world! Love you Jada!! Love you Carmen!!

Happy happy birthday! May we help all of your wishes and dreams come true!!

ADOPTION DAY!

Yesterday was Jakob's adoption day! 3 years ago we finalized his adoption in court and he became a "legal" forever part of our family. He was already a forever part of our family in our hearts the day we met Kaiti! Life has a funny way of reminding me that things don't always go as planned. I planned to have this blissfully peaceful happy day just hanging out with my kids -- but spent a better part of it trying to rid my house of some of the best tantrums a 3 1/2 year old could throw. We would definitely win if there was a tantrum throwing contest--I'm sure of it! Jakob did actually take a much needed nap and woke up in a much better mood--so off to the Mall of America we went!

We had 5 free ride tickets that we got at the Eagan parade on the 4th of July! Each ticket was worth 6 points and most of Jakob's rides only cost 3-4 points and as his "chaperone" we don't have to pay when we ride with him on most rides. So--we got in a lot of rides! The tickets were "mystery" tickets--meaning they could be worth more than 6 points--and with our amazing luck--the last ticket was worth a whoppin' 100 points! That's a lot of points! AND--it needed to be used up by 10:00pm that evening (it was already 7:30pm). That is totally impossible for us with two small children!

Probably the best part of the evening was walking around looking for a family to give the ticket too! And there they were--standing by the ticket kiosk--a mom, dad, and three young boys. How awesome is that? We knew they would be able to burn 97 points in a few hours! The mom was so elated that she started to cry and gave both Craig and me a big hug! I know--if they are ordinary like us, a night at Nickelodeon Universe can really break your budget. Especially with three boys! :0) So off we went for a family dinner at Burger King and home to eat cupcakes! It ended up being a wonderful evening!

I've always wanted to do the KTIS drive-thru difference. I have never been out on the days that they have them. We are also not always in a financial position to help others out as we would like to or to donate to every charity that desperately needs our help. So, I guess giving away our ride ticket was kind of our way to be able to do that. We would never be able to just hand out $100--it was so AWESOME! I am so thankful for the things we do have and for my "forever" babies who are not so much babies anymore. God is so good!

Jakob's new summer NUNU blanket that I made for him.

A moment of sibling love--it does really exist! :0)

Going on the Wonder Pets ride all by himself for the very first time!

WEEEEEEE!! I did go on this with him first and it is kind of scary! :0)

Having cupcake cones!

Jada started from the bottom! haha!

Checking out all the cars that I had when I was a kid. He is still playing with them today! Yeah!

What in the world have you been doing?

I'm sure my three readers have been wondering where the heck I have been. . . Well, Jada turned 9 months old and decided that she was going to get 4 teeth, start crawling, pull herself up, and now cruise the world all in a matter of about two weeks. So, needless to say--we are severely busy at our house! Jakob can be a little rough around the edges at times so the kids are under constant supervision! :0) Although, Jada has him in strength and puts up a good fight for toys! She weighed 21 lbs 5 oz at her 9 month check up and Jakob weighed in at 28 lbs. She is 29 1/4 inches long. I'm sure they will be caught up to each other within the next year or so! I am told that he is a typical oppositional defiant three year old--who is currently refusing to use the potty chair. He may pretend to not want his sister around him at times. . .but nobody is fooled and we know he totally adores her and wants to be exactly like her--so he should be using the potty at around age 5 when Jada is finally trained! :0)

I have started to get serious about my workouts--yes, I know--even trainers have a problem with slacking. I just can't figure out how I have managed to ever so effortlessly gain 20 lbs in the last year. There could very well be a medical explanation. . . but I have to take just a little bit of responsibility for my poor time management, terrible eating habits, and disillusion that I was doing what I should be to lose weight. It has been a very frustrating process--especially since I don't have any summer clothes that fit anymore. I am thankful for the warmer weather. We have been out biking, walking, running and playing at the park and in the yard. It should also help when Jada starts to sleep though the night. . . she has been successful the last two nights! I hope it continues!!! We are exhausted!!!

We are still waiting for the creepy construction guy to finish our sidewalk. He botched the job and now has yet to fix it. Choose wisely when you have work done to your home. It has not been a very positive experience. The good thing about it all is the city of Bloomington is holding our money and actually pays out the contractor--so they don't get their money until we are satisfied and there really is no argument. Too bad, so sad, dude! All that is left is our driveway. I hope the sidewalk is done before they come to finish the driveway. We were able to get all of this stuff done through a program/low interest loan through the city of Bloomington. I'm thankful we can't afford to do anything else--this is way too much stress for my liking! :0) I do know that it will be awesome when it is all done!!

Not much else on the forefront. Just the usual stuff that keeps us as busy as the next family! I can't wait for it to be consistently warm--even if I don't have any shorts that fit! haha! Here's some fun pictures!

Kaiti and Jakob on Birthmother's Day (the Saturday before Mother's Day). We have made it a tradition to spend the day together and celebrate our family. It was a really fun day!! We just hung out, played outside, ate pizza AND McD's, and just talked and talked and talked!

Our awesome bike trailer! There is a screen that comes over the front when we are riding. I am still working on getting a good fit with Jada's helmet. They are so safe in the trailer that the helmets probably aren't really necessary. . . but I just want to get the habit going.

Goofy boy posing for a picture for Kaiti!

Happy girl!

Lounging on a walk. . . ready to fall asleep at any moment!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Yeah, I know--it's really Thursday, October 16th--what can I say? Tuesday marked another year of my life passing--yes, it was my birthday. I'm officially 38 now. Not many people would admit that, I guess, but I don't see any reason why I would need to hide it. I can also honestly say that I am perfectly content with my life and living it exactly as I envisioned it approximately 30 years ago! :0)

We celebrated my birthday in true Miskell style by eating Papa Murphy's pizza and topping off our sickly full stomachs with Baker's Square peanut butter cup pie. Truly disgusting I must say. . . . and we had the pleasure of sharing our nasty putrid eating habits with Jada's birthmother--who spent the afternoon/evening with us. It was a wonderful treat for my birthday!

We had an awesome time!! She stayed really late and Craig had to go to bed before she left around 11pm. I'm sure most of you may squack at that! All I could think is that it must have been very difficult for her to leave at all--AND--she had to have felt comfortable enough to even want to stay that late--so actually, I'm happy about it!! I do pray that our relationship continues to grow even though she is off to another state at the end of the month to work at the Ritz--following her dreams in the hospitality/travel business. I can assure you, she will make it big, especially with her drive and personality! PERFECT for the business!! I can also see that I truly think Jada has inherited her spirit and that is why she is soooooooooooo vocal and always smiling!

My favorite moment was when she walked through the door and Jada threw out the biggest and most beautiful smile for her. I fought the tears. . . but it was definitely a precious moment! I know you are dying to see pictures--but for now, we will respect her privacy and cherish them in our home. She is beautiful, fun, smart, funny, adventurous, outgoing, and has just a ton of energy! Jada was on the fussy side and she bounced her pretty much the entire time. I'll have to ask her if her arms and legs were sore the next day! :0)

I still sit in awe and wonder just how lucky can we really be--to be matched with two amazingly beautiful young ladies who happen to be the first mother's of our children. How I love them so!

2 months

I can't believe that Jada is already 2 months old! Tomorrow we go in for her 2 month check up and her immunizations--ICK! I have to get a shot myself--so it should be a fun family trip--minus Craig. Jakob still has to get his hepatitis shot--so he may even get one himself. I'm not sure, though, as I may wait on that one for him. His last visit to the doctor was very positive and I didn't want him to get it yet. I'll see what his pediatrician recommends. It will be interesting to see just how big Jada really is. I bet she is in the 100% for everything--which will be completely opposite of Jakob who averaged from the 10% - 50% range (and still does.) I fed her some prunes (baby food) yesterday--simply because I don't think she poops enough. I know they say babies can go several days--but her poop seems to be on the border line of constipation! :0) Just what you wanted to know! Anyway, she loved the prunes and ate them off a spoon, smiling and talking. She is definitely going to be a good eater!! It will also mark the last piece of paperwork that we need to turn in to finalize our adoption.

Jada's birthmom was going to come over last night and didn't show up. I can't even describe how we were feeling. I was so sad and both Craig and I cried a little bit. She seemed so excited to finally meet everyone in her emails. My heart just broke for her and Jada. I just figured when the time came--it was too overwhelming for her. I didn't sleep very well. . . thinking about the future and how it would turn out if she never wanted to be involved with Jada's life. I pretty much held Jada for most of the night--praying that things would change.

We got an email from her birthmom this morning--apologizing--stating that she got sick and since she didn't go to school--she didn't have access to her email and couldn't get a hold of us. She said she still wants to get together. I still can't imagine how difficult it must be to think about meeting us in person and how stressful it may be for her. She is moving out of state for awhile at the end of October--so she maybe feels pressured a bit. I also hope that once she meets us she will want to continue seeing us when she can. It really made me sad to think about her not being in our lives--when we didn't know if she would even ever contact us again. I'm just thankful that she still wants to get together!

Well, I must be going. . . our house was clean yesterday--for our visit. I just don't understand how it can get so messy so fast. I'm off to clean the kitchen--AGAIN--and maybe get some more junk together for the garage sale that our neighbor is having. It would be nice to unload some stuff, recover some much needed space in our house, and have some extra cash for some fun snacks while we are in Duluth next weekend. (Or even just to pay for our hotel.) We are finally all paid up with all of our adoption costs--so it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders (actually out of our now depleted bank account), but we will be able to start our savings over quickly this time as tax season is almost upon us. I think we are the only people that are ever excited about doing our taxes! Too bad we can't get our entire adoption tax credit back all in the same year. We are still collecting on Jakob. . . . at least we know we won't owe anything for awhile--like probably 6 more years! :0)

Where for art thou?

In case you were wondering where I have been, the squirrels decided to chew through our phone line--leaving it exposed to the elements of nature--making it full of static with the humidity and rain last week--meaning we were getting bumped off the internet making it nearly impossible to post anything online or send emails and what not. As far as I know, Qwest still hasn't been out to fix the line. . . but the humidity is gone--so, for now, we have a connection.

Also, our little princess Jada seems to be having bouts of colic keeping all of us very busy and virtually unable to type anything on the computer as she is in desperate need of being held--pretty much all the time. She has been a sleeping machine today--so I have gotten quite a bit done and I may even go make some cupcakes after this. I'm sure she will start her colic just about the time I need to leave for work.

We had a super fun weekend partaking in the Fall Festival at St. Boni's church by our house and then a lovely trip to the zoo on Sunday! We got up early and left unshowered--but it was worth it to FINALLY have a chance to get up close to the grizzly bears! Our whole family does not fair well with the big crowds that have been there all summer! We also met a couple who just brought their 2 1/2 year old daughter home from Ethiopia in April. It was wonderful to hear their story--and Jakob seemed to totally adore her!

For some reason, I just love this picture of Jakob at the Tiger Camp! He was totally getting into playing with the computer and when I told him to smile, he put his hand on the coffee cup and tried to pull it off the table to drink it. He is such a ham!!

A boy and his sucker. . . Jakob was falling asleep with his treat!



Jada loves the outside air and has yet to be awake during any of our activities during the day. She is so sweet! We have almost all of our paperwork done to proceed with the court portion of the adoption. We are still waiting on a cooperative agreement proposal and the social/medical form. We continue to email Jada's birthmom on a weekly basis. I never thought that emailing would be difficult on a weekly basis--but we sometimes struggle with the time aspect--nothing else about it is difficult and we still pray that our relationship continues to grow with Jada's birthfamily. Things are going as well as you could expect them to be when you are sleep deprived to the max. We can't wait for our first family (of 4) get-away to Duluth in October. It should be interesting!!

Our newest pet. . . . just kidding--it's fake, really!

Dream big!

We have been the busiest people ever! Well, maybe not the busiest. . .but it sure feels like it. We finally got our (used, but new to us) hE washer and dryer installed last weekend! They have been sitting in our garage for three weeks!! They are really really really awesome and great for washing diapers! We moved Jakob into his new bedroom and he is officially in his toddler bed now. We sold our guest bed in less than 30 minutes on good ole craigslist. The computer is now in our bedroom so we can use it when Jakob is sleeping. Jada's room still needs a little organizing. We have been submerged with clothes for from friends for when she is 6 months to 2 years old! They are all beautiful!!!!!!! We are so blessed to have all these wonderful people in our lives. We have packed up about 4 big garbage bags full of goods for the goodwill. We just need to purge--we are overflowing with love here!!

We are now out of legal risk as of yesterday at 4:30pm. We had our first home visit today and another one in about a month. We have to find some time to get our paperwork done so we can get all the necessary things completed for court. Hopefully, we will be able to finalize this year. I guess it all depends on how busy Hennipen County is during November and December! Our relationship with Jada's birthmom has been developing in such a beautiful manner through email. We hope it keeps growing and that we get a chance to have her in our lives a little bit more in the future (as in seeing her in person.) Well, I have a billion more things to talk about and no time. Desperately seeking sleep. . . . Everyone is the same in this house and nobody wants to miss a thing--including Jada--she is the most awake baby ever! We all seem to be doing a bit better with the acid reflux. There are good days and bad days. I can't believe that she will have been with us for four weeks this Friday! We love her so much and honestly. . . can't really remember what life was like without her. We are truly blessed!! We pray that we can make both Kaiti's (Jakob's birthmom) and Jada's birthmom's hopes and dreams that they have for their children come true. After all--we are big dreamers here. . . and look where it got us! :0)

Full Term

I think pretty much everyone who reads my blog has heard the big news already. If not, you are in for a big surprise. This is the story you always hear about happening to somebody else. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it could happen to us. Craig and I were planning on attending my 20 year class reunion this past weekend. I procrastinated registering just because I had a feeling that something would come up and we wouldn't be able to go--but I finally registered on Tuesday and paid for it through paypal. While getting things ready, I also tried to email our social worker our plans of getting away for the weekend with all of our contact information--the power went out for a bit on Tuesday while I was writing my email so I finally got around to it on Wednesday. Our social worker acknowledged our email on Thursday at about 1pm and let us know we had one mailer taken in June. I was going to call Craig and let him know, but we have had so many mailers taken that I decided not to get excited about it anymore. Two and 1/2 hours later, our social worker called and said, "Hi Jodi, it's Michelle--I'm so glad you didn't leave yet." And I replied, "Oh my, I better sit down." :0)

I had a conference call with her and a birthparent counselor and was told that we had been chosen by her and a birthparent (birthmom did not want to pick the parents, but gave the social worker all the things she valued in a family and what she wanted and we were a match. The social worker then read our profile to our birthmom and she liked what it said.)

So, anyway, our baby girl was born on Wednesday (July 30th) at 7:29pm and we were told she would be discharged on Friday! SHELL SHOCK!! She arrived home around 3pm. Jakob was sleeping so we had some time to adjust (like 2 hours.) We had no idea what to expect. Jakob is an amazing big brother. He already loves his baby sister and helps out whenever he can. He likes to help feed her and put her pacifier in her mouth. He knows where the pee pee and poo poo come out and says "uh oh" if he sees spit up on her mouth. He pats her head, rubs her tummy and tickles her feet. I could not ask for a more perfect family!! :0) We have decided to name her Jada Leila Carmen.

We are still in legal risk--which means that yes, Jada's mom can change her mind. Nothing matters to us right now. Jada is already a part of our hearts and our lives no matter what her first mom decides. Love is love.

For now, I ask that you pray for Jada's first mom. She needs your prayers the most. May she feel peace with her decision and find support for the many emotional days to come. I will personally pray that she find the strength to become a bigger part of our lives. We love her more than she will ever ever know. At first it sounded like she wanted a pretty closed adoption, but we have since received her email and permission to send her pictures through it of all of us. We pray that she will write us back.

Jada has already captured our hearts and has us all wrapped around her little teeny tiny fingers!!! We even got to meet Sabrina in person--finally--and eat her simply fabulous Mexican dish and lime pie (which, by the way, is already gone.) MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

It really is amazing how God has brought so many wonderful people and all the many blessings to our lives. We are so lucky and feel so loved!!

And, in case you were wondering. . . we didn't make it to my 20 year reunion!! haha!!

Oh, and I suppose you would like to see some pictures?

LSS ADOPTION NIGHT AT THE TWINS

Yeah! Woo! We survived the Twins game on Friday night! Containing a 2 1/2 year old in a very small space can be a challenging feat! We survived with only a few concerning looks during a few classic tantrum episodes of hitting, biting, screaming and throwing of whatever was in Jakob's hand at the time (Nunu, sippy cup, or popcorn). The best part was when we decided it was time to go and I spilled 1/2 of my very large Sprite that only cost $3-4 in the row below us. (There weren't any people sitting there, thank God, but it did splatter on the people in the next row.) Despite all the challenges, we had a good time and were able to experience Jakob's first baseball game at the Metrodome with Kaiti. He does look very innocent in the pictures. . . . doesn't he? :0) My little angel!