ADOPTION DAY 2010

Happy Adoption Day Lydia!

Dear Lydia,

On Sept. 8, 2006 our lives were changed forever when you were placed in our home and into our hearts. Then 2 years ago TODAY, May 19, 2008, they were changed again and you were really truly OUR daughter. This was one of the happiest days of our lives. We waited so long for you and you were finally here...you were finally OURS! You have brought so much laughter and joy into our lives. Each and every day you make us proud to be your parents. We love you LydiBug! This is a day to celebrate you sweet girl, so CELEBRATE WE WILL!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Adoption Day 2008

Happy Adoption Day 2008 Lunch at Fridays! This makes me SMILE!

Adoption Day Treat 2010 ~ I love you Lydia!

A Much Needed Break!

This is my last week at work. Summer break is finally here! I love my job. It's my ideal job and it's what I worked for so hard in graduate school - BUT- this year has been a killer. I am not sure why this year and not the last three I have worked here but it has. And sadly, just like the foster care system that I also love and keep dear to my heart, it's not the kids, or the families that make it so difficult, but rather the "system". It's nothing to get into now, b.c. it's FINALLY summer and that's all I can think about!
In a few days we are headed to the Port St. Lucie area in Florida and we can't get there fast enough. We are all so excited and so READY for some sun and fun and relaxation. It's just us going, Seth and me and the kids. We've always traveled with other family and friends so we are looking forward to just enjoying each other this time.
I just thought I would jump on and update the ole' blog on recent happenings in our neck of the woods.

-School is almost out and the kids will only go to daycare on Tues, Thursday's this summer. That means Mommy's "Happy Hour" will start everyday about 10am. haha.

-Lydia's "Adoption Day" is tomorrow! She is soooo EXCITED! We'll have to do something small to celebrate. We really need to start an "Adoption Day Tradition" for the kids.

-I am going to start training for the next half marathon in Nashville when we get back from vacay. I am excited b.c. I need to lose some serious lbs.

-Zachary is soooooo ready to potty train. He asks to sit on the potty everyday and we are just awful b.c. WE are not ready. haha. I dread potty training, but it looks like that will be our summer time fun! Yee Haw!

-Zachy got an ALL CLEAR at the ENT last week and we told him GOODBYE! I still can't believe we went through ALL OF THIS and then he never ended up even needing tubes. I don't think I ever told you all that we ended up taking him to a pediatric pulmonologist at Vanderbilt after the big scare on the OR table and he told us he thought he had reflux. Sure enough...a bottle of Zantac later his ears and chest were all clear. CRAZY, but true! :)

-We have made contact with Christina (Lydia's birthmom) and she wrote and emailed us back! She just got married (she is 18 now), and she seems ok. She told me that she is finishing her GED. I hope we stay in contact.

-Nashville is still suffering from the FLOOD. So many people lost everything. We were so blessed and we have donated lots of things to take to church for the victims. I just can't imagine watching everything I own floating around in dirty flood water. Please keep all of those affected in your prayers.

I will leave you with some recent pics. HAPPY VACATION TO US!!!

Lydia torturing sharing her makeup with Zachy

CLASSIC: I think Zac would agree that torture is actually the correct word here.

That's a Beautiful Name...

Kelly is doing her weekly "Show Us Your Life" and this week's theme is your kids names.

As most of you all know...Lydia was our foster baby. She arrived on our door step the day she turned 5 months old. When they called us for our first placement they told us it was for a 14 year old girl and her baby named "Star". Yikes...Star? Really? Oh well. Well, when they arrived I said hello to Christina and said, "This must be Star." She looked at me and said, "No, her name is Lydia." Whew...Much Better! Of course it turned out that she was named Lydia Star Marie. Remember, she was named by a 13 year old child - we were just thankful she picked Lydia - b/c I LOVE that name and so does everyone else. It seems anywhere we go she is always told how beautiful her name is. When we FINALLY were able to adopt her - almost 2 years later we dropped the double middle names and gave her a new one. She is now Lydia Kathryn. Kathryn (Katherine, Catherine) is a huge family name. It's my real name, it was my grandmothers middle name and the list goes on and on. I really LOVE that name.

The way we came up with Zachary's name is a pretty funny story. He is also adopted and we got the call to adopt him two years ago on a Thursday afternoon. The next Tuesday he was born. The weekend in between we had driven down to Little Rock to meet his birth parents and Jenny (his birthmom) was contracting the entire time we were with her. She wasn't a rookie at child birth and thought she would pop him out at anytime. She told us we should stay in Little Rock if we wanted to be there for the birth. He was born in the midst of March Madness and we ate dinner at the bar at Chili's that night watching basketball and waiting for the phone to ring. I remember it hitting me and I looked at Seth and said, "Oh shit... we're about to have a baby boy and we don't have names picked out." It became a baby naming event at the bar that night. everyone sitting with and around us were involved, especially the bartender. "What about so and so or this one..." We were writing them and saying them and it was hilarious.

Seth and I could never agree on a boy's name. The only one we could compromise on was Cole, and we both loved it... well... That was all great but the summer before we had another foster baby named Cole and you know how that goes. That was OUR Cole and now we could never use it for another. We finally narrowed it down to Zachary and Max. I really loved Max but we couldn't come up with a good middle one for a one syllable name. We also threw around Colin for a while and then the someone said, "How about Zachary Colin?" and alas, we had a name! Of course, little did we know of the naming crisis was only the beginning of what that fiasco weekend turned into - BUT - at least we had a name.

We would like and hope to adopt one more baby. If and when that happens, we have a couple other names we would like to use.

GIRL:
Molly Claire
Or
Ruby Claire

BOY:
Gunnar - but I don't think that sounds good with our last name
Andrew
William
Tye

-We don't have any middle names picked for a boy.

Oh, and I almost forgot...When we started the whole adoption process we were originally going to adopt from China. My, how plans change...We named that supposed to be baby girl - Madeline Claire. THEN... we had another supposed to baby girl adoption from Chicago, but at the last minute the young mother chose to parent and not to place...and we named that baby Carly Nicole. Nicole was the mom's name.

Weird and twisted stories... I know. That's how we roll! ;)

6 Years and Counting!

Happy Anniversary to my best friend and love of my life. It sure hasn't been boring...that's for sure.

YOU'RE STILL THE ONE!

Absolute Disaster

I don't have much to say except that I never thought I would ever see the horrible things I have seen in and around my city the last few days by the flooding in Nashville, TN.

By the grace of God, our neighborhood was salvaged. Many of our friends and fellow Nashvillans were NOT! I have typed and re-typed all the right things to say here. And I just keep deleting. There are no words for what has happened.

Our city, our homes, our businesses, our churches, our parks, our streets, our schools, our people...have been devastated. We don't live in a flood zone. No one here has flood insurance. This wasn't suppose to happen.

Here is my face book status..."Non-Nashvillians: please spread the word in case everyone doesn't grasp the severity of what's going on in Nashville. Temporary shelters are at capacity, missing people are unaccounted for, many homes are under water, there is a water conservation emergency, much of Nashville's economic base is threatened by flood damage. Text 'REDCROSS' to 90999 to donate $10 to disaster relief."

Well, I just wanted to share this...I have kinda always considered myself a mid-western girl. I don't know why. I have lived here since I was 3. I guess b/c my parents and all my family are from MN. I grew up calling it "pop" and eating hotdish, NOT corndogs. My brothers and sister (who are much older, haha) went to college in St. Louis and Chicago, which became my second homes because I was always tagging along with my parents (except when I would fake staying with friends and throw wicked parties at home. hehe). Ahhh Hmmmm. Anyhow, I say all this to say...

I am so PROUD to be a Nashvillian!

If you get a second, check this out...

http://www.section303.com/we-are-nashville-4366