National Infertility Week

This week is national infertility week. I have been thinking about what I needed to write about it. We have been dealing with infertility for almost 4 years. It has been a long road filled with heart breaks, devastation, long conversations, tears, etc. However, it has made our relationship so much stronger. We have had really special experiences in the midst of the hard times. Russ means the world to me and he has been such a huge support and strength to me, as well as trying his best to understand all the emotional side of infertility (especially for a woman).

Other than our relationship getting stronger and us growing closer together, the greatest blessing of our infertility is that it has led us to another amazing world - adoption! We really are so happy to be able to adopt and to swap prayers with birth parents. I recently read this blog post about a birth mom and her thoughts about adoption. I was so touched by her tender feelings about placement and about their open relationship. We LOVE open adoption and are excited for the way that it will help all those involved with the adoption: the birth parents, the child and the adoptive couple (us). I LOVE the song "Everything to Me" by Mark Schultz and it brings me to tears almost every time I watch it. I am amazed at the love and selflessness that birth parents have!

Although we are infertile, we are beyond excited for this next phase of growing our family!

Here is a great post on what to say (and what not to say) to someone that is infertile: http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-my-turn-infertility-20110425,0,470341.story
We have heard our fair share of what not to say, but we are so grateful for amazing friends and family that are there to listen and just say "I'm sorry". They have helped so much!

Here's more info on National Infertility Week: http://www.resolve.org/national-infertility-awareness-week/home-page.html

Media Monday: Just the Same

We came across this great poem on our friend's blog that adopted almost a year ago. It was in the April 2011 Ensign (a magazine put out by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with uplifting articles about the gospel). We loved it and read it again last night in our copy of the Ensign.

Here it is -

Just the Same
By: Diana Lynn Lacey

Sometimes—

God sends rain

Straight from the sky

To nourish the young flower

and it grows.

Sometimes—

God sends rain from the sky

To the mountaintops,

Then over hills and through valleys

Until it reaches the flower

and it grows, just the same.

Sometimes—

God sends a child

Straight from His realm

Into a mother’s arms

and love grows.

Sometimes—

God sends a child

From heaven to another’s arms,

Then over hills and through valleys

Until he reaches the arms of his mother

and love grows, just the same.

Our thoughts: We love how simple and tender this poem is. Just as water sometimes winds around the mountains in order to nourish the flower, sometimes children go through different arms to get where they need to be. The end result is the same, love grows and happiness abounds...for all parties involved. We are excited for the day when we are able to meet the birth parents that will be an answer to our prayers for Caden to be a big brother and for us to be able to raise another child in our family.

Media Monday: Waiting for May

Waiting for May by Janet Morgan Stoeke

We give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Here is a summary from Tapestry Books:
"During the months before she is finally here, a young boy anticipates the arrival of his new baby sister. She is coming from China, to be adopted into his American family. He tells the story of his family's year of waiting while they complete the adoption process. As the months pass by, the boy describes his mounting joy and excitement. The family receives her picture and gives her a name-May. Then they finally all go to China to bring May home. This book is perfect for the family with biological children waiting for an adopted sibling."

Our thoughts: We love that it talks about how excited the young boy is to become a big brother, and that it is written from his perspective. Caden is equally excited to become a big brother and often asks, "Mom, when are we going to have a baby?". He also talks about how he is going to share his stuffed animals with the baby and help me to get diapers, etc. It seems like a long time for a boy to wait, but it also allows us to talk about it a lot.

This book is very true to form. It talks about all the things needed to adopt: home study, fingerprints, paper work, waiting, etc. It is GREAT to help kids understand the process of adoption and how much of a blessing it will be.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! We love all the fun of Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, dyeing Easter eggs, etc. However, it is the hope and the joy that our Savior was resurrected that makes this holiday so special. We love the reassurance that we will be able to see our friends and family again after they have passed away. We have a great love for our Savior and for His eternal sacrifice for us. We loved teaching Caden about the real meaning of Easter in our Family Home Evening with an Easter egg hunt that had items resembling the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today (Sunday) we did an Easter Tomb Craft . It was really neat to read through the story with Caden and to hear how much he understood. What great peace and joy this Easter season brings!

Media Monday: Horace

Horace

This kid's book is by Holly Keller. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Here is a summary from The Reading Tub:
"Horace is a leopard who was adopted by tigers when he was a baby. He wants to be with cats that looks just like him, and he sets off to discover just such a family. In the end, Horace learns that being loved has nothing to do with looking like anyone else."

We love that Horace wanted to seek out people that were like him. He wanted to know more about who he was (who doesn't?). At the end, he realized that it didn't matter if he had spots and his parents had stripes, but it did matter that his parents loved him and he loved them. Our favorite part of this book was at the end when Horace asks his mom "if you choose me, can I choose you too?"

Media Monday: The Best for You Book

The Best for You Book by Kelsey Stewart
We give it a 5 out of 5 stars!!

Last weekend, we had our Families Supporting Adoption area conference. The theme of the conference was Hearts Knit Together. Since Russ and I are the chairs for the Colorado chapter of FSA, we were able to help out with a bunch of the planning and coordinating for this conference. We had some great helpers, and we couldn't have done it without them!

Our keynote speaker was Kelsey Stewart. She placed her first baby for adoption 20 years ago, and then later placed twin boys for adoption. She is now married and has two sons that she is raising. She shared a lot about how to have open communication and to be aware of what the other side is thinking/feeling regarding adoption. She wrote an AMAZING kids book about adoption, from a birth mom's stand point. She had a giveaway before she came out here, and we entered and actually won! We are now the proud owners of The Best for You. When we adopt, we are going to read this book often to the child so that he/she can know just how much their birth parents love them. This book does an incredible job of explaining what we imagine are the thoughts and feelings of birth parents. For more information about the book, check here: http://thebestforyoubook.blogspot.com/

Here is an excerpt from the last page: "Always know that I love you. Adoption does not mean that I gave up. Adoption does not mean you were not loved or not wanted. Adoption means you have more than one family who loves you. Adoption means you will always be in my heart, whatever I may do. Adoption means I wanted the best for you."

April Fool's Day!

I am the most gullible person ever, so I am always taken for the fool on April Fool's Day. Ever since I was introduced to Family Fun magazine, I have a new love for this holiday.

This year, I rearranged the drawers in the dresser to trick Russ. It was so funny to watch his reaction in the morning hours!

I also made the milk in the cereal change colors. Caden loved watching his milk turn red. Last year, he didn't like that his milk was a different color. However, he LOVED it this year. He even put his hexbug (toy bug) in Russ' shoe, for him to find. It was cute watching him get so excited to trick Daddy this year.

I had an AWESOME trick that I wanted to do, but plans changed. So, that is on the back burner for now...until next year!

Russ got me with a trick that I was going to do to him. He put tape around the water sprayer in the kitchen sink, so that when I turned it on (to fill Caden's water bottle so we could all go to the park), I got drenched! It was so funny! It even got the wall behind me!

For dinner, I made "grilled cheese". I got the idea here but I changed it a bit. I made angel food cake (Russ's favorite cake) in a bread pan, and it looked just like bread. Then I used whipped cream that I tried to make orange to resemble cheese. I forgot to toast the bread, but it was still fun to watch them eat it!

Media Monday: BYU TV

In between sessions of General Conference (when the leaders of our church speak to the world), we were watching BYUtv. To see the show, click here. It showed clips of different ages and races of kids all talking about their mothers and fathers. I thought it would be a show about how important parents are. Then they all started saying the names of their parents and they were all the same mom and dad. I was instantly glued to the TV. These loving parents adopted 21 kids, all from different places and in different circumstances. The parents said: "It was a decision we made with our hearts, not with our minds" They mentioned that they adopted kids that other people didn't want. They said that one was an abandoned abortion on a garbage can. My heart BROKE! That is so devastating. On the other hand, you look at all their kids now that are happy, healthy, educated, loved, etc and you know they are in a better position due to the selflessness of the birth families and the adoptive parents. "We do it because we love them." Really, love is what encompasses ALL sides of adoption. The birth parents place their babies for adoption, because they love them more than they love themselves. The adoptive couple loves the birth parents and the baby and want to help both of them. The baby just has extra love from many sides! Caden's comment: "I was adopted, wasn't I?" - Although Caden was biological, he has heard us talk so often about adoption that he figured that is how he came to the family. We feel so blessed that we were able to have one biolgical child, but we haven't been able to have more children. We could not be more excited to adopt! We made the decision to adopt both with our hearts and with our minds. We know that our family is supposed to grow through the miracle of adoption. However, we also feel a great desire to help birth parents that want more for their children.