Semi-Lazy Weekend

Is it just me, or does it seem like the weekends just FLY by?  I'm writing this as I'm relaxing on the couch, Kate is taking a nap, and Kevin is repairing a tire on his truck (he ran over a nail).  It's already 3pm on Sunday and our weekend is almost over! Boo!  I'm a little sad that it's almost over, but it has been a really great weekend.

Friday evening, Kevin and I went over to Chipotle for dinner.  We've only been there once before, and the main reason for that is because it's located on Woodruff Road.  We try to avoid this road at all costs because of the traffic.  So of course the one time we DO decide to go over that way, we get stuck in traffic on the interstate.  Typical.  Anyway, we enjoyed our dinner and ended up meeting a really nice couple who were there with their 8 month old daughter.  We struck up a conversation (because of Kate and their little girl) and without them knowing ANYTHING about our story, they mentioned adopting at some point in the future.  So, we got to share with them about Kate and our experience with adoption.

I had to work until a little after 1 on Saturday, but then my mom and Kristi came over to the house to get in some "Kate-time".  Mom hadn't seen her in 3 weeks and said she could not go any longer. :)  I talked her into staying Saturday night so she could have even more time with Kate.  We had the spaghetti calzone for dinner, and this time I actually used the frozen bread instead of pizza dough.  I think I like the bread better, like the recipe actually calls for.  I think it turned out pretty well. Here's a cute picture of Kate with her Gigi.

We went to church Sunday morning and one thing our pastor (Kevin's dad) talked about was prayer and how important it is to pray for other people... and not just when they're sick.  When we were waiting for Kate, our names were on our church's prayer list.  We had lots of people praying for us, praying for our future child (Kate), and praying for our future child's birth parents.  SO, with all of that being said, I'd like to start a tab at the top of my blog listing fellow waiting adoptive families and want to invite all of YOU to pray for these families with me.  Pray for their future child, their future child's birth parents, and pray for THEM as they wait for God's perfect timing.  I've had the privilege of "meeting" many of these families through the blogging world, and I have a good many people following our story on here.  So, if you're a waiting adoptive family and want to be added to this list and would like for all of us to pray for you, please email me at kelleyandkevin@yahoo.com.  I'll try to add this tab to my blog in the next week.

Now, here are a few pictures of Kate from today.

And then we played around with my camera...

And then Kate played with her new toy that her Gigi and Papa gave her...

Hope you all had a great weekend!  Check back with me tomorrow, as I'll be posting my very first GIVEAWAY!  Obviously, I've never done this before and probably won't be doing it often, but I'll be giving away a really great children's book.  It's a children's book about adoption, but is a great book for any child.  So, check back tomorrow to see how you can enter (easy) and maybe you'll be the lucky winner!

OH Happy Day!

Today started out as a pretty normal day.  Nothing special.  Got up, fed a baby, went to work, came home.  You know, the normal everyday stuff.  I had to work a little later again tonight (only 30 min), but ended up getting home a little after 6:30.  I came in and started some rice to go with our crock pot meal.  Then Kevin said "Oh, do you know what this is?" and held up an unopened manila envelope.  I could tell by his voice what he thought it was.  So I opened it up, and there it was!  Two sheets of the best paper ever!

Do you see those three special words near the top of the paper?  No, it's not "I love you".  Here's a closer look....

That's right, folks.  We got Kate's finalized adoption papers.  She is officially OURS.  Of course, she's been "ours" all along, but now we'll get her re-issued birth certificate and she can be assigned a social security number.  The exact legal terms of the document state that "the said minor is declared adopted for life".  Yep, Kate is ours and we're her parents.  She's stuck with us now!

And then we celebrated with a 7pm bottle. :)

In other news, Kate got a new ride.  I ordered it off of amazon.com because it was $70 cheaper and qualified for free shipping.  It came in today, and she took it for a test drive around our living room.  She's sitting up so much better and rapidly growing out of her infant carrier so it won't be too long before we switch out her car seat for this new roomier one (still rear facing).  We're going to use the infant carrier for a BIT longer but she seems to like her new seat.

Last Home Visit

Last week, Kevin and I had our LAST home visit with Bethany.  Even though all of our paperwork has been sent off to NC sometime in December, and we're just waiting on everything to get processed so the adoption is finalized, Bethany likes to follow up with their adoptive families for 6 months after placement.  So, last week we had our last follow-up visit with our Bethany adoption worker.

When Jane* (our adoption worker) emailed me earlier this month, we originally scheduled the visit for Monday January 16th at 3:30.  So I went ahead and put the appointment on my calendar at work and thought that was that.  Not too long later, Jane emailed me back and asked if we could reschedule to Tuesday January 17th since that was MLK day and her office was actually closed for the holiday.  Us accountants don't get MLK day off as a holiday but it didn't matter to us if the appointment was Monday or Tuesday, so I said that it wasn't a problem to change the date.

Well- I forgot to change it on my calendar. Oops!  So last Monday I left work at 3pm and rushed home to meet Kevin and Kate.  Around 3:35, I knew something was up.  Jane is usually a few minutes early, and never late.  Then it hit me.  Our home visit wasn't supposed to be until the next day.  Oops again!

I told Kevin that he could go back to work.  Since I was already home with Kate, I took her to run some errands.  We went by my work so I could get my laptop, and I think just about everybody I work with got to hold her.  Then we went by Buy Buy Baby to get her a new car seat.  That's a post for another day, but basically she is already growing out of her infant carrier at just 5.5 months old.  And then, we headed home.

The NEXT day, I again rushed home at 3pm to meet Kevin and Kate.  This time Jane showed up right on time.  We had a GREAT meeting.  Basically, she just wanted to know how involved we wanted Bethany to be from this point forward.  We don't have any further commitment to Bethany, so if we wanted to be through with them, we could.  If we had a closed adoption, this would probably be the case.  But since we have an open adoption, Bethany is always there to be a facilitator of visits with Kate's birth parents- if we want them to.  So far, we have had 2 visits with Kate's birth parents, and we have used Bethany to coordinate the meetings although we have chosen to meet with them at restaurants and the mall.  It has worked well so far and our plan is to continue using Bethany as an intermediary until we build a further relationship with Kate's birth parents.  If at any point we decide that we don't need to use Bethany as a go-between or coordinator, we would just start scheduling our visits on our own.  Basically, Bethany's involvement from this point forward is totally up to us.

Jane stayed for about an hour, and then we were officially finished with everything!  The ironic thing is that we had our last visit with our adoption worker on January 17, 2012.  We STARTED this whole adoption with our first informational meeting on January 11, 2011.  I'm still amazed (and grateful) at how fast everything happened.  God is so good!

On a totally different note, Kate figured out how to push the buttons on her activity/bouncy station and was shocked that they would light up and play music.  It's so fun to watch her do and learn new things!

And these were taken tonight before bedtime.  Kevin was showing Kate what leg extensions and leg curls were.  I'm not really surprised.  I have a feeling that I'll be teaching her the A-B-C's and he'll be teaching her all of the major muscle groups. 

What A Weekend- Part 2

This past weekend, we had MUCH going on.  If you haven't read Part 1, I'd start there! That basically sums up Saturday & Sunday.  On Monday morning, we woke up in Sumter, SC.  I set my alarm clock for 7am and when it went off on Monday morning I went into the kitchen to get Kate's bottle ready.  She usually wakes up sometime around 7 and she is more than ready for her bottle when she does wake up.  She has about the same amount of patience as her Daddy, which is not much.  So, I poured her formula and put it in the bottle warmer.  Then, I went back into the bedroom to make sure I turned my alarm off instead of just pushing "snooze".  When I came back out to check on Kate, she wasn't in her crib.  Hmmm....  I walked back into the living room and saw that Charles was holding her.  He said that she was making some noises so he went ahead and got her up. :) I'm sure she WAS making some noises, but I'm also pretty sure he didn't mind having to get her up!

We had a big day ahead of us so after eating a great breakfast together, it was time for Kevin, Kate and me to make our way to Columbia.  We packed up our car and hit the road.  We planned to meet Kate's birth parents at the Columbiana mall at 11.  We ended up getting to Columbia a little before 11, but we went ahead inside because it was yet again time for Kate's bottle.

Her birth dad and his sister got there first.  Kate's birth mom and her family were running a little late, so we got to spend about 30 minutes with just her birth dad and birth aunt.  He fed Kate her bottle, which was difficult because since there was so much going on around her she was looking EVERYWHERE. Pretty soon, Kate's birth mom,  and her birth-mom's dad, step-mom and two sisters arrived.  Kate was smiling at everyone and of course couldn't keep her eyes off of the carousel that we were sitting near.

We spent some time visiting with the entire group, ate lunch, and took tons of pictures together.  Then all of the extended family left to do some shopping and let the 5 of us (Kevin, Kate, her birth mom, birth dad, and me) spend some time together.  We decided it was time to go visit Santa... but when we got there we discovered that Santa was on a lunch break.  So, we headed back to the food court and we all exchanged gifts and had a great time visiting.  We decided to give Santa another try and stood in line for what seemed like HOURS just to get a couple of pictures.  Kate was pretty tired by this point, so no smiles, but at least she didn't cry!  

We also got a picture of Santa with the 5 of us (Kevin, Kate, her birth parents, and me) and one of just Santa with Kate and her birth parents.

After leaving Santa, it was time to go.  We said our good-byes and packed everything back up in our car.  Our visit lasted a little longer than we had planned, but we enjoyed getting to see everyone and letting them spend time with Kate.

Our intentions were to go straight home but after a phone call from my mom, we decided to "stop by" their house to pick up one of our Christmas presents- 2 apple trees!  It was a bit out of the way, but I know they loved seeing Kate.  We were only there for a short amount of time but we'll be back on Sunday for Christmas!

And finally, we got home around 6pm after ALL of our weekend travels.  It was a crazy, busy, even exhausting weekend, but it was tons of fun.  I'm thinking that THIS weekend will be just as crazy, and busy, and definitely just as fun.

Jogging... I Mean Walking!

This past Sunday we had our first "official" visit with Kate's birth parents.  We were able to see her birth mom again about two weeks after Kate was born, but this was the first planned visit. We were so excited that they were able to join us at church on Sunday and then we all went out to lunch at Mellow Mushroom.  We had a great time catching up, and are looking forward to building an even better relationship with them.  We love the fact that Kate will grow up knowing who her biological parents are and if/when she has any questions, we love that she will be able to ask them!

After we got home, we were both pretty exhausted from a busy day so we relaxed for a while. Then, we decided to use Kate's new jogging stroller.  I think a more accurate name for this stroller for me would be a "walking stroller" or an "outside stroller" because I highly doubt that it will be used for jogging except for maybe a couple of times a year.  Regardless, it's a pretty awesome stroller and between coupons, a gift card, and some Babies-R-Us rewards it was also a pretty awesome deal.

So, on Sunday Kevin and I decided to take it for a spin around the neighborhood.  I guess if you want to get technical, since we don't live in a real neighborhood, we decided to take it for a spin around the neighborhood right down the road from us.  See how excited Kate was to be bundled up to go on a walk!?

Yeah, she basically slept through the whole thing. She'd wake up a little, look around, and then close her eyes again. She does seem to enjoy being outside though. She loves to sit on the porch and watch our dogs (Max and Cooper) run back and forth.  We didn't get to take the dogs on the walk with us (WAY too hard to deal with them) but they had to check Kate out when we got back.

Max & Cooper checking out Kate

Cooper and Kate

Max & Kate

 And then Kate had to show us just how happy she was with her jogging walking stroller.  She's such a cutie!

Hey- at least now I have the motivation to go jogging.  Now I've just gotta find the time.

Community Sale & Vintage Kate

Community Sale = Success!

Kevin and I spent a lot of last week getting everything ready (along with the other FANTASTIC people who volunteered to help).  We brought some of our yard sale items to the church on Thursday night, and then Kate and I went back on Friday to finish pricing some of the stuff.  Well, I priced and she slept.

Since we had to be back at the church so early on Saturday morning, we let Kate spend the night with her Nana and Papa Friday night.  This was such a big help.  Kevin and I spent all Friday evening loading the remainder of our yard sale items into our trailer and sorting through the rest of our attic.  We went to bed well after midnight and then got up about 4:45.  I don't really count that as sleeping.  It was more of a nap.

We got to the church about 5:15 on Saturday morning and while I got all of our stuff outside and set up for the sale, Kevin was busy getting things ready for the food sales.  We had a TON of stuff but luckily Kristi got there about 6:15 to help.  I was too busy doing stuff on Saturday to take any pictures, or I would share a few.

There were lots of other vendors there, the food was a big hit, and tons of people came through to see what all of the excitement was about.  We brought multiple trailer loads of stuff over to the event to sell and only left with about 1/2 of a trailer load of stuff.  The event ended at 2pm and everything went so smoothly that the cleanup was finished around 2:45.  All in all, it was a great event and we can't say thank you enough to everyone who helped make it a success.  We were able to raise a lot of money to go toward our adoption expenses, and we are beyond thankful for the support of our family and friends!

We got home just in time for Kristi and me to watch the Clemson game in one room while Kevin watched the Georgia game, which he'd DVR'd, in our living room.  We were so exhausted that we went to bed early.  Even then it was hard to get up Sunday morning for church, but of course we did and I dressed Kate in an outfit that I wore when I was a baby! Is it vintage when it's 26 years old?  I say yes, so here is my little vintage baby (and the progression of pictures- thank goodness for digital cameras).

I've got my paci- I'm good!

Wait a minute- you took it out!

Okay, Mommy! I'll give you a smile!

I think I want my paci back!

Yep, I want it back!!

NOW!!!

Okay, I'm good again.

I can't complain! I got one good picture and caught her smiling! Lucky me!

Last Fundraiser- Community Yard Sale Sept 24th

What's going on in our house? Well here are a few hints...

If you're thinking "Wow- those people need to clean out that room!"... well we are! (And just FYI this is our "formal" living room. We're not "formal" people and we NEVER use this room, so this became our catch-all room until we actually convert it to an office.)

Anyway, our last fundraiser event is almost here! We've been cleaning out and collecting items from family and friends for our yard sale and it is almost upon us! This room isn't even all of it. Our storage building and garage are also holding even MORE items for sale. 

Even before we found out about Kate, Kevin and I had planned on doing a yard sale to help offset the cost of our adoption and raise additional funds.  We originally planned an event that would just be a simple yard sale where we sell our stuff.  But, one of the families in our church came to us and volunteered to help with the event (big thank you!). They had some great ideas to involve additional people make it BIGGER and BETTER! 

So- THIS Saturday (September 24th) we will be having a community yard sale event at Living Way Community Church in Greer, SC from 8am-2pm.  Not only will we be selling our yard sale items, but so will at least 20 other people/vendors! In addition, there will also be breakfast items, lunch items, snow cones, and baked goods for sale. So, come out and see if you can score a deal or two on some items!

Details of the Event 

What:       Community Wide Yard-Sale / Craft Sale 

When:      Saturday, September 24th from 8am-2pm

Where:     Living Way Community Church 

                3239 N Hwy 101

                Greer, SC 29651

Who:        Multiple Individuals & Vendors

Hope to see you all there! 

**Note- If you would like to take part in this event, it's not too late.  Each individual & vendor is selling their own items and keeping 100% of the profit. Your only cost is renting a parking space for $12 (or 2 spaces for $20). Contact me for additional information if you would like a space!

And since no post is complete without a cute picture of Kate (since this blog is specifically about HER)... here is a cute one that I took on Sunday...

Hospital Time- Part 2 (Baby Dedication & Discharge)

And here is the promised "Part 2" of our hospital time with Kate and her birth parents. And I know that I could go into a lot more detail about the dedication service and the discharge, but of course there are parts that we want to keep private, so that's why there may not be a whole lot of detail.  Just know that it was all very special, and we could definitely see how God brought together a lot of people in this adoption (even outside of us, Kate, and her birth parents).

Our first visit was around lunchtime and lasted for a few hours.  Then we left the hospital to go check into our hotel and get settled in (for one night) before heading back to the hospital at 7 pm for Kate's baby dedication service.

We got back to the hospital and there were a TON of people in our birth mom's room, even though the hospital security said only a few were allowed back there at a time.  Oh well! :) The birth father's family was there, and a lot of the birth mom's friends were there also.  After the dedication service, people in the room spent time talking about what our birth parents mean to them, shared special memories, and talked about how they came to the decision to choose Kevin and me.  We got to visit just a little bit longer, but visiting hours were finished at 8 so they kicked us out about 8:15.  We did stay a little longer talking with Kate's biological grandma, grandpa, step-grandma, and aunt.

We were supposed to be back at the hospital at 11:00 on Friday for Kate's discharge.  We got there about 11:00 and were able to spend about an hour and a half visiting before our birth mom and Kate's discharge was final.  We got a car seat installation instruction from a man Nazi-Nurse.  Seriously, he had to have been ex-military or ex-cop, and his name was Rosie.  He was very helpful though.

Before we knew it, it was discharge time.  I walked down with Kate and Kevin went to drive the car around.  Since both Kate and our birth mom were being discharged at the same time, we were all being taken to the front of the hospital together.  The "all of us" included me, Kate, her birth mom and dad, and both of their families. The plan was for Kevin and me to put Kate in our car and drive off first.  Of course we knew that this was going to be an emotional moment for everyone.  Our adoption worker told us that once Kate was in the car, that we should go ahead and drive off... instead of dragging out the moment.

We got to the front and Kevin pulled up in the truck.  Rosie helped us load Kate into the car as everyone watched from about 20 ft away.  Kate's birth mom was already crying. We went over to hug everyone quickly and before we knew it, everyone was crying.  This was one of the happiest days of my life, but at the same time Kevin and I were both incredibly sad for these two people.  They made one of the hardest decisions ever and were obviously hurting, but they knew that this was the best decision for their child.

A lot of people have a misunderstanding that someone who chooses adoption for their child doesn't actually love their child.  Quite the opposite is true, at least in our adoption.  These two people loved their child so much, that they realized they can't provide for her everything they want to so they chose to place her with Kevin and me.  They love her enough to want to stay involved in her life, and stay updated on how she is growing, what she is doing, etc.  I can't say enough how blessed we are to have been chosen by them, and can't wait to see what they do with their lives from this point forward. 

As we were driving away we realized that we now had a baby girl (and a 7 day revocation period wait ahead of us). How exciting!

And now for a few cute pictures of Kate just because what post is any fun without pictures?  And, because I have gotten the comment plenty of times... yes, I know I look tired.  I have a good reason... I am tired!

 

 

I know I'm slow, but eventually I'll get caught up on our two weeks in a hotel room with a newborn! :) We actually had quite a few adventures that are worth sharing! 

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."   Ephesians 3:20

I Know, I Know...

I promised a post YESTERDAY, but with a newborn we've been pretty busy.  But the biggest news and reason I haven't had time to post is... we're HOME!!  How awesome is that?

Kevin and I had been talking about how we'd been praying that we could come home this week, but decided that we needed to pray specifically.  We were praying that God would work a miracle and that the ICPC paperwork would go through smoothly so that we'd be able to come home on Wednesday.  Well, Wednesday we had a pediatrician appointment in Cary, NC at 11:00.  So, we set our clocks for 9, which gave us plenty of time to shower, feed/change Kate, and get ready to head out the door.  Of course when the alarm clock went off we hit snooze a few times. :)  Well, before the alarm went off again my phone was ringing.  I answered and it was our adoption worker Erica* telling us that we'd been approved to go home! YES!  We are so thankful that this is one prayer that God answered YES to!  He is soooo good!

We jumped up, showered and packed our car faster than we'd ever had before.  And, we had a TON of stuff to pack.  Newborns really don't travel lightly.  We needed to check out before our Dr appointment because the Dr's office was on our way home.  It would save us basically an hour and a half to check out and then go to the appointment instead of going to the appointment and then coming back to our hotel to pack and check out.  We barely made it!  Got to the Dr's office at 11:15 for our 11:20 appointment and we didn't waste any time!

We made it home in about 5 hours and pulled in our driveway about 5:30.  Never been so happy to be home!

PS- Kate had a great appointment.  She is now 9 lbs 1/2 oz and 21 inches long.  She gained 13 oz in just 9 days... she loves to eat! :)  She's in the 75th percentile for height and weight.  She's doing so good!

Hospital Time Part 1- How It Came To Be

So, I'm ready to update on the time we were able to spend with little Kate and her birth parents in the hospital.  These posts are as much for ME so that I can remember exactly how things happened, as they are for any of you readers, but I'm happy to share with YOU too!  I'll probably repeat some of the stuff in this post and it will probably take a few separate posts so bear with me!

Originally, the birth parents wanted Kate to spend her first week of life (after discharge from the hospital) in interim care. This was because in NC the birth parents had 7 days to change their minds after they have signed papers to terminate their rights.  We were okay with interim care because this would sort of be a safety net for both sides- ours and theirs.  Think about it, how terrible/awful/hearbreaking would it be to have a baby with you for a week thinking that it was your child, only to be taken away from you? We'd heard of tons of stories and families where the birth mom HAD changed their mind, so we were okay with interim care so that we could avoid the pain and heartbreak of that happening to us.

A week or two before her due date, the birth parents decided that they did not want to use interim care.  They wanted Kate to be discharged from the hospital into our care.  We were excited, but nervous. Who wouldn't want that first week with their child?  But, at the same time we were worried that we might be that family who has to go through the heartbreak of having to give their child back after the first week. 

THEN, the birth parents decided they wanted us to be at the hospital.  What!?  We couldn't believe the turn of events!  First, we weren't supposed to even travel to NC to meet our daughter until after her first week of life, and now they wanted us to come TO THE HOSPITAL.  Again, we were excited but nervous.  Kevin and I were talking about what this might mean, and he said to me "You know, it makes me a little bit MORE confident about all of this because it seems like they would want to use interim care and not let us come to the hospital if they were unsure about their decision.  Since they want us to come to the hospital and take her home with us, it seems like they are very sure that adoption is the path they are wanting to take."  I hadn't really thought about it that way, so it gave me a little more peace of mind! Plus, now we were going to be able to meet our daughter at only 1 day old!

Originally we thought we were going to have 1 week of notice to travel to NC, but now we were only going to get a few hrs notice!  I was on pins and needles. Every time my cell phone rang I wondered "Is this it?".  On Wednesday August 10th we got the phone call that our birth mother was in labor and had been admitted to the hospital.  Kate was born at 12:15 that afternoon, and the birth mother, birth father, and their families were able to spend Wednedsay together.  On Thursday, we traveled to NC and got to the hospital around 1.  We were able to spend some time with our birth mom and birth dad, and were even able to meet and spend time with their families. We have tons of pictures with Kate's birth mom, birth dad, birth grandparents, and birth aunt.  We love the fact that Kate will be able to look back at these pictures and see how loved she is.  We know how incredibly blessed we are to have met all of these family members.  Here are a few pictures from our first visit at the hospital.  I got to hold her first, and we were so excited and pre-occupied that I didn't even pull out the camera until I'd handed her off to Kevin...

It's actually funny to look back on these pictures, taken only 13 days ago.  She doesn't look anything like this anymore!  Well, except for the hair.  It's all still there and hopefully will stay! 

Okay- I think that's a good stopping point for today.  Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of the hospital time (our baby dedication service and hospital discharge)!

I'm A Mommy!

I've been SO excited to write this post and now, I really don't know what to say!  We wanted to wait until things were final to post any information or pictures on our blog or on facebook, and so now I guess the best way to start this post is by saying that as of 12:00am this morning it's official!  Baby Kate is here, and she is ours.  Katherine Ava was born last Wednesday at 12:15.  She weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and was 19" long... she is perfect!

Kate's due date was last Monday (August 8th) and on Monday she still hadn't made her arrival.  So, our birth mom was scheduled to be induced Thursday (August 11th), which just happened to be mine and Kevin's 4 year anniversary.  We both assumed she would hold out until Thursday, but apparently she had other plans! 

At around 9:30 Wednesday morning at work, our adoption worker Erica* called to let us know that our birth mom had gone into labor around midnight that morning, and had been checked into the hospital around 3am.  Baby Kate was on her way!  She told us that our birth mom wanted us to come to the hospital the next day (Thursday) to spend some time with her, the birth dad, and to meet Kate.  We were so excited!  I was so excited, that I couldn't concentrate at work.  Even though we weren't leaving for NC until the following morning, I wrapped up everything that I needed to at work and headed home around lunchtime to finish packing and getting things ready.

I met Kevin at home and we decided to go eat BBQ for lunch first.  On our way, Erica called us back to let us know that Kate had been born at 12:15 and that she was 8lbs 3oz and perfectly healthy! :) YAY! We ate lunch and then made our way back home to get things ready for the following morning, and head to church for our last Wednesday night as a family of 2!

On Thursday we were able to make the long drive to Raleigh, NC and it seemed to take FOREVER.  We met Erica in the parking garage and walked up to the Labor & Delivery floor of the hospital to see our birth mom, birth dad, their families, and Kate.  We walked in the room and there were about 15 people in there!  Our birth mom was holding Kate and the first thing she said to me was "Do you want to hold her?".  Of course I did.  I know all parents say this, but she is beautiful and it's true! She also has a FULL head of hair.  Seriously, it's probably an inch and a half long. I see lots of bows in our future...

Kevin and I were both able to hold her for a little while, and we stayed to visit for about an hour. It was awesome, and so generous of the birth mom and dad to allow us this time.  Although we have an open adoption (meaning, we'll have ongoing contact through emails/pictures and a few visits each hear), this hospital time is really the birth family's time with the baby.  We have been so blessed to have been chosen by the birth mom and dad that we did and have been amazed (yes, I used that word) by their generosity in allowing us to be a part of the hospital time with Kate.

So, I'll share a few more pictures of Kate and will definitely post some more tomorrow about the rest of the hospital time, Kate's discharge, our first WEEK with her (we've had her with us since last Friday), meeting some of her family, and finding out that she is OURS.  We're so excited and can't thank God enough for the miracle of adoption that He has worked in our lives.  :)  

Two Showers and An Exciting Week Ahead

Well this has definitely been a fun week!  On Thursday, my work threw a shower for Kevin and me.  We love an excuse for a free lunch! :)  We both had a lot of fun, and left with TONS of great things for baby Kate.

Friday we went to my parent's lake house to visit with them and to take Max & Cooper to the lake.  The dogs LOVE the lake, and we're really not sure when the next time for us to take them there will be.  The weather was so great, and the water felt good.  It was a nice relief from the 100 degree heat.  It was  a quick trip, but a lot of fun.

Today (Sunday) we had another shower thrown by the ladies of our church.  We are so blessed to be a part of this church family and were overwhelmed by their generosity.  We came home this evening and unloaded our car and then we somewhat tried to organize all of the diapers, onesies, burp cloths, wipes, washclothes, towels, pacifiers, bouncer, swing, etc!  I must say, after the past few days we're definitely a little more ready for this little girl to join our family!

Sorry it's a little blurry.  It is the only one I have so far.

Kate's due date is TOMORROW and an induction is scheduled for Thursday morning if she does not come before then.  Please keep Kevin and me in your prayers over the next few weeks as we travel to NC to meet our little girl, and as we wait for the revocation period to pass.  Even after the 7 day revocation period HAS passed, we have to wait for another NC form to go through before we are allowed to leave the state and travel back to SC.  This will be a crazy and exciting week!  We are looking forward to all that is to come, BUT we know that the next week and a half will also probably be very stressful, so please continue to keep us in your prayers.  We'll keep you posted!  And now, time to get back to writing thank you notes.... :)