Welcome to the Holidays

What a great Thanksgiving we had with family...catching up, sharing meals, and squeezing in little bit of shopping. Yet I can only think that when we started the adoption process back in January we'd be sharing a picture of our little one during the holidays. No such picture to share at Thanksgiving, and I'm confident that we will not be holding a picture at Christmas. This will be our year of anticipation and fantasy thinking about who our little one is...name, age, gender, size, hair, eyes, smile, etc.

We are in high hopes that February will be our magic month. One of the other couples we met from our agency that started in October 2010 is currently #1 on the list. I am so so sooo excited for them! However, they've been #1 for a month now so it leads me to believe there were no referrals in October. If we keep up the current pace we're looking at at least 13 months to referral which leads me to February as the earliest.

So you ask what number we are? Well to be honest, I have not asked because I don't want to know and be disappointed. I will wait until after the first of the year to ask and hopefully be pleasantly surprised being up from #7 in October. Sooo looking forward to the next holiday season being one of preparation and glowing about our soon to be with us little one...hands, toes, belly button, bum, and all!
Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. ~Native American Saying

the 4th Quarter Stretch

Back in January when we started the process of adoption, we made it through the first quarter by taking our fantabulous dive trip to Thailand and then sharing the news with family. At that point it really felt like it would be forever to get so close to our little one. Second quarter was filled with more sharing of news amongst friends, getting our camper out of storage, and kicking off camping season. Nothing like Memorial Day weekend at Mill Creek with a little strawberry lemonade and a taco bar buffet. Then came the third quarter with family cookouts, local festival shopping, loss and addition of a new puppy as well as more camping. We again visited Mill Creek to spend Labor Day camping with friends, deep frying anything we could find (Oreos!!), and sharing a pasta bar. 


Well we're now into the fourth quarter and camping season is officially over. So sad, but we did have a great trip over to Indiana where we enjoyed the fall colors and a walk around the Covered Bridge Festivals. However, I would not say the fair style food at these events was so good. I much more enjoyed my turkey chili and cornbread back at the camp site for dinner. While sitting around the fire that last evening, I told Fred, "just think next year when we camp, we'l be parents!" Well not with our child in tow, but in spirit. Now to make it through the rest of the fourth quarter...holidays and hopefully a referral. We've been so lucky this year in keeping busy, and it's flown by so fast thanks to all of our family, friends, and work.
"The future is sending back good wishes and waiting arms."