And the birthday is . . .

We got a surprise today!

We spoke with our baby's birthmom (her name is Aubree) last week and she told us that she was definitely going to be having a cesarean section. She said she would be going to her doctor this Thursday (October 28) and she would probably find out at that time, the date for her c-section. Today we got a message from her counsellor saying that Aubree had some news for us and when we called back and spoke with them, Aubree told us that her doctor had called her today with a date. So we now know that our daughter is going to be born on November 18!

That's a little over 3 weeks from now!!

Now comes the frantic rush to figure out when we can travel and book our flights and accommodations. As well as the travel preparations and packing, we have some last minute paperwork to fill out, and lots of things to arrange for our family while we are away. So we appreciate your prayers as we get ready and we look forward to introducing you to our little sweetheart very soon!!!

At least the nursery is ready to go. :)

A good reminder

I will have plenty of my own happenings to blog about in the next few weeks, but right now we are just plugging along, making plans for different possible departure dates, trying to get some school work done, washing baby clothes, and all the other household things that need done on a daily basis. When I am procrastinating In my spare time, I take a few minutes to read other blogs. I read a post today that I really liked and thought I would share it with you. It encouraged me to remember that I can't do it all and have everything just the way I wish it would be, this side of Heaven and that's ok. Because it creates in me a longing for that day when there will be perfection. :) I hope it encourages you too!!

OLD friends! :)

This weekend I got together with some very special ladies. These three "girls" are people whom I have known since we all really were just girls. I'm actually the latecomer to the group as I didn't meet them until I was about 14 and I think they've all known each other since they were about 11 or 12. Ange and I made each others' acquaintance in grade 8 PE when we discovered a shared passion for Disney's "Little Mermaid" music. :) I met Kim and Cynthia a short while later when I started attending youth group at Vernon Alliance Church, where Ange also went.

Through many years of fun youth group trips to Regina for CBC youth conference, to Edmonton and Seattle for fun, and even a short term missions trip to Thailand and Cambodia, our friendships were formed. And now, many years later, we all live in the Lower Mainland and we get together once every couple of months for a rotic (romantic without the man!) Usually our rotics consist of an evening of chocolate and chatting at one of our homes but this time, Ange suggested going for lunch in Fort Langley and walking along the Fort to Fort trail. We had a lot to celebrate this time as Ange finished her masters thesis in September and Cynthia got married a few days before that.

It was a beautiful day and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with these beautiful ladies!! I feel incredibly blessed to have such dear friends who have known me for over half my life!!

I was planning to post a couple of old pictures but I couldn't find the one I wanted of us all in our grad dresses for the church fashion show. And then I realized that even if I could find it, I would have to figure out how to hook my laptop up to the scanner and I didn't have the time for that today, so you girls are lucky this time! :)

P.S. I'm allowed to call them old because technically I'm older than all of them (even though it's only by a matter of months.)

Chinatown!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently had the chance to go along with Evan's class on a field trip to Chinatown. Then, a few days later, I went on the same field trip with Grace and Rachel and a group of other homeschoolers. I was glad to be able to go twice as there is so much to see there and not enough time to really observe everything all in one shot.

So, even though it was an emotion-filled week for me and maybe not the best timing ever, I still really enjoyed walking around Chinatown with my sweet kids and their friends and experiencing another culture in a very hands-on way.

We saw all kinds of interesting meats and vegetables, artifacts, statues, monuments, plants, and animals.

Hopefully no one was offended that our little group of boys thought it necessary to climb on every statue they encountered!

P.S.

In case you hadn't heard yet . . .

It's a Girl!!!!!!!!!!!

I went shopping Saturday for the first time since we got the news and couldn't resist picking up a few things. :) I can't believe how tiny those size 1 diapers are.

Answers for the most common questions we've been asked:

1. The baby is due on November 25 and we will fly to Florida about a week after she is born.

2. We will stay about a week in Florida and then fly back to the Bellingham area where we will have to stay until we get the documents we need which will allow us to travel across the border with the baby.

3. Yes, we do get to name her, but you'll have to wait to find out what name we've chosen. :)

4. We have lots of information about the birthmother (we've even talked to her on skype!), but none about the birthfather.

5. We don't mind you asking any questions you have, but please don't take it personally if we choose not to answer. We are doing our best to protect our daughter from judgement. And we want to give her the opportunity to hear about herself and her birth family from us, not by overhearing it spoken of by someone else. When she is older, she can decide what she wants to share and with whom.

The News!!!!

Funny how I've been longing for over two years, to have this news to share and now I feel at a loss for words of how to share it. Maybe this will be the best way:

I pulled the bassinet out of the closet this week, in preparation for the little one who will be sleeping in it - in about 6 weeks!

Yes, we finally received THE call last week. I say finally because it feels like an eternity that I have been waiting to hear that I will be the mother of another precious child but in reality, we have not waited as long as many adoptive families do. In fact many would consider this to have been a quick adoption because our paperwork only went to Florida in May, so our waiting period will be shorter than the 9 months of pregnancy. However, our adoption process did not begin with that paperwork, but with a decision on June 8, 2008 that we would begin to research our options and prayerfully pursue the dream God had placed on our hearts. It has been a long, difficult journey and it will not be over until our little one is home with us. Then will begin the new journey of living life as a family of SIX!

So, the story of how we found out goes like this. I was on my way home from a field trip with Evan's class to Chinatown (hopefully I will have time to post those pics soon) on Monday September 27 and my cell phone rang. I didn't get to it in time, and I don't have call display or voice mail, so I called Ryan because he is the only person who ever phones me on my cell phone since I don't even know my number so I can't give it out to people. :) I had trouble getting through to him for some reason, but when I did reach him, I asked if he had called me, and he said no, but he had a message on his voicemail from a 407 area code that he hadn't had a chance to check yet. I told him, if it was important news, not to phone me back because I was in a car with 3 women I hardly knew. I promised to call him when I got back to the school in about half an hour and then I waited anxiously and listened distractedly to the moms of Evan's classmates chatting.

When we reached the school, I called Ryan immediately but he was with a customer and told me to call back in five minutes. So I paced the hallway for a few minutes, then went to a quiet corner and dialed Ryan's number. When he answered, he asked me if I wanted to go to Florida with him in November!!!! So there I was by myself in the stairwell of the middle school with 2 minutes to cry and then gather my wits about me so as not to give anything away when Evan came out of his class.

I managed somehow to gather up my son, drive to my friend's house to pick up the girls and make it home without exploding. Ryan stopped at Dairy Queen on his way home from work and picked up a celebration ice cream cake. When he got home, we called the kids to come have their afterschool snack and told them we were having a special, celebration treat for snack.

When we asked the kids why they thought we would be celebrating, Grace's guess was, "I know, it's because teddy is 4 months old today!" Yes, she loves her puppy. :)

Here are some pictures of the kids' reactions when we told them the news. Evan immediately wanted to send an e-mail to everyone in his contact list, but we convinced him to wait until we told his grandparents and aunts and uncles.

All of the kids are very excited, as are we of course. We will be keeping busy, making to-do lists, checking into flights and accommodations, preparing the baby's room, filling out last minute paperwork, and doing all that is needed to prepare our home and our kids for the time we will be away from them. So I know that these next weeks will fly by and in no time at all I will be posting pictures of our new blessing!

We are overwhelmed and grateful for all of the support and encouragement we have received from our friends and family throughout this whole process but especially in recent days as we have shared our news and we have been surrounded by the arms and the prayers of those who are dear to us. Thank you for sharing in our journey with us and for continuing to pray for us as we wait out these last weeks.