Wonderful Surprise

Such busy weeks ahead for us! Everything is going very well. A is feeling very tired & struggling with rib & back pain. She gets B12 shots weekly right now as that was running low. She always feels so much better after she gets that. She is also getting weekly adjustments. The doctor no sooner gets her ribs back in & Brynn kicks them back out. Little stinker!

We will be very soon making the road trip to spend some time with A & her family. We are so excited. We have plans to spend quality time together cooking, Scrabble marathons & just lots of hanging out. No agenda really, just planning to have a great time!

We had our meeting with our case worker yesterday in her office as we continue to work on getting our home study updated. It went very well. It lasted about two hours. It was very neat for me to be able listen to Thomas elaborate on many of the topics brought up by our case worker solely from his perspective. He is pretty amazing. As I listened to him talk openly about many of the subjects that she was interested in hearing more about I felt so blessed. I sat there in awe of him, his attitude & his ability to articulate to her his most intimate feelings on subjects that most would prefer to keep private. I can't wait until he gets to be Daddy!

Thursday morning we will have a home visit with our case worker. Been through it all before, so it's been a fairly simple process for us. Just a little time consuming. We will be pretty close to finished by the time we leave for our trip. At our meeting yesterday though our case worker assured us that even if Brynn would choose to meet us all a little earlier than expected, or even a lot earlier, that we shouldn't be worried. She let us know that we are far enough along even now to get a permit until everything can be completed officially. No worries! That was a relief to hear that.

As for the wonderful surprise, Thomas & I found a package from A in our mailbox last week. It was not only new ultrasound pictures, but also a CD & a VIDEO! We are so thankful & grateful to A for blessing us with this wonderful surprise! The pictures were great, & the video, well...just amazing! She was moving non stop. She would draw up her legs & stretch them out, she was kicking, she threw her hand over her face at one point, & there was a very good shot between the legs that we missed the first time that we saw it. We stopped the video & now feel very confident that the sea of pink sleepers packed are just what we will need! At one point in the video it appears that she pulls her hand up to her mouth & pops out her little thumb & it looks like she popped it into her mouth. I honestly could put the video in & just play it over & over. Also, the part where they record & calculate the heartbeat was so awesome to be able to hear. Like I said, what a blessing! We are so grateful & thankful to have received the package. I don't know if you are reading this A, but if so, I am sure you are getting tired of hearing it by now, but THANK YOU again SO much!

I am making list, checking them twice & crossing things off as completed. Our calendar is a little ridiculous with list that we are making to help us to get things done. Today, I am getting my hair done. I am also going to the post office to stop our mail so that when we take our trip our mailbox won't overflow. Then, going for an oil change to get our car ready for the road trip & so on.

We are about 42 days (not like I am counting?!?!?) until the scheduled induction day. Time seems to be moving very quickly now. Right now, we are just looking so forward to spending time with A! Won't be long now.

Better go! There is a segment coming on the the Today Show titled, "Best Toys & Must Haves for Babies". Think I should pay attention!

Blessings!

Changes Are Coming...

Happy fall ya'll!

As the leaves begin to change & fall arrives, our family is seeing some big changes as well! Very soon, as time allows, I will be revamping "Journey To Mia Lynn" as we have come to know it, including a change in the blog name as well. There are several reasons that these changes are coming.

As most of you know, our wait to China just seems to continue to grow longer. We are still logged in & at this time for now plan to leave our Dossier logged in with the CCAA in China. We are logged in with a log in date of July 20, 2007 in the Non-Special Needs line. The process which we were originally told would take us nine to fourteen months is now being estimated in excess of a five year total wait time. There seems to be no one who is willing to or who seems to be able to tell us even an estimate of how long we may actually wait. There is speculation that the CCAA may at some time completely do away with their Non-Special Needs Program. However, most that have made that statement do feel that those of us already logged in would still most likely receive our referral even if that did happen. All of this & most everything that we are told & hear is only speculation as the CCAA says very little, if anything, on this subject or any other. We certainly hope & pray that someday we might get to travel to China & finally bring home our Mia Lynn as we have long planned to do, but we have come to terms with the fact that it very well may not happen as we had hoped. We are hopeful & are cautiously optimistic, but choose not to be naive about a process that we can do nothing to change.

Due to the drastic change in the timeline surrounding our China Adoption, the very reason that I originally started this blog, my blog & it's original purpose for it doesn't lend itself very well to very regular posting. There is just not much to say about a process in which nothing is happening. Someday I hope that there will be much for me to update about this; many stories to share & pictures to post about our journey to China & to our Mia, but for now we just wait.

For those of you that check in on us here from time to time you know that over the last couple of years, I have somewhat transitioned the blog into more of a family diary or journal. In my mind it is really time for now for "Journey To Mia Lynn" to transition into something different.

We have another change quickly approaching in our lives as well. We have great news that we are excited & have been given permission to share. We are in a relationship with an amazing woman who has chosen Thomas & I to be the adoptive parents of the baby that she is carrying! We couldn't be more thrilled & excited!

We will share minimal details at this time. As time progresses we will share more & more details with you as we can & feel comfortable doing so. I will not be sharing personal information about the woman carrying the baby at this time on this blog. She is wonderful & has told us to share away, but we feel that there are parts of this all that are for now still very much her story to share & not ours. So, for the purpose of the blog for now we will refer to her as simply "A" in order to protect her privacy. Our relationship with A grows stronger & stronger with each passing day. We love & care for her very much! We will be going to spend some time with her & her family in the coming weeks. We are looking very forward to our visit!

According to several ultrasounds the baby is a girl! We are thrilled either way! She is healthy & that is most important! A is taking amazing care of her & for that we are now & will forever be so grateful!! We plan to name her "Brynn". We are not settled on a middle name, but are considering "Elise". "Brynn Elise", we think it is beautiful. The baby is due towards the end of November. We have new ultrasound pictures on the way & are anxiously anticipating finding those in our mailbox! (Maybe today!)

With this is mind, & with our current situation with China, it is time for my blog to take on a new title & focus. Of course, with a new addition to the family very soon, we will have many new & exciting things happening in our life. We are so thrilled with the way everything is progressing! Not only are we finally going to be parents, but we are also gaining a wonderful new extended family as well! For us, this adoption is in so many ways such a blessing beyond what we could have ever imagined! As time passes, if & when A gives permission I may share more about all of the wonderful things that have been & no doubt will continue to happen in all of our lives as a result of all of this! Maybe...we will see. For now, we will keep A's privacy very guarded!

I have not yet chosen a new name for the blog. I also don't have time right now to choose a new format or to work on one. We have many things on our "to do" list & revamping my blog is not high on it! (If anyone reading out here in blog land has any suggestions or would like to themselves help out with designing my new blog, shoot me an email.)

We did get a new SLR camera & HD camcorder! We are very excited as we also have a MacBook Pro, so our media options for videos, scrap booking online, blogging, photo shopping etc. will be endless. The only thing that will be in short supply for a bit will be time & also my knowledge of how to do all of that is limited as well. Brynn will of course come before everything else, but I do have plans to learn sooner than later! We very much hope to document our new life as to never miss or forget a moment of what's to come for us in weeks, months & years ahead! Plus, we now live many hours from our closest friends & family. They will want daily updates & no doubt will want those to include pictures & videos.

Our journey to parenthood has been a long one, but in looking back & now looking forward everyday it becomes more & more clear to us as to the reason that we have been on the path that we have. The road has been downright bumpy & filled with potholes at times for sure! It hasn't always been easy. There were days when we wondered if our journey would ever have a happy ending. We of course have felt for a long time that our life, although full, just wasn't complete. Now we know, that not only is our daughter going to be a part of filling our life up, but also A & her family too! We couldn't be happier!

For now, it's off to organizing stacks of Rubbermaid Tubs that need to be moved out of one room to make room for...yep, you guessed it~Brynn's nursery! I am sure she will not spend much time in there for many months, but at least we will have worked towards it being ready for her when she is ready to spend time in her room.