Wife, Then Mama

Our story today is from Melinda.  After battling 3 years of infertility we got the news we would never have a biological child without a lot of help.  We did IVF.  I remember having an overwhelming sense that it was not going to work out for us.  I KNEW we were meant to adopt.  On my bedrest during IVF I was looking at adoption pamphlets!  Not that we weren't completely crushed and heartbroken when we did get the negative test result but we knew what was next.  We didn't want to wait and we were still paying of medical debt from 3 years of infertility so we decided to adopt through foster care.  Its free.  We had no indication that it would be a fast process, in fact we heard quite the opposite.  We prayed a lot.  I felt in my heart that it would be quick but I didn't feel comfortable telling people that because it just doesn't really work that way...supposedly.  Well we started the process in March 07.  W...

Today we have a story from Mandi about her and her husbands adoption experience.  You can read her blog at Mandi & Jeremys Adoption Blog .  Although she doesn't update her blog as often now, I advise checking it out, she has a way of writing that makes it seem like you are a friend she is talking to.  For more frequent updates, and to see pictures of her adorable daughter, check out her facebook page Mandi & Jeremys Adoption Blog. Mandi & Jeremys Adoption Making the Decision to Adopt Even before my husband and I got married we were not trying to not get pregnant. We figured well we know we are meant to be, and we both want kids, so no reason to stop it, let it happen when it happens. Two years pass and nothing. I decide to start taking Ovulation Tests, (Yeah, peeing on a stick for a few days each week sucks). We had to do the, "Hey I am ovulating, get home now!!", taking all the romance out of things :( Another year passes. I decide to get tested etc...

Today's story is from Traci.  She doesn't have a blog to visit, so you can leave all your love for her in the comments.   We adopted a girl. She was our foster daughter. The state took her away because of her birth mother drinking and doing drugs. We say we are rednecks because the birth mom is a cousin of my husbands. To make matters more confusing, my sister in law has adopted the older sister of our daughter. There is a boy in between that my sister in law called me about but our son wasn't in school yet and they would have been both boys. I wanted a girl. Our son was 10 at the time and we sat him down to talk to him. I wasn't about to bring another baby into our house, without talking to him about it when he'd been the only one for all those years. At one point the birth mother seemed to be doing good. They were going to send our baby back. I was so upset. But as much as my heart was breaking nothing prepared me for what our son was going thro...

Today we have a guest post from Carmen Druckenmiller.   She has an awesome blog called The Druckenmiller Adoption St ory .  Here i s her family's st ory :   I met my husband through eHarmony in 2003 and one of my first questions I asked him was if he was open to adoption. You see, I have known since a very early age that I would adopt internationally, probably more than once. When his answer was yes, I was thrilled.  We married October 2004 and decided to try to conceive. After 5 years and no pregnancies, we decided to begin the adoption process. We chose our agency and Ethiopia was where we were being led. It took 9 months to finish our dossier and we were DTE (dossier to Ethiopia) on 9/3/10. We were requesting a sibling group of 2 or 2 unrelated children up to age 5. We settled in for a long wait for our referral so were extremely surprised (and thrilled) when we got the referral call for our boys on 11/5/10. Our court date in Ethiopia was s...

The Giveaway is over - congrats to the winner :)  Melissa at Sincerely Pure is giving away a Sampler Gift Basket to one lucky winner! Sincerely Pure is a line of completely safe and natural products.  Unlike a lot of safe and natural products, these are completely affordable.  I was given a few free samples of her products and they are terrific!  I will give a couple of quick reviews so you know how awesome this stuff is! Healthy Skin Face Mask: An all natural face mask for all skin types.  I used this skin mask a few days ago and it seemed to work really well.  I am actually using it again as I type this out.  It smells delicious!  I have very dry skin, and when I first took it off and let my face dry, my skin was still pretty flaky looking, so as an experiment I put coconut oil on one side of my forehead and not on the other side.  By morning your couldn't tell which side was which, both sides were smooth and mildly moisturized...

This is the first in a series of guest posts about adoption.   I am so thankful for all of the people who have so generously offered to share their stories.  If you have the chance and are so inclined, I would really appreciate it if you could take the time to visit these guest posters blogs, or leave a kind word for them.  Getting Out of Foster Care By Addison Cooper, LCSW It’s hard to get out of foster care. AdoptUSKids.org reports that about 20,000 kids “age out” of foster care every year – that is, they reach age 18 without being able to return to their family and without being adopted. Another hundred thousand children in foster care are waiting to be adopted. Many adults apply to become foster parents each year, and most of them are open to adoption. Some even enter foster care because they hope to eventually adopt. Many adults wait more than a year before they take placement of a child that they eventually adopt. And yet 20,000 kids age out...

A jar of delicious coconut oil! One lucky winner is going to receive a free jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil! I have previously reviewed this oil, you can read that post by clicking here ! To recap, THIS OIL IS AMAZING! Win 1 quart of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil ! Tropical Traditions is America’s source for coconut oil . Their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on their website: What is Virgin Coconut Oil ? You can also watch the video they produced about Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil: Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil . Visit their website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil , and to read about all the advantages of buying coconut oil online . Since the FDA does n...

This year I was a Christmas failure.  I didn't send out Christmas cards, I made one batch of sugar cookies and didn't even frost them (I might make more today though), and I still have not put all my decorations up.  In spite of that I feel like I have had a pretty good Christmas season, even if it doesn't feel like Christmas should be 2 days away.  A lot of times I get pretty depressed-ish around the holidays, although I don't really know why.  I think it has to do with lack of sunshine, since I LOVE CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS! CHRISTMAS IS NOT PRESENTS!  I get so tired of Christmas specials that say "Oh no!  Santa isn't going to be able to deliver presents, millions of children won't have a Christmas!"  Um, yes they will.  Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus.  Even if you have no presents at all, its still Christmas.  I like How the Grinch Stole Christmas because they celebrate Christmas even after the Grinch takes all t...

The Twelve Days of Christmas traditionally begin on December 25th and end on January 5th, which is called Twelfth Night.  The day after Twelfth Night (January 6th) is the Feast of the Epiphany, which is a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ.  It is, in Western Christianity remembrance of the arrival of the Magi (Three Kings/Wisemen).  Also, you don't have to take your Christmas decorations down until after Epiphany which is great news to people like me who love Christmas.   I have decided to do a Twelve Days of Christmas celebration on my blog.  It will start on Christmas Day and end on Twelfth Night.  During this celebration I will have some giveaways for readers and some guest posts about adoption stories.  I feel that adoption stories are perfect for the Christmas season because Jesus was adopted and cared for by Joseph .  If you click on Joseph's name you will be linked to exp...

These two books have been being read everyday around here.  Kids love repetition, and although I am not usually big on reading the same thing over and over, I think that in this case, it is a good idea.  I have lots of kids Christmas books, but not that many focusing on the REAL reason for the season.  Since I want to emphasize that, I decided we could read these everyday until Christmas. The Christmas Story is of course a Little Golden Book.  I actually have two copies of this one, and the girls love it so much that one day they had me read both copies :)  I have actually been reading them the copy I had when I was little, which is super cool.  They know the story really well now, and if I leave out a word and wait they will supply it for me.  The illustrations in this book are wonderful!  I have a couple of things about the book that throw me off a little. When the angel speaks to the shepherds it is paraphrased from the Bible. King Hero...