Aged Out? (Maybe Not)

We thought today was Nicholas’ last swimming lesson at the preschool level.  However, after talking to his teacher, she thinks it should be fine if he and the other kids keep signing up since they haven’t started Kindergarten yet.  The sign-up doesn’t begin for a couple of weeks, so we’ll find out for sure then.  I hope he can continue with his teacher.  He’s made so much progress in just six months!

I did take some pictures today.  I tried to take one nice one before class started, but someone wouldn’t cooperate.

In six months, Nicholas has learned:

      How to jump off the side of the pool by himself in the shallow and the deep end

      How to do his front and back float

    How to flip from front float to back float

   Swim to get rings at the bottom of the pool

    SWIM on his front and back

   Begin to tread water

   Swim the length of the pool on his front and back with a noodle

   Brave enough to at least get on the diving block and diving board

Swimming the length of the pool

I am so proud of him.  We love swimming lessons.  I am so glad that we might not have to move up and that we can continue our routine. 

I also took some videos today.  The first one is Nicholas floating and switching from front to back.  I thought I had stopped recording after he was done, but obviously, I did not.

The second video is of Nicholas and his teacher jumping off the diving block.  One day he’ll do it on his own.

We have at least a three week break before the next session starts.  I have a feeling we’ll be seeing our library a lot more until then.  

While We Are Waiting

It is time for another grant contest. It gives us another opportunity to try for a $500 grant for our adoption expenses. Now that we have a potential match on the horizon, we are trusting God to provide for our adoption expenses even more.


I am sure many of you are wondering why aren’t we matched? Why would we have a meeting with this potential birthmother if she wasn’t going to make a match?  Birthmothers can change their minds, but they can also need more time.

I think that sometimes adoption takes the birthmother (and birthfather) out of the picture. It becomes all about the adoptive parents getting a baby or a child. But, that’s not what it is all about. It is about a woman deciding that she cannot care for the child in the way that he/she needs to be cared for. So, she bravely and courageously chooses to place her child with adoptive parents. There is a huge loss there for the birthmother and even for the child.

But, adoption can be redemption for everyone involved too. It allows the birthmother an option, so that she may choose life. It allows the child to have loving adoptive parents that can provide the kind of life that birthmother wants for him/her. It allows the adoptive parents to have the child that they are waiting for.

Our potential birthmother is still processing everything. Everything is becoming more real, especially since she met couples that are willing to adopt her child. There are outside factors that are making her question what she should do. That is why we’re praying that she would have wisdom in her situation. We also want her to experience peace about it. But, if/when she chooses to place her baby for adoption, she wants us to parent her child.
If they were to match us right now while she is still thinking about it, it wouldn’t be as fair to us. Our agency does not want to purposely put anyone on a roller coaster. She will be meeting with the social worker in the next 2-3 weeks. We don’t know what will happen or if she’ll be ready to make a decision. I am praying daily that God will make it clear to her what she should do.

So, now that we are kind of one step closer, please consider helping us win the grant. Here are a couple of new items this month (in addition to the many new items they added last month):

Car Decals

This new book about excess is supposed to be great.  I have it on hold at the library right now.

Remember 40% of each purchase goes to our adoption expenses. Don’t forget to choose my name in the affiliate drop-down box at checkout. Thank you!

Arrgghh, Happy Valentine’s Day, Mateys!

Interesting title, huh? Well, a lot has happened this past weekend. Evan and I helped with a pirate party for the high schoolers in the youth group. It was a lot of fun and a nice opportunity to get to know some of the teens. We all had to dress as pirates. I was lucky enough to form a costume out of my existing clothes. We did have to go out after church (the party was that night) for most of Evan’s costume though. He did a great job piecing everything together last minute. As he got dressed, he began to take on the persona. Nicholas was a little jealous that he couldn’t come, so we gave him a bandana to wear and the promise that he could try on the other items the next day.

Nicholas had a good time sleeping over at my parents’ house. It was his second time in less than a week and a half. He must be getting more comfortable because he slept 10 hours straight. Usually, he takes forever to fall asleep and then wakes up throughout the night. We’re happy for the progress he is making. Spending the night away from us is not easy for him. He really misses us, so these baby steps have been working well for all of us.

Yesterday we got our taxes done. It was so quick and easy this year. Evan only had one W-2; there was no adoption credit; and we didn’t have as many deductions – such as thousands in medical expenses – that we have had in the past! We’re looking forward to a speedy refund this year!

Nicholas was excited to wake up to his Valentine’s Day present this morning. We got him a card, candy, gum, and a book! Yes, a book! And, he was excited just like his mother would be. He and I have been reading this great series together. We finished the second book recently, so I bought the third one and saved it for today.

Then, we went to swimming lessons. Nicholas did so well today. He swam on his back all the way to the deep end with only his teacher’s finger under his head. He also got to try a somersault in the water, which he thought was fun. I really do enjoy watching him swim. He only has two lessons left in the preschool class. They haven’t posted the schedule for Spring and Summer yet, so I’ll have to wait and see how the next level’s classes fit into our schedule.

Well, I am baking Evan one of his favorite new cookies – Pumpkin dark chocolate chip cookies! I am slowly phasing out the white flour and white sugar for healthier ingredients, so hopefully they’ll still be one of his favorites when I’m finished. Ha ha! Happy Valentine’s Day!

The Rest of the Weekend

Neither my brain nor Evan’s brain could shut down Friday night. I had the best scenario in the world for catching up on my sleep. Evan would wake up for work and I would stay in bed. As long as he fed the cats, I would have no interruptions. Nicholas was at my parents’ for the night, so I had all the time in the world to get ready. But, that’s not what happened. Evan and I both tossed and turned all night. I think I must have looked at the clock several times. When Evan’s alarm went off, I was strangely wide awake and in great pain. I felt like I was twisted into a pretzel. I slept horribly.


I didn’t even bother lying there, but got up and started my day at 5:40 AM. Running on less than 7 hours of sleep is never good for me, but I was going to attempt to do it on probably less than 6 hours. The only thing I knew that could lift my spirits was Saturday’s agenda. I picked up Nicholas at my parents’ house after his violin lesson. Then we headed to a chocolate festival with my sister and my cousin Jessica.

We were surrounded with tables and tables of chocolate, cookies, cakes, and cupcakes. Nicholas and I shared a 10-sample card. We decided to look at each table before making our choices. I did my best to convince Nicholas to take most of it home. We used our last two punches so we could each get a cup of chocolate ice cream.

Check out all the goodies

It is Nicholas-approved!

After we got home, I had Nicholas lie down for a much needed nap. He doesn’t sleep well at sleepovers, so we don’t do them very often. So, even though he made it clear that he didn’t need a nap, he fell asleep pretty quickly.

After church on Sunday, I left on a girls’ road trip to Pittsburgh. It was nice to get away and recharge my battery a bit. While the shopping was less than we expected, we did enjoy ourselves and had plenty of laughs. Don’t worry though because Evan and Nicholas had their own fun too. They had what they like to call a “Junk Party”. They had pizza, wings, popcorn, ho-hos, and leftover desserts from the chocolate festival. They also made sure to go to their favorite donut place for breakfast the next morning. Now, we all need a detox the next couple of days.

The only thing we purchased at this store - two small containers.

Finally, we have some semi-good news. The birthmother chose us – kind of. She is still deciding whether or not she wants to make an adoption plan. But, if she does, she would choose Evan and me. Would you pray that God would give her some wisdom and peace? Regardless of whether she chooses adoption, we want what is best for her. When I said we really enjoyed meeting with her, we meant it. We care about her no matter the outcome she chooses.

Well, it is almost time for me to go to bed. I am still running on very little sleep and have a busy week ahead!

For Those of You Who Are Impatient . . .

Our meeting went wonderful. In fact, it could not have gone any better. We don’t have a match and no decision has been made yet. But, this potential birthmother is great and has wonderful parents as well. I can honestly say that Evan and I enjoyed our time there. Our only regret is that we didn’t ask her more questions. We could tell that she was getting a little overwhelmed and emotional during the end, so we didn’t want to ask her too much.

I think from what we can gather, they like many of the things we had to say. I think they like that we have experience as adoptive parents. I think they like that we have a supportive family and church family. I think they too felt very comfortable around us.

The meeting actually started late because the other family before us got lost and were late. So, we didn’t have a full hour, but our time did fly by. I don’t know when a decision will be made. It will be hard to wait, but I really did enjoy our meeting (I know I already said that, but I mean it!).

So, this is just a small update. If I can think of anything else, or if any other news comes up, I will let you know. Now I’m going to try and shut my brain off and go to sleep!

Making Me Nervous

Nicholas may be afraid to jump off the diving board, but apparently, he’s not afraid of the deep end. I was proud of him on Tuesday when he treaded water in the deep end. I started getting a little nervous though when he began to push his noodle away and swam to it while the teacher was working with one of the other kids. He was quite proud of himself, so I just asked him to make sure his teacher was watching him in the future.

Then there was today. Nicholas’ teacher took them to one of the lanes to see how far they could swim. She wanted to take one at a time. Nicholas kept practicing in the shallow end, but was getting very close to where it dips to four feet . When he looked my way, I motioned for him to swim back toward the shallow end. The lifeguard soon came over to their side of the pool, which made things a little better.

Nicholas did swim the length of the pool with a couple of breaks and his teacher’s help. I was very proud of him. Then came the moment where I wasn’t sure whether to be proud or bite all my nails off. He wrapped his noodle around himself and headed to do another lap on his own! His teacher was already near the other side, but he just kept swimming toward her. He ended up doing at least 2 ½-3 laps today when it was all said in done.

To cap it off, he jumped off the swim team’s block (not the diving board) with just his teacher’s hand. I felt like today was a great lesson for him. He’s definitely come a long way!

Well, I'm sure there is something else that could be making me nervous too, but I'm trying not to dwell on it too much.  My cousin (who used the same agency as us) gave me some great tips for our meeting tomorrow.  I can't wait to share some good news (that's called being optimistic)!