The Day after Christmas

Our dream house

AJ and Lola at the farm.

Our paparazzi picture

Christmas Morning

Some pictures of our Christmas tree on Christmas morning

Everyone got good gifts but most importantly we had a good time with each other. We are already planning a 2009 vacation Christmas in Rocky Point Mexico.

My sister Mia

My brother-in-law Alex (Mia's husband)

Family Pictures

All of AJ's family was in town during the Thanksgiving weekend so it was a perfect time to take family pictures. There are some of our picture perfect moments.

Maxine was there so we took pictures together also.  I wish our big sister Mia was there then it would have been perfect.

Before we took this picture I said, "Let's show daddy how we really feel about each other." We had so much fun taking pictures! We always have a good time together.  Honestly, words can't explain how much I love my sisters. I am so BLESSED to have Mia and Maxine in my life.

Dr. Dillamond first hair cut.

Dr. Dillamond got a hair cut  (Before)

After....NOT the Yorkie Teddy Bear cut I paid for.

This is what he should look like.

Taking the dogs to the vet....8 a.m. "Hi"

First Contact

November 6th AJ and I got an email that said: "Hi, I'm 'Jackie'(protecting our birth mother's Privacy) and I like your profile.  I'm due Jan 30th.  Where are you located?" Of course I was extremely excited, and I called my husband right away to share the good news.  We went back and forth about how we should respond to her message.  I wanted to keep it simple and answer her question with an invite to contact us again.  My husband wasn't sure if we should send a short message or something that offered a little detail about us, our desire to adopt, and how we would be the perfect parents for her baby......OVERLOAD!!!!  We couldn't agree on what would be an appropriate message to send, so we decided to call our brother-in-law who is a director for LDS Family Services. Our brother-in-law has hands on experience with situations like ours, and suggested that we send a short message answering her question.  He also told us not to get too excited because this was the first step to a process that takes a lot of prayer and time, and we could be one out of five other families she contacted.  We do exactly what we were advised to do and tried to push the thought of becoming parents sooner then later out of our mind; which, turned out to be an impossible task......it had been ten months since becoming licensed adoptive parents, and this was our first contact.  First and last!   A week after receiving the e-mail our caseworker Calli called and told us that we had been selected to adopt a baby that's due Jan 30th.  

We called the birth mother's caseworker to get details and scheduled a date that we could meet with the expecting mother.  We started to communicate with the birth mother immediately via e-mail.  We decided to visit Jackie Dec 6th (my 28th b-day weekend).  The best birthday present ever!