The Second Time Around

   This time around the paperwork has been so much easier! There is still a fair amount to do, but we probably have 75% of it in to our placement agency. Of course we still have the hard stuff like our autobiographies and our photo album, but we are not starting from scratch this time. This is one time I really love technology :) I got our flash drive in the mail today (which I almost don't need anymore since it's been somewhere in the mail for about 20 days) and it is so cute! Made it feel like a very high tech process. We did have our first fundraiser last weekend. We had a yard sale and sold items from our spring cleaning at home and stuff from each of our parents and a couple good friends (Thank you Brown's & Smith's). It was pretty successful and got the ball rolling. I have been saying it is fine if it takes a while this time around, but after holding a sweet little one week old today and seeing pictures of our little guy as a newborn Jonathan & I are both really looking forward to a tiny baby again. Although I am all for baby Hall #1 to be walking before that happens :) We are hoping to get our application in to our home study agency next week, so who knows we may have a visit in the books two weeks from now! So that's the news for now. Nothing earth shattering, but forward progress all the same. We should be able to pick up yard sale items next week so if you have any goodwill piles give us a call :)

Number 2....?

     It's hard to know when is "the right" time to take the leap, but we feel ready to start working towards bringing home our next little bundle of joy. If it happened quickly we feel like we could handle it, at this point (no more bottles and full nights of sleep!). If it takes awhile, for once I actually feel like there is time for that too. But more than ever I feel like it will all happen All In God Time. I could not have picked a better child for our family than the one the Lord blessed us with. So I'm completely letting go and saying Lord, please do it again (when doesn't matter so much).
    We just started the paperwork last week, but let me tell ya, the paperwork is so much easier the second time around (plus it helps when you haven't changed jobs or moved). Now that being said we haven't done the super time consuming areas like our autobiographies, photo albums, or home study. I feel much more comfortable this time around. All the great folks that helped us through our first adoption now feel like old friends. I have kept communication open with most of them since our first adoption, so it's not changed that much except I'm emailing them more frequently :) 
     This time around I think we will focus most of our fundraising on having yard sales. That helped us a lot last time and it does not put anyone under pressure to help. However, we are still so thankful for those of you who did help last time! I have thought before if so many people hadn't of helped us raise the money so fast, we might not have been to the point of matching when G was born! That kinda gives me palpitations. But anyways, back to the topic, if anyone does any spring cleaning or moving and is planning on hauling a load off to goodwill we would be glad to come pick it up for our yard sales. We do ask that you only give us stuff that you do not want back (stuff, containers, etc.) When you collect that much junk  treasures, it's hard to remember what went back where in those situations. Plus, we will probably do this ongoing through the summer. Our first one will be this weekend!
    Well I just wanted to send out the great news :) It's not major news, but it's pretty exciting to us.

My Oh My! How Time Does Fly!

   I CANNOT believe how fast the past year has gone by! Our little man had his first birthday in February. However, it does not seem possible that he could be any older than 6 months :) He has grown and changed so much, and we have cheered and swelled with pride at every single milestone he has met. I didn't know I could get so excited about such simple things, but the first times he covered his ears to play peek-a-boo, figured out how to clap, or said biii-ble I'm pretty sure I thought, "my child is a genius". Motherhood is everything I thought it would be. Grocery shopping (or any shopping) is not quite how it used to be, but that's nothing compared to the love and joy he has brought us. 
   When I think about all the fundraising we did I cannot get over that all that was almost two years ago! It was a lot of work but looking back it really was so much fun. I didn't think I would feel that way at the time because it was so chaotic, but it was so worth it all. I still am amazed at all the support we got from our friends and family. If I ever need to see how blessed I am, I will just look back to that time. So a little over one year later, I want to say THANK YOU again :)