Day 16

Day 16: Today I'm thankful for the first of many Thanksgiving lunches with my little guy at school

 

The staff at Southside went above and beyond to show their "Thanks" to all the parents today. We were treated to a great meal of Turkey, dressing, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, and bread! Eian's teacher even made sure that even the little ones had a great "meal" as well.

 

Eian had a great time with mommy and daddy today! He's ready for the big day now- we now have to hope he isn't slipped to much "real" food on Thanksgiving!

 

So thankful for the kindness, all along our Anderson Adventure!

 

The Adventure from the lens

So, as I mentioned before, I have totally been slacking on the blog posting. Nonetheless, here is a photo review of the past few months.

 

Eian enjoyed (or only in this picture) being a pumpkin for his first Halloween. His school even had a costume parade

 

This picture makes me laugh every time I go to his classroom. During November they are learning about Thanksgiving and my little scarecrow is just precious

 

We started food at 4 months. Clearly the first try wasnt that much fun, but now- watch out! We've even moved up tp stage 2 foods and enjoyed chicken and rice the other night. In a few weeks, at 6 months, we may venture some more

 

This picture cracks me up- We decided about 3 weeks before Halloween to try on Eian's costume, just to make sure it fit. Well as you can tell he was not very happy about it. However, from the other pictures he eventually got in the spirit and "painted" a pumpkin and even went Trick or Treating!!

 

We've been so blessed over the past few months and look forward to a lifetime more of first, all along our Anderson Adventure!

30 Days of Thanksgiving!

Why hello! Yes, yes, its been awhile, but my cell phone photo bucket is getting full and I felt a good blog post or two would be a good place to house some of those pics. For this blog though, I wanted to focus on thanks.

As many people do during the month of November, I wanted to share the things that Im thankful for. Now granted, I am a few days into the month, but I have been keeping up with the days via FB and simply wanted to share those things here. So here is the recap:


Day 1: I am thankful to call Jesus friend.

Day 2: Today I'm thankful to spend my life with my friend, an amazing dad, a wonderful husband and the birthday boy Eujon! From then until now I'm still overjoyed over you!
 
Day 3: I am thankful for my son. To think of the years we tried, cried prayed had surgery (countless times), drove to fertility doctors, lost faith and didn't know what to do. But our Heavenly Father was creating him miles away in another womb, just for us and during November, National adoption awareness month- I am thankful for the joy my little man brings to our life.

 
Day 4: Today I'm thankful for traveling graces and for a sweet granny who volunteers to watch our little guy for a little birthday fun away! (Annual Cowboys trip)
 

Day 5: Today I’m thankful for the gifts God has given me, the clients who have trusted me, and time He provides to get it all done
 
Day 6: Today I am thankful for the many freedoms so many people lost their lives for; For our wonderful country and the ability to go vote!!
 
Day 7: Today I'm thankful for the power of forgiveness. Thankful that Christ was gracious enough to forgive me of my sins and thankful for the comfort of the Holy Spirit to forgive others. Today I'm using that comfort more than ever as so many people have voiced things that are very hurtful and disrespectful. This is the face "they" and I by no standard am the person so many have disrespectfully described.
 
Day 8: Today I am thankful for the healing hand of God! Thankful for the many ailments He's already overcome and those He's working on right now. Especially the tummy issues my little guy is facing now
 
Day 9: Today I am thankful for my family and to celebrate today as Eian's 'I love you' day as we finalize his adoption!

 Day 10: today I'm thankful for great weather and football! Go Troy!
 

Day 11: Today I'm thankful for all the men and women who serve. For your dedication and commitment to our freedom and our country.
 
Day12: today I'm thankful for a much needed day off to spend with the 2 best guys I know
 
Day 13: Today Im thankful for the old school song writers who wrote the lyrics, sang with their hearts, didnt mind a good shout and made it easy for me to sing in remembrance My soul has been ANCHORED in the Lord!!
 
Day 14: Today I am thankful for Betsy Gates, Miss Hannah and all the other teachers at Southside Child Development who keep my little man safe, educated, and loved every day. I’m also thankful for Kim Griggs who keeps our little Kam and all the other little ones loved in Montgomery! These ladies often spend more time during the week with our babies than we do and for their time, dedication, and love of what they do – I say Thank You!

Day 15: Today I am thankful for laughter and Disney Jr! I am thankful that I get to spend every morning singing the hot dog song to a healthy, happy little boy-and pretty excited that in a few years 

Top o

Sally McSlacker

Well just call me Sally McSlacker. Looking back its been over a month since the last blog update. So much has gone on and here Ive not found the time to chronicle it all. For starters we have hit the 3 month mark (almost 4 at the end of the month) and getting bigger every day. We are one happy little guy! Between sleeping all night, trying to babble back a convo, or reading one of the many books we have on hand, it has all been wonderful.

Although happy on so many fronts, this past month did leave our house with heavy hearts for our sweet friends Whitney and Bryant who lost their sweet week old baby girl Henley. As many families sent up prayers for this sweet family ours was no different. Every night the hubs and I would say a special prayer for them and every morning while I dressed Eian, as we sang his prayers, we would always pray for "our sweet friend Henley". Athough Eian and Henley never met- he would always smile really big when we got to this part of the prayer. Now, athough she's gone, every morning while still singing those prayers- we still pray for "our sweet friend Henley in Heaven". Eian smiles bigger than ever! I often find him looking off in space and giggling away- I'll stop and ask him who he's talking to- his GG (my late grandmother) or his PaPa ( the hubby's late father). He can go on for minutes just looking off and giggling. In my heart I know its just the angels keeping watch over him!

 

 

So from our angels to yours- we prayer God's sweet blessings over every reader of this blog and ask that you continue to pray for us as we do for you- all along our Anderson Adventure.

Sweet days of summer

So many sweet things have passed and here are a few of the many

Yay for 2months!

Getting ready for our 2 month well check (he didnt realize what was coming with those shots)

First day of day care

Enjoying my big 2 month birthday

Cool as I can be in my new shades

Kicks and Giggles

I would often giggle when I read about moms falling off the blog bandwagon, but look at me- months from the last post. So much has gone on and most of this will just be pictures. One thing I do want to mention is that we found out earlier this week that our 2^nd birth mother changed her mind and decided to parent the little girl due in 1 week! Our hearts, our homes, and our lives were ready to welcome this little girl home next week, but plans change and life goes on.  We are so grateful to have Eian in our lives and we guess this is the plan God has for us.

 Our little guy is now 7 weeks, weighs 10.9 lbs., is rolling over, holding his head up, cooing, smiling, and loves loves loves a mobile with music! We've had our first Father's Day, 4th of July, and Baby Shower (for Eian and Gracyn). He’s such a sweet little guy and growing so big!

My Newborn Sessioon with Ms. April

Look at me- I'm a month old!

Helping daddy with his tie on Father's Day

Helping mommy with the Baby Shower invites

Ready for the 4th of July

I found my thumb and I love my frog jammers!

The first gift to mommy!

I love the play mat and playing with daddy in the "boys only force field"

My TeTe snuggles me in my froggy robe



As we continue to walk in faith, knowing that God has an awesome plan for us- we just ask that you continue to pray for our walk in our new role as mommy and daddy, we also ask that you continue to pray for Momma B and Momma J- who, in deciding to parent, will now welcome their 3rd child and Momma T for her sweet gift to us- all along The Anderson Adventure!

It's just another manic Monday….

Well manic is a pretty good way to describe yesterday. Now, I’m thankful for most work weeks, but on yesterday I was really ready to see Monday! God has been so amazing to our family and we finally extended our family with the birth of our son on Memorial Day. Our experience with our birth mother, Momma T, was wonderful, but we still had to wait our 5 day grace period in case she changed her mind. Well, as you can imagine, we were on cloud nine Monday morning- when we knew the time was up

The previous week was busy to say the least. Last Thursday night we got a message from Momma T stating that she thought she was going in labor-well, with bags already packed, we loaded the car and took the trip down to be with her. Well, of course, her contractions weren’t strong enough and the hospital wouldn’t keep her, so we played the waiting game. The hubs and I enjoyed the next few days as a family of 2 until Monday morning. We got the call about 10a with Momma T saying she was headed to the hospital to be admitted. By 10:30 we were sitting with her to ride out the rest of the day. We met her mother, who was so sweet and we all laughed at the drug induced conversations Momma T was having with us. Finally, around 5:15p she started complaining of tons and tons of pressure. Well sure enough after a quick check, the nurse yelled to our delight “it’s time to have a baby!” By the time they finally got the doctor and nurses in place, we were ready to push in no time flat. After a few mass text that simply said “we’re pushing”- the hubs and I watched in amazement (from a distance J ) as a sweet little life, our little boy, entered the world. Now, I’ll admit, I did just fine until I heard him cry for the first time- it was so overwhelming and tears were the only logical response.

Momma T had already decided that she didn’t want to see or hold the baby, so as soon as his chord was cut we were whisked off to another room for him to be cleaned and weighed. Well, Eian ,our sweet 7lb 12oz heart throb was by far the cutest little booger on the block. Daddy held him so much, I had to ask if he thought I could get a turn… Momma T’s mother came next door and asked if she could see him, she was a little teary but of course we didn’t deny her. She held him for a little while and then we let him go to the nursery and we went back to stay with Momma T. To my surprise when I saw her again, she said “I forgot to tell you congratulations”- my little heart dropped. How sweet of her to have just given birth, made such a courageous decision, and then she was congratulating me.

Well over the next few days we enjoyed some great time with our little man and finally came home on Wed. By this time we were just starting our 5 day wait, and praise God, we made it to Monday! The past few days have been wondeful and we are s excited and thankful for all your prayers, all the congrats, and all the love each of you have showered us with. We ask that as we now move into our 9 day court appointed wait, that you continue to keep us lifted in prayer- all along our Anderson Adventure.

Daddy's reaction to the dirty diaper

Eian's reaction to the dirty diaper

Not my will but Yours be done

What a weekend we have had. If you've been keeping up with the blog you will remember that this was our all exciting, heavily anticipated court date, meet the parents and ultra sound with Momma B. As always we know there are no guarantees with adoption and pre adoption consent hearings, but at least it gives you a piece of mind that the mother is truly wanting to go through with the adoption. You'll also remember that although we have been working with Momma B since February she has only told her parents of her adoption plans just shy of 2 weeks. She and I spoke earlier in the week and made plans for lunch and both expressed our excitement about the day.

Well the hubs and I hit the road early to make it for court - we both had butterflies anticipating if she would actually show up. Well she did and the morning and court flew by and weren't nearly what we thought they would be. After lunch- without her mom :( - we headed over for the ultra sound. We were beyond amazed to see such a precious little one. We thought we would be crying but we laughed more and turned our heads from side to side trying to see what the nurse saw- eventually we started to make things out.

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon- we were out wandering around when we got a call from Momma B asking what we were doing and if we had a minute to chat- I hit the car speaker so the hubs could hear and we listened for what we hoped was great news. Instead we heard the words we had anticipated but never wanted to hear as she told us she had changed her mind and couldn't go through with the adoption. We pulled over in a parking lot and listened for about 30 minutes as she explained that she had visited her parents to talk about court and the ultra sound and her mom flipped out when the realization of her decision actually hit home. Remember, we always knew moms reaction was our wild card, but we were always reassured by Momma B (and her sister) that the parents would be supportive. We were hurt- but not shocked. I believe God had prepared our hearts for this about a month ago when I started to question a lot. Even this week after we ran into a hurdle about the amount of financial assistance we were giving her for the past 3 months I still felt... something( yes you have to pay expenses to the mom if they require it and our great state has no cap on that amount and the law protects the birth mother and not the adoptive parents). We listened and I refused to allow my voice to break or for her to hear any emotion- something in me wouldn't allow her that satisfaction. She apologized and said she would work to try to repay some of the money we had given her (some just the day before). We hung up, looked at each other and neither could find the words to say. This was our son that was no more, this was nearly $2000 that we would not get back, but more importantly this was Gods plan. The first words that filled our car in that silence were simple "well God just has a better plan for us"

We headed back to our hotel to freshen up and prepared to have our scheduled dinner with Momma J (trust me when I say our weekends are always packed when we make our visits). She was such a delight to see- she had been pretty sick and even hospitalized within the week (stop and say a sweet prayer for her) but was a trooper for still wanting to see us. She assured us that our sweet baby girl was still healthy and more active than ever. Her initial concern about choosing us was that we were already working with another mom so we felt it best to be open with her and tell her about Momma B's decision to change her mind. She was very understanding After great food, good music, and laughs galore we called it a night. She was so thoughtful to bring us ultra sound pictures and share her doctors plan to induce so we can be there.

Sunday was already planned to be eventful as we had purchased tickets to attended a fundraiser event for the non profit Adoption Rocks. We attended and were pleasantly surprised to meet so many families that had been affected by adoption. Our attorney was there and encouraged us to have lunch with yet another mom. We made contact and were now headed to our second "lunch" for the day with Momma T. She was so sweet and funny. She opened the conversation pretty direct by saying "the attorney showed me profiles a while ago and I looked at yours and instantly new I wanted you guys- I just didn't know until now that I could meet you" ( did you just get that chill too :)?! ) The hubs and I looked at each other and silently had a "moment" - she went on to say that she was 34 weeks- due June 4th and was having a little boy!!!! I sat in that booth in awe of how amazing my God is- not my will, but His will be done. Less than 24 hours before Momma B backed out on us and here we were with a mom that had picked us weeks ago to parent her son. We stayed about an hour and left feeling better than ever. The only thing I could say was "look at my God work"- what He has for you is for you, it's as simple as that.

With all of the events of this weekend- the highs and the lows we still stand rooted that our sweet heavenly Father is in control. Losing those $2000 is a big blow for us- but we're confident that God's will will prevail. Our attorney told me once to start thinking about our adoption process as a ministry and think of how God wants to use us in the lives of these young women- that is something I've thought of often this weekend. I'm certain there is and was a reason for us to work with Momma B and although its hard for us to see now- I know Gods sees and knows everything.

We are so thankful for your continued prayers and support- continue to keep us, Momma B, Momma J, and now Momma T lifted all along our Anderson Adventure.

Be Still and Know that I am God...

Have you ever had such big news that you couldn't contain yourself and you actually had to make yourself not scream it to the world?! Well for us that has been our position for about 2 weeks. Of course we've mentioned our great news to our family but we had to ensure that they too wouldn't say anything until the time was right.

Well here is goes. A few weeks ago we were contacted by our attorney to let us know that we had finally been scheduled for a court date with Momma B! We've been waiting for a while on this and we were thrilled that everything had finally made the court docket. The great thing about court is that Momma B will sign her adoption intent and we will have the papers we need to visit Eian in the nursery, have access to Momma B's medical records,make medical decisions if needed and most importantly bring our son home! We were also able to plan and Momma B will have a 4D ultra sound that same day. The hubs and I are betting who will cry first! As always even after we've signed all these papers, state law still gives her 5 days to change her mind after he's born, but we're believing God has already worked that out.

Well later this same day, as if getting the great news about court wasn't enough, our attorney emailed me again to tell me 1) to sit down 2) that I would never believe this and 3) she had met with a 2nd birth mom who was having a little girl in July,as well, who had selected us only for her baby!!!!!! That's right our son is due July 2nd and we will now welcome our daughter home who is due July 31st! Hyperventilation was an understatement and in that moment I was yet again reassured of Gods unfailing love for our family. Can you imagine that?!

We are so proud to welcome our son Eian and daughter Gracyn home in a few months! Our attorney told us we would be the third couple she has worked with where this has happened and she said the others raised their little ones as twins. Well the hubs and I are going to follow and have dubbed our babies the non fraternal- fraternal twins! We figure that with their due dates they would only be a month a part at the most or a few days or weeks. I have laughed because I said I wouldn't know what to do if God worked it out so perfectly that they actually came on the same day??!!

Well as before we got all this news on a Tuesday or Wednesday and were headed back on the road on that Friday to meet with our new mom, Momma J. It was wonderful because not only did we have lunch with Momma J but also her mother which was a big step for us. Her family is completely on board with her decision and, trust me, it makes a big difference. ** side note- please stop and say a sweet prayer for Momma B who still hasn't told her parents about the adoption- she says it's coming soon but lift her up ** Well after our lunch we played the waiting game to hear back on whether or not Momma J had finalized on us. My heart was so set that she would pick us that I walked in faith and moved forward. We went ahead and set up the nursery to accommodate two, contacted day care to let them know we would have two babies in the fall, and as you can see we named the baby- some before we met Momma J for the first time that Friday and all before we heard anything back. That's the confidence I have in my God! Well yesterday I got a call directly from Momma J letting me know that she had chosen us and she told me about her last and next doctors appointments- she even told me that her doctors were on board and would schedule to induce so that we could make sure we didn't miss anything!

You know, I told the hubs over dinner one night that after getting the good news from our attorney the only thing that played over and over in my head was the day I sat in the fertility doctors office and listened to him tell me that the only way we would likely have a family was by IVF. I now find myself laughing and simply whispering "but God...".

A few months ago when the enemy tried to place so much doubt in my mind my devotional one morning started with Psalms 46:10 " be still and know that I'm God"... From that day until today it's what keeps us moving forward, walking in faith, all along our Anderson Adventure

Pillow's I made to match the bedding

We had to move Eian's crib to the other side of the room

Gracyn's crib all set up

Corner view of the room

We tried to keep the color pattern the same in the room, cute polka dot ladybugs

Counting Down

Well we are getting closer and closer to bring home our sweet little one! I think our ticker says a little over 2 months! We wanted to remind everyone that we are likely going to close our T-shirt fundraiser and paypal donation links at the end of the month (Monday April 30th). If you still had it on your heart to order a shirt or donate, please take advantage of these last few weeks! We'll keep you updated in the days to come...

More crafting fun!

** Blogging from the phone so forgive any crazy typo's and the fact that the pictures aren't in any type of order...lol**

So over the weekend I enjoyed a great birthday and spent some fun time playing in the nursery. Well for one, that wonderful changing table (wrong color and all) had to be taken down and reboxed- the company actually paid to have it shipped back- go figure. But it's ok, we reordered another one and hopefully they'll send the right color this time.

Since it was down I decided to do some rearranging and must say I like the new layout much better! ( We still have to do something about that TV but that's another day.)Another piece we added to the room was the glider(I've been trying to find a nice inexpensive one for a few weeks). Well once we finally got it all put together I told the hubs that it needed some color. So, to JoAnn's I went.

I had no pattern, but found one in a book in the store- to get an idea of how much fabric to buy. Well,as always I forgot to take a few pictures during the process, but nonetheless it was pretty simple. Literally I laid each cushion on the fabric and traced around it (you can see my pen marks below..lol). From there I cut a little more than the trace and sewed it up. I even added little ties to the back piece- I did the same for the bottom cushion. Of corse I left the arms the original tan color because I couldnt figure a simple fix for them, but they match the fabric pretty good. 

 Now by the time I got to the ottoman I was a little tired (lol) so as you can see I just flipped the ottoman over and with the use of some push pins "tacked" it in place(don't judge).

 About 30 minutes later,  voi la new covers for the chair

So all in all I think it came together nicely. Still excited an getting prepared all along our Anderson Adventure.