Past Due

Sorry to be behind again in my postings, but it has been a wild and crazy time. Hope has been doing great in preschool and we are settling into a good routine. She also does dance. I am returning to a salaried position with a new bank on Monday as the Marketing Manager. I am totally excited and so thankful that my business was strong enough to allow me to get enough distance between my previous bank and the present time so I could realize that I belong in a bank.

I am so blessed to have been presented with this opportunity to take a great leap of faith. It was a bit terrifying at times, but in almost hindsight, it has been great opportunity to complete the adoption of our daughter, build confidence in my business insight, and move my family across the state. This is somewhat similar to how things happened when we moved to Michiana where everything just fell into place. Some people say it is good luck, but I assure you it is by the grace of our loving God.

Thank you to all of you for your prayers during this time of transition and please continue to pray that I transition into this position nicely.

Surprise Vacation

We decided to run off to my Grandma’s house in Northern Michigan last Thursday.  The trip was a very last minute thing, originally we were going to try to put stuff together and leave late in the day on Thursday, but we then realized how much we really needed to get ready for the trip and left early on Friday.  This  was our first out of state trip where we didn’t need to get a court order and there were lots of family members who haven’t met Hope yet.

We made side trips all over the northern part of the lower peninsula including Traverse City, Petoskey, and Mackinac City (but not the island).

Thanks to everyone for welcoming us and the Dizzler up!

 Hope just listening to her DVD on the way up.  This was about hour 5.  Thank goodness for the new in car DVD player.

 Hope & my 3 1/2 year old cousin at Mackinac City's playground.

 Hope riding on my aunt's horse at my other aunt's stable.

 Going to the beach at Grand Traverse Bay

 Sand in my hand.

 Hope & Mommy at the beach.

 Wave Jumping

 Family at the beach

 Hope on the dragon

The dragon in the sand

 I spy with my little eye

 Welcome to the wheelhouse

Daddy got me

 Hope with Grandma Great-- this makes it worth the drive

The Dizzler sleeping between the front and back seats and Hope sleeping behind Clifford in her car seat.

It took us 7 hours to get up to my grandma's then a couple each day driving to the different cities and 6 hours back on Monday.  It was great to be able to introduce Hope to many people who hadn't met her or haven't been able to spend much time with her.   We all had a great time-- even the Dizzler.

Preschool and Dance will start just after Labor Day, so we wanted to get our "vacation" out of the way while we could.

 

Pics, pics and more pics.

We had the great pleasure of sharing one of our favorite places, the FW Children’s Zoo, with Hope’s sister’s family.  What a great experience and great way to kick off the anniversary of our families meeting and changing in ways we never imagined.   Here are the zoo pics.

One Year Already

Believe it or not, but one year today we met our little Miss Hope.   It is incredible to think that she has gone from the shy little child who could barely babble to a caring and compassionate 2 and a half year old who is full of her own opinions.  It is remarkably hard to think that just 12 months ago mom and I were both working, we owned our own home in a different county and the thing we wanted most was to share our love with a little person.   Now fast forward 12 months and Mom has retired, Dad has his own business,  we have sold our house and moved back to our home town,  and we are parents.  

It is hard to put myself back in my old office sitting at the back of my wraparound desk trying to scribble down notes as fast as I could while I was on a conference call  with Mom and the caseworker.  I don’t know how I managed to work for the rest of the day until we met Hope at 6pm on that night.  We knew Hope was a good fit for our family, but little did we realize how much our family would grow.  Ladybug, Peanut, and their parents have become an extension of our immediate family and our families have been fully integrated.  It is just second nature to talk to them on a regular basis and meet up at least once a month with them.   It is just one of those things that has been an unexpected benefit to adopting Hope.    They have been able to help us invaluably as we have been through the adoption process. 

While this is a day of great joy, we know it was an incredibly hard decision for T&D to make to let us come in as perfect strangers and take one of their children.  They had no idea about us or the relationship that we would develop.   We are thankful for their faith in letting us create the amazing transition that transpired to create our family.  

We have had a whirlwind of activity since we moved back to Fort Wayne.  We will be posting pictures and more stories soon.  Thanks to everyone!

Adoption Day

Today was the big day- after exactly 11 months of Hope being in our care legally, we have completed her adoption.   The 2 hour drive seemed to fly past as we drove up to our old home town, then we met our caseworkers & lawyer, then we stood in the vestibule of the court room for what seemed like 20 minutes, and finally went in for about 2 minutes of the hearing followed by a few photos.   We walked in as foster parents and walked out as a forever family.  As it turned out, we were one of 3 adoptions taking place that day.   We then took photos out in the waiting area as we waited for the adoption decree to be copied and given to us.  

 After we finished with stuff downtown, we had to run to her pediatrician to get her files released to her new doctor then we made a stop at a playground before leaving for home.

When we got home it was time for a bit of a nap, then it was off to a before dinner art & craft time.  Mom and I made some special toasting goblets at the time we got engaged, so we went to a ceramic painting studio and made a special plate with her hand print and adoption date that Hope got to paint on her own.  We added a little dog to the corner of the plate that was painted to look like the Dizzler.   She then had a little meltdown, so I took her to the car and got ready to head to get pizza.

We went to the Pizza Hut buffet (folks not use to FW area Pizza Huts don’t know what you’re missing—not like any other area locations).  Hope dove into the all you can eat pizza and jello.   It was a very nice relaxing and filling dinner.   If she could have told us exactly where she wanted to go, this would have been the place she would have chosen.   After dinner we gave her a sucker for the first time, and boy did she like it.

When we got home, we decided to take a walk and explore the walking trails around our new home, we were pleasantly surprised by how nice the trials were and they extended into 3 additions.

We have her FW adoption party tomorrow, and her baptism on Sunday.   Then what????????

New Photos

Hi All,

We are still getting settled, but we did have the den re-carpeted today, so we were able to move lots of stuff in to there.  The builders are working really well with us and we will be receiving our new dryer and dishwasher tomorrow.  That should put us in good shape.  In the midst of the craziness of getting ready for the adoption and following parties, we took some time out to get new family photos taken.  The first set with the Dizzler will not be back until Aug 4, but then we dropped the dog back off at home and then went to get Hope's formal photos taken.   Here they are.....

We've landed

Hi All,

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have landed in our new house, had a couple of minor hiccups along the way, but I'll get in to that more tomorrow, but for now We're Here..   Now off to find more business or a 9-5!  Thanks be to God!