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For the past 7 months we have been communicating with a birth mom who we grew to love and care about deeply. We anxiously awaited the day when our baby boy would join our family. Unfortunately, earlier this month she had the baby and decided to keep him.

While our hearts are broken, we continue to feel nothing but love for her, the birthdad, the baby and their families. We are grateful that they came into our lives and wish them nothing but lots of happiness.

So, we're back in the waiting game. We know that when the time is right our birth mom will find us and bring a precious little baby brother or sister into our home.

Where have the past few months gone? Time is passing by WAY too quickly for me, but life is good!

We have been VERY busy with birthdays, holidays, family vacations, sports, class parties and the every day business of life. We just got home from a family vacation to California. We had a blast at Disneyland and our day at the beach was PERFECT! The kids begged us to stay a few more days, but had to admit that they were glad to get home. That's a sign of a great vacation ... when you're ready to be HOME!

Our thoughts and prayers each day are for "our" birth parents and baby. We know that when the time is right that you will be led to us. We look forward to the day when we will get to know you and welcome you into our hearts and life.

WOW! I just realized that it's been a while since I've updated our journal. So, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Things have been super busy here, but good, too! We've not only celebrated the holidays, but Josh's 5th birthday, too! Time continues to march on and the kids just get more fun every day. We can hardly wait to add another little one to our family. We just have to wait until the right birthmom/dad and baby are ready.

As always our prayers and love go out to you. We are anxiously awaiting the day when we will get the chance to get to know you. Lots of love for now ...

I can hardly believe that Halloween has already come and gone. We had such a great time! Of course, we have enough candy to last us until Easter so I'm trying to limit the kids to one or two pieces a day. (Good luck with that, right?)

Josh and Kate wanted to dress up in costumes that went together. So, he was a Utah Jazz basketball player and she was a cheerleader. How cute is that? They love each other so much and I am so grateful.

Now the fun begins of shopping for those perfect Christmas gifts. The kids have a list a mile long and want every toy that appears on TV or in the millions of magazines that we seem to get at this time of year. It's also a perfect time as a parent to use the old "Santa's watching" story. It gets them every time!

We're thinking of you, "our" birth mommy/family, EVERY day!

We just got back from our annual family camping trip with all of Jill's family ... a tradition that has been going on for more than 30 years! Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all meet in the beautiful mountains for 3-4 days of eating, golfing, hiking, playing games, more eating and sitting around the campfire. We truly look forward to it every year!

We are SO excited to welcome a new baby into our family! We are expecting 3 other babies in our extended family during the next few months and we hope to add the 4th one. And while we recognize that this must be a very challenging time for you, we hope you will feel of our excitement at not only adding to our family, but getting to know you as well. Best wishes and lots of love!

Today was the 2nd grade Pet Parade and what an interesting morning it was. Every child in the 2nd grade was allowed to either bring their pet, a picture of their pet or a stuffed animal of their choice. Katelyn was SO excited to show off her pet fish named Fishy. Yes ... Fishy! So, we cleaned the bowl and prepared to take Fishy on an adventure. It was fun to see each of the kids proudly showing off their animals to all of the other children. They had the kids line up in 2 rows and then each class took a turn parading by. As you can see from the picture, Katelyn was a little nervous about the possibility of dropping Fishy, so I proudly marched along beside her. Oh, what fun elementary school is!

As summer is fading into fall, our prayers continue to be with "our" birth mom/dad, their families and friends. We pray that you will be blessed beyond measure and gain strength from our prayers. We can't wait to meet you someday!

A new school year has started! Hooray! Katelyn is a 2nd grader this year and already LOVES her teacher and everything about school. She's the only kid I know who loves it when she has math homework. We are probably going to have to take a math refresher course by the end of the year. Josh had his preschool open house today and he can hardly wait for his first day on Wednesday. As an added bonus, he gets to be the "Captain of the Day" on the first day. It's been so cute to listen to him say his prayers and ask that he'll "have fun on the first day when he gets to be the Captain." Hopefully it will be as exciting as he has pictured it in his mind.

We've put together the nursery and the kids LOVE to tell everyone that comes by the house that it's "our baby room." I have very little self control when it comes to buying baby things. My mom reminds me that I do have things from when the kids were small. But I can't help myself, what can I say?

Our daily prayers always include "our next birth mommy and baby brother or sister." We pray that she will have the love and support that she needs and will be blessed with good health. We love and appreciate ALL birth parents for the courageous and selfless choices that they make for these precious little babies. What a blessing adoption has been in our life and will be again someday soon we hope.

We just got back from a little family vacation. It was fun to get away and just spend some "quality" time together. We took the kids to some amusement parks, the zoo and miscellaneous museums. Plus, we were able to visit with family members and attend a nieces birthday party and baptism. We had a great time! Now it's back to reality ... laundry, getting ready for school to start, etc. But it's great to be home! I've heard it said that the sign of a good vacation is when you've had a great time, but you're ready to be home.

Now we start the preparations for 2nd grade and preschool ... buying glue sticks, pencil boxes, etc. and searching for THE perfect backpack. I LOVE this time of year and not because the kids will be gone, because that actually makes me kind of sad. But I love the whole excitement of starting a new year, making new friends and learning new things. Hopefully Kate and Josh will both be as excited as I am on the first day! :-)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! We had a great day together as a family! We took the kids to the movies and ate way too much popcorn. Then we came home and got ready for a barbeque with our neighbors. We had more food than we could possiby eat, but we had a great time. And when it finally got dark, we headed outside for sparklers and fireworks. Unfortunately Josh wasn't at all interested in the sparklers. So, we only managed to get a picture of Katelyn this year. Oh well! Happy Summer!

I'm so excited! We finally got the crib put together and we're slowly getting the nursery ready. Hopefully one of these days we'll be using it ... WE CAN HARDLY WAIT!

We all continue to pray "for our birth mommy." We look forward to the day when we will be able to meet you and get to know you better.

This afternoon was SO much fun .... we had our first lemonade stand with our good friends next door! It was such a riot to watch the kids get so excited when a "customer" would stop by! It was EXTREMELY hot and so we had the sprinklers running to keep the kids cool while they waited. When all was said and done, they made $30 and they've decided that we should have a lemonade stand EVERY day. Uhhhh ... no! But the best part was when we were finishing up, the kids turned the hoses on the moms and we had a big water fight! What a blast!

Hip Hip Horray for Scout Camp! Greg works with the youth in our church and was going to scout camp. So he decided to take Josh along for some "guy time." Needless to say, Josh was in 7th heaven and apparently was VERY popular with the Scouts. And of course, Kate and I enjoyed some wonderful mom and daughter time by going out to dinner, watching movies, playing games and we even went on a bike ride. We love nothing more than spending time together with the kids and can't wait to add to our family.

Today was Katelyn's ballet recital and it was such a treat for us to watch our little girl up on stage! She is growing up WAY too fast for her mom and dad! Soon we'll be chasing the boys away! :-) She LOVES ballet and can't wait until the fall when she starts again for her 5th year! This was certainly one of those moments that we dreamt about before we became parents.

A big week here at our house ... Josh starting playing baseball for the first time. Shhh ... don't tell him, but he's not actually playing on a team. It's a little 5 week clinic for 3-5 year olds about the basics of baseball and they play with their dads. But to him he is on a REAL team and it's absolutely adorable! He has been SO excited ever since the Easter bunny brought him a baseball mit. A couple times a week he and Greg head to the backyard to practice for his "game." It's VERY cute!

Kate and Josh are both begging for us to get a dog. I guess that they've realized that a goldfish isn't all that interesting. But we keep putting it off knowing that if we add another little one to our family PLUS a dog, we'll really have our hands full. But who knows, maybe we'll end up with both one of these days!

My thoughts are never far from you. I can only imagine what a challening time this must be, but hope that you can feel of our sincere love and conern for you. Words cannot even begin to express the amount of love and appreciation that Greg and I feel for ALL birthmoms. You truly are a blessing and an answer to many prayers. We continue to pray for you!

HAPPY EASTER! Hope you had a good day and that you are doing well! Katelyn asked the other day, "Mom, where do you think our next birth mommy is?" We then explained that we didn't know and Josh joined in and said, "We just have to keep praying, right?" So, please know that we are always praying for you.

As you can see, Kate and Josh both got new Easter outfits for church. Then we had a big Easter dinner and of course, an Easter egg hunt! Easter is one of my favorite holidays and I look forward to it all year. I think it's because I LOVE springtime and all the flowers, plus we can be outside more. Kate is currently playing soccer and Josh is starting baseball so we get to spend some time enjoying the sun!

Greg and I just got back from a weekend away to California. It was SO fun! The kids stayed with my mom and had a great time!

We flew to LAX on Thursday, got our rental car and hotel and headed to Santa Monica and Malibu for some shopping and sightseeing. Friday we spent the whole day at Universal Studios Hollywood. It was fun to have time with just the two of us, even though we both missed the kids. Then on Saturday we did some more shopping and just driving all around Hollywood, Beverly Hills, etc. On Saturday night we went to the Josh Groban concert and it was fabulous! It may sound a little corny, but we both really love his music. Then we flew back on Sunday morning.

Like I said, even though we missed the kids, it was fun to just spend some time together. Greg truly is my best friend and I'm grateful for him!

As always, you are never far from our thoughts and prayers. We hope you are doing well and have lots of people around you to love and support you!

I just want you to know that you are always in our thoughts and prayers. The kids ask about our next birth mommy alot and can't wait to have a little baby brother or sister to love!

Greg and I are going away on a little vacation this weekend! We are so excited and the kids can't wait to spend some time with their Nana! She LOVES to spoil them and they are already making plans about what fun things they are going to do while mom and dad are away. It should be a great weekend for everyone, but of course, we'll be excited to be back together again on Sunday.

We hope and pray that all is going well for you and that you have loving friends and family to support you. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing ... we hope you will feel of our love and concern for you!

Last night was one of the most fun nights that we've had as a family! We decided to pack a picnic and go to the park for family night. We all played on the playground, Greg spinned us on the tire swing and Jill and Kate had a contest to see who could swing the highest. It was one of those magical moments as a parent to see your kids having the time of their life. And Greg and I had so much fun, just spending time with the kids! We truly feel so blessed to be parents and can't wait to have more little ones join our family!

The last week and a half have been very busy, but FUN! Kate was involved in a cheer clinic last week and finished with a performance at the high school on Friday night. It was SO fun to watch her! She's growing up way too fast, but she is also SO much fun! Then she had her first soccer game on Saturday!

My mom and sister came down to visit and Saturday was a girls day out with lots shopping. They are wonderful and I LOVE spending time with them. Then that night, Greg organized a family dinner party to celebrate my birthday! What a great guy he is! I am truly lucky! He took the kids out shopping to buy my birthday presents and had the kids make special cards for me. And all day, Josh kept hugging me saying, "Happy birthday mom!" He is such a sweet little boy!

And finally, on my birthday we went out with 4 other couples to celebrate. We sat in the restaurant for 2 1/2 hours laughing and having a good time! We feel so blessed to have such great friends!

As always, we continue to pray for you and hope that you are doing well! Please know that you are never far from our thoughts!

Today we had a birthday party for Kate. It was a breakfast party and everyone came in their pajamas, including Greg and I and Kate's Nana! We had a GREAT time and the kids had fun, too!

Just yesterday Kate and Josh were playing in the basement with Kate's dolls, pretending they had a little baby. It was so cute to watch them feed the baby, put the baby to sleep and even take it for a walk. They will be the greatest big sister and brother EVER!

Our thoughts are with you every day. We pray for our birth mommy and the baby! Please know that you are loved!

This last week we went out on a date with some friends and the kids were excited because they love their babysitter! Kate asked, "Mom, when we have a baby brother or sister, will you take the baby with you or will he/she be able to stay home with us?" I explained to her that for the first little while, the baby would go wherever I go. She can't wait to be a big sister again and help with the baby! I'm sure I'll have more help than I need! :-)

We are really excited about finishing our website information and continue to pray daily for our birth mom. The kids told me tonight that they are going to pretend that Kate's dolls are our new baby and they are going to take very good care of it. They will both be such a great help with our newest family member someday! Please know that we are thinking of you!