Blog Lovin

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You Don't Have To Be Perfect To Be A Parent

If there is one thing that I have learned in the last 2 years is that no matter how hard you try, perfection is a very hard goal to reach. As we set out on our first adoption journey, we knew that there would be days when we would be tired, stressed and (gasp) even raise our voice to our child. But we thought, how hard can it be? Being parents is something we have dreamed of for years, and we were ready for any challenge that came our way.

Now that we are parents to an amazing little toddler that learns new words, loves to make us laugh and is a constant little mess maker in our house, we laugh at how naive first time parents can be. We now understand that being a parent doesn't mean being "perfect" in anyone's eyes... even your child. It means you put the needs of that little person before your own, it means walking through a grocery store as fast as you can so everyone else in the store doesn't have to hear your little one scream their own concerto (it was a funny story if you ever that to hear it.) It means that no matter what, you will always have each other. We are so grateful for adoption. This process has made us a family... momma and daddy to our son Matthew. There are no two sweeter words in the world (even when you hear them for an hour and a half straight on the way to the lake.)

Parenthood has been such a blessing to us we thought.... let's do it again! Yes, we are once again looking to expand our family through adoption! If you would like to check out our new profile, or would like to pass on our information to someone you know that is looking to make an adoption plan, we would love it!

Do we REALLY live in North Dakota?

With the weather we have had the last few days, plus the weather we have in our upcoming forecast, it makes me think that maybe that we have moved our whole state to a new location on the map!
(See the power of Photoshop!)

If you also live in this great state, please, go outside and enjoy this unseasonably warm weather. I just took my lunch break and visited the fine people at Don's Car Wash. It was a hopping place today!

Matthew is enjoying the weather at the lake with Grandma and Grandpa today. Looks like the only snow left in Minnesota is in our yard.

Have a great day... hard to not smile on a day like today!

LOVE and Other Things

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! 

My and my Valentine (Matthew) are spending the evening with friends tonight! Aaron is traveling for work, so we are going to have our own special little day. 

A little reminder that today is Giving Hearts Day in the Fargo-Moorhead area. It is an event sponsored by the Dakota Medical Foundation. If you can, please give back! If I may make a suggestion, The Village Family Services and Catholic Charities of ND (both Adoption Agencies!) would be a fabulous place to give your money to!

Here is a link to the Giving Hearts Day website! 

Back on the Horse...

Well it is official... we are filling out our next adoption papers. We were kind of hoping that there would be less paperwork for the second time around, but no luck. Oh well, it is totally worth all the time and energy.

We are thinking we will be "back on the list" again sometime this late spring! So, it is time for me to get back on the blogging bandwagon. To tell the truth, I kind of miss it.

In case you haven't see a picture of our little family in a long time, here we are at our last photo session. These beauties will be featured in our next profile. I will post a copy as soon as I have it ready!

Adoption Class... getting schooled about adoption

Oh.. and Go Bison!

Hi Everyone... I'm back! Sorry for my long sabatical from our blog, but boy, becoming a parent really can eat up your time. We adore our amazing son Matthew!

Last night we had the opportunity to tell our families story at The Village adoption class. It was really great to share our story again... plus it brought up some topics that Aaron and I hadn't thought about when we adopt again. Yes, you read right. We will be going through the adoption process again next year!

If anyone ever wants to talk about adoption, infertility, or just being a mom, feel free to contact me. I am an open book!

Our NEW man....

Ok...it has been a month now and I finally have a moment tell our blog friends....WE ARE PARENTS!

Matthew Aiden was placed in our arms on January 14th, 2011 and born on August 31st 2010. At the time we took home home he was 4.5 months & 17 pounds... a true bouncing baby boy. Matthew means "Gift from God" and we are truly blessed to have him in our lives.  We know it was meant to be since we weren’t on the official adoption list until November.

It was a whirlwind of a week…  Jan. 10th we got a call from our adoption social worker. She told us that a birth family wanted to introduce us to a little guy named Matthew.... on Thursday!

Long story short, we spent Thursday with the birth family, got to “babysit” Matthew Thursday night, and Friday Jan. 14 we got to start our journey home.

January 28th, 2011, we had the court hearing that terminated the parental rights of the birth family. We got to have a wonderful meeting with our birth mother and her cousin right afterwards. This is truly an angel on earth.

In the short time we’ve had together, Matthew is such a joy.  He is now 5 1/2 months old and he has already found a pretty cute giggle, has a wonderful smile, can create really smelly dipers, and has his two parents wrapped around his little fingers.

Thank you for all your support through this long/short process. We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people.

Can’t wait for everyone to meet Matthew!