Lucky US

In hindsight I would:

~travel across the WORLD and back looking for you

~wait

~compile mountains of paperwork on your behalf

~wait

~complete 3 MORE home studies PROVING our LOVE

~wait

~do it all over for the chance to meet you and hold you close!

The gifts you bring to the WORLD are miraculous,

COOPER GANNON GRILLS!

It's a B.O.Y.!!!

Cooper Gannon Grills
September 6, 2012
4:11 pm
5 pounds 0 ounces, 18.5 inches 

10 Perfect Fingers

10 Perfect Toes 

Grown in our hearts...

...forever after!

Room for One More!

Wednesday  September 5, 2012....two hour delay...yeah!...Birth Mother texted me at the end of the school day as I was preparing my ART lesson.  Riley (who just arrived from the Middle School) saw her call ring in.  It read:  “Hi Tina.  I just wanted to make sure you talked to (attorney) about tomorrow in case you needed to make plans for your kids.  I can’t wait to see you both.  Aren’t you getting excited ?!!!"

WHAT???  Is this it?  Is it time to get my bags/car seat/ bottles, coming home outfit/diaper bag??  She would like for us to be there so we’d better get going!!   Good wishes for all families involved would be the ultimate request.  Please and thank you!!!!!

And We're OFF!

June 9-16, 2012  Disney World.   The long, two year adventure was beginning to seem endless, but we knew we weren’t complete just yet.  We decided to continue the search for YOU.  We agreed that upon our return from vacation, we would search for local adoption agencies, once again.   I couldn’t get to the internet fast enough.  Even while in Disney World, I searched for agencies on our iPad.

Weeks passed.  I prayed for a path.  I prayed for a sign that would guide us.  The internet would turn out to be a curse and a blessing at the same time.  Even though I searched and searched for the right agency, the same ones resurfaced and we were frustrated because none of them seemed “just right”.  Then, late Sunday (July 15, 2012) I stumbled across a name that looked familiar:  Adoption Attorney in Ohio.  I had talked to her before deciding on an adoption agency at the beginning of our journey two years ago.  Our conclusion (at the time) was this:  if we searched for YOU using a BIG adoption agency, we would have more opportunities to find you.  Bigger means better, right?  A BIG adoption agency would have more resources to find you.    Surely they would have their own attorney readily available...??.... 

Well, as it turns out, the timing of such an event was the answer to our prayers in many different ways.  Not only did she encourage us to meet her as soon as possible, she cut through all of the “mandatory” paperwork and placed what was most important FIRST:  to find the family for an extra special, perfect, little gift...YOU.   The miraculous part of it all is this:  if we made a commitment with her two years ago when we first talked, you would not have been created yet!  Your path and our path was meant to be crossed exactly right now.    We have waited for you and love you, even before you are born!   The waiting and the direction changes are all part of the ULTIMATE PLAN FOR US...all of us.  We are counting down the days until your blessings upon the earth.




Days....Days....Days....

Disney M*A*G*I*C*

My Favorite Guy!

Chef Mickey's

The castle takes our breath away!

H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S. !!!

On the beach behind our resort

And The Ball Is Still Rolling...

Life is full of surprises.  Wonderful, unexpected, glorious surprises.  The adventure continues...

Korea Says No

Adopting a baby is not as easy as it looks.  It sure seems easy.  You fill out some paperwork...okay, a LOT of paperwork, then you have someone check out your house, then you have another person visit frequently and talk to you about your life story, then you are matched with a sweet soul who was meant to be yours...right?  Ideally, yes.  But like many times in life, this journey did not go as planned.  This journey came to a screeching halt about a month ago.

The Korean Government has made the decision to stop issuing VISAs to children in all orphanages.  This means that very few children are allowed to leave the country.  The few that are already placed with a waiting family have to wait until January of next year to travel.  Why?  Their hopes are to eliminate foreign adoption altogether within the next few years.  Korea is focusing on placing those children with forever families in their native land, instead of across the world.  I understand.   It makes sense.  But are all of those waiting children going to have forever families? 

The adoption agency we are working with in Ohio is professional, helpful and kind.  They seem just as surprised as we are.  They have been working with Korea for 25 years (with the same orphanage), placing hundreds of waiting children with forever families.  Their mutual respect for one another came from years of experience.  I truly believe they didn't know this was coming.   We are all at a loss for words.     

So once again, we were guided away from our original path...for good reason, I'm sure.  But it's so difficult to refocus again and again.  With my whole heart, I know this IS the right way.  I'm still hanging on to the slightest chance we could become parents to one of the souls who is waiting.   

I know things are happening just as they are planned to happen, but I still feel defeated.  I feel like I have let someone down.    I have prayed for peace.  I have prayed for a distraction.  I have prayed for God to allow me to accept the things I cannot change.  Oh, I have received many distractions...but my heart is still heavy.  

Thank you for following us.

Tina