Christmas and December

Can you believe it's already 2018?  This post is a tad bit late but that's okay because I had 12 days off at the end of the year and I enjoyed every single second of my time away from work. Craw was also off so we were able to enjoy the holidays with each other and our families.

We kicked off December with our second annual Jammy Cocoa Christmas. We "borrowed" the idea from Shay and it truly is such a fun night. I host dinner at my house and we usually make our own pizzas. The kids will usually build a ginger bread house while dinner is cooking. After dinner, we pile up in separate cars (boys vs. girls) and we head to Dunkin Donuts where we enjoy coffee and donuts in our pajamas. Then we ride around looking at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music. It is so much fun! We were missing Luke this year but I'm sure he will be ready to go next year plus one more little baby.

We took Anna Blake to Christmas at Peace and had a great night with her.

Craw and I enjoyed spending my birthday with each other and I even let him play a round of golf. #wifeoftheyear

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Sweet Hank on Christmas Eve. We were watching the Panthers game and Craw would not put him down as he said he was the Panthers good luck charm. HA!

We got a sweet photo with Craw's family this year. I failed to take pictures at Christmas so I'm thankful for this one.

 

The day after Christmas, Craw and I left for Williamsburg, VA with my parents. We had planned to go in November but I had a Crohn's flare the weekend they went and was unable to go. We had a wonderful time but BOY WAS IT COLD! We literally froze. We went to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens one night and it got below 30 degrees. It's safe to say the lights were beautiful but we just couldn't hang in the cold.

We ended out the year with friends and I even got to snap a photo of this cutie. I love the portrait mode on my iphone and I love when I get photos like this one.

Hoping and praying that 2018 is our BEST YEAR YET!

Home Study Approved

Goodness gracious! I've been looking forward to typing out that post title for a while now. We are officially home study approved and our literally just waiting for "the call" saying that we are matched. I feel like I have every single emotion running through my mind 24/7. One minute I'm so excited I could shout to the heavens and the next minute I'm crying. I also feel anxious, fear, and sadness thinking about the choice this mama is about to have to make.

SO MANY EMOTIONS!

From every adoptive mom I've spoken with and every adoption blog I've read, these emotions are all very normal. So much is about to change in such a short amount of time. Even my friends that have given birth say they go through many of these emotions the day they find out they are pregnant. Am I really ready to be a mom? My heart says absolutely but there is always that thought in the back of my mind that says everything that I know right now is about to change and that is a little scary.

The home study process was surprisingly very smooth for us. I LOVE the agency we used for the home study. They were a pleasure to work with and they made everything feel so easy. I'm also a type A person so when given a list of all of the documents we needed, I pretty much had copies of everything within a days time. The background checks were super easy. Again, I cannot say enough good things about how the process worked for us.

The last visit with the social worker was the home visit. We gave her a tour of our home and showed her the baby's room. She needed to know the measurement of that room but other than that, everything was a quick walk through. She didn't look inside cabinets or closets so it was really just like having a friend over.

We received our completed home study in the mail on November 20th. We were so excited and it was the very best mail day. We immediately sent a copy to our agency and began working on our profile book. I made the book from scratch and we received it in the mail this weekend and mailed it to the agency today along with a check for the first payment installment. I can't believe that we are nearing the end and are in the "waiting" phase now. Our part is done! Now we wait to get matched and then wait for the baby to be born.

I messaged our agency this morning and there are currently 2 waiting birth mothers that they plan to match within the next month. This was very exciting news. I'm not sure how many waiting adopting families they may have but I'm just praying that God is going to match us to the birth mama that he has handpicked just for us

Lastly, I posted this photo yesterday on Facebook of our profile book and I want to document what I wrote alongside the picture.


"Tomorrow is the day we mail our profile book to our agency. The profile book is the one shot we get to show a glimpse of our lives to the birth families. Will you join me in prayer over the hands this book will touch? Our prayer is that it will fall in to the hands that God has handpicked for our family. More than anything, we pray for the lives this book may touch as I fully believe this book is a major part of our story AND their story. I pray that the birth family we match to will truly see the love that Jesus has for them."

Thanksgiving 2017

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are having a tough time getting back in to the swing of things today. Craw and I had Friday off so we had a 4 day weekend and it was glorious. We kicked off Thanksgiving weekend by heading to see Craw's family on Wednesday night to eat. This was the dinner that GG always hosted and when she passed, Craw's mom took over the hosting duties. We had a great time seeing his extended family and enjoying a family fun game night. We headed back home later that night to prepare for Thanksgiving day.

We woke up Thursday morning and Craw made cinnamon rolls and we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade together. We usually make a butter braid but we sadly did not get one this year to cook on Thanksgiving morning. For lunch, we went to my Aunt Debbie's house and enjoyed lunch with all of my family. I sadly realized that we take lots of pictures with my family but not enough with Craw's family. We need to change that for Christmas.

Craw and I went back to his family's house Thursday night for another family dinner. Sadly, I did not take any pictures. We went Black Friday shopping super late Thursday night and we enjoyed our time. However, I got to a point where I lost all of my energy and all I wanted was my bed. Three Thanksgiving meals and driving back and forth will do that to you.

Friday we decorated for Christmas and I am loving my two new adoption ornaments from mom and Mama Teri.

For our anniversary, I bought Craw tickets to the State/UNC game. We went on Saturday and we had the BEST date day. That game was a little scary the first half but State pulled out the WIN.

We finished out the weekend with a low key day on Sunday. I snapped this picture of sweet Hank and it is for sure one of my new favorites. Craw and I talked about how this is hopefully our last Thanksgiving as a family of three. Next year, we hope to have a little baby tagging along with us and we absolutely cannot wait!



Life Lately

Today is going to be a random assortment of life lately pictures. Life has been SO busy. I feel like I always say that but here we are a week away from Thanksgiving. How is that even possible? October was a complete blur for me and I am really trying to focus on saying no to more things and enjoying some down time.

I sure do love this guy. I really did luck out in the husband department. With my Crohns, there are many days when I come home from work completely wiped out and Craw always steps up and helps out around the house.  So very thankful for him.

This is my other favorite guy. He is just the sweetest most cuddly dog ever! I love my sweet Hank.

November is Adoption Awareness month. I saw a friend share this picture on Facebook and loved it so much! Obviously adoption is something that is very important to us and I love that there is a whole month dedicated to bringing awareness to the beauty that is adoption.

Last Thursday was World Adoption Day and it was a trending hashtag on Instagram. The symbol for this day is a smiley on the hand. People were drawing all types of smiley's and taking creative pictures using the hashtag #worldadoptionday. Craw and I loved being able to participate in this and we can't wait to hopefully have another little hand in the picture next year.

Speaking of adoption and Baby Bolton, I ordered this cute diaper book bag on Amazon and LOVE it.  The reviews were really good and I can't wait to use this. I even got Craw's stamp of approval.

Last Saturday we got to spend some time with Eva. She is getting SO BIG and I cannot believe she will be two in January. She loved playing with Craw.

I got to work on my swaddle game and Eva thought it was funny. She definitely loves her babies.

So that's a wrap on life lately. I am hoping to be back soon to provide an update on the adoption.



Three Years



Three years ago today, my life was changed for the better. Some days it feels like we've already lived a lifetime and then other days, it feels like yesterday when the church doors opened and I saw my groom for the first time. I am reminded daily what a commitment marriage truly is and how Craw is my perfect gift. I am blessed that God chose me to be his wife.

I always joke around and say that he is the nice one but its the absolute truth. My favorite thing about Craw is that he will literally help anyone. And by that I mean, it's nothing for me to get a call saying he just picked up a stranger and took them to Mcdonalds to get them a meal. This is usually followed by me giving him a lecture of how he should NEVER give someone a ride that he doesn't know but at the same time, I'm so darn proud he is my husband. He is an encourager, motivator, emotional supporter, and definitely the calm to my crazy. That is key when he is married to a wife that freaks out about everything. All this to say, I cannot imagine life without him and I am honored to say that I get to love this man for the rest of my life.

2018 is going to be a year of change for our family and we are so very excited.

Happy three years, babe! This is going to be our best one yet and I am so happy I get to watch you take on your next role as a daddy.