Great News! ---- FINALLY!!!

We got the email we have been waiting and waiting for this afternoon!  Our donor family has decided to move forward and wants to get the contracts signed!  We are sooooo relieved!  While I was willing to accept that they had changed their minds I did not want to have to go back and start the matching process all over again.  The delay was simply because they were very busy with raising their kids and grad school etc. not because they were having second thoughts.  Our coordinator said they really liked our letter we sent them last week and it helped reaffirm their selection of us as the future parents of their embryos. 

The next step is to sign the contracts and pay our adoption fees.  The contracts willl most likely be sent out on Saturday.  I am praying that our donor family signs the contract right away so we don't have to wait much longer before the embryos begin their journey to California.  I am not sure how this delay has impacted our tenative timeline.  A May transfer may not happen at this point but June is good too!  I am just happy that our match is on!

Thanks for praying for us.  That was tough!!!

Two Year Blog-iversary!

Today I realized that it has been over two years since I began blogging.  My life has taken so many twists and turns in such a short time and I am so grateful for where Dan and I are at in our lives.  In the last two years  we have:
- bought our house in Chino which we LOVE
- celebrated my parent's 40th anniversary
- began our adoption journey
- celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in Aruba and Puerto Rico
- welcomed two more cute nephews into the world
- lost 50 pounds and rediscovered my inner athlete
- said good bye to Dan's dad at 91 years old
- moved Dan's mom into a retirement home near our new house
- learned to trust God's leading hand in our lives

To celebrate my two year "blog-iversary" I wanted to re-post my favorite of my 90 blog posts.  It is a post that continuously applies to my life.

Click to read my most favorite blog post: "Perspective"  I'm sure you could all add to my list of life experiences that have taught us to have perspective. 

Lastly, I want to thank my family, friends, and fellow bloggers who have followed us in our life journey, prayed for us, encouraged us, rejoiced with us, and cried with us.  Life is so much better when you can share it!

Friday has come and gone. . . (plus updates)

Friday has come and gone and there is still no contract in place.  Please pray for us right now.  I am freaking out inside and worried about our match with our genetic family not going through.  A minor misunderstanding has escalated a bit and while we have conceeded the point of disagreement, it has caused our genetic family to have some hesitation about us.  This weekend we find ourselves at a critical point in our adoption journey.  The Snowflakes coordinator (and Dan and I) are waiting to hear from the genetic family about their final decision on the contract and if they wish to move forward with signing the embryo donation agreement.  Please pray that our genetic family will realize that we are trustworthy and would do an amazing job raising their embryos.  Please pray that we would experience peace in this difficult period of waiting.  It is hard not to have control over this situation.  I don't know what else to say right now.  I feel really discouraged, anxious, sad. . . you get the picture.

Lord, give me hope and encouragement during this hard time.

Update (Monday 3/22) - No word from Snowflakes today.  I can't take much more of this.  I am going to write a letter to our donor family to be passed on to them through our Snowflakes coordinator.  Time to plead our case.

Update (Tuesday 3/23) - Our Snowflakes coordinator loved our letter to our donor family and sent it off to them (via email) this morning.  I am praying that we get a response tomorrow (Wed.)!  
 
Update (Wednesday 3/24) - No news today.  Bummer. 

Update (Thursday 3/25) - No news again today.  Our Snowflakes coordinator doesn't work on Fridays so the earliest we will hear from our donor family is Saturday. I am having a hard time focusing at work.  I can tell my body is really feeling the stress of this situation.  I spent various moments in prayer at work today.  My prayers are basically two-fold:  asking God for the desire of my heart and submitting my will to God's.  I don't understand the long silence on the part of our donor family.  If they have changed their mind they should just tell us.  We have said yes to everything they wanted in the contract.  They have agreed to the changes that we wanted in the contract.  I am praying that God works in their hearts to move towards a final decision so we can either rejoice or start over.  

Update (Saturday 3/27) - I called our Snowflakes coordinator today.  She confirmed that our donor family has not contacted her since the 18th.  At this point our coordinator recommended that we wait until April 1st to see if they contact her and then at that time if they haven't we will begin to look for another match.  I am glad we at least have a plan. 

Heroic Hearts: Introduction

Another new series of posts I am starting on my blog are my Heroic Heart profiles.  I have always been drawn to inspirational stories of people who have fought back against the odds and in a display of tremendous character found success.  Sometimes these people are celebrities, or profile stories in a newspaper, or personal acquaintances.  Their successes may look very different from each other but the one common factor in each story is that they have taught me an important life lesson through their own living example.  I hope you are challenged by these individuals as I have been.  

". . .that which we are, we are,
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

- "Ulysses", Alfred Lord Tennyson 

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." 
Proverbs 27:17

Favorite Things: Kogi BBQ

It's Korean.  It's Mexican.  It's YUMMY!

I first learned about the Kogi BBQ truck on an episode of "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network.  This past Saturday Dan and I had our first Kogi BBQ truck experience together and we were second in line!!!  I ordered the chicken burrito and Dan ordered the short rib burrito plus a pork and chicken taco.  If you live in the LA area you must try this unique and delicious cusine! 

Still working out the details

Over the last four weeks we have slowly been negotiating the terms of our adoption agreement.  Our coordinator at Snowflakes is hoping that by Friday our contract will be ready for signing.  I'm looking forward to that!  No more news on that end for now. 

Favorite Things: Little Lesiw Hair Assessories

I have to add another favorite thing today since it also involves a time sensitive sale!

My cousin, Rachel, is amazingly crafty and creative.  She owns a business called Little Lesiw which specializes in hair accessories.  You must check out her current sale on Etsy where her signature blooms and bitty blooms are crazy cheap!

Here is a little bit about Rachel, who with her husband Bob, is in the process of their second adoption:

After adopting our beautiful little girl at birth, Little Lesiw hair accessories was born so that I could create fun and stylish 'flair' for my baby.

I find true enjoyment out of making 'bows' and often give them as gifts to friends and family. Word of mouth has built interest in my collections and now I have the need for online selling. (So many thanks to those of you who have made this possible!)

My husband and I are now in the process of our 2nd adoption and hope that Little Lesiw hair accessories will play a part in bringing our next child home to us.

You can learn more about Little Lesiw on her blog (click the link). 

Favorite Things: Restaurant.com

Hey Everybody!   I am starting a new series on my blog called "Favorite Things".  Hope you are able to get some good deals/tips from my finds.  =)

Today's favorite thing is the website Restaurant.com where you purchase certificates to get huge discounts at restaurants all over the country.  Here is the exciting part of my favorite thing:  Restaurant.com certificates are 80% off until Tuesday, March 16th!!!  If you are not familiar with Restaurant.com you must try!!! You can get the deal from the link below as well and then you just enter discount code "BITE" and hit apply to get your discount or you can get it through the Borders Perks page if you are a Borders Rewards member. Basically you buy the certificate for $2 (instead of $10) and then when you visit the restaurant you purchase $35 of food and you are only paying $10 +$2 certificate!!! Dan and I have used them and just bought a bunch more.

I love good deals and this is one you should check out!

Click here to go to Restaurant.com and get an 80% discount!

Hello Newport!

On Sunday Dan and I took a mini vaca to our most favorite Southern Cali spot- Crystal Cove in Newport Coast.  On this trip we brought Jersey and went for a run along the fabulous pathway that winds along the bluffs with the blue ocean crashing below.  It had rained really hard all day on Saturday so the sky was especially blue and beautiful!  The wild flowers are beginning to bloom and when we are here next month for out annual Newport trip during Spring Break the bluffs will be covered in yellow blooms.  I can't wait! 

 After our Newport run we had a picnic lunch on the bluffs and then headed down to Corona del Mar for a long walk along the bluffs there watching the sail boats coming out the harbor and dreaming about which unique beach house we would want to live in if we could.  This fairytale-ish one was my favorite.