A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Probably one of my favorite pictures of Grace. She loves to laugh and smile at me.

I was in the mall today shopping with Grace and this sweet little girl came up to me and asked to see my baby. I showed her Grace and she was just ooohing and aweing (of course). She kept coming up to me and asking to see her, hold her, and touch her. She was 5 and just the sweetest little thing. Then she asked me if Grace grew in my tummy. I know this is a normal question for 5 year olds to ask and I'm so happy that it didn't pain me one bit. I told this little girl that I adopted my daughter and that she grew in her birth mother's tummy and her birth mother gave her to me to be a mommy. This young girl's mom had actually thought about placing her daughter before she was born but with all the emotions surrounding pregnancy decided to parent her daughter. I was able to share my testimony of adoption with this mother and her sweet daughter and let her know how wonderful open adoption is and how grateful I am for Grace's birth parents. It was such a sweet moment for me. I am normally a shy person around strangers but I can go on for hours with anyone about adoption and the joy it has brought into my life.

Grace is growing so much. She weighs 12 lbs, 1 oz and 25.5 inches long. She is almost always smiling and loves to laugh. She is very opinionated at 3 months and knows exactly what she likes and doesn't like. I've used this to my advantage when we go shopping and have her pick out her own clothes. She will coo at things she likes and scowl at things she doesn't. She loves being held and loves to see the world. One of her favorite times of the day is story time and she loves to hold my hand and help me turn the pages. She loves when I sing to her. She is starting to tolerate bath time but still does not like being naked after bath time. She hates falling asleep and would stay up all day long if I would let her. She loves her daddy and will just giggle and coo at him, even when she is supposed to be eating. :) She brings so much joy and laughter into our house. She was sleeping one day and I walked into her room and stared at her and saw a flash of what she would look like as a little girl. I saw her dark hair surrounding her sweet face and was overcome with emotion. I feel so blessed and humbled that I was chosen to be her mother. We pray daily for her birth parents and thank our Heavenly Father for sending them to us.

I feel prompted to say this so I will. :) We are hoping to add to our family again through adoption. We have our adoption blog and if any of you know any expectant mothers who are thinking of an adoption plan, we would love to speak to them. We want as many children as Heavenly Father has in store for us and know that our friends and family can guide us to them.

Dancing Gracie

We had just finished bath time and lotion time. Grace HATES getting lotioned up (well, more she hates being cold) so I turn on music and sing to her and she stays happier. Well this song came on and immediately she started dancing. I grabbed the camera and this is what I got. :) It's a long video but my favorite part is at the end when the song changes and immediately she gets a pouty face. :)

Then and Now

Grace has been in our home for 3 whole months. I can't believe how fast time has gone by! She used to be this tiny little thing

And now she is smiling, laughing, cooing, and moving around like crazy.

I am so happy I get to be her mom. Every little milestone just brings a happy tear to my eye. It also makes me remember her sweet birth parents and the loving sacrifice they did for her. She is the light of my life and I love her more than words could ever describe. And my how she has grown! :)

Cold Risotto

Here is a great story that a WONDERFUL birth mom came up with. Her name is Jill and she placed her baby Roo last year. She is a great writer, a wonderful adoption advocate, and just an all around great person. You can find her blog here. Hope you enjoy her story as much as I did. Thanks Jill!

Today, I have a story for you. It's made-up but I think it's a good story. I promise there's a point to it. Here it goes. (My sincerest apologies if your name happens to be Susan. It's a lovely name.)

Once upon a time, a woman - let's call her Susan - went to a restaurant. Susan was very, very hungry. Some people might have thought she was stupid to go to a restaurant when most people cook for themselves, but that was Susan's business, not theirs, and for one reason or other, Susan was going to a restaurant for dinner.

Susan's waitress was very friendly right off the bat. She made Susan feel welcome and kept her water glass full and took her order and promised it would be out shortly. Excited and, as I said, very hungry, Susan eagerly awaited her risotto. She was so hungry, she thought this risotto was going to be the best thing in the world. As she waited, she had visions of risotto dancing in her head and all she could think of was how happy she'd be once the waitress brought out her dish.

Some time passed, and suddenly the waitress was getting as crabby as Susan was. Finally, after half an hour or more, the waitress slammed down a dish of cold risotto and the bill and stalked away. Susan was stunned. And the risotto, in addition to being rather cold, was quite possibly the most disgusting dish of risotto ever served in the history of food.

Susan was, understandably, appalled. She complained to management. The manager was appalled as well, and tried to explain things. Shortly after Susan's order had been placed, the chef quit. The waitress received a phone call from her boyfriend, who dumped her - on the phone, and while she was at work! The manager assured Susan that her dinner was an exception, not the norm. This was a top-notch restaurant with a good reputation. He offered to comp the dinner and pushed a gift card at Susan in the hopes that she would give them another try and see that their restaurant was not as bad as all that.

But Susan was unable to get past her cold risotto experience. She told every person she knew about it. She blogged about what a horrible restaurant it was, and how no one should ever eat there. When people mentioned to her that they'd eaten there and had a lovely time, she railed at them that they must be stupid not to see what a terrible restaurant it was, and she harassed those people repeatedly and with great force about what a bad decision they'd made. She ridiculed them for their naiveté. She found their personal blogs and left numerous comments about what idiots they were to even consider eating at that restaurant again. In Susan's opinion, this restaurant should be closed down immediately and not allowed to open again until changes were made to ensure that no one would ever be served cold risotto again - in fact, they shouldn't even serve risotto. Susan decided to make it her life's work to speak out against the restaurant, and she couldn't understand why the whole world didn't join in her crusade.

Now, you're probably wondering why on earth I am blathering on about snippy Susan and her cold risotto. Susan sounds like a real piece of work, doesn't she? Because really, who could have such an ego as to assume that if they had a bad experience somewhere, no one else should even consider that place?

Let's change the subject for a second, and then I'll get back to Susan.

Sorry, that's a terrible segue. Here's a better one.



That is an awesome Segway.


Anyway.


I have a great experience with adoption. I think it's wonderful. I might not tell the entire world to eat at this restaurant called adoption, but if I knew someone was hungry and didn't know where to eat, I would certainly tell them to consider eating there. I would tell them about my experience so they would know that, even though it serves up the occasional dish of cold risotto, eating out isn't a hazardous thing. It can be, but it doesn't have to be.

But I have noticed that there are a number of Susans in the adoption world - on-line, in any case, and they are just as snippy and unyielding and very much against the institution that they feel wronged them so much. They got cold risotto. And that's not fair, and I won't argue that point. What I take exception to is these Susans (allow me to apologize if your name happens to be Susan) who go on-line and tell hungry people that they need to learn how to cook because restaurants are inherently wrong. I don't like hungry people being told they're going to get food poisoning if they eat out.

You know what? I can't stop these people. I know there are people out there for whom adoption has not been a good thing. I feel sorry for them. The things that have happened to some people are unfair, wrong, and shouldn't happen to anyone. But I get tired of them insisting that adoption is a bad thing, refusing to believe that it can be an amazing and wonderful thing, simply because it wasn't for them.

Adoption was the best thing in the world for my little Roo. It was the best thing in the world for my mother. And it was the best thing in the world for probably close to 100 little children I can think of just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are countless others for whom it was also the best. We're all happy with our risotto. We are proof that the restaurant isn't a bad place, that the risotto isn't always cold and that, just the opposite, it's frequently the best dish on the menu.

Susan's risotto was bad, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let her tell me that my risotto was a mistake and that I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life and that I "lost" my appetite to risotto.

For every horrible, traumatic, food-poisoning story you hear about adoption, there are probably ten thousand stories or the best dinner ever that no one ever tells. Cold risotto makes for good news. A cozy family meal interests no one.

Is adoption always the right, best, most wonderful thing in the world? Nope. Because it involves people, and people are imperfect. But I think each hungry person should be able to decide for him- or herself how best to have dinner.

Fives

5 categories and 5 answers (not counting the tag)

Favorite TV Shows:
1: Glee
2: Bones
3: So You Think You Can Dance
4: Veronica Mars
5: Gilmore Girls

Favorite Foods:
1: Guacamole
2: Veggie Pizza
3: Spaghetti
4: Kettle cooked chips Salt n Vinegar
5: Crunchy peanut butter on pretty much anything

Favorite Movies:
1: Harry Potter
2: Eclipse (seriously loved it)
3: Star Trek (hate the tv show, love the newest movie)
4: Avatar
5: Juno

Pet Peeves:
1: People who use the wrong adoption language. My daughter was Placed in our home, not given up or given away. Vent over. :)
2: People who drive in the fast lane and don't drive fast
3: People who use their phones, do their makeup or smoke, all while driving - even worse if there are kids in the car
4: People who are late. If a party starts at 7, be there at 7.
5: People who ask me where I get my protein if I don't eat meat. Where do you get your vitamins if you don't eat enough veggies?

(I'm really whiny today. I blame it on the hormones.)

Looking forward to:
1: Grace's adoption being final

2: Having Grace sealed to us in the temple
3: Disneyland Challenge in September
4: Christmas and being with my whole family
5: Bringing more kids into our family through adoption

I'm typing all of this one handed because I finally got Grace to sleep, in my arms. :) Not going to tag anyone because I'm lazy but if you do it, great! Message me so I can read it!