Adoption Update

I adore this quote.

So what's been happening on the adoption front here?

Well, we haven't got that big call yet unfortunately. I must admit, I thought there was a good chance we would get that call by now, but that's okay. Great things take time. I keep in touch with our worker as much as I can.. and probably more than she'd like.  She keeps reassuring me that things are happening and it could be soon or it could still be a while. Which, to be completely honest, it's a bit frustrating to hear the same thing with every call, but I know it's her job and she really can't tell me things even if she knows something is about to happen. I feel like I hang on to every word she says like I can decipher some clues as to what might be happening behind the scenes.  But alas, I'm no Sherlock Holmes. She has reassured me that our names are popping up frequently and on the last phone call she told me that she didn't think it would be too long. So here's to hoping for great news soon!

So, until we get that special phone call, I will just keep preparing the best way that I can.

Speaking of preparing...

I've been nesting like a crazy lady. Did I mention that? Oh yes, total crazy lady right here. To say it has it's complications is a total understatement because I so want to be completely prepared here but our very unique situation makes it nearly impossible. Do I need a crib? Maybe, maybe not. Diapers? Maybe, maybe not. Forget buying clothes because I have no clue what age, size, or gender our future kiddies will be or if we will adopt one or multiples. So any suggestions that is useful for this situation is welcomed! Seriously!

It took some major brainstorming, but alas, I've bought anything I can think of that I might need in any general circumstance. I've bought toddler/baby toothbrushes, toothpastes, thermometer, kid storage bowls, plates, hooded towels, baby wash, bath toys, sippy cups, etc. I've also been collecting LOADS of books over the last several months. A few friends/family have very generously gifted some really great books for our future kids as well which makes my heart melt! We will need to build a small library by the time we get that call and I'm pretty okay with that.

A not-so-small online haul of kiddie essentials. Lord help me.

We have also bought a few fun toys for the kids, but, again, its sort of hard to do because we don't know them yet or know what they will like. So we've bought things like megablocks, wooden puzzles, kid friendly art supplies, the cutest circus tent in the world, and the biggest thing is the giant kid kitchen. Which, we actually found second hand and got a wicked deal on. I'm very proud of that.  We've tried to think of things that we can use to play with them and engage with them.

Tobey checking out the kitchen.

No Tobey that is not your tent, but nice try.

Also, my mom and I handmade them blankets to have as their first gift to have before they move here. Something to keep them snuggly warm at night.

This is a perfect example of my crazy lady nesting ways. I just got it in my head one day that my kids needed handmade blankets for some reason and it became very important. So I called my mom and asked her if she would be up for making some blankets because she's got amazing sewing skills and I do not. She was excited to do it. I know making blankets take time so I decided to take it upon myself to give crocheting a blanket a try as well. Because why not?  First of all, I really didn't even know how to crochet other than my sad attempt at a not-so-good looking scarf in my college days. My skills were total crap. But with the help of YouTube and Google, I managed to work away at a couple blankets and complete them successfully. They look pretty cute if I do say so myself! I am very proud! Mom's blankets turned out awesome too!

Here are some pictures. The first two are the two I crocheted and the last two are the super soft blankets my momma made.

 

The cute edge :) And yes, I made this believe it or not!

Now to be completely honest, sometimes I feel a little weird that I have bought so much stuff for kids we don't even have yet.. or know and maybe that is a bit strange, but it's the only thing I can do right now to prepare to meet them. When I am able to get stuff for them, I feel this huge sense of gratification and it makes it feel real.. like it WILL happen because, honestly, it doesn't always feel that way. It really doesn't. One day it will be real though. We just don't know when that will be. One thing is for sure though and that is that those kid/s will be loved more than anything in the whole world.

So for now, I will keep preparing the best way that I can and wait for the day that it does become real and we have our little family.

Sending my love to all the future adoptive mamas out there!

Happy Birthday Mr. Matt

 

This blog post is dedicated to my amazing husband, Matt, without whom I would not be the person I am today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to you my wonderful husband!

 

There aren't enough words I could say to describe how wonderful you truly are.

 

He is the first one to offer to help friends and family when they need it. He is kind, generous, extremely hardworking, loving, understanding, and absolutely brilliant with an incredible sense of humor. Oh does that man make me laugh. Friends & family, you know what I exactly mean.

 

So today I want to tell a couple short stories about the generosity of this man because he has never wanted credit for doing things for others. He has always said that's like celebrities donating to a cause and then telling the world how wonderful they are for doing that. He doesn't do things to selfishly make himself look good. He does them because he is genuinely a generous person who loves to help... however secretly it is.

 

When I first moved up here, I was having a hard time being away from friends and family. I was completely homesick. Matt, not even thinking twice, asked me what friend did I need to see to help with homesickness and he quickly booked a plane ticket for them to come up and visit. Just for me. Now that the years have gone by, there have been several more plane tickets bought for family/friends to visit us, but it was really his way of bringing home up to me. I can never really express how much that meant to me during those times. It just made me love him even more.

 

I will also never forget a few years ago, when there was a dark period in my family and my baby sister was supposed to head off to school in Maryland. Because of the things going on, no one knew how she was going to get there all the way from Indiana. Matt, not even budging, started pricing out rental cars for us (because we didn't trust my little car at that time) and we started to map out how we were going to swing this because we weren't going to let the things going on in our family stop my little sis from going to university. So we, or Matt actually, drove from Canada to Indiana to Maryland and back. Which is a very, very long trek, but in the end my sister made it to school and that's what mattered. Fortunately, by the time we reached Indiana, my parents decided to help too, so it all worked out. The fact that he was so quick to jump in to help make sure my little sister got to university is just a prime example of what a great guy he is. I can't thank him enough.

 

Lastly, I cannot even explain the depth of how supportive he has been throughout our very long and emotional journey to start our family. He has been my rock and pillar of strength. Always keeping his wonderful humor throughout the process and ready to do whatever it takes. He is going to be the best dad and our future children hit the jackpot for the father and role model they will have in their life. I can't express how much your love & support means to me. I love you to the moon babe!

 

He is probably going to kill me for posting some of the wonderful things he's done because he likes to do them secretly and selflessly without telling the world. But I think the world deserves to know what an amazing guy he is and just a few of the many generous things he does. It's just the tip of the iceberg in the great things he's done.

 

I love you and Happy Birthday Handsome!

 

Don't kill me for posting some goofy pictures hahaha!

 

 

Beautiful smile :)

Cute as a button.

 

Shower cap to protect all that hair.

 

Merry Christmas. Santa likes BBQ & Beer.

Ice skating with Tobey

 

 

Love you! Have a great day!

 

 

Story Of Our Playset

A few months ago, Matt was on a job doing some excavating for a nice family in town and they got talking about us and how we were going through the adoption process. He said that they were so interested, supportive of adoption, and explained how they had one child who was getting too old for the playset that they had in their yard. So, after hearing about our plans to adopt they kindly offered to give us the playset for free if we would like it.

Now, funny thing was, that week I was hunting high and low for something similar to put in our backyard just to be ready for when we have kids and Matt knew it. He told them, "Wow, thank you! You just made my wife's day!" He text me a picture of this cute playset and I was ecstatic!

So a few weeks later, a group of friends helped us take apart and move this playset to our house. Matt put it back together and I ended up giving the nice family that so sweetly gave us the playset  a discount on the work we did there because those kind acts don't go unnoticed by us and I wanted to do a little something in return.

It's kind acts like this that really move me. When we first started the process, classes educated us on how some people don't understand adoption, may tell your children that we aren't their "real" parents, and that there would be obstacles. And while I'm sure that there will be hurdles and times that people will get under my skin, throughout this whole process so far we've been met with nothing but love and support for adoption.  From our customers donating a beautiful playset to even the regular lady at the grocery store checkout asking us if we've heard anything yet, we have only received kindness and for that I am extremely grateful.  You guys melt my heart!

So I just wanted to share this lovely story with everyone because it makes me so happy and thankful for all the support we have received!! I have nothing but gratitude :)

Here are some pictures of the awesome playset :) (Taken a few months ago.)

 

 Matt putting it back together

 

 

Tobey was curious too!

 

Matt trying out the rock wall haha.

 

 

 I was really trying to get Tobey to go down the slide and this was his look like "Mom, you won't be happy until I go down this silly slide will you?"

 

 

 

 

 

Tobey giving the slide a go!

 

 

 

 

Tobey and his "cousin" Andy trying out the slide :)

 

 

 

We love and it and can't wait to share it with our future family! But until then, Tobey is making good use of the slide :)

 

 

XO

 

 

My Very First Post

Oh boy here we go! Off to write my very first blog post! This adventure was inspired by my baby sister who writes a blog of her own from time to time that I quite enjoy reading so I thought why not?

First off,  a fair warning, you will have to bear with me as writing is not one of my stronger qualities (we will get to those in a second,) so please forgive me in advance for any grammar error or confusion you may have. I do apologize.

Now onto the blog.

I decided to title my blog "Love and Honesty" because they are my two strongest traits. Sometimes its a blessing and other times its a curse. For those of you who know me really well, you probably already know what I mean.

Love
If I love something, I love it a lot. Whether its my husband, family, chocolate, or a favorite beauty product. I just love it and will tell the world. I can already hear my loved ones echoing "Oh yes, yes she certainly does." I remember when I first moved to Canada and I was taking classes at a local college and the instructor made us all right down our qualities or anything interesting as sort of a break-the-ice type of assignment to read aloud in front of our classmates. I'm pretty sure I wrote down that my interesting quality is that I moved to Canada from the states because I honestly could not think of anything better. Interesting enough right? My instructor said "Krista, you are a PASSIONATE young woman that you moved countries for love. That is your quality." That is when I had that Aha moment that boy he was right.  Passionate describes me in nearly every aspect. This is a quality that I am quite proud to have because not everyone really knows how to love and care about others, so I am glad that its one of my better qualities.
Now the downfall is that I am protective over everyone that I care about. Which doesn't sound so bad right? Believe me it has gotten me into trouble a time or two.  And with the way things in my/my family's life has been these past couple years everyone has seen "Protective Krista" in full gear and I know its not always seen in the best light. I have this strong sense to look out for the ones I love and my sister Holli knows this first hand.  She calls me another mother figure in her life, but I like to think of myself as a very protective big sister. With everything she's been through the past few years, someone needed to look out for her when no one else did. I did the best I could from where I was and I don't regret any of it.

Honesty

This one is quite obvious. If you are a close friend of mine you know, oh boy do you know, that you will always know what I am thinking. I can't hide it as much as I might try believe it or not. I am absolutely THAT friend that will tell you those pants don't flatter you, do not buy them. Even if I don't say things out loud(you know trying to be nice,) my face always says it.  I get that crazy look in my eyes, start chewing my my bottom lip and you can see my head just spinning. My mind is working overtime. But on the other hand, being so honest can be a really good thing too because you never have to worry about me lying to you.
So if you are looking for a friend to bullsh*t with, oh dear I am just not that person.


I think that is it for my very first blog post! Hope you enjoyed it and maybe have a better understanding of who I am.

xoxo