Sorry for being MIA lately. Bryan and I have been very busy with work related things which has taken us away from our blogging and has kind of been a distraction from our waiting period. We continue to wait for our family - nothing new has been happening on the adoption front with the exception of all of our family and friends' generous donations to our coffee fundraiser. We have a long way to go, but we are closer than where we were yesterday.
We know that there is roughly a dozen of you out there reading our posts and we appreciate that you are following along. It's almost been a year now that we have been paper pregnant - can't believe that time flies so fast. Though we have been distracted by work, we continue to long for our little family to grow. So, please keep the prayers and well wishes coming. We'll keep on posting to our little family of followers and hopefully we'll be able to post some good news in the next coming year.
Thanks again everyone!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Just Love Coffee Fundraiser
Bryan and I are starting to get our fund raising ideas flowing. Many of you know that we love coffee, and appropriately named, Just Love Coffee Company is very generous in helping many adopting families out there raise funds to help them start their families. Please view our page and tell your friends and neighbors to order coffee. Just Love Coffee donates $5 dollars for every bag of coffee sold. So order your coffee today and drink up people! Everyone we know appreciates a good caffeine buzz.
http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheBarts
http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheBarts
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Positive Adoption Language (PAL)
I saw this the other day from Adoptive Families and from a different blog and wanted to share.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Is anybody out there?
We haven't blogged much lately for multiple reasons. One - we are in the waiting phase, which doesn't have a lot of action to it; and two - we aren't sure we have many followers, aside from the couple individuals we regularly speak to anyways. I'm just wondering...who are we blogging to?
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Time...Clocks....Calendars
The Waiting Game....part of adoption that most every adopting couple can commiserate with. "I can't imagine what that would be like." A statement I've heard from various people. It's really hard to explain what it's like. Some days are good...some days aren't so good. Though, a response like that is vague and doesn't really grasp what it's like. I contemplated how to explain the feelings associated with "waiting" and am going to go ahead and try to explain....at least from my point of view.
Imagine a clock and a calendar...sitting side by side. You'll notice that the clock is missing numbers; the calendar is missing days. Then, as if a cell replicating, the clock becomes two...the calendar as well. Except this time, one calendar is full and one clock is spinning. The other calendar is completely empty, the other clock is stopped.
I signify the full calendar and the spinning clock as one part of our lives. This calendar is full of work schedules, the gym, household chores, cooking, and spending time with friends.
The empty calendar and stopped clock signify the part of our lives that is uncertain, unknown, waiting to be filled.
Now imagine juggling the full calendar and the empty calendar. The full calendar keeps your mind off of the empty calendar....but then something triggers the empty calendar to fall....a young couple with a stroller, another holiday with the absence of a child's joyful squeals on Christmas morning, another birthday passed without being called mom or dad, the sound of a child's laughter. Suddenly, the only thing in your hands is the empty calendar and it seems that your full calendar exists without you...circling around you.....life is suddenly happening to everyone else but you.
This sometimes happens, where both the empty calendar and the full calendar are separated. But most of the time, the juggling subsides and we are able to exist in one calendar, one clock. But, like in the calendar and clock above, you'll notice that our calendar has some numbers that are missing. We continue our lives as it has always been....but something is missing in our lives...and we wait for it to be filled.
Imagine a clock and a calendar...sitting side by side. You'll notice that the clock is missing numbers; the calendar is missing days. Then, as if a cell replicating, the clock becomes two...the calendar as well. Except this time, one calendar is full and one clock is spinning. The other calendar is completely empty, the other clock is stopped.
I signify the full calendar and the spinning clock as one part of our lives. This calendar is full of work schedules, the gym, household chores, cooking, and spending time with friends.
The empty calendar and stopped clock signify the part of our lives that is uncertain, unknown, waiting to be filled.
Now imagine juggling the full calendar and the empty calendar. The full calendar keeps your mind off of the empty calendar....but then something triggers the empty calendar to fall....a young couple with a stroller, another holiday with the absence of a child's joyful squeals on Christmas morning, another birthday passed without being called mom or dad, the sound of a child's laughter. Suddenly, the only thing in your hands is the empty calendar and it seems that your full calendar exists without you...circling around you.....life is suddenly happening to everyone else but you.
This sometimes happens, where both the empty calendar and the full calendar are separated. But most of the time, the juggling subsides and we are able to exist in one calendar, one clock. But, like in the calendar and clock above, you'll notice that our calendar has some numbers that are missing. We continue our lives as it has always been....but something is missing in our lives...and we wait for it to be filled.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Positive Expectations
On Labor Day weekend, Bryan and I spent some time with our friends who have two little girls whom we adore. We met up with them in Maryland at a car show..and the first thing that our very intuitive friend asked us was, "You have good news, right?" And, I said..."Yes! We are expecting....we...are...paper pregnant!" One of her daughters looked up at us with a big smile, clapped her hands and said, "Baby!" and my response was "yes, we are praying for a baby". Her innocent and excited response is exactly how we feel at this point...except with a hint of surrealism as we don't have a definite time line.
The first time I heard the term "paper pregnant" was just a couple months ago and I had a mixed response as to what it really meant. Obviously it's not something we made up...and....it's not a technical phrase, but it is something that has been used among other adopting parents at this stage in the adoption. It basically means that at this point our profile is posted on our agency's website and the profile pages we put together are available for potential birth parents to look at. (I also kind of think the term can apply to the many many papers we had to fill out to get here...but that's just me)
So we are expecting to get a phone call at some point. Yay! Granted it may be less than 9 months or it could be more than 9 months that we are matched and become parents, it is still a fun and exciting milestone for us. Don't forget the added bonuses of being paper pregnant: I don't have to take prenatal vitamins, worry about morning sickness, weight gain and I can enjoy the occasional glass of wine. (see...there's always a silver lining)
Similarly to a pregnancy - this time will be full of ups and downs emotionally for us, though for different reasons, so we will continue to ask for your prayers and support. It is also going to be a good time for us to get some more fundraisers and possibly grant applications underway so we can take care of the large placement and lawyer fees when the time comes (stay tuned!). We aren't sure if we'll be getting updates from the agency as to if anyone has looked at our profile as I think they avoid disappointments as much as possible. We will be sure to keep the blog updated if we hear anything...and please feel free to ask us if you wish.
As of now we have positive expectations - and our faith is strong. We are happy to be at this point in our adoption process. Thanks for your support!
The first time I heard the term "paper pregnant" was just a couple months ago and I had a mixed response as to what it really meant. Obviously it's not something we made up...and....it's not a technical phrase, but it is something that has been used among other adopting parents at this stage in the adoption. It basically means that at this point our profile is posted on our agency's website and the profile pages we put together are available for potential birth parents to look at. (I also kind of think the term can apply to the many many papers we had to fill out to get here...but that's just me)
So we are expecting to get a phone call at some point. Yay! Granted it may be less than 9 months or it could be more than 9 months that we are matched and become parents, it is still a fun and exciting milestone for us. Don't forget the added bonuses of being paper pregnant: I don't have to take prenatal vitamins, worry about morning sickness, weight gain and I can enjoy the occasional glass of wine. (see...there's always a silver lining)
Similarly to a pregnancy - this time will be full of ups and downs emotionally for us, though for different reasons, so we will continue to ask for your prayers and support. It is also going to be a good time for us to get some more fundraisers and possibly grant applications underway so we can take care of the large placement and lawyer fees when the time comes (stay tuned!). We aren't sure if we'll be getting updates from the agency as to if anyone has looked at our profile as I think they avoid disappointments as much as possible. We will be sure to keep the blog updated if we hear anything...and please feel free to ask us if you wish.
As of now we have positive expectations - and our faith is strong. We are happy to be at this point in our adoption process. Thanks for your support!
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