We are in circulation!!!

We are so excited that we are in circulation!  That means that, at any moment, we could get a phone call or email from a birthmother.  We are so excited to start a family and to meet someone who will become a part of our extended family.  I carry my phone with me everywhere, just hoping that it will ring!

Dear Birthmother Letter approved!!!

Our Dear Birthmother has been officially approved.  The copies are ordered and will arrive on November 7.  As of later today, all other paperwork will be in.  That means that in just a matter of days, we will be officially in the pool and we could make a match at any time.  The average time from joining the pool to match is 14.8 months, so we are still probably in for a long wait, but we are excited that any time my phone rings, we could be meeting the mother of our child!  We cannot wait to be parents and to get to know the mother that will become so important to us.

My adoption

As we get closer to getting into adoption circulation, my mom decided to send over a picture of my own adoption.  This really caused me to  think about what my adoption has meant to me.  I have always known that I was adopted.  My parents made it clear to me that they wanted a little girl.  My mom always tells the story of how she was so excited when she got the call that she dropped the pan of chicken that she was making on the ground.  I understood that I was loved and that I was chosen, even if I didn't quite understand it.  In my head, I thought that I was in a little cage like a pet store and that my parents chose me from there.  Regardless of how I came into the family, I knew that I was glad to be a part of it.

Check it out.  My parents in all of their 70's glory on my adoption day.

My adoption was closed.  I did not have the opportunity to meet my birth mother until I was twenty.  I will never be able to meet my birth father.  When I grew up, I wasn't able to know why I was placed for adoption or anything about my past.  Whenever a teacher asked for my ethnic background or my doctor asked for my medical history, I didn't have any answers.  When I was twenty, I was allowed to search with my parents' permission.  My mom understood that I wasn't looking to replace them, but because I really wanted to know more about who I was and where I came from.  She said, "Laura, you can never have too many people who love you."  When I met my birthmother, Cheryl, I learned that she had spent her whole life wondering if I was okay.  She carried around guilt that I was angry at her (I wasn't).  It upset me to learn that she was feeling guilt that she didn't need to feel.  I was okay.  I love my parents.  I wish that I could have told her that many years earlier. 

This experience makes me so supportive of the idea of open adoption.  My future child can never have too many people that love him/her.  I really look forward to expanding our family and friends to include our child's birthparents.  I think it is best for the birthparent, me, and most importantly, for my future child.

Oktoberfest fundraiser

Yesterday we had a fundraiser to help bring our future child one step closer to home.  We had a backyard Oktoberfest, and had a lot of fun grilling up some brats and spending time with our friends and family.  It was overwhelming to discover how many friends and family members were excited about us becoming parents and would support us throughout the journey!

Beth, Jenny, and I in Oktoberfest spirit!

Scott makes a "pretty" Oktoberfest maiden!

Esteban grilling up the brats

Kaylin and I showed up in "twin shirts"

We have a niece!!!

On Thursday, our first niece, Alejandra, was born.  We are so excited to be a part of her life and spoil her rotten.  Welcome to the Saldana family!  We hope to give her a little cousin soon to play with.

Our Home

Esteban and I searched for a great home to raise our family in a few years ago.  Our home has been decorated with love and we are just waiting to fill it with a special child and start our family.  Now, whenever I look around the house, I imagine how we will spend it with our family.

This is our front yard.  There are a lot of kids in our neighborhood.  I imagine sitting in the front yard watching our child playing with the neighborhood kids.  We are talking about adding a front patio for when that day comes.

This is our kitchen.  Esteban loves to cook.  He is looking forward to teaching our child how to make pizza and help with dinner.  Laura is looking forward to decorating holiday cookies with her children using the family recipes.

This is our dining room.  There are so many windows, making it bright and airy.  I can picture family dinners sitting around the table talking about what we learned at school.  We can also imagine spending family game nights around this table.

This is the guest room.  It will become the baby's room one day.  We can hardly wait to read our child stories here.

This is our office.  We are both teachers, so we are looking forward to helping our child with their homework here. 

This is our living room.  Laura and Esteban both have fond memories of family movie nights.  We are excited to snuggle up on the couch to spend Friday nights together.

This is the mantle that we built.  We painted it, sewed the curtains, and built the mantle and shelves.  We both have long-time family holiday traditions.  We can imagine this mantle with the family's stocking hung here.

Esteban and his dad built this patio cover.  We love eating outdoors and spending time in the backyard with our dogs. We can hardly wait until we have kids around to chase the dogs around the grass.

This is about half of our yard.  We can imagine playing catch and blowing bubbles on the grass.