Monica281

Congrats to Steven and Becky! What a roller-coaster it has been but it led you right to where you needed to be!

Thanks for posting this Mari! I have tried to follow the advice of my mom, who had lots of regret about spending more time doing laundry or making sure the house was spotless than spending time doing some of the little things. I try to remind myself when there are toys strung all across the house or there are dishes in the sink that I can do them later because one day in the not so distant future I am going to long for the extra work because my babies won't be babies anymore and won't want all this time with me any longer.

Melissa, I want you to know that you are not alone in your feelings! I was amazed that the second time around was stressful in ways that I had not anticipated. I had set myself up for it won't be as stressful this time because I/we have Garrett to take our minds off the wait but that was unrealistic. He of course was a distraction some of the time but I still would allow and let my mind wonder to the possibility that we wouldn't be chosen because either we were two old or because we were already parenting. It became harder after each phone call that we had and would later find out that we were not chosen for whatever reason, I think we spoke or were presented with like 15 possibilites. It was HARD! I think being a PIW pre match has its own set of stress and anxieties that are different than when you are a PIW but matched. Once you are matched you can't help but worry about if the match doesn't work out. I think that having been through infertility it is just natural to doubt that your dreams will come true, especially after so much disappointment month after month or year after year for many of us. With Garrett's adoption I was so afraid of the match falling through that I didn't tell many people and I didn't want to talk about it. I was just so scared of being hurt. I wish now that I had enjoyed it a little more and had shared our journey. I don't think many people outside the adoption community really know how it feels so it is great that we all have this place that we feel safe to be able to vent our frustrations and have the support we need to pick ourselves up. With all that being said I hope you know and can feel how many people are right along with you on this roller coaster of emotions and we can't wait to celebrate with you when you become a family of four!!

It is just such a wonderful photo, and y'all's relationship is such an inspiration for other adoptive and birthfamilies!! I agree, it is heartwarming!,

Love Schlitterbahn!! Can't wait to follow you on this exciting journey!!

Welcome to the world beautiful boy!!!! Congrats to all who love Grant!!!

Prayers for this precious new bundle and his entire family.

Sending prayers and positive thoughts your way!!

I also wanted to add the reasons why we chose Abrazo: 1. The Forum 2. The Orientation - We have made life long friendships from both of our orientation groups 3. Camp Abrazo - We have attended the last four years 4. What Abrazo stands for

Hi Katie and Matt, it is great to see you already asking questions on the forum, which also happens to be a big reason we signed on with them. I loved having so much information at my finger tips! We found them and sent in our Inquiry in March 2009, we went to Orientation in June 2009, matched in October 2009 and our son was born at the end of November 2009. Our second journey was very different. We sent in our Application in July 2012, attended Orientation in August 2012 and our Daughter was born in February 2013. She was what the agency refers to as a BOG ( Baby on the ground) meaning that her birth mom had not made an adoption plan prior to her birth. We received THE call on Saturday morning and we met our beautiful daughter that night, she was two days old. Each of the stories you will hear will be completely different, some with more bumps along the way but everyone will now tell you it was worth the ride!! We never had a failed match. We have open adoptions with both of our children.

Thanks Mari, I will check it out!

Welcome to the forum Katie and Matt! We look forward to following you on your journey to parenthood!! I agree make yourself at home on the forum and look around, there is LOTS of great information on here!

Congratulations on the arrival of Gus!!

So very sad, prayers for all who loved her.

Welcome to the world Charlotte! You are one loved baby girl! Congrats to all who love her!!

How special Leah!

I agree, you and Lauranda spoke to our orientation group in June 2009 and along with the other first moms and dad that spoke made such a lasting impression on why it is so important to keep the relationships open for our children. Thank you for everything you do here on the forum!!

It's called "I'n a Big Brother!" "Soy el hermano mayor" by Ronne Randall (Parragon Books) If you can't find it let me know and I'll ask my cousin where she found it. I thought of Hannah when I read it because the older brother in the story is named Luke.

We have received several Big Brother books as gifts, one was in English and Spanish which I thought was neat.

Congrats!!!

Will keep this family and all who loved her in my prayers.

When we adopted Garrett I was working for a very large bank and they also did/do not offer paid maternity leave, you can take your vacation time and your unused sick time but after that any time would have been unpaid and that is regardless of if you are adopting or giving birth. I am no longer working and haven't since Garrett's birth so it wasn't an issue this time with Madelyn's placement. We did make it work the first time, although it would have been nice to have had that time off paid.

So happy to read the official announcement! We are so excited for you, Chris and big sis Mikayla!! We can't wait to meet him! Prayers for everyone who already loves this little baby!!

So very sad!

Mari, the pictures are beautiful! Thank you again for sharing so much with us!