TexasFamily

Mari, Thanks for your lovely wisdom. My mom worked outside the home while I was growing up and she was awesome about letting my friends hang out, etc. We would build tents, play basketball and my Mom would always have snacks for everyone. Alexander is almost 2 and he is so independent. He does not want to be carried everywhere anymore. I already miss being able to carry him. He still gives lots of kisses and cuddles but he is growing up so fast!

Steven and Becky- What a lovely announcement. Congratulations on becoming a family of 5!

I love this quote.

What a wonderful quote.

Congratulations to the newest family of 3!

I love the pictures!

I love Schlitterbahn! I am not a big amusement park fan but I love water parks. I'm looking forward to following y'all's journey to parenthood.

Mari, That is wonderful! I love the gorgeous relationship all of you have.

Congrats to the newest family of 4!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your family. Please know I'm still thinking and praying for you.

I'm praying for you and sending good thoughts your way. Leah x

Tim, We could not agree more. Leah

Congratulations to all who adore this little boy!

Prayers for her family during this time.

Yea!!! So glad that all of the finals are over. Best wishes for he summer sessions. I always enjoyed those more when I was in school.

Yea, for the last final!!! I know you and her will both be relieved when this semester is done. I think y'all make a great team! I'm cheering Lauranda on from the side-lines. Also, I like the reminder you have on your phone

What a wonderful post. I find often that I'm more concerned about everything and everyone around me than I am for myself. I try often to change that but it is hard. My Mom asked me on Mother's day to work on this. She said she was concerned for me because the last few months at work have been crazy and she knows that I'm feeling overwhelmed. I'm sending prayers to you and your daugther. Please let us know how her finals go. Leah x

Not too sure if this is where to post this but I wanted to share. Alexander is loved by so many people. Our parents love him to bits! He loves going to their houses for a visit and he loves when Kevin parents are in from Scotland. I adored my Grandparents. They loved and supported all of their grandkids. They came to our concerts, our sporting events, our recitals and took us for ice cream when our report cards came out. Alexander is named after our Grandfathers (Alexander-Kevin's Grandpa's first name, Brown was my Grandad's last name). My Dad decided last year he wanted to honor his parents through a scholarship fund set-up at our old high school (My parents graduated from there and so did me and all of my siblings). My Grandparents believed in higher education a great deal. They were not able to help my Dad monetarily but they supported him through love, prayer and encouragement. Here's what my Dad sent me this morning. I will admit that I got chocked up reading it. As I really do think my Grandparents are my angels. Just got a call from the High school. John will be the First recipient of the Frances and Joseph Adams Hispanic Scholarship $1,000 Award. He is in all advanced classes and activities. The guidelines for the award scholarship goes to the Hispanic with the Highest GPA. The Scholarship ceremony is May 23 and Elissa will be presenting the award. John is Hispanic and He is Adopted I think this is Grandma and Popo blessing Alexander and giving their love to both of you for adopting Alexander and being wonderful and loving parents!!!

Congrats to the newest family of 3!

Welcome, Baby Alex!

Sending prayers for Kay's family.

Congrats to the newest family of 4!!!

Scott and Bridgett- Thanks for y'alls comments. Kevin and I both work for the same company. It's a very large company and I knew when I went to work there 6 years ago about their adoption leave policy (there is none). I was told it was a policy that they were reviewing and I was really hoping they would have changed it prior to 2011 but they still have not. When I graduated from Grad school in 2005, I looked at several companies and that was one of the things I looked at. They do have a $5k benefit for legal expenses, etc but that is per child and not per employee. So many people were not aware of the policy. When they asked why I was taking 4 months of unpaid leave they did not know why. I explained to them and they were shocked. I will say, I was a little disappointed because the company we work for is progressive in several other ways but in this area they are not. I do get a little pissed when people say, well at least you can afford to take the 4 months off, at least you received some type of benefit, etc. All we wanted was to be treated like the rest and have 6 weeks of paid leave. I would have gladly taken the other 10 weeks without pay, no problem. Yes, I was grateful for being able to take time off and that we were able to receive the legal fee benefit from the company, etc but sometimes I really wish people could be a wee bit more compassionate. Leah

Perhaps the propriety of birthparent financial support, adoption fundraising and/or adoption subsidy lies in the eye of the beholder. The problem, though, is that ultimately, it matters not whether the birthparent or adoptive parent can justify their financial decisions (what they paid, what they collected) but rather, how the child involved comes to perceive it? The above is very true. That is why when people questions how much we paid, I no longer answer. The only person we have to answer to is our son. We know that his adoption was handled in a ethical manner. We did not fundraise and we did not request donations but I also do not begrudge people that do. Adoption is a expensive process.

Ellen, Thank you so much for your comments. We've had a few people make comments to us about the cost of adoption and why we did not go through the state, etc and why should WE be able to afford the fees. I used to feel like I had to justify our reasons, etc but now I don't.