Home...

Our little guy is home, as of late last night.   He is amazingly handsome, with a head of dark hair and a button nose.   Being a parent is just incredible, and God has truly answered our prayers.   It honestly couldn't feel any more right than this.   My eyes well up every time I see my husband hold our baby boy, and it is wonderous to experience a sight that I was beginning to think I'd never, ever see...

Soooo, I've been thinking a lot about this blog and have decided it's time to wrap this one up.   This blog was about a journey that has now ended, which marks the start of another.   I will be creating a new blog soon, but I won't be linking to it for privacy reasons.   Plus, I wouldn't want fellow IF'ers to stumble across my blog, only to have the surprise of it now being a "family" blog.  

If you are interested in reading about my new journey, please email me at chelcacc@gmail.com and I will send you the link to the new one.

P.S. My dear friend Kris, who has been dealing with IF for a little while longer than me, wrote this beautiful allegory about my journey. She is such a talented and creative writer, and captures the essence of my experience so well. Thanks for writing this Kris, it really touched me!!

A little more news...

Thanks for all the heartfelt comments - I was soo touched reading them.   I still can't believe this is all happening.   It really feels like a dream...

So here are a little more details.   We were matched through a friend of the family - not our agency.   It happened really really fast, as the birthmom made her final decision about two weeks ago that she'd like us to be the adoptive parents.   We have a very open relationship wtih her and bonded with her very quickly.   She is an amazing woman who is extremely thoughtful, loving and wise.

We have been so blown away by our friends and families overwhelming support, enthusiasm and love!!   A group of our friends threw us an "asian" themed co-ed shower this past Saturday.   It was an amazing party planned in just a week's time...   Today, we are going to a luncheon hosted by some of Kyle's co-workers   This Saturday, there is another shower, this time it's "women-only" with my family and friends.   All this busy-ness is helping ease my anxious and excited mind as the due date fast approaches.

The little guy is due very very soon!! I will keep you all posted...

Breaking the silence...

There's a reason I haven't posted in quite awhile.   I've been a little wary about blogging about it because I still can't believe this is actually happening.... but, after *gulp* almost seven years of trying and praying for a child, we've.... been....... matched..........

We are just overjoyed and thrilled!!!   I cannot even begin to describe the overwhelming emotions we are feeling..... this truly is heaven-sent.

Oh, yeah and the baby is due in a little under a week and a half!!!   And, he is a boy...... :)

Konnichiwa

We're back from Japan.   I can describe our trip in one little word: AMAZING.   We did so many incredible things on the trip: visited 10 temples and shrines, had box seats at the sumo wrestling tournament, attended a geisha theatre performance, participated in a tea ceremony, were spectators for the Hollyhock festival/parade.   And, the sushi there was just melt-in-your mouth: we even had "breakfast" sushi at one of the restaurants in the complex next to the fish market.   I never thought I'd want to eat sushi at 7:45 am, but it honestly was heaven!!   I can't say enough about the people there - I actually had an older woman at the train station give me a present (a small charm) and both of our neighbors at the sumo tournament shared food with us (big wrapped rice crackers and ice cream sandwich sort of snack).   Seriously, the hospitality we were shown just blew me away.  . I also can't get over how clean Japan is - we actually witnessed someone vaccuuming the sidewalk in front of his shop one morning!!

And, I got my "Lost in Translation" fix by going to a lot of the sites in the movie: the Park Hyatt bar, the stepping stones at Heian Shrine, the crosswalk at Shibuya.   It was so cool to actually be at these places I've seen in one of my favorite films...

I'm still fighting jet lag a bit so I'll wrap this up for now, but let's just say I would recommend Japan to anyone.   There is so much history there, and it was so cool to go out of our "comfort" zone and try all these new foods and experiences.   I would go back in a heartbeat...

Homebrew doggie....

This is Kafka's new kibble. We have been making it ever since the pet food scare first happened and we learned that our so-called trusty brand does inhumane tests on animals. Last night's entree included scrambled eggs, tuna, brown rice, baby carrots & organic green beans.

We interchange the meats with ground chicken and beef and use the tuna when we run out of those but Kafka does not seem to care either way! And we supplement his food with a multi-vitamin pet tab and fish oil for Omega 3's. He absolutely loves this new way of eating - I think it's because he believes he is finally getting his share of the people food :)


Kafka gets super excited about his dinner and starts howling if we don't fix it fast enough...



His second favorite activity after eating is lounging in the sun!

It's hard to believe he will be 14 this year!!!