If you guessed GIRL you are....

WRONG!!!

IT'S A BOY!!!!

"Baby Ro" has he is now called, is definitely a BOY! We got the call yesterday from our social worker. Unforutnatley BM couldn't talk to us yesterday, but we are hoping to talk with her today or tomorrow. But she told the social worker that she could go ahead and tell us. We are THRILLED!! Obviosuly we would be thrilled with either, but hearing the words its a boy makes it so much more definite and real! CRAZINESS!!! I'm going to be a MOM to a little BOY in just a few months!!!

All looked great in the ultrasound. Mom and baby look healthy-of course thats all we want! The only thing that is still up in the air is the due date. Due date may have now changed to the beginning of December vs. November 10th. Baby is measuring fine, but BM guessed on last MP, so she was a few weeks off. In reality we are bummed that we could potentially be waiting another few weeks to meet Baby Ro, but we are ok with having a few extra weeks to prepare...and baby will be here just in time for the Holidays! I can't think of a better present!

We are over the moon ecstatic!! This is the first grand baby on Mike's side and the first boy grandson on my side.

SO EXCITED!!

WEEK 29!!

Once again I'm in awe that baby will be here in around 11 weeks!! WHOA!!! Here is what baby is doing now:

WEEK 29:

How your baby's growing:Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

In Other exciting news-we get to talk to "E" again TOMORROW!! I'm so excited!! Now that my emotions are more under control I think I will be able to talk to her without crying-or actually sobbing!! I'm so excited to get to know her better and find out more about her so I can pass things on to Baby R. She had a dr. appt yesterday so I'm excited to hear all about that-and she also had her sonogram!! She wants to tell us what baby is so our social worker told her that she would wait and let her tell us tomorrow over the phone.

So Tomorrow is it!!! Please Vote along the side of the blog for your guess!!! :)

Week 28

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

WHOA! TIME FLIES!!

Life would be SO MUCH EASIER...IF

I remembered that I'm NOT in control-but GOD is!!! Seriously! Why don't I remember that-instead I just stress over things and worry about things that I have NO CONTROL OVER!!!

If there has been one thing I have realized more than ever before it is how incredibly blessed Mike and I are. I mean so INCREDIBLY BLESSED!!! We have the most amazing family and friends and we are continuously amazed at God's great works.

So let me start this part of the post with an update on Baby and our BM. BM is 27 weeks along...wow!!! SEEMS SO CRAZY! She has a dr. appt next week after that she will schedule her sonogram-and from there we will find out if Baby R is a boy or girl!! SO EXCITING!!! :)

Baby R is about the size of a head of cauliflower.

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

Now on to the miraculous works of GOD...who I owe so much to!!! When we got the call about Baby R we knew all about the costs that we were going to incur. We were fine with it and we had budgeted for that amount. I think over the weekend though it just hit me at how much money this adoption is really costing. BUT SO WORTH IT!! WE KNOW THAT!!!

We've been praying so much that we would come up with enough "Extra" money to pay for our travel expenses. (Being that the match happened so quick, we didn't have a lot of time to prepare and save anything additional). Yesterday while I'm at home and editing pictures my phone rings. A bride was calling to ask if I would shoot her wedding!!! While I have a lot of jobs booked between now and end of October, we were still going to come up short on travel. However, this one wedding will COVER OUR TRAVEL EXPENSES!!! GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!!

Than....it gets better :) We have been applying for grants. Any grant that we think we could qualify for-we apply for. On Thursday I turned in our first application. I heard from them right away-thanking them for my application. (in reality-We should be (And DID) be thanking them for even giving us the opportunity to even apply for a grant!) She said we fit the criteria and that she will be in touch with us after she gets back from a trip to discuss the grant further! WONDERFUL!! VERY PROMISING!!! Than this morning I get another call from a grant agency that we have applied for. She called me for a brief phone interview. She set up a face to face interview and said that we fit all qualifications perfectly and that they are excited to help us anyway they can!!! WONDERFULLY AMAZING!! AGAIN-GOD IS SOOOO GOOD!!!!!!

Now-on to my amazing family! Ok-so my family is SO EXCITED about this adoption! I mean seriously-SO EXCITED!!! I will say though-they don't know how much it is costing us. We have never come right out and said-mainly because its private information. They just know it's A LOT. And on top of the costs the travel is going to be a lot. So while talking with one of my sisters she offers us something wonderful. Here's the deal: They live about 5 hours from where Baby will be born. We have decided to fly to her-then her and her hubby are going to give us their car for 2 weeks along with their car seat and any other baby gear we need (since my neice has outgrown it)!!! THIS SAVES US ABOUT $1000!!! The car rental alone for 2 weeks was going to be between $600 and $800 plus gas! Plus my wonderful Brother in law-has offered to pay for gas from where they live to Baby R! SERIOUSLY! I HAVE THE MOST AMAZING FAMILY!!! Again-SO SO BLESSED!!!!

So again...if I would just remember that I'm not in control-but God is...I would be so much less stressed. And honestly-I have to say that since last Friday-my stress has decreased SO MUCH. I have offered it all up to God knowing that He will provide and that all will be well. God is truly good...amazing...and wonderful. He has truly blessed us and we are eternally greatful for his wonderous deeds!!!

I'M GOING TO BE A MOMMY!!!

HIS TIME HAS COME!!

Wow-my heart is truly full....with so many emotions. This week has been nothing short of amazing and stressful and nerve wracking.

This will get long-but I need to put everything down so I can look back and remember how this all happened.

On July 15th we had our last homestudy visit. We were told we were approved right away-but we had to wait for it to become official until we signed it and our social worker signed it etc. We get our homestudy via email sent to us last Monday-the 27th. We read it and make the few changes and sent it back-we were "officially" approved on the 29th.

On July 31st our SW called us and told us to look at the list of agencies she was sending us so that we could decide where we wanted the rest of our profiles sent to-since they work with so many agencies around the country. We decided on one and we mail our newly printed profile books to our agency on the 31st in the afternoon-she receives them Monday morning.

Monday Afternoon around noon our SW calls us with a "situation." Our profile fit the criteria for a BM-and she wanted to know if we wanted our profile shown. For personal reasons we decided not to. There was a lengthy list of medical issues with mom and mental issues as well, and as much as we wanted to say yes, we felt we would be selfish in doing so-because we knew that we couldn't provide for that baby in the future with the mental and medical issues that could arise. So after thinking and praying about it for 24 hours I called her back on Tuesday morning and told her no. We start talking about the agency we had chosen and she told us that the director of the agency was going to call us and give us all of the info we needed to officially make our decision.

Fast forward to noon on Tuesday-the director of our agency calls us. She informs me that another situation has come up this time with the agency we chose to have our profile books sent to. She gives us the background on mom and afer a lot of thinking and praying-we said YES! So we sent our profile book down via email to the agency-since BM was coming in sometime on Wednesday. I emailed the book down, get a phone call on Wednesday morning from SW at new agency stating BM is now not coming in until Thursday....all this time-I'm calm and thinking no biggie. We weren't getting our hopes up.

The SW with the new agency calls me Thursday morning and says BM is coming in Thursday afternoon to look at the books and she will call me after and let me know how it goes. My phone rang yesterday at about 2 pm...and my heart began to race. I will never forget those words!!! "Erin....this is Jennifer with ___________ I have some exciting news for you!! You have been chosen!" I immediately began crying. Sobbing actually. Than the SW started crying...so it was one big sob fest!! Good tears of course!! I told her I had to go home and find Mike and tell him. She asked me if we ever had any wishes of talking with BM. I said of course we'd love to...so she says-well she's still here...my response...oh you meant TODAY!?!? :)

So I went home....a sobbing mess and I told Mike...luckily not a far drive. I sobbed when I told him...than he sobbed....and we sobbed some more. SW called me back and said BM was there and if we wanted to she would put us on a conferece call. So we did....crying and all-we talked to her on the phone. She is TRULY AMAZING!! That's all I can say...AMAZING!!!

We talked to her for about 20 minutes on the phone and at the end she asked if I would be in the delivery room with her. WOW!! I TOLD YOU SHE WAS AMAZING!!! Of course through tears I said Yes-and that I would be honored. She asked if she could talk with us more on the phone before D Day-which is NOVEMBER 10th! We said of course! So we plan on talking with her many more times before then! And we are so excited to get to know her more!!!

GOD IS GOOD! AND HE HAS TRULY BLESSED US!!!!