This post is a little early but I wanted to get it posted before our marathon of Christmas parties start..


Jim, Logan and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! Thank you for all the love, support and prayers you have given us over the past year. We are so grateful to have such a great support system as we continue down this adoption journey.


If you have a few minutes, please listen to this beautiful song. It was written about a family waiting adopting a child from China. So to our future baby where ever you might be, we are wishing you a Merry Christmas.

Not only was yesterday Halloween but it was Jim's Birthday as well!!

Happy Birthday!!!

                                                                                        

We were fortunate enough to be able to attend one of the Cincinnati Reds baseball playoff games with my mom. This was a big deal for Logan, who is a HUGE Reds fan. Even though they lost, we had a blast!!!


  

Logan plays soccer for the Special Olympics and Jim helps coach. Their team came in first place in both tournaments they have played in so far (Jim will tell you it is because of his AWESOME coaching skills..lol). They will participate in the State Tournament this coming Saturday.

 Logan is also bowling for the Special Olympics. He participated in the regional tournament this past Saturday where he finished in 1st place in the singles competition for his group and 3rd place in the doubles competition.



Logan is involved in a youth group called Capernaum which is part of the Young Life Ministries. They held their annual fundraiser a couple of weeks ago where Jim and I hosted a table and Logan participated in the event. The theme was "Hero's". All the kids were asked to dress up as their favorite hero. When we asked Logan who his "Hero" was, he said his Dad. :) So Logan went as Jim to the banquet.

                                                

This past weekend Logan attending his very first homecoming dance as a big freshman in high school. He was very excited and he had a blast!!!

Jim and I also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday!! We celebrated a little early by going to the Melting Pot on Friday night (one of our favorite restaurants). On Sunday the 3 of us decided to spend the day at the zoo! It was a great weekend.

Please keep us in mind if you are looking to make an adoption plan or know someone who is.

SAM_0478

SAM_0478, a photo by jenkro on Flickr.

SAM_0455

SAM_0455, a photo by jenkro on Flickr.

SAM_0456

SAM_0456, a photo by jenkro on Flickr.

REDS GAME!!

SAM_0457

SAM_0457, a photo by jenkro on Flickr.

So if you follow our blog, you obviously never know what you are going to get or when. We don't update everyday or even every week but then again Jen and I may both update back to back just depends on what we have to say and share. Honestly, I am surprised I am updating today, I usually stay away from this blog and my favorite adoption websites when I am in a funk like this. Quite frankly I usually don't even tell Jen when I feel like this (I guess she will know now) because the whole process of preparing, waiting, saving, waiting, hoping, waiting, wanting, waiting, you get the picture, is so draining on us that I don't want my "off " day to bring her down and today is an OFF day.

I am tired of waiting for this to happen! Each day, if I let it, a little doubt sneaks in and tries to crack my foundation, a foundation built upon my strong belief that we were meant to do this and I whole heartedly believe we were meant to do this. Days like today though, I just start to think or the little voice in my head says "it hasn't happened yet, maybe there is a reas...." I never let the voice finish before I squash it but just the fact that the voice is there is enough for me.  There is no reason for why I feel like this either, I seriously woke up this way at 5:00am this way.

There is so much in your life that goes on hold when you are adopting, things that you never think of until you are right in the middle of the process. For instance to help finance this dream we collect aluminum cans and have been doing so for over 3 years. Every week for 3 years I have been in our garage dead of winter or heat of summer crushing cans, stale beer cans, moldy pop cans, inevitably someone mistakes a bag of cans for garbage and you get some garbage in there too. I am tired of cans! We bring them home from work we collect them from friends and family, our fantastic neighbors leave them in our garage - and we appreciate everyone one of them, doesn't mean I have to like crushing them all the time.

We put our jobs on hold for this to happen, we don't know when our miracle will come or from where. Will we have to have an extended stay from work to have this happen?  As a result we keep our vacation time very minimal so that we always have it for our miracle. Neither of us actively seeks out job changes because we need the stability our current positons provide.

Don't start me on the deck to our house that has never been built becasue that money is going elsewhere or the birthday parties we will attend this weekend for all the children another year older.

SO when I feel like this I also think ALL of the above is a selfish way to think. It is nothing but selfish jealousy, is it right to be envious that my nieces and nephews are a year older or that my deck isn't there or that I am crushing cans. Really I love watching kids grow it is an amazing gift,some of the things that Logan says and does, UNBELIEVEABLE! I have never had a deck before so what am I really missing now (just don't walk out the kitchen door it is a 20 feet drop to the yard) and I am not good at sitting still so if I wasn't in the garage crushing cans I would be doing something else.

Funny how writing a few lines puts everything into perspective
Thanks for helping and following our
Relentless Pursuit of a Family

We have had a lot going on the past couple of weeks, here is a recap:

Vacation to Norris Lake with Jim's side of the family (pictures to come): We had so much fun! The weather was perfect. We spent most days swimming in the lake, fishing, taking boat rides and Logan's favorite, tubing (I am pretty sure Logan would tube all day long if you let him). It was nice be able to relax and hang out with family. I am already dreaming of next year when we will go on vacation with my side of the family.

While on vacation, Jim and his brother (Jeff) surprised my sister in law (Jessica) and I with tickets to the Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney concerts for our birthdays!! (Our birthdays are 2 days apart). The concert was on the Sunday that we came home from vacation. It was really hot on Sunday (over 100 degrees), but we were only briefly in the heat for the concert as we ran into a dear friend and he upgraded us the suite level, which meant we would be in the air conditioning! A BIG Thank you to our friend! The concert and the suite were amazing!!

We also celebrated the 4th of July with attending an annual parade and several parties with friends and family.  One more party to go! And of course we had to squeeze in time to celebrate my birthday! Thanks to everyone that hosted all of the 4th of July parties and everyone that helped celebrate my birthday.

While we have been very busy the past couple of weeks, our adoption journey is always on our mind. Every time our phone rings, we are hoping that it is the call to say we have been matched. We can't wait for this moment to happen!


P.S. We have added a slide show of pictures to the blog, check them out!

What If

So a big day is upon us! One that my family has waited for, for a long time. I think we are all filled with anticipation and excitement. We made a decision quite some time ago to do this and now the time has come.

Yes, tomorrow we leave for vacation with my extended family, parents, brother, in-laws, nieces and nephews, etc. It might even be fun as a matter of fact. Jen, Logan and I are are sure it will be a blast.

I know I speak for all of us when I say it is a hard decision to make. See we are heading to Tennessee to enjoy time on Norris Lake. Most places around the lake are pretty remote, that means no cell phone service, no e-mails, no laptops to keep in touch with the rest of the world. I know that is perfect for some people, but Jen and I always wonder "WHAT IF"

WHAT IF - we get THE call while we are gone and can't be reached because we are enjoying time on the water. Will we just miss out on the chance of a lifetime because we chose to take a vacation - we would have foregone this trip if we knew that would happen.

WHAT IF - the money we spent on vacation will be needed later for adoption fees and legal expenses. Vacations can be expensive, should we have put that money aside for more adoption funds as a precaution rather than use it for much needed R&R?

There is a lot of thought and planning that goes into taking a vacation when you are waiting to adopt, things that other people don't even think of, things that make you say WHAT IF.

So this coming week Jen and Logan and I are going to say WHAT IF we don't relax and enjoy ourselves will we be ready when the call does finally come?

More Pictures of us and our families!!!

Profile Book

When we first started the adoption process we had to create a profile book for expectant birth parents to view. We thought we would share our "dear birth parent letter"  that is included in our profile book and some pictures of us!

Hello and Welcome,

Words can not express what an awesome gift it would be if we were chosen to be parents for your baby! Your strength and courage are remarkably amazing. You will be helping us achieve a dream we could not reach alone – starting a family.

                We are Jen and Jim. We have been married since 2006 and have dated since 2002 when we met at work. Logan is our teenage son through Jim’s previous marriage. He has always been part of our relationship and has only enhanced our desire to expand our family. After 2 miscarriages, one with twins, we knew we were being told adoption was our chosen path. We have other family members who have adopted and are thrilled to again share that experience with our families.

               

                Speaking of family, we both come from large close families and see both of our parents a few times each week. Jim’s parents live the farthest, but only about 15 miles away, while Jen’s parents are only about 7 miles down the road. All of our brothers, sisters, and their families live even closer than that. We spend the holidays seeing extended family and usually take a summer vacation with each one as well.

                We live in a suburb of Northern Kentucky not far from Cincinnati, OH where Jim is an Office Manager at a large insurance company and Jen is an Administrative Assistant at the same company. Logan attends the local middle school and looks forward to high school shortly. We enjoy sports especially football, and baseball and go to see several Bengals and Reds games each year. We also enjoy spending time with close friends and their families at our home. Jen especially likes entertaining our guests while Jim secretly believes he is a master chef and claims he can cook anything on a grill for any number of people. Our home is in a brand new subdivision with a community pool and park, and our street is filled with young diverse families each with young children and infants. It is perfect for raising a family.

                If chosen we assure you we will love, care, and protect the gift of family you have given us through open adoption. You will always be in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers!

Here are some pictures of us!(more to come)



Our home









Jen's family


 

Jim's Family











Logan





 

With some encouragement of our adoption agencie(s), - more on the plural later! We are going to start blogging again. I am a pretty private person and I think Jim would agree with this, so blogging about our adoption experience has been very hard for me, Jim on the other hand wants to tell the whole world everything. Forrest Gump always said “Me and Jenny’s like peas and carrots!” and we are! Completely different but we go great together. So we are going to give it our best try with this blog again!

We thought we would give an update of sorts as to what has been going in our adoption journey. We have now been waiting 2 years to adopt. We just recently completed our third hom estudy, so we are approved for another year. To say the past 2 years have had its ups and downs would be a little understated. First we waited to be matched, but finally we got the big news that we were matched, then we got the horrible news that the match failed, and now we are back to waiting again. We know the end result will be more than worth all of the ups and downs we have experienced!


With the recommendation of several friends and our adoption agency in Kentucky, we decided to branch out and we are now licensed with an adoption agency in Ohio! We are very excited to now be licensed in both states as hopefully it will speed up the process.

Please keep us in mind if you know anyone that wants to make an adoption plan. Both of our agencies and their contact information are listed on this blog.

Thanks!
Jen and Jim

P.S. We are still collecting aluminum cans to recycle for money. Please let us know if you have any cans, we can come pick them up! In the past year, we have raised almost $1,000, just by all of our friends, family and coworkers saving cans for us!