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!