The moment you've all been waiting for...

You've all asked about it and wanted to see these pictures...

Drum roll, please...

Here is the moment Carter met "Baby Wooby" for the very first time:

And their second moment together as soon as we got home from the airport:We've been shocked at how incredibly gentle Carter has been capable of being with Ruby. From the moment we brought her home, he has been nothing but loving toward her (except asking once to give her a timeout when she was screaming) and is already acting out in the protective big brother role, always telling us what we may or may not do with his baby sister!

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Carter-palooza (Carter turns three)

After a particularly mischievous morning, Carter took a deliciously long nap this afternoon, actually allowing Miss Ruby and I to do the same! I am therefore feeling extra warm and fuzzy and have decided to post another completely Carter-centered post! Oh wait, did I just focus on myself and Ruby being able to get a nap? Okay, it will now be Carter focused... starting NOW!

We celebrated Carter's third birthday while in Utah last month with an entire day of festivities, a "Carter-palooza" if you will. We got these awesome Salt Lake City Connect passes and planned out a day full of things we thought Carter would enjoy leading up to his big party. Grandma Linda even came along!
{we highly recommend the passes, especially since they will give you two days for the price of one right now!}

We began the day at the aquarium in Sandy.

We then moved on to lunch at the Lion House in SLC and a trip to the Discovery Gateway children's museum and just about got to the point that we'd had a little TOO much fun...We stopped at Costco on the way home to pick up Carter's birthday cake, swung by Grandma Linda and Grandpa Russ' house to pick up the rest of the party supplies, and headed to Scera park in Orem where we had a pavilion reserved. Luckily, Carter got a nice long nap on the long drive. We had ourselves a hot dog dinner with his birth family and our immediate and extended family. Afterwards, most of the guests joined us for swimming at the Scera pool. What fun!

We're so grateful for this little boy that made us a mommy and a daddy three years ago! We are also so grateful that Carter's birth family was able to join us for the first time in celebrating him!

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A little love for Carter

I usually blog chronologically, but with the sudden and miraculous entrance of Ruby into our lives and our family, things have obviously been shaken up a bit. We are doing our best to make sure Carter hasn't gotten lost in the shuffle. It was truly hard to be away from him so long for two weeks in Michigan, as much as we were enjoying getting to know little Ruby.

Therefore, we want to stop for a moment and post a little love for our Carter. What better way to kick off this love fest than with this picture:

Meet Lily. Lily is Carter's friend... that's a girl... okay, I'm just gonna say it, she's pretty much his girlfriend. Those two and their PDA put many makey-outy teenagers I have seen to shame! They have to be hugging and kissing most of the time they are together, and often they end up knocking one another over in their constant efforts to show affection to one another. Even though we laugh about it now, I'm pretty sure it makes all four of us parents a bit nervous and unsettled about what handfuls our kiddos might turn out to be as teenagers -- I mean,
look at that lip lock!
{photo taken by Lily's mom Andrea June 19, 2009}

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the r house couture

Isn't she a beauty??

Guess what? She's mine!
I ordered her today as an early birthday present to myself.

I am pleased to announce that
our friends at the r house have an etsy shop
{and I'm in love}
with their adoption inspired jewelry!

Don't worry, the jewelry is meaningful and beautiful even if you aren't a member of the adoption triad, so you all should go check it out immediately. You will be supporting a wonderful cause.
Over at the r house there is a tiny, darling boy named Gavin. Gavin's mommy, daddy, and big brother Tyson are having to fight for Gavin to remain in their family = mucho attorney fees = the need for your support.

Click here right away to see the beautiful creations!

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Two Weeks in Michigan

Ruby turned two weeks old while we were still in Michigan waiting to come home. To pass the time one afternoon (8/20/2009), we went outside and tried to get some cute pictures.
This one is my favorite:Awake and alert:Making faces:

A yawn...

And another yawn..."C'mon guys, just let me go back to sleep!"Zzzz.

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Ruby's Adoption Step By Step

Some of you are familiar with adoption, while many are not. To satisfy curiosities and answer a few common questions, here is a time line of significant events on the road to Ruby's placment with our family.

• July 2007 - Carter turned one year old. Our agency recommends, but does not require, that you wait until your youngest child is a year old before applying for an adoption. We fully intended to apply again as soon as Carter turned one, but for whatever reason, his birthday came and went and we felt it was not quite time yet.
  
• October 2007 - Renewed our adoption certification with the state of Arizona.
• November 2007 - Updated and completed our paperwork with LDS Family Services. We were approved to adopt again and our online profile went live.
• November 2007-November 2008 - We started our "finding efforts" to make a connection with the birth mother that would place our next child with us. In the meantime, Carter turned two in July of 2008.
  
• December 5, 2008 - After 13 months of waiting, we received a contact from a beautiful young woman who was 5 months pregnant asking how we felt about openness in adoption (i.e. contact with the birth mother after placement. Hint: We're all for it!)
• December 10, 2008 - She announced to us that she wanted to place her baby with us that was due in April.
• December 15th 2008 - We met her in person and got to know each other.
• December 2008-January 2009 - We kept in contact via email/texting and met with her again. She also called to tell us she was having a boy!
  
• January 18, 2009 - She told us that she had been struggling with her decision and had decided to parent her son. We were heartbroken that we would again have to wait to be chosen, but expressed our love to her and kept in contact off and on after that. We still have a lot of love and respect for her and pray often for her and her son.
  
• January 2009-July 2009 (7 months)- We increased our finding efforts and started using Parent Profiles, a paid service to help match couples and birth mothers online. We also started advertising our adoption website on popular blogs Megan had been following.
• July 2009 - Carter turned three and we celebrated his birthday in Utah with his birth family along with our immediate and extended family. We had been approved and waiting for 21 months at this point.
  
• August 6, 2009 - Megan received the phone call that Ruby's birth mother was in labor in Michigan and within an hour we heard directly from Ruby's birth mom and found out she wanted to place with us. Ruby was born that night.
  
• August 7, 2009 - We left Carter with Shane's aunt and uncle (thanks Acacia and Brittney for also helping with Carter this day!). We arrived in Michigan and briefly met Ruby's birth mother at the hospital. We learned that she had named Ruby "Jane Lyn" and decided we wanted to use one of those names for Ruby's middle name. We met Ruby for the first time and spent three hours taking turns holding her before we realized we hadn't eaten all day and needed to find a place to stay for the night. Our case worker in MI helped us get to a hotel near the hospital called "The Pink Palace" and then we took the hotel shuttle back to the hospital to see Ruby again for as long as we could until just before the hotel shuttle was stopping service for the night.
  
• August 8, 2009 - We spent the day at the hospital with Ruby and took turns going down to the hospital cafeteria for meals. On the way back to the hotel that night, we had the shuttle driver take us to Target to get some baby supplies and cute little girl clothes!
  
• August 9, 2009 - We went to church (there was a church building really close to the hospital) and the ward found us a home to stay in within walking distance from the hospital. Our hostess rushed us to the hotel after church to check out before they could charge us for another night and we made it by the skin of our teeth! We can't even begin to count the miracles involved here. Our hostess was such an angel to us in so many ways! Way too many coincidences here to just be coincidences! After picking up our luggage at the hotel, we spent the rest of the day with Ruby in the hospital. The hospital was able to give us a room to be in with Ruby for the first time. It was so peaceful to just be the three of us in a quiet room all afternoon and evening. We walked back to the house we were staying in and got some sleep, joyfully looking forward to Ruby's release from the hospital the following day.
  
• August 10, 2009 - We spent the entire day at the hospital anticipating Ruby's release. An irregular heart rate was detected, so Ruby had extra testing and we had to speak with a cardiologist before finally being discharged around 5:00 that evening. Ruby's birth mother signed Arizona relinquishment documents terminating her parental rights just before Ruby was released from the hospital. Normally, she would have signed Michigan documents, but chose to use Arizona law in this case. Every state has different adoption laws. For Arizona, the relinquishment is irrevocable at signing. Some states allow days, weeks, or months following signing for the birth mother to change her mind and parent her child. The hospital discharged Ruby directly to us. We went to the agency and signed our portion of the placement papers.
  
• August 11, 2009 - The agency sent all the papers overnight to the Michigan ICPC office (Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children). Both Arizona and Michigan ICPC would need to give us approval to take Ruby home.
• August 12, 2009 - Michigan received the paperwork. We went to stay with another wonderful and extremely generous host family. More miracles every day!
  
• August 13, 2009 - Michigan cleared us and sent the papers overnight to Arizona.
• August 14, 2009 - Arizona received the papers after 2pm. Because of the time difference, the Michigan office was closed and couldn't answer questions Arizona had.
• August 17-20, 2009 - Arizona ICPC, Michigan ICPC, Arizona LDS Family Services and Michigan LDS Family Services went back and forth for days until Arizona ICPC was satisfied with the documentation they had. They cleared us to return home.
• August 21, 2009 - We returned home and Carter finally got to meet his 15-day-old baby sister! Tears of joy at the airport!
  

What happens next?

• February 2010 - In Arizona, approximately six months after placement, we can finalize the adoption in Arizona court. During this time, our case worker will make supervisory visits to ensure that Ruby is happy, healthy, and thriving in our home. Following finalization, from a legal perspective, it is the same as if Ruby was born to us. She will get a birth certificate with the name we have chosen and listing us as her parents. She can also get a Social Security Number at this point. We will then be able to bless her in church and have her sealed to our family as our daughter in the LDS temple in Mesa, Arizona. (If you have any questions about this, we'd love to answer them!)
  

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We're coming home!

We received clearance from Arizona ICPC today to come home. We feel so relieved that we can get back to Carter (we miss him like CRAZY) and that Shane can return to work.
We can't wait to be all together as a happy family tomorrow!

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Today's Update

We are still stuck in Michigan while we wait for ICPC (which stands for the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children) to clear. MI ICPC cleared last Thursday (meaning they approved us to go home contingent upon AZ ICPC agreeing) and they sent it overnight it on to AZ ICPC, who received it Friday. That's where we are still stuck. There is a question as to the documentation involved regarding Ruby's birth father. It doesn't help that MI and AZ have a three hour time difference. For example, when AZ ICPC received the information Friday at 2:30, MI was already closed for the weekend, it being 5:30 in Michigan at that point. So the communication has been made more difficult by the fact that they have less hours in the day to actually be in touch. Our agency is doing everything they can to get us home with Ruby to Carter ASAP.

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Cute nephews

We think we have the most adorable nieces and nephews! It was a treat today to see new pictures of Kim and Chris' three handsome boys and had to share...

Click here to check out their cute mugs.

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Still Waiting... Tomorrow Maybe?

A complication came up with some documentation on Ruby's adoption, so we're still waiting for the go ahead to take her home. Without going into too much detail, we can tell you there is no need to worry about Ruby's adoption not working out. There is nothing about the situation that worries us, and we are confident everything will be resolved...it's just a matter of when.

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While We Are Away

Carter has been potty trained, has a regular bed and nap schedule, and is now apparently working on underwater hand stands...

I think my Aunt and Uncle would be open to training your kids too - if the price is right. So plan a week long getaway and give them a call!

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Hoping for news today. Here are some more Ruby pictures in the meantime...

A warm towel and a warm mommy are the best after bath time!

Sometimes I go all crooky-eyed...

Getting out of the house on Saturday.

My first day of church.

She's changing so much every day!

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Check out this link:

http://ldsmediatalk.com/2009/08/03/new-pregnancy-counseling-adoption-services-web-site/

We love the new LDS Family Services website and this is a great article about the fabulous new features it has to offer! Also included are some interesting statistics that might be educational for you.

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ICPC Progress

We found out today that MI ICPC has been satisfied and has sent the file onto AZ ICPC! That means if AZ receives it tomorrow and gives clearance, we could go home over the weekend! We are praying they don't keep us over the weekend, but either way, we are getting very close to being able to take Ruby home!

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Baby Ruby REALLY wants to win this cute book!

I am crying just reading the above selected line from the book:
"There were so many things I didn't know. But, I knew you were my baby."
I am SO there right now!

Pick her, pick her!!!

...or enter this contest for yourself!

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The Ruby Gallery

More pictures have been requested. There will be updates too, but for now we will just post a few of the pictures of our miraculous trip so far. I just can't even tell you how miracle after miracle has come together to form Ruby's story. It would take days to explain every single miracle that's come to us just as we needed them.

Shane took this picture of me as we anxiously waited in the hospital waiting room when we first arrived. You can't see in the picture, but to my right is a window. On the other side of that window is a hallway. On the other side of that hallway is the nursery... for about half an hour I had to sit looking at the nursery door knowing my baby was right inside and I had no control over when I would get to see her or not!

These are some pictures of my first opportunity to meet Ruby in the hospital on Friday. It was especially bittersweet for us having just left from meeting Ruby's birth mother. We immediately noticed that Ruby, to us, resembled her birth mom.
This is one wing of the big pink hotel we stayed at the nights of Friday August 7th (we arrived at about 1:00 pm that day) and Saturday August 8th. It is located just down the road from the hospital and we frequented the complementary shuttle service to the point that they may have been a bit tired of us by the time we checked out Sunday afternoon!
This is Mr. Mugly. He lives in the lobby of that big pink hotel we stayed at. For some reason unbeknownst to me, Shane felt it necessary to include Mr. Mugly in our record keeping of this trip.

Saturday night we went shopping to fill in the gaps between what Ruby needed and what we brought with us. Here is a look at some of the spoils. I actually was so excited about all the girly things that after we got back to the hotel, even though I was completely exhausted, I had to lay them all out and gawk a little more!
Here are some pictures from Sunday at the hospital. We were delighted to walk in and see a ruby red bow on her precious little perfect head!

And lastly, here are a couple of pictures of Ruby all snuggly in the car seat and waiting to be discharged Monday late afternoon/evening.

She's pretty adorable, huh?!

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