Officially Ruby!

Carter is officially a big brother. Ruby is officially a little sister. And we are officially speechless!

There is so much I could write about what an amazing experience it was to have Ruby's adoption finalization, sealing, and blessing all happen this past week. But time is short, and rather than delay this post any longer trying to figure out some way to put our feelings into words, I'd like to share some pictures from finalization day.

Outside the courthouse.

Both sets of our parents flew down for the occasion. Ruby loved meeting Grandma Kengie, Grandma Linda, Grandpa Russ, and Grandpa Gary for the first time.
Joe & Claudia also took off work to be there.
Thanks so much for the support!

We want to give a special thanks to Cali Tidwell (our case worker)
and Brent Ellsworth (our attorney).
It's thanks to both of them that we were able to finalize when Ruby was only 4 months old!

Judge Thompson decreed the adoption as final.

Grandma Kengie and Ruby after the finalization

Carter joined in too!

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Spotlight Saturday - Waiting for the "Wright" baby

Lincoln, Megan and John Henry are a great family in Washington state. They have been actively involved in the adoption community while they have been waiting to adopt. You can find out more about them and contact them by visiting their adoption blog:

http://mightbebabywright.blogspot.com

Update: Congratulations to Lincoln & Megan! They adopted a boy in February!

We like to have fun and often err on the side of silliness. We like to TRAVEL and see new things. Some of the fun places we have been are: British Columbia, Oregon, California, New York and Washington DC.

We also enjoy playing board GAMES. Some of our favorite games are Settlers of Catan, gin, and cribbage. We also like “The Bean Game.” We don’t know what it’s really called because neither of us speak German and the whole game is in German, but we have a lot of fun making up our own names for the cards.

When we get a bit of FREE TIME Link likes to spend it swimming and paint-balling. Megan loves to knit and even spins and dyes much of her own yarn. John Henry loves to listen to music, go swimming, and play with our family dogs, Maggie and Logan.

Of course, if you want to play hard, you have to WORK hard first, and we know all about that. Lincoln has a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a Doctorate of Pharmacy. He works as a pharmacist in a hospital. Megan has a bachelor’s degree in History and as of writing this is three classes away from her Master’s degree in Business (Hurray!) She goes part time in the evenings so that she can spend her days with John Henry (and his brothers and sisters, eventually!)

We have a big extended FAMILY that we visit or are visited by several times a year. Since Lincoln's brother has ADOPTED TWO CHILDREN, our families know how wonderful adoption can be and are already eagerly waiting the next grandchild, nephew/niece, or cousin.

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She's Four Months Old Today

I'm her momma, so I might be a bit biased,
but I think she's stunning.

and sweet...

and adorable.

She thinks her fingers are tasty...

and also likes to eat other things, like chairs.

She makes great faces (and poses).

And she is 4 months old today.
I am overwhelmed by how fast it has gone and yet I feel like she's been with us forever.

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My Tricycle

Or, "my tri-ci-cycle," as Carter likes to call it. This trike was a total score that Megan's mom found at a garage sale in Utah. She sent it down with Eliza, our niece, when she came to meet Ruby (thanks guys!).

It took him a few tries to get the hang of it, but now he really cruises. He loves riding it around the sidewalk loop in front of our house

(Yes, those are two different shoes he has on, but we thought the fact that they were on the right feet is progress!)

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Spotlight Saturday - A Wonderful Phoenix Family Hoping to Grow!

Rick and Christi are so excited about welcoming a new child to their home through adoption. Their adorable daughter Bella is anxious to be a big sister. Please take a moment to get to know them. You can find out more about them and contact them by visiting:

http://afamilytoadopt.com

Update: Congratulations to Rick & Christi! They adopted a girl in April!

We first met through mutual friends. As time went by, we kept running into each other, and eventually we became good friends. After a few months of friendship and laughter, we began dating, and have been happily married since 1996.

We always knew we wanted children, and in 2003, our daughter Bella was born. Christi, who was working as a marriage and family therapist prior to Bella's arrival, left her job to be a stay at home mom. We have always felt incredibly fortunate that Christi has been able to stay at home to raise Bella, and she eagerly looks forward to doing the same when our next child arrives. Rick works in technical support, and his office is less than 15 minutes away from our home and he is home from work most nights by 5:30.

As a family we enjoy spending time together going swimming, playing games, going to the park at the end of our street, playing with our dogs, having family movie nights and spending time with our family and friends. We love to visit Disneyland and take a few short trips there each year. We love going to the beach in San Diego, California each summer. We also enjoy going to Pinetop in Northern Arizona for the Fourth of July each year with Christi's parents, grandparents, and her brothers, sister, and their families. We go hiking, ride the go-karts, watch the fireworks while eating ice cream, and enjoy the cool weather while having a great time with our family.

We share a lot of love and laughter, and we hope to have another child join our family and share in those special times with us.

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November Flashback

Our November blog posts were almost entirely dedicated to adoption to celebrate National Adoption Month. It is such an integral and wonderful part of our lives that we love sharing our feelings about adoption any chance we get.

Here is a whirlwind look at what else was going on in our family last month:

The weather was beautiful and Carter couldn't get enough of being outside.

He and the Roobster loved being together. We had to break the sad news to Carter that he wouldn't be able to marry her, or Mommy, no matter how big he gets.

He came up with the craziest ways to have fun.

Megan treated us with some pumpkin apple streusel lovin' from the oven.

Ruby kept growing and loved entertaining herself in her Bumbo.

What's going on here? We were wondering the same thing. Apparently, the sun was too bright.

Ruby turned 3 months old (almost four by month's end).
(The onesie is from Mrs. R's etsy shop)

Thanksgiving at Joe & Claudia's was awesome!
That turkey centerpiece is a cake they received as a gift from the family of their exchange student, Alex.

We made the Yams & Apples.

Megan is completely smitten with our little one.

Ruby cashed in on the quiet time while everyone was eating.

The M family joined the crowd for Thanksgiving dinner. They had us take a family picture for them.

As did the P family the following day.

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Smile!

Ruby was happy to get this dress in a package today from "Aunt" Monica.
I couldn't seem to get a good smile out of her...

Carter had better luck.

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We're still here!

We did not disappear. We are doing well and marching forward as we enter busy, busy December. December holds a lot of excitement for our little family. We've been really swamped getting ready for this:The boutique will not only have lots of cute stuff to buy, it will be featuring local adoptive families as vendors in support of adoption! Hooray for adoption, hooray for Christmas and hooray for cute things and great gifts! ;) We hope we'll see all of you locals there!

Stay tuned for photos/posts of Thanksgiving, etc.

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