Spotlight Saturday - One big brother with experience and another ready to learn

Please take a moment to get to know Kyle and Shelby and their two little guys, Kaden and Bosten.

You can find out more about them and contact them by visiting their adoption blog:

http://kyleandshelby.blogspot.com/

Kyle & Shelby, Kaden & Bosten

we LOVE adoption.

Adoption.

We love adoption and how we have been blessed by the miracles of adoption! Adoption has always been such an important word in our family! My (Shelby's) dad and aunt were adopted. We believe that choosing adoption is a personal and complicated one, both for birth parents and adoptive families. It brings people together and creates relationships that would never come about in any other situation. Adoption is a beautiful process that allows the Lord to create families in a very unique way. It has been an answer to our prayers and we have no doubt that the Lord is very much involved in placing babies with families. Our two experiences have been amazing and we have such love and respect for our boys' birth mothers. We love our kids SO MUCH and we want them to have siblings. We wish for them to be (somewhat) close in age so that they'll have the opportunity to grow up together and be best friends.

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I'll be a Sunbeam for Him!

This boy is way too grown up to be in nursery, right?

Carter moved from the nursery to the primary for church this year. Shane and Megan had been some of his teachers for the last year and a half, so we were curious about how he'd transition to primary. Trading toys, puzzles, stories, and snacks for sitting in a chair with his arms folded can't be an easy transition for any three-year-old boy.

Once we found out who his teacher would be, be breathed a sigh of relief. We knew he'd do great with her. He loved when she stopped by the day before his first class and dropped off this fun balloon. It survived a good week's worth of abuse from our little guy (and the ceiling fan).

He's doing great!

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Spotlight Saturday - Logan is Excited to be a Big Brother!

Kerry and Miranda, and their little guy, Logan are a happy Utah family hoping to grow.

You can find out more about them and contact them by visiting their adoption blog:

http://kerryandmiranda.blogspot.com

Kerry, Miranda & Logan

Even before Kerry and I were married, we had always talked about how we both wanted to have a large family with several children. We had also talked about the possibility of adopting and how we would love to offer a home to as many children as we could provide for. After several years of not being able to get pregnant and several visits to doctors and failed procedures, we decided to begin our adoption journey.

In the fall of 2004, we were so excited to find out that we had been selected by our birthmother to adopt her baby boy. The baby was due in February and so we had quite a few months to prepare for his arrival. We had such an amazing few months getting to know Logan's birthmother as we exchanged letters. We also had the privilege of meeting with not only her, but her family members as well. It was so great to see how much our families had in common and to discuss the hopes and desires our birthmother has for her son. We feel so blessed to have the honor of sharing with our son, the many wonderful people who love and care for him.

We know firsthand the wonderful blessings that come through adoption and are so excited to welcome another little miracle into our family and home.

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Support H.R. 213!

Recently, I ran into a teaser ad (weakly disguised as a public blog post) from an adoption matching service that stated:

ADOPTION TAX CREDIT GOING AWAY IN 2011. ADOPT NOW IN 2010 to take ADVANTAGE OF $12,170 TAX CREDIT.

It is, at best, misleading to simply say that the Adoption Tax Credit is going away this year. Yes, the current credit that is available to families who adopt will be expiring at the end of 2010, so there is a possibility that there will not be a tax credit available for adoptions that are final in 2011 and beyond. However, my first thought on reading that the credit was going away was that the bill to keep the credit available must have been voted on and rejected. This is not the case. H. R. 213 is a bill proposed to repeal the sunset (expiration) on the credit to make it available beyond 2010.

This is a good opportunity to find out if your representatives support this bill and to contact those that have not yet signed on as cosponsors. With the magnitude of the placement and matching fees charged by agencies and facilitators, many hopeful adoptive families would be unable to fund an adoption without the availability of this tax credit.

(The following is courtesy of the R House. View full blog post here)

Help Make the Current Federal Adoption Credit Permanent by Writing to your Representative Here is how: Find the name and Washington, D.C. mailing address of your Representative and Senators at www.congress.org (enter your zip code in the "Get involved" box). To find e-mail addresses, click through to the Senator’s or Congressperson’s Web site.

Next, log on to THOMAS (Library of Congress) to find out whether your Congresspersons are already co-sponsors of the legislation. Here is how:


On the THOMAS opening page, under “Search Bill Summary and Status,” search by bill number for H.R. 213. Then click on “Bill summary and Status.”

(Click to enlarge.)

On the page that comes up, click on “Cosponsors,” “Text of Legislation,” or “All Congressional Actions” to follow the progress of the bill.

If your representatives have not signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, send them your request that they do so. Tell them how important the tax credit was to you when you adopted your children, or how much you and other families you know are counting on it to be available in the future.

Act today, your efforts make a difference.

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A Great Kid's Song About Adoption!

I stumbled on this song thanks to some friends from Twitter. You can listen to the song and get the download by email from the author's website (it's not on iTunes). Hope you all enjoy it!

You start with hope
The wait can make you cry
Unanswered prayers
Things turn, you wonder why

The road can take you where it wants
Sometimes you have to just let go to hear life's song

It's meant to be
It was written in the stars
For us to see
A little angel to be ours
We're a family
We'll tell you where you came from
But you were born from our heart

Faith lights your path
Then one day lets you in
Inside the dream
Of something never seen

The beauty of your little smile
Each little sound you make
Takes our breath away

It's meant to be
It was written in the stars
For us to see
A little angel to be ours
We're a family
We'll tell you where you came from
But you were born from our heart

©2009 music & lyrics by ray andersen

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Call for your questions

We get questions about adoption nearly every day -- regarding how we feel about it, what we know about it, how it works, etc. We have been blessed with many new friends, experiences and opportunities that have taught us MUCH about different aspects of adoption in the past as well as today. We didn't know a whole lot about adoption before we started on this road together, but we've come a long way. We aren't too private about too much around here, we aren't real judgmental and aren't easily offended (as long as people are respectful) by the questions people ask. We can talk your ear off about all things adoption-related, so we'd love to open this post up as a forum for questions. They can be about the adoptions of our children or adoption in general. If you are embarrassed to post your question for all to see, please feel free to ask us via e-mail instead.

We'll follow up with a Q & A post answering your questions.

Much Love,
Shane and Megan

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Adoption Success Story - Baby Addilynn

With all the ups and downs involved in the miracle that is adoption, at times it feels like we hear about the downs more than the ups. We love to see adoption success stories, and baby Addi's is a great one. Her birth mother, Brittani, placed her with Daren and Shannon last week. Addi will enjoy a wonderful, open (albeit long distance) relationship with her birth mother from day one. We're jumping up and down with joy for all of them! You can jump over to Daren and Shannon's blog, too, and see what all the fuss is about.

Congratulations baby Addi!

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Help Forest's family adopt his sibling!

This is cutie-pie Forest.

From Jan. 29th to Feb. 1st, a silent auction will be held at http://farnsworthadoption.blogspot.com/

The proceeds will go toward helping our friends, Forest's parents, be able to afford the costs associated with adopting Forest's biological sibling (due in February). You can help by bidding, donating items/services for the auction, or by donating to the account indicated on the site. Thanks for your support of a great family!

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