From the Beginning

For the last 3 hours, I have been deciding the best way to include our timeline on how we came to start the adoption process. With my newfound blogging talents I set off towards creating a list on the side of the blog to show how we began all this, but long after it was too late I realized my bright idea took up WAY too much space..and prior to that realization Blogger locked up on me,... right after I had set up the list just so. AGGGHHHH!!. So as any professional blogger (a.k.a. anyone who has posted one blog) would do, I reloaded the website and it erased everything I had just done...and by now the back is hurting, the eyes are crossing and I'm thinking "WHAT JUST HAPPENED...SERIOUSLY...DID THIS JUST DO THIS?!" so to prevent this whole process being a complete waste of my time, I am posting for the second time and throwing all the info into it. Regardless of the events that transpired tonight,  I'm sort of proud of myself for getting two posts on here already. (however don't expect these actions to be a foreshadowing of whats to come ..I tend to work in short bursts of energy and I feel like I'm coming down with a "few days of doing nothing"!)

AND SO IT GOES:
Sept 2004--Todd and I get married! :) (A Halloween wedding ceremony followed on Oct 31st!)

Dec 2004--Todd and I decide we'd like to adopt from India and we research how to adopt internationally on the internet.

Jan 2005--We get pregnant with our first daughter, Anais (Nia)...surprise! surprise!

Sept 2005--Nia is born..she has the loudest cry of any baby ever heard..but much adored!

Feb 2006--I start researching adoption agencies to see if there are any that adopt to India.

March 2006--Completely unexpected news: I'm pregnant again...a little nervous but Todd is THRILLED! Meanwhile, Nia is still LOUDLY crying in the background!

April 2006--Beginning to wonder if there is some connection to my pregnancies and adoption research! ;) Feeling a bit overwhelmed and deciding to hold off on the research for awhile!

Dec 2006--Elise is born! Funny..she is an extremely loud cryer too...Hmmmm..genetics?

March 2007---Discover Dillon International adoption agency out of Tulsa and contact Christy to talk to her more about adoption.

Sept 2007--Todd and I attend a local meeting on International adoption! We're very excited!

Dec 2007--After much thought and prayer decide we would like to start the adoption process now...and (if the Lord wills) we also would like to become pregnant while going through the process. We want the adopted baby to have a sibling close in age like the other 2 girls had...but INDIA says no can do. We're disappointed but understand.

Jan 2008--Decide to take a year off from adding to our family and enjoy the blessings we have. Discuss the possibility of trying to have another biological child the following year or two and then adopt after that.

March 20, 2008--Christy from Dillon calls out of the blue and changes our life as we know it! She asks if we are still considering adoption and I tell her, "yes maybe 4 years from now" and she says "India changed their mind if you want to be pregnant while adopting". She encourages us to consider going ahead with adoption...as in NOW!

March 21, 2008--At dinner out with Todd, I tell him about the conversation with Christy and he says,"We should do it..you never know where we will be in 4-5 years". I say " yes, but what about taking a year off from growing our family...wait! this means if we're starting the adoption, we are supposed to get pregnant soon too!" The reality of what we were wanting all along starts setting in..along with the panic! I mean just in idea form being "pregnant while adopting" sounded great to us in the past...but taking the intial steps to get there is a lot to take in. Personally, after we had decided no babies for awhile, I was starting to enjoy the new life..more than I realized! However, we really believed that having 2 sets of kids close in age would be good for the kids and a support for the adopted child. Needless to say, we knew it'd work if it was God's plan. We called Christy back and said, "send us out the application, we are ready to adopt!"

Give me a day or two to recover from this post and be on the lookout for a list over to the side of the blog for how the actual adoption process has transpired up until now! I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat! :)