Happy New Year!!!

This year brought us everything we hoped. Now we're looking forward to what 2012 will bring.

A Christmas to Remember

This Christmas Season has been such a wonderful, special, fun filled, memorable season. It has been so special with our two little boys and we have loved every moment of Christmas this year.

We spent a few days watching The Polar Express. It became Ethan's favorite movie. He often told the boy who was reluctant to board the train to "Get on the train!" Another time, we were at a funeral and Ethan asked me for my "Ticket" I handed him the program and he proceeded to punch my ticket a million times. I then realized that he was punching my ticket like the conductor in the Polar Express. He has got such a great imagination.

Ethan spent his last Sunday in Nursery. He has always been a big fan of Nursery. He loves playing, treats and meeting new friends. He will start his first "Official" day in Primary tomorrow. :( I can't believe that he is old enough to be a Sunbeam. I'm a little worried about how tomorrow will go with no toys or treats.

We had a couple of Family Christmas parties. Both parties had a special visit from Santa Claus. This year Ethan knew just what to ask Santa to bring him on Christmas Eve. Doctor Tools. It was so fun watching Ethan tell Santa in detail what he wanted. It's kind of funny because he got Dr tools for his Birthday. But he was determined to tell Santa that he wanted more. :) I kind of wonder if he will become a Doctor some day.

Our family has the Children act our the Nativity Story. Todd was Baby Jesus

Ethan was a Wise Man (A.K.A Santa). Ethan was determined that he was dressed up like Santa with Red pants, red coat and red hat.

At one of the parties Uncle Blake brought his Train. Ethan went crazy! He's all about trains these days. Mostly from Thomas the Train and The Polar Express. He loved being the Conductor, honking the horn and blowing the whistle. It was way Better than Santa.

Christmas morning was really fun. I love being a Parent on Christmas Eve. It's so much fun. We set out the milk and cookies for Santa and sent the boys to bed.

Santa brought us a Puppy!!!!!

Ethan was so excited to have a new puppy. She spends the day in the shop with Brett and gets really Dusty so we named her Dusty.

This is what Santa left for Ethan

And this is what he left for Todd

And here is Todd doing what he does best lately. :)

We had such a fun Christmas. Especially since we have little Todd with us. What a great way to end a year.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and may all your New Year dreams come true.

Todd's First Month

Todd turned one month old yesterday. I cannot believe how fast this month has gone by. I will always remember the moment I first saw him and held him in my arms. Te quickly snuggled right into my heart. These past few weeks have been so precious getting to know him.

Ethan still loves everything about him. He's such a great big brother.

Home Sweet Home

Well, we have been home from Texas for a little more than a week. We came home to family and friends who were anxious to meet little Todd. We came home to find our friend Rodney put up the outdoor Christmas Lights on our house, A clean and organized home - Thanks Mom :) and lots and lots of people excited to see us. Things are starting to settle down. The Christmas Tree and decorations are up. :) Ethan loves having his Mom and Daddy home and espeially is a great Big Brother. Ethan just loves his little brother. He loves holding, talking about him. He says "You're my best Buddy" all the time to Todd.

Christmas time has always been a special time of year for me. This year has been extra special to me since we now have our little Christmas Baby. I don't know if I posted about this yet but about three months ago I kept getting this feeling that we would get a baby before Christmas. As Christmas got closer and close I thought maybe it was just wishful thinking. Then when we got the "Call". It was an amazing way for me to feel the love of God.

I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas this year. Mine is :)

Inter State Compound Approved

YEAHHHHH, The Inter State Compound is finished and We have been approved to leave Texas and allowed to come back to Utah. It has been a long two weeks and we have just a few more days here in Houston. We just need to meet with the Judge on Friday and we are free to set sail.

Slowly but Surely

Things are moving Slowly but Surely here. We were told that we would be her for 7 to 10 days for the Inter State Compound to process. It looks like we will be here until Friday (14 days). So we've been spending these precious, stress free days enjoying everything/moment with our little Todd.

He is TWO WEEKS OLD TODAY. I can't believe how fast time has passed by.

We are very excited to be able to come home soon. We miss Ethan so much and He can't wait to meet his Little Brother.

Ladies Luncheon

The women in Brett's family have the best tradition. The Saturday after Thanksgiving they all go out to lunch to a nice restaurant. Someone is in charge of arranging the event, choosing the restaurant and getting a small gift for each woman. Since I'm not able to attend this year, I thought I'd share my experience of my first Women's Luncheon.

Brett and I had just been married that spring. We did not have a lot of money and we were saving our money for Christmas. The luncheon was at the Grand America Hotel. It was beautiful. They had Christmas decorations all around. After looking at the Menu I decided to order a salad. It was $12. The cheapest item on the menu. :) My Sister in Law and I were in the same boat. We sat there together and ate our salads while everyone else enjoyed their Salmon, Prime Rib etc.... When we were all done the person in charge decided to take the total of everyone's meals and divide it by how many people that were there. We ended up paying $24 for our $12 salad. It is so funny to look back on that day

So Funny

Brett's family has a tradition of cutting down their Christmas Tree the day after thanksgiving. Ethan joined them this year. When I called him today to see how it went I asked him "Did the Christmas Tree smell good?" he said "No, It smelled pokey!"

Thanksgiving Treat :)

It was Thursday November 17th. I remember one of my Friends on Facebook posted the song "I've got a Feelin"...... That Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night" by the Black Eyed Peas. I remembering thinking to myself that tonight was going to be a good night for me. Even thought we did not have any plans of any sort.

Later that night, I had just gotten off work, picked up Ethan from the sitters and was pulling into the driveway. I got a call from Brett. He was at Parent Teacher Conferences and I was surprised to get his call. He said you need to come to the school right now and sign this consent to be presented to a Birth Mother paper so we can fax it to our Adoption Agency. We've done this many times before. Our adoption agency sent us countless situations about a baby here, a baby there.... So this time I didn't really get my hopes up. I didn't really think we would ever get chosen. I turned the car back around and drove to Brett's School.

I walked into Brett's classroom and signed the paper and he faxed it over to our Caseworker at A Act Of Love - our private adoption agency. A few minutes later,our Caseworker called Brett and asked Him if we would be able to fly to Houston Asap if we were chosen to be His Parents. We told her "Yes" of course. So by now I'm getting a little excited, but i was still a little skeptical. I decided to head back home went back home.

Ethan and I picked up a happy meal and went home. When we got there my Mom was pulling into the driveway. My cell phone rang and it was our adoption agency. I quickly whispered to my Mom "Adoption Agency. Will you take care of Ethan?" Our Caseworker started talking to me about this Wonderful Birth Mother in Texas. Told me that she had the baby on Wednesday morning, She wanted a closed adoption and He is healthy, drug/alcohol free, Hispanic, Vietnamese and Caucasian. We were on the phone for about 10 minutes when she said "So go ahead and get your plane tickets and we will see you when you get here."................ It was then when I finally realized that We had been chosen and that He was our Baby. ........................... I got off the phone and told my Mom that we have a baby!!!!!!!!!!!

Then the panic set in. I need diapers, cloths, formula, what should I pack, etc.. My Mom suggested that we leave Ethan with her. I didn't want to do it. I would miss him so much and I didn't want to leave him behind. She finally convinced me that it would be less stress for us all if he stayed home. I packed his bag, favorite sleeping things (Puppy, Teddy Bear, pillow pet and sleeping bag) and told him that we were going to Texas to get Baby Brother and that he was going to stay with Grandma. It was so hard saying goodbye to Him.

We got about 20 minutes of sleep and headed to the airport at 4:30 the next morning (friday). We got on the plane at 6:30 am. It was so neat to see the sun rise from the sky. 

 I was so distracted thinking about this little baby boy. Was he ok? What did he look like etc.... I looked out the window a lot and was the first one to notice that we were flying over the Grand Canyon.

We arrived in Houston at noon. We got a rental car and bags. We made arrangements with our Caseworker from the adoption agency. First we needed to meed with the TX Attorney that was going to represent us in court in Texas. We turned on the GPS and still had no clue where we were going. We got lost most of the time. We finally reached Her office and met with our Attorney. She was kind of trying to talk us out of going through with the adoption. I kind of wondered if She had another family that she wanted the baby to get. Finally after what seemed like FOREVER, Brett boldly said "It was nice talking to you, but we need to go meet our Son."

We headed towards the Hospital and got lost AGAIN. Our Caseworker texted us this picture

Such a sweet picture. 

We were told to meet our Caseworker in the ER waiting room. We got to the ER and washed our hands. When I walked out of the bathroom..... there He was. He was so tiny in his little car seat. Melissa (our caseworker) handed him to me and said "Here's your Baby." ........................ If you are a woman you know what ...................... means. :) Melissa had His Birth Mom in her car and was going to take the Birth Mom home. Melissa told us to hide behind the Christmas Tree so when they drove by the hospital the BM would not see us in the window. This is how closed of an adoption this is. We waited five minutes and got out of there. Germs. The whole time looking over my shoulder, wondering if anyone was going to stop us.

We got in the car and started driving to our Hotel. The hotel we booked was another hour away. At this point, I didn't care how much money we lost by canceling our hotel, I just wanted Brett to drive to the nearest hotel, so I could count all of his little fingers and toes. Kiss his little face and really look at my new Son. Right then, my phone rang and it was an unknown number. I answered it and it was the Sister of a dear family friend. She lived very close to where we were. She said "We would love it if you guys would come stay with us, We adopted a baby 16 years ago and would love to have you stay with us for Thanksgiving." Talk about an answer to a prayer. They were such wonderful people.
We really had a great time with them and I think they even enjoyed having us in their home. We truly enjoyed spending these precious days with them.

I cannot stop crying these past few days. About a month ago I got the strong feeling that we were going to get a baby before Christmas. Occasionally our adoption agency would send us an email of a baby due in January or February etc... and I just kept thinking of my strong feeling about a baby before Christmas. I found myself looking at things to buy this baby for Christmas. Now I can't wait to go CHRISTMAS SHOPPING :)

Today is Thanksgiving. I am so grateful for everything that has happened in the last day, week, month and year.

His name is

Todd James Christensen

Todd is a family name on Brett's side of the family and James is the name his Birth Mother gave him. Since Ethan's Birth Mom gave him his middle name we wanted to keep that tradition going. I still cannot believe that I did not even know about little Todd this time last week. It has been a pleasure getting to know him these past few days. He's One Week Old TODAY.

Things are falling into place. The Birth Mother signed relinquish papers on Monday. :) :) We met with our Attorney yesterday and Inter State Compact starts today. So we hope to be able to come home SOOOOOOON. I miss Ethan so much!!! He is having a blast at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

He is such an easy baby. Only cries when he's hungry. It has been so much fun getting to know Him. We went to Kohls today to buy a shirt and tie for Brett for Court on Tuesday. While we were there, a passerby stopped to talk with us. She then said "You are so blessed." I said in return "You have no clue how blessed We truly are." We feel so lucky to have him.

Another thing that is so fun is that we are staying with a family friend and had the opportunity to go to there sons eagle court of honor. Everyone was so impressed at how good I looked and thought that I should be shouting "I am women hear me roar" because I was out and about three days after my baby was born. I politely informed them that Todd is adopted. Everyone is so supporting with us.

There are a few things that still need to happen.

So PLEASE keep is in your prayers.

Short and Sweet

Sorry, but this is going to be short and sweet. We have a new little Baby Boy!!!!!!! For those of you who read this blog know, We have been in a long wait for him. We did not know about Him until about 3:30 yesterday. It's been QUICK. He is Three days old. 6 lbs 10 oz and 17 inches long. No Name yet (I know....). We picked him up today and and are loving every inch of Him. More will come shortly. :)

My Buddy

Often, people tell me how cute He is . I say "He is and we have so much fun."

He's always been a fantastic sleeper. He has slept through the night since he was about two months old. Now he sleeps until about 8:30 - 9:00 every morning. I make sure that I quit whatever I'm doing and head back into bed for snuggle time with Him. He's so cute. He comes out of his room and heads into ours. I pretend I'm sleeping and he climbs into our bed and gives me noses and says to me "You waked up!" or "You had a good nap." Then I open the covers and he snuggles right in. He calls snuggling - nuggle. He's the best little "nuggler" in the world. We snuggle in bed for a while and watch a cartoon or two.

He has got the best imagination. The other day I was down sewing a quilt together. He got ahold of my fabric cutting ruler and was playing with it. He noticed a reflection in it and said "Mommy, It's a mirror."

He is a fast learner. I love teaching him new songs and riddles. We went and got a Happy Meal for lunch the other day and the toy was Humpty Dumpty. I taught him the riddle. He learned it so fast.

He's a great little prayer. For some reason he always says things like "I love my fingers and toeses," "I love my cousins and peoples and friends," and the cutest part is when he says "Please bless Baby Brother or Sister to come Sooner Sooner Sooner." :)

He loves playing outside in the sandbox. This is another place where his little imagination shines.

He loves riding on the 4 wheeler with Dad. We have an acre of land so they have plenty of space to explore.

He's the cutest little singer.

He often sings Do as I'm doing, Follow the Prophet, the Hello song, Scripture Power, I am a Child of God, I'm so glad when Daddy comes home just to name a few. Brett sings him "The River" by Garth Brooks when Ethan has a scary dream. It calms him right down and he knows it by heart.

AHHHHH

I did it. AHHH! While driving around town this morning, I saw a girl holding a sign that said Homeless and Pregnant. Me trying to find a way to adopt our next child thought - Give her an adoption pass along card. After driving around the block a few times, and picking up my Uncle so I wasn't alone, got up the nerve to go talk to her. I give her ten bucks and one of our pass along cards.

Front

Back

I explained that we were trying to adopt another child and that our agency might be able to offer her some services.

She was super nice. Didn't just grab the money etc. She said that she did not want the state to take her baby and give it to a stranger etc... She then said that we looked like a super nice family and would keep us in mind. AHHH.

I know that there are a lot of people out there like this. We hear the news specials that say how many % of them are not really in bad situations. etc.... But what if wasn't?

It may have been the best $10 I've ever given someone.

Fabulous Morning

This morning was fabulous because many things that I love were part of it. It started out EARLY. My alarm sounded at 6 am. I got ready, put on my FSA (Family Supporting Adoption) tee shirt and headed to the Provo High School. I had been asked to give a presentation about Adoption. As I walked into the school I could not stop thinking that I was SOOOO Glad I'm not a High School Student again. Phew!!! I checked in at the office and made my way into the classroom. The FSA committee double booked the Adoption Parents. So I got to listen to another great story about another Adoptive Couple and a Birth Mom. I am so glad I went. It is always so nice to hear other stories and how Birth Mom's pick their families. I am so glad that schools do this to educate Students about how adoption works. The chances of one or more of those Students in the class being affected by adoption is high. Either they find themselves pregnant and consider adoption or even find themselves hoping to Adopt.

After the class I run to Sam's Club to pick up a few things. I love Sam's Club!!! Since Ethan was home with Brett (who is home sick for the day) I took advantage and spent a little extra time. I went down my favorite aisles admiring all the wonderful things there. My Mother use to talk about her favorite stores and say "If someone gave me a million dollars to spend in one store, this would be the store." I think that Sam's Club would be my store. There are so many things there that I just want to buy. A new kitchen table, our dream playhouse for the back yard, a huge selection of movies, new furniture, soft cozy blankets, pictures. And oh, the Christmas decorations, presents. The list goes on. I felt like a little kid in the department store. And as I walked out of the store the air smelled of Ginger Bread Cookies.

I even made it home to snuggle in bed with my two favorite Boy's.

Favorites these days

I use to always say that there were too many great music artists to pick just one or two. Until now. Lately I can't get enough of

Sara Bareilles' Gravity, King of Anything

and

Adele's Set Fire to the Rain, Rolling in the Deep etc...

I also admire them for not getting deep into all the crazy hoopla of fame.

"Ahoy Mateys"

Ethan has been SO excited for Halloween this year. He told everyone at the grocery store, fabric store and Dr's office that he was going to be "Jake" from Jake and the Neverland Priates for Halloween. I had so much fun making his costume. I'm also somewhat proud that I made it without a pattern. I guess I just got lucky.

He got a kick out of Trick or Treating too. I also made him a treasure map sactual for Trick or Treat goodies.

We did not dress up this year. But, Here is one of us.

Sara Bareilles - Gravity

One of my friends use to say "Wouldn't life be better with background music." and someone on Pinterest posted "I wish Morgan Freeman narrated my Life." Sounds good right? Today I'm feeling like this is the song that would be playing today. We came SO close to being able to adopt a sweet Baby Girl that was born on Monday. We were so excited. Things were falling into place like it was really going to happen. We were even able to see a picture of her beautiful little face. We were told that the Couple really connected with us while they read our profile. We were told that the Birth Mom, many Family members and the agency ALL were hoping that we would be Her parents. We cleaned up our car seat and put it in the trunk of our car so we could leave in any second. Then it came down to the Birth Father. He did not want to place Her with a family that is "Overly Zealous In Religion". So the search went out nationally to find another family. She was placed with a non-LDS family today. Break my heart. I can't stop thinking - If we did not go to church - would we have this Sweet Little Girl?"

One of my dear Friends on Facebook posted a profound statement once:

"Sometimes it seems like Satan is winning".

On another note... Sometimes I have felt like we need to hide that we are a religious family. Felt like that we would get chosen faster if we would just keep that little sentence out of our Birth Parent Letter. Then what it comes down to us not being who we really are.

I know that there is a sweet baby out there somewhere/sometime meant to be in our little family. Until then.........

Last hike of the season

We headed up the canyon for one more last hike of the year. At least I think. It gets colder and colder everyday. The leaves were beautiful. Ethan just loves this hike. He gets so excited when we head up the canyon. He knows just were we are going. He even knows the trail. It's so fun to hear him give us a tour of the hike. He mentions the turtle shell and all the bridges that cross the river.

OCTOBERFEST

Since October is one of my most favorite months I've changed my blog background to reflect such. My "Octoberfest" (note that there is no K in my Octoberfest cuz there's no beer here) has begun! Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those girls who get a thrill out of spooky, scary things. I recall as a young girl I went Trick or Treating with my older siblings. Crying as they went Trick or Treating to an Old Haunted House! That aside, I enjoy the friendly "Spookiness" of Halloween fun.

Another favorite part of my Octoberfest is... General Conference. I love watching General Conference and look forward to the many inspirational talks. This morning our Prophet announced something that was a big surprise to me.

Another Temple in Provo UT! The old Tabernacle in Provo, that burned down last December, will be transformed into the new Provo Temple. This building is very dear to me. As a member of the Utah Valley Children's Choir, I sang in that building many times. Mostly during Christmas time. I have very fond memories of that building and am looking forward to seeing it as an LDS Temple.

Happy Spooks, Eeks, and Boo's