We promised Kaylee we’d go to the Temple. So before heading to hurricane we went to the Temple. I wanted some nice photos of it for her room. Jon was acting… strange. Said we should sit on a bench and talk. I got a wee bit nervous. He was being so cryptic and the look on his face made me worry. Like he was going to drop a bomb on me.
Then he says, “It’s time. Time to start the adoption process. You can thank Steve Reiher.”
Steve is my Dad’s childhood friend. We chatted with him at the luncheon after my Grandpas services. He shared his family’s experience both giving and receiving a child. Got Jon thinking. Thank you Steve! I am one happy gal. 🙂
(Dad, Steve, Koni, Jule, Me.
Sadly this is the best photo I have of Steve. )
You may or may not know, but adoption has ALWAYS been part of our plans. We’re talking pre-wedding child planning discussions. And then if you remember my uterus is NOT a good hostess. Not good at all. After five pregnancies we’ve been blessed with our two children. We couldn’t possibly feel more grateful for the power of the priesthood and modern medicine helping get our babies here. Seriously SO blessed!
However after enduring two full pregnancies we decided that it’s no longer an option for us. It’s just too hard/painful and each one has required more drugs and longer bed rest. And since we’ve always planned on adoption it made the whole situation easier. We know that not everyone gets to experience the joys of carrying and birthing their children. I am eternally grateful for having been blessed with those experiences hard as they often were. But we know that someone is missing from making our little family complete. And we know adoption is the way to go to complete our family.
I’ve been ready (Did loads of research, and even picked an agency.) for about 6ish months now. Just been waiting for Jon to be ready. So when he said he was ready I couldn’t even contain my joy. I felt like I did when I held that very first positive pregnancy test. SO excited, happy, emotional, and just a touch of scared of the unknown. And I of course got after him for scaring me. He said Steve reminded him that you are NEVER %100 ready to have kids. So why wait?
So I’ll be doing new research (new state new laws. Utah stuff is tossed…) on local adoption while we find/pick an agency. And then we will dive into all the paper work and get physicals, and get home-study ready, and more. Lot’s more. And I’ll write about our journey here. Because that’s what I do.
Kaylee is excited. She wants two. A brother AND a sister. I’ve started telling her that we will all be surprised.
A few things that have been settled for years are: We don’t care what age our child is (Jon would prefer no older than 3.), what gender they are, or their ethnicity.
One MAJOR thing is that Jon doesn’t like the idea of open adoption. And until talking with Steve I was on the same page. Now I’m not sure. So we will see on that.
My favorite (all have been good) responses to our news:
Mom H, “Good. I was hoping for an even 20” Grandchildren that is. Big smile on her face.
Dad K, “It’s about time! I’m ready for more grandkids.” Huge smile.
If anyone has anything helpful to share please do. Uncharted waters and all….So hears to the start of a new journey! We are excited about the ups and downs that are headed our way.
Nathan was our map reader. Always checking his map and the big maps to make sure we were going the right way. It was too too cute. And Kaylee just did whatever he did.
Shannon took the older two up on a platform to overlook the giraffes while I stayed with the younger two. If it wasn’t CRAZY crowded on the platform the two younger would have gone up as well. They would have gotten trampled this time.
To keep them happy I pulled out the snacks. You can see how happy they were about it too. They both kept saying, “up!” 🙂 Next time they will hopefully be able to go up.
Kaylee has designated the foot rest as her seat. It works out great!
The orangutangs were my favorite of this trip. They were so fun.
Regan was VERY impressed buy the Orangutangs acrobatics.
