Aug 20, 2011

Hershy Park




Earlier this summer we went to Hershey Park!  It was SO fun!  I've been wanting to go here practically my whole life so I was very excited that we finally went!  We got some discount tickets from our local grocery store, asked our neighbors to let Carly out for the day, and set off with some road trip snacks!  It was a 4 hour round trip but being at the park was so fun.  We went on all the huge roller coasters and went to the water park.  We had a great time together!  And of course we also got some yummy chocolate too! 

Texas/Florida Vacation

Us at Harry Potter world!  We had a great time here with Richard's parents! 

Harry Potter World

swimming with Carly this summer! 

In Key Largo, FL. 



Emily got to kiss a dolphin! 

snorkeling


We have been having a very fun summer!  We were able to go on vacation with Richard's parents.  We first drove to Texas to visit with them at their house and then we had fun driving to Florida.  We loved Harry Potter World and we had a great time in Key Largo too!  Richard and his parents had fun scuba diving and we all had fun snorkeling with playing with the cute puppy! 

Aug 13, 2011

BIG news!

 We are finally officially approved to adopt a sweet baby!  We couldn't be more excited about it!  
Here is a recap of our journey to adoption:  
 Our journey to adopt began about 7 months after we got married.  
I really felt it was time to start our family (or maybe it was just that I really wanted a baby).  
So we started trying to have a family.  We were in sort of the "let's just see what happens" phase.  We both had school to finish and we weren't in any hurry.  
A few months later we started looking into basal temperatures and all that good stuff.  
By the time I graduated (about 10 months later) we were still waiting.  
We knew that we might have some trouble due to a variety of reasons so we were definitely disappointed but not too worried at this point.  
I started my first year of teaching.  Richard was still in school.  We waited and waited, month after month.  
About another year later I went to see a ob/gyn and I asked him about infertility.  He told me a bunch of things we could do - the first of which being put on Clomid.  He didn't even try to test us first to figure out what was wrong.  He left me with a lot of unanswered questions and stress.  
Around that same time someone left a comment on our blog telling us about a infertility clinic BYU was holding.  We decided to go.  A fabulous doctor there spoke on infertility.  We decided to make an appointment with him at the BYU Health Center.  
We met with this wonderful doctor and he went over all the ins and outs of infertility with us.  Much of this we already knew.  He then ordered some tests for us.  Both Richard and I were tested.  
At the infertility clinic a couple spoke about how they found out they couldn't have kids at all.  I remember Richard and I talking about that afterwards and how horrible it would be for us to have to go through that.  
But then a few months later we found out that we would.  And we have.  
A year after finding this out we moved to Virginia and could finally start the adoption process with the LDS Family Services here.  
We knew we were supposed to adopt.  We still do.  We have very strong testimonies that this is how our babies are going to come to our family, one way or another.  However this past year has been a really rough year for us.  We struggled with getting our paperwork turned in.  I struggled with a lot of "what if" questions.  Richard had his hardest year of school yet.  I had my hardest year of teaching yet.  Satan certainly tried to bring us down and to bring us away from adoption.  He still tries to tell us that this isn't what we wanted and that this wasn't our life plan.  
Well, maybe it wasn't our life plan.  But it was Heavenly Father's life plan for us. 
And His plan is a perfect plan. 
So 4 years since we started trying to have a family, 
2 years since we found out we couldn't have babies on our own, 
and 1 year since we started the whole adoption process - 
WE ARE FINALLY OFFICIALLY APPROVED FOR ADOPTION!  
And we are beyond thrilled.  
We had so much fun telling family and friends this past Tuesday when we found out.  
We can't wait for a birth mother to pick us and to find our sweet baby.  

Check out our LDS Family Services profile here: