Belated Report, he he he

There is nothing more I'd like to blog about right now than Cora Grace. She is such a doll baby! She's so happy and cute and constantly doing new things I look forward to watching her grow and become a successful human and kind daughter.

My friend Kristyn sent me these pictures on like June 5th and I am only now posting them! I know you will all appreciate seeing Cora's birth family as it also warms my heart. Cora Grace was born on Tuesday, June 1st and came 'home' with us on Wednesday. These pictures were taken at a get together on Friday with Cyndee's 4 current children and family. My brother Jesse, my sister in law Kelli and their son Stewart are there too (their cute daughter had other plans). Her daughter Jessica is 20 from her first marriage and 3 sons; Jacob, Jarrod and Justin are 9-12 years old from her 2nd marriage (she is divorced). She has 2 sisters and a brother and their mother Marlene is also there. Cyndee's sisters were very nice to me and Cora's two cousins were the sweetest! They even wrote her a note each which I hold sacred and dear. I was very touched by Cyndee's brother in the pictures who was very emotional the whole time. As a note, their father had just passed away 2 months before and Cyndee's surprise baby seemed to add to the mood. Lastly, C.G.'s birth Grandmother, she is truly a special soul. I felt very akin to her the moment I met her and I think C.G. looks so much like her which pleases me. I hope you don't mind to have waited this long for these pictures or documentation of this account. Thank you Kristyn for hosting this at your home and for being the photographer (among everything else you did even though you have a husband and 3 babies of your own. hug). xo

 I do love this picture of Cyndee :)

This is Kristyn who got this beautiful ball rolling. :) 

Cousins Kathrine and Tori. I could only dream that Cora will turn out as sweet as these two were to us.

These are Cora's 1/2 brothers biologically, Justin, Jacob and Jarrod (and Cyndee).

They have A LOT of energy but I really loved it. I think they are sweet also, to each other and to Cora.

Jessica is on the left and was really emotional the whole time but we persuaded her to let us have some pictures with her in them. She feels so in love with Cora and was not given proper time to deal with what was going on. Jessica and I talk all the time through email and she is the only one I talk to in the family. She is MUCH more at peace and our conversations are the reason. She is happy for us and for Cora and admits it is not just the shock of the baby being born, then placed for adoption but previous struggles in her life that brought all the emotion to the surface. We didn't want her to be so sad but also didn't take it personally and she was happy to hear that.

Jessica had a locket inscribed for Cora (of which she has the same one for herself) that says "Forever Sisters" with a picture of herself and another of her holding C.G.. This is her giving me the locket and a blanket for our precious baby. I've had pictures made of Cora holding the necklace and another of Cora holding a ring Marlene gave her. Jessica loved the pictures.

This may be the biggest smile for Cyndee, which I love.

This is Jessica's boyfriend on the left but I love this moment captured of Jacob holding Cora so delicately.

This is Marlene, Cora's birth Grandmother <3.

Evan found a way to entertain everyone, even then. Peek a boo!

Peek a boo 2.

I really loved her boys and their tenderness for mom and baby Cora.

Cyndee and her brother Billy. He really broke my heart.

Cyndee, her brother Billy and his wife Sandy. I really don't know why Cora is crying in all these pictures cause she literally never does this but I found through that week, she would cry when the family held her and I think it's because she could sense the stress. As a reminder, Cyndee kept her pregnancy a secret and the family was very surprised with phone calls on June 1st. I don't even know if her brother had even seen the baby yet before this so if that is the case, I'm even more grateful he came.

This is Cyndee's sister Colette. She seemed so familiar to me for some reason, it was really strange but in a good way. I felt comfortable with a 'stranger' because of it. :)

This is Cyndee's sister Claudine. She was more of an observer and I did not get to talk to her barely unfortunately.

The whole gang. I love that Stewart is just laughing at Evan. :)

I don't know if I ever posted this but it is from Cora's birth day that Kristyn's friend took. I am very grateful for these pictures taken at the hospital since I would have preferred to be there myself of course. They are special to me and will be very special to Cora Grace. I know I was sad that I never had baby pictures of myself (being the 5th, there's only a few things on my parents mind besides photography. lol)

So there you go. Let me know what you think. :)

Images from today...

This is Cora's birth mommy, Cyndee. She had just left the hospital and come to the meeting tired tired tired.

Cora's birth Grandmother Marleen (sp?) who gave me a gift for Cora when she turns 16 that is a family heirloom. :) It was such a sweet gift from a wonderful and strong woman.

the R.S. pres (who's name ESCAPES me! so sorry!), Kristyn (sorry i just noticed i was spelling your name wrong.) who started this all, me/cora and the LDSFS caseworker for Cyndee, Wayne.

buddies

"what do we do with this toy?" soon after this pic, cora cried and poor stewart totally freaked out cause the 'toy' talked and scared him. awww.

uncle jesse entertaining evan with his 'gurgling' talent. whatever works. lol.

Just after bath time. Her hair is even blonder now. lol.

this is what evan was doing when our backs were turned. climbing on everything, then here, drinking everyone's water in GLASS cups. whew he didn't break any.

Kelli teaching Stewart about how to hold a baby.


new edition family pics for now. we'll try to get evan in one later. :0)

Daddy meeting daughter for the first time. :)

(evan causing mischief behind our turned backs. lol)

good night.

Placement gift

I'm about to go to the 'relinquishment' meeting in 45min where I will get to bring Cora home to my brother Jesse's house after. At this meeting i'll wait in the lobby while Cyndee signs her rights to us as a parents. I will be called in after where we will exchange the baby. This did not happen at evan's adoption so I'm sure it will b very emotional especially without mike there with me. My brother Jesse will come with me though which is nice to have someone there. We are encouraged to give a placement gift, shying away from extravagance. We bought her this necklace shaped like a heart with a diamond in it's shape to symbolize that Cora will always be in her heart. I write her this note as well to express our gratitude. Next time I post it will likely be a picture of Cora or she and I. :) deep breaths... Thank you for the prayers, we cannot believe this is really happening! :)

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Happy Birthday Courtney/Brooke!

Evan's birthmom Courtney also goes by Brooke and today is her 19th Birthday! We want to wish her a very

Happy Birthday

today and our wish is for you to have a great year, full of love and success. We are greatful you are in our life and we look forward to seeing you again in October! We can't wait. Please feel free to laugh at me for dropping the camera at the end of this video. LOL. ;) I hope the rest of you will leave comments for Courtney on her birthday too.

We love you!

Mike, Lila, Evan and Pets... :D

Courtney

So as I pretend to be patient between hearing anything about our current adoption, I will share some confidential information about our birthmom in Atlanta. We were given a bit of her health history and personal background this weekend in a fax. I would like to share a few of her interesting facts and appropriate information you can know:

Sadly, I learned her mother died at age 36 in a car accident. (don't know how long ago) Later, Courtney describes her mothers personality as "Laid back, fun, outragously outgoing. down-to-earth-type". Describing her own personality, she wrote, "My personality is unique just like my mother's was." (I am so touched by this, you can tell how much she loves her mother and misses her, especially as later she says that "everyone in her family has disowned her" except her mothers parents. sad to me, i have more and more compassion for her. she does also say she is close to her 16yr old brother)

Having not completed High School, she wants to get her G.E.D and go to Cosmetology School. (I just might have some 'advice' for her about that)

She states her dad's "Talents, hobbies, interests" are: "Cleaning guns". LOL!!!!! (we honestly almost died laughing, honestly. no really, honestly)

Both her parents are listed as "American Indian" (not enrolled in or affiliated with a tribe) with Scottish, German and Irish named first. She lists herself as "Caucasian" though.

She and both her parents are allergic to cats (my mother in law is getting ready to give Oliver a home. lol).

There is other information but I feel like it's inappropriate to share more than this on a blog. I'm hoping she likes us. I feel encouraged that we have things in common like brown hair, hazel eyes and the similarity to she and her moms personalities! AND, wouldn't you know, one of michael's hobbies is ... you guessed it, 'cleaning guns!' Uncanny. smirk.

Latest

So it's been a little hectic. My parents are here from California, having driven to Idaho to drop their 11th child off at college then drove to Tennessee to see their favorite (my dog smokey) child. I'm up at 226am typing in a blog while i have my thoughts. when i wake up i may have a new nephew via my brother Bennett and his wife Jennifer! if not through the night, i hope soon. anyway, Christopher let me know our birthmothers name is COURTNEY and what we should include in our 'follow up' letter to her. Without telling you the details of the letter, i'll sum up that we expressed what we felt about hearing she chose us and asked some questions, invited her to ask us questions and especially let her know that ALL of our family, friends and strangers are praying not only for michael and i to be able to be parents but that they pray for her and her son. i felt the spirit confirming that to me as i typed the letter and i hope/pray she will feel that when she reads it and meets us soon. I do not know when we will but sometime before her due date of Oct. 25th if all goes well. We are feeling very upbeat now about it all. we asked christopher about what would happen if charmaine came back around and he said although against policy to place twice in one year with family services, it's possible for an ammendment in this circumstance. we are grateful and have peace about that cause it feels bad to us that we can just 'move on' from a very real child to us. we have been grieving the thought of losing her (as any potential parent morns a child) so we appreciate those of you that are respectful and understanding to that. with that said, we really are happy and living day to day. we don't want to 'prepare' like we did for the first one but are now ready for what we need to do at the last minute. I'm greatful that Courtney is due with some notice so have something to look forward to rather than wondering each day if i'm going to get a call. i'm much more at peace at the moment. ok, i've got to go. hope you enjoyed the update.